Dear Colleagues

1. Thank you for cooperating with our interns last year on producing a pilot newsletter for the Head Office. The project was basically an exercise they needed to complete for their internship. The exercise provided a valuable learning opportunity for all of us.
2. We are now planning to produce an official newsletter for the WCED as a whole, which we will publish initially online until our budget for 2006/07 is confirmed. We hope to produce a printed version in due course to complement what is already available on the web. Our name for the newsletter at this stage is simply WCED News.
3. The aim of WCED News will be to keep members of the education community up to date with what is happening in education in the Western Cape, with a special focus on schools, colleges, ECD and ABET centres, EMDCs and the Head Office.
4. We plan to publish the first edition as soon as possible after the launch of the Human Capital Development Strategy. Our communication strategy is closely aligned with that of the roll-out of the HDCS, so it makes sense to launch the newsletter at this time.
5. We plan to publish the printed version on a quarterly basis at this stage, subject to budget availability.
6. We would greatly appreciate it if you could assist us by sending us your news. All we need are notes, preferably emailed to us. We will follow up where necessary, and do the rest.
7. The following is a list of typical stories we plan to cover in WCED News. Please drop us a line if any of these are relevant to anyone in your staff. Unfortunately, we cannot guarantee to include all news items, but we will do our utmost to ensure fair, balanced and accurate coverage of what is happening in education in this province.

  • Conferences and symposia

  • Special events

  • Policy developments

  • Policy implementation

  • New projects

  • Project updates

  • Special achievements

  • Training programmes

  • Research

  • Building programmes

  • Installations, new equipment

  • Education technology

  • Forthcoming events

  • VIP visitors

  • Public/private partnerships

  • Staff news, including:

    • Awards

    • Guest speakers at conferences and symposia

    • Appointments

    • Promotions

    • Long service

    • Retirements

    • International visits

    • Cooperation with other national and provincial departments

    • Hobbies, interests

    • Appearance in the media (print, TV, radio)

8. We will obviously welcome any ideas or suggestions that you would like to make on how we can celebrate our achievements and engage with the challenges we face in education in this province.
9. We also look forward to working with existing district and directorate newsletters, to ensure effective communication on all levels and areas of specialisation within the broad education community of the Western Cape.
10. Staff of the Communication Directorate will contact you shortly to find out more about what is happening in your directorates and sections. We would appreciate it greatly if you could give us all possible assistance.

Kind regards



SIGNED: A.M. ATTWELL
HEAD: EDUCATION
DATE: 2006:02:08