Starbound Reading

About Starbound Reading: Nathalie Devenish-Doman and Ronel van der Berg

Co-Founder · Educator · Programme Developer

Nathalie Devenish-Doman

For 16 years, I have had the privilege of teaching children, but my understanding of learning to read became deeply personal when my own son started Grade 1 during the COVID-19 pandemic.

He had been fortunate to attend an exceptional pre-primary school and entered Grade 1 with a strong early literacy foundation. He knew his sounds, understood phonics and could build simple words. Yet even with that preparation, I saw how significant the next step was: moving from recognising sounds and decoding individual words to reading longer words, sentences and connected text with growing fluency and understanding.

As both a mom and an educator, that experience stayed with me. If the transition could feel substantial for a child who had been so well prepared, what did it look like for children who entered Grade 1 with less exposure to early literacy, fewer opportunities to practise, or gaps in their foundational skills?

That question changed the way I looked at reading support.

Over the years, alongside the important work already being done by classroom teachers, I increasingly began helping children strengthen their reading through additional, targeted support. Parents started approaching me for help — not only with young learners, but with children in higher grades too — and I saw how easily capable children could lose confidence when parts of the reading foundation had not yet become secure.

I have continued to refine the way I teach reading by drawing on my training in Montessori education, Grade R teaching and TEFL/TESOL, together with the strongest practices I have encountered across a variety of phonics programmes. I have combined those approaches with years of classroom experience, what I have learned from individual children, and what I have experienced as a parent myself.

That journey became the foundation for Launchpad, Starbound Reading’s structured extramural reading programme, and ultimately for the wider Starbound Reading Centre — a place where children can receive the additional practice, guidance and encouragement they need, wherever they are on their reading journey.

Because the goal is not simply to help a child read a word correctly. It is to help them build the skills and confidence to say:

I can do this. I am a reader.

Nathalie leads Starbound’s educational design, teaching methodology and facilitator standards.
Ronel leads business development, brand strategy, school partnerships and the parent experience.

Co-Founder · Programme Presenter · Business & Growth Strategist

Ronel van der Berg

There are very few things more satisfying to me than watching someone suddenly realise, “I can do this.”

Throughout my life and career, I have always been drawn to people — how they learn, what makes them grow, what holds them back, and what can happen when someone gives them the right tools and believes they are capable of using them.

Perhaps that is also why language has always mattered to me. I studied English Studies and linguistics, and although my career took me elsewhere, I never lost my fascination with words and what they allow us to do. We use them to understand, to question, to imagine, to connect, to learn and eventually to find our own voice.

Becoming a mom gave that a completely different meaning.

Watching my own child learn to read made me realise what an extraordinary gift literacy really is. Reading is one of those rare things we can teach a child today that they can carry with them for the rest of their life. No one can take it away from them, and almost everything they go on to learn becomes more accessible because of it.

That is what excites me about Starbound.

I love sitting with a child, figuring out what they understand, finding the place where things stop making sense and then looking for another way in. I love the small victories — the word they suddenly recognise, the sentence they manage on their own, the look on their face when they realise they didn’t need help this time.

My background in language, assessment, people development and programme design certainly influences the way I work, but ultimately my reason for being here is much simpler.

If I can help a child learn something today that will still belong to them when they are 10, 20, 40 or 80 years old, that feels like something worth doing.

Our why

We believe every child has God-given potential and a future worth investing in.

For us, Starbound is kingdom work: an opportunity to honour God by serving children and families with love, patience and purpose. Helping a child find confidence, discover their abilities and access the possibilities that reading opens is a practical expression of our faith.

Our Christian values guide how we teach, encourage and build relationships—with kindness, integrity and respect for each child’s dignity.

Readers from all backgrounds and beliefs are warmly welcomed; every family deserves to feel valued, respected and supported.

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One confident reader, one opened world and one extraordinary journey at a time.

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