Sure Foundation Educational Centre, a non-profit Christian organization,  under the conviction that every child has the capacity to learn and should be given the opportunity to do so, seeks to provide education for children and young people with learning difficulties in a warm and friendly atmosphere that is conducive to learning. Often, these disabilities are accompanied by severe behavioral disorders. If these children are not given appropriate intervention, the nation runs the risk of  having them recruited into crime and violence, a situation from which our country is already reeling.

Sure Foundation Educational Centre is committed to meeting these children and young people at the point of their need, and leading them towards the maximization of their God-given potentials, thereby lifting their self- esteem, and positioning them to be independent, productive, contributing citizens. . The school does this by establishing programs to address their social, emotional and literacy needs, and bringing them to a level of confidence in their literacy skills, followed by the acquisition of skills for independent living with resultant impact on the nation socially, spiritually, and economically. 

Students are admitted  following a psycho-educational assessment verifying  their need for Special Education,  Guided by this assessment, an Individual Educational Program is prepared for each student with objectives in the cognitive, and psychosocial domains. The student is then taught individually or in small groups of 3- 7, and his progress is measured against his starting point. The academic program is accompanied  by a behavior management program based on  a  consistent system of rewards and consequences, and supported by individual and group counselling.  They are later reintegrated into the mainstream or proceed with skills training and introduced into the world of work.

Vision Statement

As an established Christian NGO, fully accountable for its operations, Sure Foundation Educational Centre is a school that equips its students to move on to institutions of higher learning and/or take their place in society as independent productive citizens in jobs suitable to their skills and capabilities. Programs are designed to meet the special needs of all our students and are carried out at the individual level in a warm and friendly environment with qualified, encouraging, and motivating staff. Our students develop self-esteem, perseverance, self-control, respect, and responsibility, while taking active part in decision making. Our programs are maintained by adequate support from parents and other partners in education.

Every Child Can Learn

Anthony Stewart (not real name) came to Sure Foundation as a student with profound emotional disturbance, and reading four levels below his age. He had been excluded from his previous schools because of teacher’s inability to deal with his situation, and the fear of his hurting other students since he had been involved in several dangerous fights. Our school was asked to take him on trial.

Upon entrance, Anthony showed several signs of Emotional Behavioural Disorder (EBD) – disruption of classroom activities, impulsivity, inattentiveness, distractibility, refusal to follow classroom rules, aggressive behavior, intimidation and bullying of other students, difficulty working in groups, and low self esteem. Our programme for him was a mix of loving counselling, and a consistent system of rewards and consequences in addition to the regular academic activities, backed up by parental support.

Upon receipt of his first half-yearly report, his parents shed tears of joy, and commented that in all his school life, they were seeing a report with positive comments for the first time.

Historical Background

The seed for Sure Foundation Educational Centre was sown when I, the CEO/founder,   discovered that there was no place in the school system for my son who had been diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) with a learning disability, and the school which he had been attending simply labelled him as ‘bad boy’, and treated him as such.  I, being a special educator for several years, made a vow then to start a school for children with such needs.

Like my son, many children were being left behind because they have a disability that was undetected. Children with Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity form a significant percentage of our school population. This condition is characterized by distractibility, impulsivity and inattentiveness, which usually manifests itself in what is perceived as poor behavior. It falls in the category of invisible disabilities, and is ten times more common in boys than in girls.

These children, along with those with other forms of invisible disabilities struggle through the system without opportunities to maximize their potentials. Instead, they become a strain on society, and in many cases resorting to crime and violence. Despite the pending danger of leaving these children unattended, the public school system, as it exists, does not cater to them. The class sizes range from 35 to 45 students, and children with ADHD and other learning difficulties cannot function in them. These children require individual attention and small group settings. Sure Foundation Educational Centre was established to meet the needs of as many of these children as possible within its limited capacity.

