ABOUT US
Our History
KwaThintwa School for the Deaf was founded by our late bishop Denis Hurley. He met a Deaf child by chance and realised there were no schooling options that could see to the needs of this child. As a result, KwaThintwa was officially opened in February 1981 with 40 Deaf learners.
Our Vision
Our vision is that of an equal access, self-reliant learning organisation that provides education and training of high quality and prepares learners to contribute to the building of a peaceful, prosperous and democratic society.
Our Future
Looking ahead we hope to prepare our learners for a technologically advancing world where human connection and communication is equally important to technology. We hope to continue to expand to ensure our learners a well-rounded education that is everything the late Archbishop Dennis Hurley envisioned when he founded KwaThintwa
Why Choose KwaThintwa
1
Eight consecutive years 100% pass rate
Our DUX of 2018 placed second nationally in SA for SASL Home Language. We believe in academic excellence and encourage all our learners to unlock their potential and succeed in life after school.
2
Sporting Excellence
We nurture excellent sportspersons. Our learners have competed countrywide in Golf, Volleyball, Table Tennis, Men’s and Ladies’ Soccer and Athletics. Our learners continuously bring home a multitude of medals and trophies after every competition they enter.
3
A loving environment for your child
We understand that there are many challenges faced by Deaf individuals in South Africa. KwaThintwa offers your child a nurturing environment where they will be able to unlock their potential, make lifelong friendships, and be part of a community where they belong and feel included. We are nurturing tomorrows leaders, educators, friends and achievers.
Our KwaThintwa Team
PROJECTS
Language Room
The language stimulation room project was developed as we identified that our learners enter school with a severe language delay. Since we follow the mainstream curriculum, our learners need to have Age and Grade appropriate language levels when they enter Grade R in order to be able to succeed and follow the curriculum. This room is set to mimic a natural home environment incorporating a child size lounge, kitchen, bedroom, and play area. As natural language acquisition occurs in a home environment we have replicated that environment to best overcome the language delays that our students endure. The projected started in late 2017 and was finished in early 2018. For the year it has been running it has been a huge success and allows our learners more opportunity for expressive language and to experience hands-on learning.
Stands
Our sports field recently had new concrete stands installed. These make it easier for spectators to watch our many sporting events. It makes the field more user-friendly for our learners during break time and weekends as they can sit somewhere and enjoy themselves. But the heat that is experienced from the sun is too demanding. We need covers for the stands. It is simply too hot sitting on them for just the length of a soccer full match.
Laundry
Our laundry is the supportive backbone of the school. But an ever-increasing number of learners means the machines battle to meet demands. We have recently upgraded all our machines and now have five industrial washing machines and four industrial dryers. This allows us to ensure that all our learners are ready for the day and do not have to worry about washing their clothes in order to focus on playing sports, chatting to friends, and catching up on school work.
Preschool Toilets
Sanitation is an important – but often unspoken about – concern of a school. We have recently redone our Preschool toilets; which means our learners now have a high-quality ablution facility. But the rest of the school is in need of a full renovation as many toilets do not function. This is an enormous task but is important for the smooth running of the school and the hostel.
Borehole and JoJo tanks
Ensuring that we have a continuous and reliable water supply is critical, as we house 364 learners and have over 100 staff members. We installed a borehole by our school field to have access to water even when the municipal supply is shut off or under strain. This ensures that we can keep the school and hostel open. However, our water storage capacity is limited to only one day’s supply which means that we need more JoJo tanks to increase the storage capacity.