helping underprivileged learners in sa find their way · a nedbank finance manager spent time with...
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2/9/2015 Helping underprivileged learners in SA find their way
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Helping underprivileged learners in SA find their wayJanuary 23, 2015 — Leave a Comment
“Real change onlycomes from beingactively involved incommunities and theenvironment.”
This was proven by aninspiring story where apowerful corporatecompany reached outto a struggling schooland more thantransformed it into ashining example ofsuccess, but alsospirited it into aleadership position
CLIMATE RESOURCES BIODIVERSITY INNOVATION
COMMUNITY GOVERNANCE RESPONSIBILITY
TRAINING
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inspiring other schools to follow.
I am talking about Nedbank’s involvement with Stoneridge Primary School in Alberton as part of theSymphonia Partners for Possibility (PfP) Programme. This programme establishes a partnership between abusiness leader and a school principal from an under-resourced school for minimum period of a year.
Since 2012, the partnership – which sees Nedbank’s Sustainability Manager, Nina Wellsted, working hand inhand with Stoneridge Principal, Richard Carelse – has enabled the transformation of the school and itslearners, educators and parents, into active and effective champions of change in the surroundingcommunities.
Problems galore
The learners come from various and highly diverse communities and stem from vastly different socio-economic backgrounds. They demonstrated a full spectrum of abilities and challenges across all subjectsoffered at Stoneridge.
Like many other schools in South Africa, Stoneridge faced many challenges, such as language barriers,below average reading skills, high levels of illiteracy, unmanageable class numbers, environmental neglect,bullying and substance abuse, a lack of learner discipline, a shortage of essential support services, non-payment of fees, no financial support for maintenance or sports facilities and minimal parental orcommunity involvement.
When approached to partner with Nina Wellsted, Richard jumped at the chance. Together, these twopassionate and driven individuals have spent the past 18 months learning valuable lessons from oneanother and realising Richard’s vision for the school he loves.
What is Partners for Possibility?
Symphonia seeks to mobilise citizens and communities to reclaim the responsibility for educating SouthAfrica’s children rather than leaving education solely in the hands of government.
This happens primarily by placing schools at the centre of communities, thereby ultimately strengtheningthe fabric of South African society. The programme facilitates experienced business and communityleaders to partner with school principals in under-resourced schools to strengthen and entrench theirleadership abilities. They then enrol the community to engage with the school, become involved in theeducation of their youth, and help each other address and overcome challenges.
Principals sharing challenges and solutions
In order to create strong leadership and a professional support a close-knit network of principals fromschools similar to Stoneridge was formed.
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They met on a regular basis, with their PfP Partners, to discuss their challenges, share the solutions thathave worked for them, and agree on best practices for the management and leadership of their schools.Outside of the formal meetings, this network of principals is in regular contact via telephone or email andserves as a valuable source of support, help and guidance for all those involved.
According to Richard, simply by being there for each other and learning from one another, the principalsinvolved in this leadership circle have already grown in confidence and leadership ability. They have thesecurity of knowing that they are not alone in the challenges they face, and this, combined with theknowledge they gain via the network, allows them to approach their roles with renewed vigour and passion.
Developing the principal as leader
Over the year Richard has grown in leadership stature and influence, not only within his school, but also inthe community as a whole.
Gaining confidence as a leader, his understanding of the need for focused prioritisation and his ability tomobilise active involvement and partnership by all stakeholders has allowed him to drive the transformationof the school. He also came to understand his role from an entrepreneurial point of view. As a direct resultof this paradigm shift, his role has been transformed from one in which he focused primarily on ‘putting outfires’ to one in which he acts as a visionary, leader and strong manager.
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This created a knock-on effect with Richard’s educators and school management team members, many ofwho now feel confident enough to step up as leaders in their own fields.“Thanks to my partnership with Nina, I am a more confident leader now. I lead from the front, by example,and with the knowledge that I am able to positively influence not just my staff and learners, but my entirecommunity.”
Empowered and effective educators
Nina recognised the value that could be unlocked by introducing the school’s leadership, management andgoverning bodies to the Personal Mastery & LEAN methodology practiced at Nedbank, so Richard agreed topilot the Nedbank Lean & Personal Mastery Academy at Stoneridge.
The sessions, facilitated through the Academy, covered Personal Mastery Skills including ‘RealityAwareness Conditioning’, ‘Belief Windows and Behaviour’ and ‘Cultivating a Winning Attitude’.Vital LEAN management skills, including ‘Eliminating the 8 types of waste’ and ‘Promoting value-addingactivities’, were also covered in the workshops.
Financial management training
A Nedbank Finance Manager spent time with the school’s finance team. While the initial intention was to introduce the team to basic financial management principles such as budgeting, project management andfundraising, the response was so positive and enthusiastic, that the session ended up delivering
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comprehensive financial management training, including in-depth strategic financial components – and ledto the development of a comprehensive three-year financial strategy for the school.
