Distell School Turnaround Project
Taking place in 4 Western Cape schools in the Worcester area; Rawsonville, Roodewal, Slanghoek, and Avian Park Primary Schools; the partnership with Distell started in October 2016. With a three-year funding commitment from Distell, the School Turnaround Foundation (STF) is applying its methodology in these four schools, focusing on addressing learning gaps brought about by a lack of preschool education, and, additionally, the devastating deficits caused by Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD).
The aim of the methodology is to get our teachers to believe that all learners can be successful and to apply this belief to their teaching. We apply a methodology of training principals and teachers to be instructional leaders at their respective schools. In addition, we facilitate the implementation of Cognitive strategies like Maintaining Attention in Class: How to manage Inattention, Hyperactivity, Impulsivity, and Developing Working Memory. The STF has developed a turn-around methodology that successfully addresses serious problems in the public schooling system, such as the high dropout rate, mediocre learner outcomes, and dysfunctional schools.
There were notable improvements in levels of enthusiasm and motivation among principals, teachers, and learners; more efficient and effective use of the learning time available throughout the teaching year; a noticeable shift among learners from rote learning to conceptual understanding; and a demonstrable improvement in pass rates. There were positive outcomes of an intervention developed for learners with FASD. This is relevant as the prevalence of FASD in the four schools ranges from 18% to 26%.
The project with Distell ended in December 2021. The project was a huge success. Some notable achievements include
Acceptance of STF’s methodology and belief that “all learners can be successful".
Increases in the number of students passing at all 4 schools. For example, at Slanghoek for grade 1, the pass rate increased from 86.8% in 2014 to 92.0% in 2021.
Developing the school and its policies to be more efficient and effective. For example, we implemented a change from 30-minute lessons to 1-hour lessons to avoid losing precious time during frequent period changes.
Acceptance of STF’s methodology and belief that “all learners can be successful".
Increases in the number of students passing at all 4 schools. For example, at Slanghoek for grade 1, the pass rate increased from 86.8% in 2014 to 92.0% in 2021.
Developing the school and its policies to be more efficient and effective. For example, we implemented a change from 30-minute lessons to 1-hour lessons to avoid losing precious time during frequent period changes.
Forest Village Leadership Academy
Based in Eersterivier, Cape Town; the Forest Village Leadership Academy is a no fee school that was founded in 2016. When established, Forest Village was one of five collaborating schools that formed part of a new pilot program aimed at improving the quality of education at public schools.
An important part of our work at Forest Village is our Skills Mastery Assessment. At its core, skills mastery rejects the idea that some children can’t do maths. It recognises that by nurturing positive attitudes and building confidence, all children can achieve mastery. Mastering maths involves acquiring a deep and secure understanding of concepts that can be built on over time. Teaching for mastery describes the pedagogy, classroom practice and school structures that enable children to achieve mastery. It is underpinned by the five big ideas in teaching for mastery. These are coherence, representation and structure, mathematical thinking, fluency, and variation = content of mathematics.
Through strategic planning we implemented a plan for improvement, incorporating STF Skills Mastery Assessment and target setting. The results from each student will be analysed and strategies will be put in place for all students to get above 50% in all subjects.
After 6 months of Mathematics skills mastery, the grade 6s achieved 71% and Grade 3s achieved 60% in the Western Cape Education Department (WCED) 2022 Systemic Learner Assessments.
YearBeyond Academy Support Program
Unemployment remains one of South Africa’s biggest challenges. Yearbeyond was implemented to target the unemployment rate at a young age. Working with YearBeyond, our aim is to provide academic support to learners in grades 3 and 4, to strengthen and improve learners’ academic abilities and performance in numeracy and literacy. In addition, we provide unemployed matriculants and graduates, aged between 18-25 years old, with a personal and professional development program that includes valuable work experience.
YearBeyond has employed youth, who wish to pursue careers in the education industry, to tutor and assist learners with their school work. Research has shown the effectiveness of the Yearbeyond program. The learners involved, as well as the YeBoneers, have shown a greater clarity on future career options after the completion of the program.
The project included weekly site visits at schools both in and after school hours to observe the implementation and to mentor the Yeboneers. In addition, we held regular meetings with schools and also coordinated and facilitated the tutor’s reflection and training every Friday.
This project has been completed. Below are some of the ways in which we provided support.
We sent our staff member for training to be a mentor for training the interns.
20 interns were trained to continue working with learners in school and in an afternoon program.
There were 20 days of training (5 per term) with 18 Matrics.
We sent our staff member for training to be a mentor for training the interns.
20 interns were trained to continue working with learners in school and in an afternoon program.
There were 20 days of training (5 per term) with 18 Matrics.
Zwelethemba HS Intervention
Zwelethemba High School is located in the rural area of Worcester in the Western Cape. The learners live in a township characterized by high unemployment, low household income, and where the language of instruction is different from the language spoken at home. We worked with the school in 2017, started with only grade 8 learners. In 2021, we had our first class of matriculants.
Our purpose and passion were based on our intention to:
Challenge the normalization of failure in our country and change the mediocrity of a 30% pass for a subject
Believe that every learner should be successful, even in pure mathematics
Change and stabilize the processes and systems, not the people
Shift the culture from a ‘victimhood’ and ‘deficit’ mentality to empowerment and ownership
Deal with and eradicate the ‘dysfunctionality-by-design’ processes within schools
In order to achieve our goals with the school we implemented multiple interventions not limited to those mentioned here. We held Saturday classes for Maths and Geography in addition to weekday afternoon classes for Mathematics, Accounting, Geography and Physics. Additionally, we held three Mathematics camps for different student levels (top, average, struggling) where students received 14 hours specialized Mathematics training from STF and other retired Mathematics teachers. All learners had access to SISOPEN resources and those who did not have phones were provided phones through STF funding.
The work at the school was successful. Some of our successes are included below.
In 2022, the NSC (National Senior Certificate) Grade 12 results improved from 41% to 51.5%
Additionally, in 2022, we raised the results for grade 8 to 94.2%, grade 9 to 82.6%, grade 10 to 90.4% and grade 11 to 97.1%.
We formed a working relationship with local universities and colleges (UNISA and NMU). These universities provided much needed support through Professional Development, resources, school visits, research and other extra-curricular activities.
Our Robotics team excelled. They won gold at the Western Cape regionals competition before scooping bronze at the provincials. They were invited to compete in Johannesburg, and finishing in fourth they qualified to enter the US Open Robotics Championship that took place in Worcester, Massachusetts on 11 June 2023.
Langa High School
STF was asked to work in the school from June 2018 - is seen
as a transitional school, one of the oldest township schools in the Western
Cape. We implemented 50% of the 22 pillars of excellence. After, less
than 6 months the Grade 12 results went from 49% to 78% in 2018. In 2019
it dropped to 71%, and in 2020, due to COVID the results dropped to 63%. A
moderately successful intervention after two years, because we only implemented
50% of the 22 pillars.
Jupiter Primary School
Established in 2019 and seen as a transformational school in
Ocean View. We implemented all 22 pillars of excellence. Very successful in
terms of attaining 100% pass rate over the two years and implementing all the
strategies. Additionally, we are proud of the grade 3 achievement in
2019. Jupiter was the only school to complete the full Skills Mastery
Assessment Methodology. In the image below, Jupiter’s results are compared to
the other project schools.
Kraaifontein High School
Established in 2019 and seen as a transformational school. We
only implemented about 50% of the 22 pillars of excellence. Moderately
successful because the school had 80% pass rate over the two years.