Support & Wellness
STUDENT SUPPORT CENTRE (SSC) STATEMENT OF PURPOSE
At KYB Academy, our work doesn’t end at the door of your classroom. We are proud to operate a world-class Student and Staff Support Centre for all your needs outside of the academic space. The Student Support Centre at Kitso Ya Boleng Academy runs regular workshops that will develop you holistically. You will learn how to present yourself in job/bursary interviews, you will draw up a professional CV and you will undergo a rigorous and detailed Career Guidance Course.
But its not all serious! The Student Support Centre believes in Education through Creative Play and is always looking for new ways to expand the horizons of our students. We run Art Workshops, LEGO Technics Workshops, Paper Airplane Competitions and a host of other fun days. Feeling stressed out by academics? Under pressure from home? The Student Support Centre has teamed up with the CHHP at NWU and provides group and individual counseling from trained professionals. Explore your identity and develop strategies to optimize your own wellbeing! KYB Academy believes that our opportunities should be spread amongst our immediate community.
Through the Pay-it-Forward Program, our students have the opportunity to make a difference in the surrounding areas. The Student Support Centre organises recreational outings and educational tours specific to the curriculum of our KYB Students. If you want to hop on one of our buses and visit the Cradle of Humankind, or tour a fully operational Chrome Mine, apply to Kitso Ya Boleng today!
Supporting individuals in pursuing and reaching their ambitions to personal growth, development, and career success
AN INTEGRATED, INNOVATIVE STRUCTURE
The SSC at KYB Academy works in close collaboration with our Department of Academics to ensure that all our services contribute toward the improvement of academic performance. A student that is stimulated, safe, fed and listened to as an individual with needs, dreams and concerns.
We envisage a Support Centre that is both a part of our broader campus and apart from the stresses and demands of everyday student life. In this way, we seek to better prepare our students for their time in the classroom, as well as offer them services and skills distinct from those gained via formal education.
KYB ACADEMY SSC SERVICES
At the KYB Academy Student Support Centre, we offer a wide range of services to meet our students’ needs.
Extramurals:
Our extramural program targets physical health, cultural engagement and social growth.
You can sign up for:
- Indoor Soccer
- Chess Club – Beginners and Advanced
- The Film Society
- Aerobics Club
- KYB Choir
- Netball
- Board Games Society
- Anime Club
- Swimming Club
These activities run per a weekly schedule.
The Wellness Initiative
KYB Academy has partnered with the Institute of Psychology and Wellbeing (IPW), under the North West University’s Centre for Health and Human Performance to pilot an exciting program.
The Wellness Initiative has two components:
- Group Counselling and Education
- Individual Psychological Therapy
Our students attend weekly group-therapy sessions over a period of ten weeks. These sessions target challenges facing students such as
- Peer Pressure
- Family Pressure
- Struggles adjusting to a new environment
- Social anxiety
- Demotivation
In these sessions, issues arise which are more particular to the members of the group. These groups create a safe and comfortable space for students to explore their own mindsets, attitudes and emotional perspectives. Over these weeks, our students learn about the importance of their own mental health, how to speak about it and strategies for combating burnout, stress and emotional distress.
Psychology interns supervised by IPW staff facilitate these sessions and identify students for referral to individual counselling sessions, which are hosted at the SSC and provide intensive, deliberate psychological therapy on a weekly basis.
The Workshops at SSC
The SSC provides a series of workshops tailored to the needs of our specific students. Studying towards a technical diploma at KYB Tech means benefitting from
- CV Skills Workshop
- Interview Training and Mock-Up
- Study Skills Training
- Technical Trade Lecture Series
- The Mathematics of Flight
- Rube Goldberg Competition
- Entrepreneurial Skills Training
- LEGO Technics Build-Off
- Water Pumping and Solar Electricity
These workshops are specifically designed to develop the knowledge and skills essential for performance in a technical trade. In order to decrease uncertainty regarding satisfactory job placement, our excursions and tours expose KYB Technical Students to a variety of future career possibilities.
All our workshops ensure that students from KYB Academy stand out above the crowd.
Our TEPP bridging program receives its own workshop series, featuring
- Confidence and Communication
- Emotional Intelligence
- Creativity as a Tool for Transformation
- Goal Setting
- Study Skills
- Best Games Entrepreneurial Workshop
- Wits Writing Centre – Writing for University
These workshops broaden our students’ horizons and prepare them for tertiary education with soft skills, interpersonal development, problem-based education and organizational strategies.
Educational Tours
It is imperative that students engage with the world around them. There are skills and experiences that cannot be communicated within the confines of an educational campus. Our SSC handpicks a number of exciting, enlightening and novel tours each year. These trips are designed to challenge and engage our students. Most of all, these excursions show them how full of possibility our world is.
In 2021, despite Covid-19 related limitations, we will embark on trips to:
- Maropeng and Sterkfontein Caves – The Cradle of Humankind
- Zip-Line at Vredefort Dome National Heritage Site
- Lion and Rhino Conservation Park
- Javett Art Centre
- University Campus Tours
- WITS Planetarium
Our Technical Students will also visit various operations and organizations including:
- AME Aviation
- Staalmeester Agricultural Equipment
- Dwarsrivier Chrome Mine
Recreation
Expanding the limits of one’s experience is an important catalyst for personal and professional development. The SSC at Kitso Ya Boleng is constantly refining our portfolio of entertainment, education and erudition.
The experiences we facilitate include:
- Interactive Drum Circle
- International Food Events
- KYB Academy Spelling Bee
- Theatre Attendance
- Roller Blading Fun-Day
- SCAD Fall at Soweto Towers
STUDENT REPRESENTATIVE COUNCIL
Nobody understands the support students’ require better than students themselves.
A close working relationship with student representatives is fundamental to the operations of the SSC. Our Student Representative Council operates with the trust and blessing of SSC Management. This results in clear lines of communication between the student body and campus management, open dialogue and discussion of ideas and a constant oversight over evolving situations, concerns and needs amongst the students.
Our SRC Leadership are elected by fair process and benefit from leadership development opportunities. They are also entrusted with prominent positions at various events, including funder liaising and general meetings.
The SRC meets weekly with SSC Management. This feedback loop creates effective and efficient actions addressing the inevitable difficulties arising on an active campus. Students report any appreciation, query or concern to their SRC. These are relayed in our formal meetings, addressed and reported back on the following week.
Additionally, the SRC is the means by which Academy Management communicates with the student body.
Being a member of the SRC is a serious, rewarding responsibility.
KITSO WA KATA
Knowledge. Harmony. Community.
Kitso Wa Kata is the community service and engagement arm of KYB Academy. We are dedicated to improving the lives and opportunities of those surrounding our campus.
Join one of our four Kitso Wa Kata Committees and find action that fulfils you, whilst serving others.
- Childhood Development Committee
- Care and Maintenance Committee
- Sports and Culture Committee
- Environmental Engagement Committee
KYB Academy students are given the opportunity to participate in our organised Kitso Wa Kata events, with our established partner-institutions. They are also able to design their own outreach programs and receive guidance and support from the SSC.
EXIT STRATEGY - THUTO KE BOSWA GRADUATE PROGRAM
KYB Academy has an office dedicated to the lives and careers of our students once they leave the campus grounds.
The Thuto Ke Boswa graduate program (TKB) assists students with
- Apprenticeship Placement
- Job Shadowing
- Career Guidance
- Bursary Procurement
- Networking Events
With the committed presence of TKB at KYB Academy, we are able to ensure that our students are guided into fulfilling, sustainable positions for their professional and personal development.
