We join the worldwide community in celebrating and thanking all the educators in our affiliated schools here in the Eastern Cape, who teach, inspire and care for the youth of our town. Our country’s future leaders are nurtured and shaped by you!
Today QEF was honoured to take its first online seat at the long-standing SA Extraordinary Schools Coalition of Bridge.We joined fellow education innovation organisations like TCF Pakistan, Teach The Nation (SA), Global Teachers Institute, The Centre of Science and Technoogy (COSAT) (Khayelitsha), Inanda Seminary and Leap Science and Maths Schools.
The focus of our discussion was to explore the programmatic innovations available in South Africa – and internationally – to ensure that learners thrive in the 4IR.
QEF supports a growing network of contrasting and collaborating schools in our rural South African town of Komani (formerly known as Queenstown), to build resilience and innovation together, through technological advancements, cost efficiencies and academic Communities of Practice.
It was good to be surrounded by like-minded organisations.
Thank you Bridge!
If you are interested in more detail, you are welcome to read Meeting Highlights published by Bridge.
We congratulate Vicki Du Preez on her appointment as Executive Director to the Get Ahead Schools, one of QEF’s Overarching Digital Network (ODN) subscribers. We wish you every success in your new duties and look forward to your input on all collaboration decisions and opportunities!
For the past three years, Vicki has held the role of Head of Corporate and Community Relations and Fundraising where she was responsible for developing the brand of the Get Ahead Schools in the Komani community, along with fundraising and stakeholder engagement.
Her leadership in Komani’s school community also extends to being the Chair of the School Governing Body of Queenstown Girls’ High School and Vicki also serves as a member of QEF’s Digital Executive Committee.
We congratulate Vicki Du Preez on her appointment as Executive Director to the Get Ahead Schools, one of QEF’s Overarching Digital Network (ODN) subscribers. We wish you every success in your new duties and look forward to your input on all collaboration decisions and opportunities!
The dramatic impact on schools of the Covid19 lockdown, as well as the teething issues of launching QEF’s Overarching Digital (OA) network and server design has prompted Johan Bester and Stephan Coetzer, our IT Managers, to reassess our initial plans.
Research and Development
Ongoing research and re-design will always be part and parcel of our ensuring we have a robust, future proof network. But during the 1st phase of our OA Network deployment, we found bandwidth limitations between our schools and off site backup location to be a deterring factor in proceeding with the current Network roll-out plan. It has been challenging and exciting to reassess and totally redesign our network to stabilise it and fulfil our obligations to our subscriber schools.
Network Design
We are designing a modular system to ensure that we eliminate copying each school’s data as far as possible; rather moving it directly across to The Hub in the most cost efficient way possible. This should eliminate the challenges of transferring vast amounts of data through both the internet and intranet channels. We await the feedback from School Governing Bodies on our proposed Network upgrade.
Server Design
Experience has shown that finance servers and the Department of Basic Education’s SAM servers are vulnerable to hackers. Building a new Fin Server is therefore necessary. We have also secured the Bursars’ laptops of Stanford Lake College and Balmoral Girls’ Primary School by ensuring that logins happen directly through the dedicated Virtual Private Network (VPN). The SAMS Server has been secured already for all schools, with the FIN server to follow.
Security
Privacy and security in a school environment is paramount. Staff and students need only see what they must. Bear in mind that we need to secure over a 1000 devices between our subscriber schools. We are therefore constantly evolving and eliminating the opportunity for security breaches to our Network.
During the Covid19 lockdown one of our schools got severely hacked to the extent that even our backup Google Drive was left encrypted. In conclusion we now know that Google Drive is not sufficient as our schools’ primary backup solution. We have therefore re-designed our backup solution to eliminate threats. Most of the relevant equipment has been delivered and this new build will start today, June 15, 2020.
Training
With the need for teachers to deliver blended learning, many of our schools have opted for the Google Classroom platform. We have been able to provided Girls’ High School, Balmoral Girls’ Primary School and Get Ahead Project Queenstown (soon to be trained) with training on how to use the platform for the exchange of files between teachers and learners.
