As part of the CAPS Grade R to 5 for learners with Severe Intellectual Disability, we offer the following Skills Subjects to our Senior and School Leaver Phase learners.
Art and Crafts 
The subject Art and Crafts aims to equip learners in:
- Making a variety of marketable craft products.
- Understanding and skillfully using basic art elements and principles.
- Producing a sequence of the same product using hand-held tools.
- Costing and pricing craft products for a sustainable craft enterprise.
- Developing entrepreneurial awareness within the craft enterprise.
In our Art & Craft lessons we teach our learners to use items they may find in their environment to make pieces of art, and to use these skills at home as well, as a leisure activity.
Consumer Studies: Food Production
This subject aims to teach our learners the skill to cook a basic, small meal for themselves at home. It aims to equip our learners to:
- Cook basic nutritional dishes from a variety of food commodities using the correct equipment, measuring techniques, preparation techniques, mixing methods and cooking methods.
- Be entrepreneurs and have an opportunity to market different food products. (small food scale production).
- Understand consumer rights and responsibilities.
- Be responsible when purchasing food.
- Responsibly utilize resources such as water and electricity.
- Practice food hygiene and safety.
- Understand the nutrition and the impact of food choices on health.
- Understand and practice simple food terminology, i.e. grating, peeling, chopping, etc.
Ancillary Health Care
Ancillary Health Care is activity that supports professional health care. This subject aims to enable learners to understand the meaning of health: how to promote health and how to prevent ill health. This subject aims to equip our learners with some skills to care for the elderly, disabled and toddlers at home.
The subject Ancillary Health Care aims to equip learners in:
- Personal health care: understanding the basic principles of health care, the causes of health and how to mitigate risk factors.
- Caring for people who are disabled: understanding their needs, abilities and to assist these individuals to function independently where possible.
- Knowing the national emergency numbers and able to generate a list of local organisations that can be called during emergencies.
- Know and execute basic principles of First Aid.
- Understand the basis of a balanced meals and basic nutrition.
- Prepare nutritious snacks and breakfasts for the whole range of ages from 3-year-old to the elderly.
- Perform cleaning and housekeeping tasks, taking cognisance of the particular needs of toddlers, adults, the elderly and the disabled.
At Thuthukani Special School the Subject Ancillary Health Care is presented in a classroom, located in a fully furnished house – a space that is shared with the Pre-Vocational Phase’s Domestic and Industrial Cleaning Class.
Wednesday Amathuba
Amathuba is a Zulu word that means “opportunity”. This is an opportunity for our senior learners to learn what it means to be a good worker.
Our Pre-Vocational Cleaning and Gardening classes go to Amble Inn where they perform duties in the rooms and gardens to practice the skills that they learn in school at a real-life work setting.
Our School Leavers and Senior phase learners do Internal Amathuba where they learn practical skills that they can use in their communities, such as weaving Zulu Mats, loom weaving, beading, hand sewing, etc.
This is in addition to the Skills that they learn as part of the CAPS SID curriculum.