About the Bridging Year Programme. Recent matriculants from township high schools are often at a disadvantage when seeking admission to tertiary institutions or entering their chosen career field. Even the brightest are likely to have significant gaps in their readiness for further education or training. In response to this need, SAEP launched a unique programme in 2003 that provides an intensive academic development, skill-enhancement and leadership programme in preparation for tertiary study and careers. This programme is reffered to as the Bridging Year.

Academic and Personal Development. During their year with SAEP, Bridging Year Interns receive intensive tutoring in three or four of their subjects, which they are registered to rewrite later in the year (e.g. they retake these sections of the Matric Exam). This academic support is complemented by a range of skills-building classes and activities: computer lessons, Touchstones discussion groups, personal and career counseling, job-shadowing, team-building, and assistance with applications for admission to college and for financial aid. They are provided with a small monthly stipend that eases the financial strain on them and their families. This helps to cover transport costs to the SAEP offices, where they spend their weekdays. They are also provided with an eye exam at the beginning of the programme (some need glasses but have never had them) and SAEP covers medicals and dental costs which arise during the course of the year.

Community Service. In return for receiving this kind of support, interns participate in a range of community service activities, depending on their interests. Whether it is coaching debating or soccer in their former high school, working in a township pre-school, or assisting with extra maths lessons for anxious students, they always make a significant impact in their communities. Simultaneously, they learn valuable organizational and leadership skills, and develop a lasting sense of social responsibility. Even though it is in no way a requirement, many "alumni" of the gap year programme return year after year to offer assistance with SAEP's endeavours, or become involved in other community upliftment activities.

Need for a Bridging Year. In the impoverished black townships surrounding Cape Town, thousands of students sit their final high school examinations at the end of each year. The lucky ones, those who had teacher and parent support, have a chance at passing, although many will fail. Even for those that pass, however, their grades are below the level that would qualify them for college or university, or for the more challenging academic programs they could handle with the proper foundation. Moreover, they rarely have help in preparing applications for admission, student loans, or scholarships (bursaries). Through its extra-mural work in five high schools in the Philippi area over the last ten years, SAEP has become familiar with many such cases.

SAEP's Bridging Year Programme includes:

• Academic tutoring to enable interns to improve their scores in selected matric subjects
• Personal mentorship and life skills development
• Basic computer training and experience using Microsoft Office and the internet in SAEP's computer lab
• Academic and career counseling
• Job shadowing
• Assistance in preparing applications to tertiary and learnerships and for financial aid
• Eligibility for SAEP's Tertiary Support Programme
• Regular community service in SAEP's high school and early childhood development programmes
• Extra-curricular enrichment activities, including courses on current events, poetry and entrepreneurship, as well as Touchstones discussion groups and outdoor camps and hikes.

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