What Our Partners Say About SACAP – Creative Kidz - SACAP
Work Integrated Learning

What our partners have to say about SACAP – Leanda Otto, Creative Kidz

Sep 14, 2023 | By Venessa Dace
Reading time: 3 min
What our partners have to say about SACAP – Leanda Otto, Creative Kidz
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Gaining practical experience is smart. It equips you with industry related knowledge and skills. What’s more, the whole experience – good or bad – will inform your future career decisions.

The advantage

Importantly, practical work experience differentiates you from other candidates. In today’s competitive environment, you want the winning advantage, right? Students who have completed an internship or gained work experience during their studies have higher rates of getting hired.

Fortunately, Work Integrated Learning (WIL) is a key component in almost all SACAP qualifications. The college has a nationwide network of placement partners that cover a diverse range of environments from educational and correctional institutions to counselling and trauma centres.

One such partner is Creative Kidz School, a remedial primary school that has branches in Alberton and Pretoria East. “Working with SACAP students has been such a positive and delightful experience,” says Founder, Educational Psychologist and CEO, Leanda Otto.

Curious to learn more about the value SACAP students add to the school, we caught up with Leanda and asked her. This is what she has to say…

The context

“Creative Kidz School is a remedial institution focusing on multi-sensory teaching and learning,” Leanda explains. “We offer the full CAPS curriculum. We also have a separate stream catering for learners with high functioning autism with low support needs.”

The school is unique because it provides an opportunity for children with learning barriers to attend an affordable private school where the focus is on quality remedial education, she says.

“In collaboration with our learners’ parents and other professionals and therapists, we design purpose-driven, individualized interventions to fit children’s unique needs,” Leanda adds.

The collaboration

SACAP’s partnership with Creative Kidz School began in 2018 and to date about 15 students have interned at the school. “The students offer wonderful support for our learners in the form of counselling and remedial support sessions,” Leanda says.

“This benefits our parents, too,” she continues, “as not many can afford these services privately. Ultimately, this support also assists our learners to develop and improve.”

The students

How does Leanda rate the SACAP students who have interned at Creative Kidz School so far? “They are very well educated, offer high quality support and are ethical and respectful,” she enthuses.

“We are very grateful for the high-quality interventions provided to the school by the SACAP students. It has been an absolute pleasure working with them. The training they receive is impeccable! The educators at SACAP are very well qualified and provide fantastic support to the students, too,” she adds.

The future

Leanda is optimistic about the school’s relationship with SACAP going forward. “We are privileged to work with such an incredible institution,” she says. “The team at SACAP is wonderful to work with and deals with challenges in a professional manner.”

It’s a win-win scenario. “The students benefit from the practical experience, which sets the stage for future real-life success in the field,” Leanda says. As for Creative Kidz School? “SACAP’s involvement is a remarkable initiative and, in our case, a much-needed intervention,” she concludes.

The takeaway

Practical work experience teaches valuable soft skills – teamwork, leadership skills, communication skills and problem solving. Employers will look for these in candidates and they’ll want to see proof.

Thinking about pursuing a career path in psychology or management and leadership? The practical fieldwork component in SACAP qualifications enables you to gain hands-on experience – and the winning advantage – while you study. Find out more here.

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