Thereafter the teaching body displayed greater accountability and teamwork in addition to the ‘domino’effect of motivating and mobilising these stakeholders to be highly proactive in initiating, managing andeven sourcing funding for a variety of school projects.
The positive impacts have included the successful application for Lotto funds to put towards new sportingfacilities and equipment, the promotion of the school Marimba band that competes successfully againstother top school bands (and application for funding for new equipment), the installation of a large coveredcarport on the premises, and various other maintenance and improvement initiatives that have contributedsignificantly to enhancing the learning environment and instilling pride in learners, educators and thebroader community.
Highly involved parent body & community
Before, Stoneridge had little to no involvement in the school by its parent body. Paper-basedcommunications, sent home via the learners, seldom reached the parents or generated any significantresponse. As a result, school functions received dismal parent attendance and dealing with incidents orunderperformance that needed parental involvement had become extremely difficult for the educators andprincipal.
Nina and Richard improved the two-way communication between school and parents, while also enhancingthe levels of engagement and the sense of partnership between parents and educators. This by means ofthe implementation of an effective bulk SMS communications system and a homework diary system thatrequires parents to check and sign off homework assignments daily.
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This has been very well received by the parents and parent evenings are enjoying significantly higher parentattendance, while daily communication lines between parents and the teachers are more open andconstructive.
Taking sustainability to school
As Nedbank Retail’s Sustainability Manager, Nina has extensive experience in making sustainability a realityin South African schools and communities through their Caring for Communities programme. Sheleveraged this experience, and the strong volunteer contingent of Nedbank staff to deliver a rainwaterharvesting tank, vegetable tunnel and solar cookers to Stoneridge.
Nedbank volunteers also spent a morning with the school’s grade 6 and 7 learners, educators and a numberof community members, teaching them the practicalities of sustainability to enable them to fully maintainthe new food-generating facilities the school now owns.
Readers are leaders & leaders are readers
“In addition to learning to read and understand better, these learners are gaining massive amounts ofconfidence in themselves and their own abilities and this has had a definite knock-on effect in terms ofbenefiting their performance in all their school subjects.” Richard Carelse
Learners now have valuable hands-on knowledge regarding sustainable living. The responsibility to manageand maintain these valuable facilities has also instilled renewed motivation and pride.
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The school has taken massive strides forward in terms of enhancing the quality of educational outcomesamongst its learners. A sustainable reading programme was implemented via the introduction of theStimulus Maxima Reading programme under the banner of ‘Readers are leaders and leaders are readers’.
“The learners have four reading lessons per week and their stellar improvement is matched only by theirundying enthusiasm for these learning experiences. I have watched them as they line up for their readinglessons and the excitement they show is incredible.” Nina Wellsted
Creating a positive learning environment has delivered many additional benefits to learners apart fromacademic improvements.
Bullying and intimidation addressed
For instance, bullying and intimidation had long been a challenge at the school and was inhibiting theeffectiveness of the education offered to learners. Richard and Nina introduced a highly effectivecustomised anonymous bullying reporting system. He then proactively addresses the situation with thealleged perpetrators and, if necessary, escalates this to their parents.
An on-going litter challenge negatively impacted the levels of pride that learners felt in their school, so theyintroduced a ‘Litter Blitz’ initiative to encourage learners to become litter-minded and be more proactive increating a cleaner, healthier, litter-free learning environment. Kicking off with a school-wide clean-upprogramme, it includes on-going awareness and education that is gradually causing a shift in mindsetamongst the learners. This will culminate eventually in a fully-fledged recycling initiative, generatingadditional income for the school. Now learners can regularly be seen picking up litter on their schoolgrounds. Some learners are even educating their families about keeping their environment clean.
Transformation all round
According to Nina this programme completely transformed her life. The friendship it allowed her to buildwith Richard has been life-changing and brought her to the realisation that she will never be truly satisfied inher life or career unless she is playing a role in improving and enhancing South Africa’s education.
This personal transformation in lives of the PfP partners is the true power of the programme. For principalsand schools, the programme offers a fundamental change to the way they think, act and operate, resultingin tangible and sustainable improvements within the relatively short space of just one year.
For the business partners, the programme gives back so much more than the effort it requires. And bygiving business individuals, like Nina, an understanding of the challenges our country’s schools face, andthe recognition that they have the ability – in their personal capacity and using the resources at theircompany’s disposal – to help address those challenges, PfP has the potential to bring SA business andeducation together for the future benefit of both, and the country as a whole.
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“I had no idea how much the programme would impact my life and my thinking. It has made me moredetermined than ever to contribute to making a difference in my corporate and personal capacity to ourcountry with so much potential. I am truly blessed to be in a corporate environment which has enabled meto use my influence towards something so meaningful.” Nina Wellsted
“Before Partners for Possibility, I used to come to school every day and just work by default. My partnershipwith Nina has changed this completely, and I now have a passion for what I do, a sense of responsibilityand accountability for my school and all the people involved in it, and a massive feeling of pride in what wehave all been able to accomplish – and will continue to accomplish in the future.” Richard Carelse
A programme that transforms both partners… and the future.
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