Academic Recovery Cohort

A 12-month coaching programme for Grade 10 and Grade 11 learners whose academic performance is not yet reflecting their potential.

An Indigenous-based approach to human development.

Your teenager does not need to wait until Matric.

If your Grade 10 or Grade 11 teenager has been consistently performing below 50%, waiting for Matric to change things is one of the biggest risks you can take.

Many families wait because they believe something will eventually happen: a new teacher, a new year, a sudden burst of motivation, the pressure of Matric, or the realisation that “now it counts.”

Sometimes that moment never comes.

By Grade 10 or Grade 11, your teenager has already had years to develop their relationship with learning, school, achievement and themselves as a student. If the pattern has not changed by now, it deserves an intentional intervention.

That is what Academic Recovery is for.

Who this cohort is for

This is a specific programme for Grade 10 and Grade 11 teenagers who are currently performing below 50% and whose academic difficulties have become a pattern rather than a once-off setback.

It is for the teenager whose marks have been consistently concerning, whose current performance does not reflect what you believe they are capable of, and where simply telling them to “work harder” has not changed the outcome.

We are not here to label your teenager by their marks.

We are here to interrupt the pattern.

Why Grade 10 and Grade 11?

Because Matric is too important to be the first time we decide something needs to change.

By Grade 10 and 11, there is already enough history to tell us that waiting may not be the answer.

Academic recovery requires time. It may require rebuilding habits, changing how a teenager approaches learning, developing self-management, addressing avoidance, rebuilding confidence, strengthening accountability and helping them see themselves differently as a learner.

That work cannot always be rushed into one Matric year.

Grade 10 gives us two years before Matric. Grade 11 gives us one.

That is why this cohort is deliberately limited to these two grades. We want to work with these teenagers now and, where they remain committed, walk with them through to the end of Grade 12.

This is recovery, not rescue.

Your teenager will not be carried through this programme.

They will be expected to participate, reflect, set goals, complete their weekly work and take increasing responsibility for their academic journey.

Each month, they meet in a small coaching group of no more than 15 teenagers for a live group coaching session based on the Academic Recovery curriculum.

Between sessions, they complete weekly self-led activities focused on goals, reflection, planning, accountability and academic self-management.

The coaching gives them the structure.

They have to do the work.

What happens each month

There are no individual parent feedback sessions included in this programme. The coaching relationship belongs to the teenager.

What we ask from parents

Academic recovery cannot happen effectively when the teenager is carrying both the weight of their academic struggle and the fear of constantly disappointing the people around them.

We therefore ask parents to do something that can be difficult: support the process without trying to control the outcome.

You will be asked to:

• Attend the parent onboarding session — Saturday, 17 October 2026, 9:00 a.m.
• Attend the quarterly collective parent conversations.
• Sit with your teenager each term to establish their goals, and then allow them to take ownership of those goals.
• Reduce reprimanding, threats and high-pressure tactics as your primary way of driving academic performance.
• Give the coaching process room to work.

This does not mean lowering your expectations.

It means changing the way you support your teenager in meeting them.

What this programme is — and what it isn't

Academic Recovery is coaching, not tutoring.

We do not teach individual school subjects, provide one-on-one academic coaching or report on your teenager individually to you.

We work directly with the teenager on the behaviours, mindset, self-management, accountability and personal ownership that sit around their academic performance.

And we do not promise a particular percentage increase. We promise a structured intervention and a process that asks the teenager to participate in changing their own trajectory.

The investment

This is not a discounted version of our usual coaching. It is a deliberately designed group model.

There is no one-on-one coaching in this cohort. The intervention takes place through the group, the curriculum and the teenager's self-led work between sessions.

Each group is capped at 15 teenagers, with a maximum of two groups in this cohort.

12-month commitment

Academic recovery is not a monthly experiment. We are asking families to commit to the process because meaningful change requires time, consistency and repetition.

Teenagers entering in Grade 10 are expected to continue through to Grade 12. Teenagers entering in Grade 11 are expected to continue through to the end of Grade 12.

Is this the right programme for your teenager?

Before enrolment is confirmed, we will review your teenager's 2025 and 2026 school reports and have a conversation with you about whether the cohort is appropriate.

This programme is intentionally not for every teenager.

It is for teenagers who need an intervention now — before Matric becomes the crisis point.

If you know that your teenager's current academic pattern needs to change, this may be the right time to intervene.

Have a question, already submitted your form, or ready to pay?

Mayine Development Institute

An Indigenous-based approach to human development.