The school was established as a private non-profit organization for religious and educational purposes only, and registered as a company limited by guarantee without a share capital on December 29, 2004.  As a non-profit Christian organization,  it would operate under the conviction that every child has the capacity to learn and should be given the opportunity to do so. Against this background, its stated mission was “to provide education for children and young people with learning difficulties in a warm and friendly atmosphere that is conducive to learning, by a trained and motivated staff.”

It would seek to carry out this mission through the following processes:

1. providing special education support for students who were currently in school, but performing below expected grade level

1. providing alternative educational opportunities for children and young people who were unable to cope in the regular school system because of learning difficulties
2. bringing students enrolled in the program into spiritual awareness of themselves, their potentials, their abilities, and their responsibilities.
3. Preparing students to meet qualification specifications to access further educational opportunities.

The school is committed to admitting students who are in need of the service we offer, meeting them at the point of their need, developing programs for them in literacy, numeracy, behavior management, and skills training at moderate costs, thereby lifting their self-esteem and leading them towards the maximization of their God-given potentials. This intervention should result in their being accepted in society as independent, productive, and contributing citizens.

Students are admitted to the school following a psycho-educational assessment verifying that they are in need of special education of the kind that the school offers. Guided by this assessment, an Individual Educational Program (IEP) is prepared for a student with objectives in the cognitive and psychosocial domains. The students are then taught individually or in small groups of three to eight, and their progress is measured against their starting points.

While the learning difficulties pose a challenge to teachers, the greater challenge is behavior disorders. For many of them, Sure Foundation is their last chance for formal education. The school has put in place a systematic behavior management program of rewards and consequences, supported by a counseling program. However, modification of behavior is a slow process. Coping with inappropriate, violent, and aggressive behaviors is an on-going challenge. Yet the school is greatly committed to work with these students to affect behavior as well as learning changes.

A full time program began in September 2006 with the goal of meeting the needs of those students who were clinically assessed and confirmed with learning disabilities, including those with ADHD, but had no alternative school placement.  Rejection of such children in school is still prevalent today. The present population consists of thirty (30) students assessed with learning disabilities (slow learners, dyslexia, dyscalculia, dysgraphia, poor visual and auditory processing) and behavioral disorders (emotional behavioral disorder, conduct disorder, oppositional defiant disorder, aggression). Eighty percent (80%) of the population are boys. The school is staffed by mature trained teachers with on-going training in special education.

During the life of the school, it has succeeded in moving students from non-readers to grade nine level. There has been increased positive interaction among students as they move from intrapersonal to interpersonal relationships. They have become more caring and empathetic. Parents and care-givers testify to this. Further, their self-esteem has been lifted as they learn to read, thereby motivating them towards further learning.

In 2009, the school gained registration status with the Ministry of Education, and supervision of the school by the Special Education Unit began. By 2010, we were given a small grant from that Ministry, while they began to access our services to place their children with special needs, paying the prescribed fee for each student that they placed. The Special Education Unit has expressed appreciation for this partnership which has helped to satisfy the nation’s need for placements of this special group of students.

In 2011, we began the process of re-integrating students into the mainstream once they had acquired the requisite reading skills, and since then students have been re-integrated on an annual basis after sitting the grade nine national examination.

The school worked in partnership with the HEART Trust/NTA for skills training and also seeks to establish partnerships with both private and public sectors to accept our students for work experience upon completion of skills training. In addition partnerships are being sought to provide improved physical space, purchase of computers and other technological equipment to enhance learning, establish library and resource room, sponsor individual students, sponsor co-curricular activities, and facilitate a school to work transition program.

Students are required to pay moderate fees covering approximately 40% of the real operational cost. These are students from the lower socio-economic stratum of society who are struggling to pay this fee and so cannot be asked to pay more. In addition, several have had to forgo the placement because they cannot afford the fees. Yet, these students need the service offered. Against this background, the school must strive to raise the extra funds to meet the operational costs as well as capital expenses.

Several students have passed through the doors of the school since its inception and are now established to various degrees in society, always returning to share their success stories.