Wellness and development
The Teaching and Learning Centre
A holistic offering | Re neela thuto e e akaretsang tsotlhe
The Teaching and Learning Centre (TLC) provides psychological and learning support services to students, teachers, parents and members of the broader Phokeng community.
The centre offers remedial, language and occupational therapy, counselling, and educational psychology. It has two full-time remedial therapists, a full-time occupational therapist, two full-time psychologists and a full-time counsellor, meaning it is able to provide remedial therapy, occupational therapy, psychotherapy and psychological assessments.
TLC services are geared towards helping students who are struggling, either with their schoolwork or with challenges outside the school environment that have an effect on their schooling. The TLC also deals with disciplinary issues because often where there’s a disciplinary matter, there’s an emotional aspect that needs to be addressed as well.
Another aspect of holistic childcare at Lebone II College is pastoral care. Such care is broad, and includes well-adjusted children who also need care and guidance. It ensures that the needs of all students’ social, emotional and behavioural well-being are met.
In the Lower School, the teachers drive pastoral care; there’s a strong relationship between teachers and parents, and teachers and students. TLC and pastoral services also include career counselling and designing individualised education programmes for students.
In the Upper School, pastoral care is driven through the house system. Under each house director are the tutors, who are each assigned a group of between 10 and 15 students of different grades in the Upper School, and who meet regularly to discuss and guide the behavioural, emotional and social well-being of students in their house and tutor groups.
Lefelo la Pholo Clinic (Wellness Centre)
Lebone II College has a fully equipped clinic, with a staff complement of two qualified nurses and an assistant. The clinic, also called the Wellness Centre, sees to the well-being of all our students as well as our staff members. A doctor visits the school twice weekly, a physiotherapist once a week, and a dentist on a quarterly basis.
The centre, which ensures patient confidentiality, manages everything from treating minor ailments to stabilising a life-threatening situation while getting patients ready for transport to the nearest hospital. It is also fully equipped with a dispensary of over-the-counter medication. The centre conducts screening campaigns throughout the school, and offers flu vaccinations, eye screenings and deworming campaigns.
Students receive comprehensive care at no cost. The centre has two ward facilities, and each ward has an en-suite bathroom. If a day scholar is ill, he or she will receive care and treatment and return to class. If their condition is serious they’ll be allowed to lie down in the ward. If a boarder is too ill to attend school and their home is far away, they will be admitted to the centre for care, observation and monitoring throughout the day. In the evening they will be returned to boarding, and the clinic’s staff remain on call.
The centre offers first aid training – an occupation and safety requirement of the Department of Labour – to staff members and students. The first aid training comprises a 48-hour course that includes practical skills training, though as we host the training within a school setting, it is presented over a six-month period. Staff are trained as a basic requirement, and we offer voluntary training to students in Grades 9, 10 and 11. We encourage those who’ve received the training to become involved in sports events and other activities on campus, so they can put what they have learnt to use.
The Wellness Centre is in the process of introducing more on-site services, so that we can provide healthcare to both our students and our community. This means services will be available to any student who would not ordinarily have access to them. The centre also engages in further community service initiatives, and we partner with organisations such as the Cancer Association of South Africa and the South African National Blood Service, among others.
