Vision screening
Initial identification of learners who may require further assessment.
For schools
Bring practical vision support closer to your learners.
Rolled Sleeves Foundation works with South African school communities to help identify vision needs and connect learners with appropriate eye-care support.
Our programmes are designed around partnership with the school, not a one-day intervention delivered in isolation.
The school community
Schools are where vision and learning meet.
A learner who struggles to see may experience difficulty reading written material, seeing the board, participating in lessons or navigating their learning environment.
Schools are often among the first places where those difficulties become visible. They also provide an important connection between learners, educators, families and eye-care professionals.
Good school eye health requires more than identifying a problem. It requires a pathway for what happens next.
Eligibility
We prioritise communities where access is limited.
Rolled Sleeves is designed primarily for South African schools and learners who may face practical barriers to accessing appropriate eye care.
Programme suitability may consider:
- access to existing eye-care services
- socioeconomic context
- identified learner needs
- school readiness
- geographic feasibility
- availability of eye-care partners
- programme funding and resources
Submitting an enquiry does not automatically guarantee that Rolled Sleeves can deliver a programme at the school.
What support can look like
Every programme begins with the needs of the school community.
Depending on the programme, available partners and identified needs, support may include:
Eye examinations
Comprehensive assessment by appropriately qualified professionals where indicated.
Prescription spectacles
Access to suitable correction where clinically prescribed and supported by the programme.
Low-vision support
Assessment or assistive visual tools where professionally recommended and available.
Eye-health education
Practical information for learners, educators and families.
Referral pathways
Connecting learners who require additional care with appropriate services.
Follow-through
Tracking agreed support, deliveries and outstanding needs beyond the outreach day.
Not every programme will contain every element.
Planning together
We start by understanding the school.
Before confirming an outreach, Rolled Sleeves works with the school to understand its circumstances, potential learner needs and what practical delivery would require.
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Initial enquiry
The school shares basic information about its community and needs.
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Programme assessment
Rolled Sleeves considers feasibility, available resources and appropriate partners.
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Planning
Roles, dates, consent, spaces, learner coordination and communication are agreed.
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Delivery
The programme takes place with the relevant school and professional partners.
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Follow-through
Outstanding support and referrals are tracked after the programme.
School partnership
Good delivery depends on preparation.
A programme contact
One staff member who can coordinate directly with the Foundation.
Learner coordination
Helping organise participating learners without disrupting the school unnecessarily.
Consent
Supporting appropriate parent or caregiver consent processes where required.
Suitable space
Providing practical areas for programme delivery.
Family communication
Helping ensure important information reaches parents or caregivers.
Follow-up
Supporting communication when learners require outstanding care, delivery or referral.
Our responsibility
We coordinate the pathway.
Rolled Sleeves works to bring together the practical elements required for the agreed programme.
Depending on the outreach, this may include:
- programme planning and coordination
- participating eye-care professionals
- screening infrastructure
- optical or low-vision partners
- education materials
- delivery tracking
- partner coordination
- programme documentation
- impact reporting
Clinical assessment and prescribing remain the responsibility of appropriately qualified eye-care professionals.
Follow-through
The outreach day is not automatically the end.
Some support may be completed immediately. Other care may require laboratory production, additional examination, referral or further coordination.
Rolled Sleeves works with participating schools and partners to document agreed next steps and track outstanding programme commitments.
We don't count an identified need as support delivered.
Clear expectations
What an enquiry does not guarantee.
- immediate programme availability
- that every learner will require or receive spectacles
- access to every form of specialist treatment
- that all care can be completed on the programme day
- ongoing clinical treatment by the Foundation itself
Availability depends on the programme, professional partners, funding and resources.
Programme funding
Financial barriers should not determine whether agreed support reaches a learner.
Rolled Sleeves aims to build programmes so that financial barriers do not prevent participating learners from accessing the agreed support.
How a programme is funded can vary. Support may come through corporate partners, foundations, eye-care partners, donated services or other programme resources.
Any financial expectations will be made clear to a school before a programme is confirmed.
Start a conversation
Tell us about your school community.
You do not need a fully developed programme proposal. We need enough information to understand the school, the potential need and whether Rolled Sleeves may be able to support an appropriate pathway.
Submitting an enquiry does not guarantee programme confirmation. Requests are reviewed against programme capacity, available partnerships, funding and identified need.
Fund a school connection
Are you a company or funder looking to support a school?
Rolled Sleeves also works with organisations interested in funding structured school-community vision programmes.
Explore partnerships