Christel House School, Robert Fortune, Principal

It is with pleasure that I write on behalf of Philipa von Kerckerinck who introduced Roots Tribe Yoga (RTY) to Christel House South Africa in 2013.  The concept of yoga to school children in a school set-up was an unusual phenomenon to me as a long standing principal. It was such a successful venture at my school that I would like to recommend it to my fellow colleagues in South Africa. The South African school environment and especially poor disadvantaged schools are faced with many misbehaved students who are not focused on the demands of a rigid high school program. RTY started this program with two of our grade eight classes and managed through their program to focus our students in such a way that our teachers noticed the difference in the classrooms. We decided to venture into the program with RTY because our students have very disruptive lives, which impacts on their individual resilience factors so desperately needed in a school environment. Some of the shortcomings (among most of our students) in resilience to succeed at school include among other

• A lack of learning orientation at their homes

• A lack of community safety

• A lack of self-reliance

• A lack of team cohesion

• A lack of interdependent realisation

Our expectation from Philipa was to motivate through her program a way to get our children calm and focus to look beyond the primary needs and still be calm enough to deal with the demands of normal school.  I am proud to mention that Philipa could handle the demands and focused and calmed our students down to the extent where they are more manageable to be taught in a class of 30 students. It must be added that grade eight students are not easy to teach, yet Philipa manages to deal with our students and get them through her routines with such comfort and no incidence that I am even more convince that our students realize the value of yoga in their lives. I am convinced and have the fullest confidence that Philipa von Kerckerinck has the ability to translate her experience at Christel House South Africa to any school requiring her expertise and commitment.  It is therefore, with unreserved enthusiasm that I support RTY in their expansion plans to organizations and individuals requiring such talents. Should you have any further information, do not hesitate to contact me. Ronald Fortune Principal +27 845822114