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Ken keeps three horses for
students. The horses were donated to the school by Graham and Rhona
Beck, April Glaspie and Sandy Irvine. As soon as the new stables are
built a fourth horse will be added. James Maree, who has years of
experience in training grooms as riders, generously donated his time to
visit the Cape and assist Ken in setting up his course. Ken followed
with a visit to observe James at work at Eikenhof.
The first riders will graduate from the course in October and will have
a star sign added alongside their names when carded indicate that they
are graduates of this course. The idea is to ultimately reward
graduates with higher stakes prizes.
SECOND PRACTICAL
TRAININGCOURSE HONOURED II!
Kenilworth Racecourse on 25th May, graduates of the second term of the
Grooms School Practical Training Course were presented their
certificates and jackets, courtesy of Fieldspring Racing who also
assisted with the purchase of the second classroom at the Milnerton
Training Center. Three of the graduates achieved the distinction of
passing the Jockey Club stable employee examination. Special
congratulations were made in absentia to "Sparrow"
Thankdikhaya Macekiswane on achieving the
school's first award for distinction at the advanced level of training.
The special award made to Sparrow (who hails from the Kannemeyer yard)
was as a result of the assessment of the two course lecturers Chloe
Ovenstone and Ken Michel. Sparrow and Dynasty's groom Zamyedwa
"Neverdie" Mbombi were not at the award ceremony as they had already
left with their horses for the KZN Season. |
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Their
certificates were presented during the KZN season. The graduates were
treated to a special day at the races. As conclusion to their training
the graduates were asked to judge the best turned out horse in the 1st
race parade ring. They faced the challenge with the confidence gained
from knowing what they were looking for. The Practical Training program
has been taken over by experienced and internationally certified
teacher Belinda Thorn who is assisted by Eric Sands' assistant Natalie
Faasen. The third course is nearing completion and we expect to
graduate a further 12 students in October.
NEW PROFESSIONAL TEAM
ASSESSES SCHOOL
The Board of Trustees has employed the services of a registered team of
professional educators to conduct an assessment of the literacy class.
This course is in its seventh year of operation and the board was
advised to perform a professional assessment of the course. With the
assistance and guidance of Rudolf Cloete of the Western Cape Education
Department, the new team has started it's work. Another team made up of
School Trustees led by Deputy Chairman April Glaspie are conducting a
survey of all grooms in service at Milnerton to determine to what
extent literacy education still needs to be addressed in Cape racing.
The literacy course added three levels of numeracy to its curriculum
this year and has students registered for 46 examinations in October.
Some of the students are to be examined in three courses at different
levels. The new team will be tasked with getting both the Practical and
Riders Courses registered as official courses in the ABET system of
National Education so that students can accumulate specific Unit
Standards in their quest to achieve recognised General Education and
Training Certificates. The new team has also been instructed to make
application to the Skills Development Levy board for payment of levies
taken from racing.
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