Die Sterreweg is our day care centre for special needs children in New Horizons, a suburb of Plettenberg Bay. We are a provider of professional services to special needs children and their families. We also function as a resource centre for the broader community. Die Sterreweg is recognized nationally as a centre of excellence and a model for other special needs centres to follow. The children come first and our well-trained caregivers and staff make sure that our little stars get the appropriate care to make them shine! Read more…
Die Sterreweg in partnership with The Sabrina Love Foundation offers a unique student placement, internship and volunteer learning experience. Our centre was foundered by a Belgian Charity Organisation called Dreamcatcher and for this reason, we have had a large number of volunteers and students from Belgium spending anything from a few weeks to 9 months contributing towards the centre, learning from this wonderful African experience, treating the children and training the staff at our centre. As the demand for this learning opportunity has grown and as we have witnessed the irreplaceable learning that visitors have benefitted from, we now offer a programme for any interested students/volunteers from around the world.
Students who have spent time at Die Sterreweg have been studying the equivalent of Occupational Therapy, Educational Psychology and degrees in Early Childhood Development amongst others. Volunteers have come with experience in arts, drama and child development, and contributed their own ideas, programmes and experience to enrich the children’s lives and daily activities.
The programme can be tailored to the learning needs of the individual student or volunteer and where ever possible, we will try to structure the programme to be relevant and appropriate.
Experiences can include:
• Time spent assisting the carers in the daily activities of the children in either class – more severely disabled children and/or children with moderate cognitive and physical disabilities
• Time spent in a special needs learning unit attached to a local mainstream school
• Time spent in a local crèche with support staff facilitating the learning of toddlers/younger children in mainstream education
• Time spent in a local crèche predominantly looking after special needs children
• Home and community visits with an Occupational Therapist or support staff
• Accompanying the children to their horse riding
• Participating in any teaching/courses/workshops on offer during the time of the placement
• Visiting the local community clinics
• Participating in an Early Intervention Programme for age 0-3 children
• Shadowing and assisting Occupational Therapists and Physiotherapists who work at the centre
Students and Volunteers are supervised or mentored by a member of staff and have freedom to implement appropriate and useful programmes and ideas that are in line with our vision and that will enhance our childrens’ development. Many students have chosen to upgrade facilities, repaint and decorate or introduce new and exciting activities which have been invaluable to our centre.
In 2017, we formed a strategic collaboration with Artevelde University College in Belgium and Stellenbosch University to position Die Sterreweg as a centre of Excellence. Read more….
