First day of school at Pebbles Academy in Hemel en Aarde

The Pebbles Project must be one of the most active NGOs in the country.  I was lucky enough to be in the Hemel en Aarde Valley last week, and it happened to be the first day of school, so thought it would be opportune to pop in to see their newest school project.  The facility was originally an ECD (Early Childhood Development) Centre & After School Club, but with a few passionate people driving the project, the facility has grown to include a Primary School, thanks to the incredible support from Rotary Hermanus, Rotary worldwide and Creation Wines.

July 9th was the first day of school for the 3rd term and also the first time the Primary School opened its door. The school was relatively quiet even with the 34 new learners, as it was already well in session and the children were engaged with plenty of activities.  Outside though there was a buzz with even more new buildings taking shape. 
The modular buildings and school materials have been generously funded by Freudenberg ev Help and furniture was sponsored by Rotary Hermanus. Future Learn has come on board and given free CAMI to track the progress of our learners as well as discounted learner materials. The Impaq home school curriculum is CAPS aligned and is one of the many amazing educational products from Future Learn.

There are very many organisations who support and fund #wineforgood initiatives in the wine industry, with the Cape Wine Auction (held in Feb annually) being a major contributor. 

The children are fortunate to have buses which collect and return them home in the afternoons, and the physical location is sublime.  If you go right up the Hemel-en-Aarde road, past Creation - turn right just after that (well sign-posted) - and the entrance to the school is on your right.  The facility and project has been very ably managed by Madelein Snyman since 2017 and the progress has been nothing short of remarkable.

There are more than 90 children from 22 farms who now have access to education in a safe, inspiring, nutritionally rich and beautiful space. What more could you ask for?

#wineforgood