This week the Director of the Eastern Cape Department of Education’s (ECDoE’s) Chris Hani West District Mr N. De Bruyn, who governs 398 schools within his district and is well known for his strong no-nonsense leadership style, said he was excited by what he heard and saw of the Queenstown Education Foundation (QEF) and 11 of its affiliate schools’ principals, all members of the historic Queenstown Principals Forum, and encouraged them to intensify their struggle for quality education and put their town firmly on the map!
The Forum includes both government and independent schools. At its informal event on Monday 18th November, the Forum’s Chairman Mr Lester Pike, offered Mr de Bruyn the Forum’s support as partners and allies in the quest for discipline and value-led education that he leads in the district. In turn the District Director encouraged all principals to go from strength to strength and move heaven and earth to involve more stakeholders, especially parents. He also challenged the Forum to look for ways to include Principals of under-resourced and dysfunctional schools, taking them under its wing.
Though no stranger to the all-round excellent achievements and facilities of the high functioning schools in his district, Mr De Bruyn heard from each principal about their ethos and efforts to become more inclusive. Many described programmes they have initiated to work with less privileged schools around them.
QEF’s stakeholder communication manager Jacqueline Wijtenburg briefed him on its overarching vision and current activities as it strives to create a universally-recognised centre of educational excellence in the country, driven by a nucleus of public and private schools, all intent on being agents for the development of our country’s future leadership.
In his closing remarks, Mr De Bruyn stressed that “Where you are struggling, stakeholders will move mountains. Schools belong to the community and where parents are involved, schools excel.”
He added that the district is not yet where it’s meant to be and especially noted how important it is for schools promote language efficiency.
“Let other schools learn from you. Intensify your struggle for quality education,” he concluded.
A group of 20 principals and teachers from QEF’s affiliate schools in the Eastern Cape town of Komani sat side by side and had a bit of fun this afternoon in the Makerspace class of the Queenstown Get Ahead Project, learning first-hand just what it takes to enhance cross-curricular teaching – and learning – in one class, with STEAM subjects.
Read more about GAP’s Makerspace from our invitation to all QEF affiliate schools published last week.
The afternoon event was designed by Makerspace teacher Sarah-Lee Frewen and was intended by QEF to grow collaboration among QEF’s affiliate schools which are fast looking to each other for internationally-inspired but home-grown paedogogical methodologies to help their learners integrate the skills they need to navigate through the challenges and opportunities of the 4th Industrial Revolution. The delegates were tasked with building an elevated structure, in budget, that would use gravity to transport a marble. Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Maths skills were needed by the delegates to complete the assignment against the clock.
The group of 20 people who attended included Mariette Visser, Executive Director of the Get Ahead Project schools, Pieter Steyn, Principal of GAP College and Bonnie Thomas, Principal of GAP Whittlesea. They were joined by other QEF-affiliate school principals Mr Janse van der Ryst of Queen’s College Boys’ High School, Mr Lester Pike of Queen’s College Boys’ Primary School and Mrs Bianca Le Roux of Balmoral Girls’ Primary School and Mr Henco Serfontein of Laerskool Hangklip. Teachers from Queenstown Girls’ High School and Southbourne Primary School, as well as Hoerskool Hangklip High School, also attended. A delegation from Khululeka, a non-profit organisation that specialises in resources and training in Early Childhood Development, also attended. Rounding off the guest list was Roderick Sutton, Chairman of QEF and Jacqueline Wijtenburg its General Manager. Last but not least was Allister van Schoor, Chair of QEF’s Digital Committee.
Feedback from all who participated was a good indication that the session was thought provoking and had presented a few ideas to play with. No doubt their relationships with one another were strengthened too.
Thank you QGAP for sharing your inspiration with us all!
Educational institutes which intend to give their learners everything they need to thrive in our fast-paced 4th Industrial Revolution (4IR), have begun creating innovative classrooms like Makerspace in Queenstown of the Eastern Cape, South Africa.
A Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM) educational curriculum has been developing in the international arena since 2002. Over the last three years, it has filtered into South Africa. Common STEM projects include, amongst others, bridge building and basic computer programming. More recently, Art and Robotics have been included, giving rise to the acronym STREAM.
Last month Minister Angie Motshekga announced that her department of Basic Education has developed a Coding and Robotics curriculum for Grade R to Grade 3 learners as well as Grade 7s, which she says, will be in place in January 2020. However, as you know, the Computer Applications Technology (CAT) curriculum is currently only for Grades 10, 11 and 12. So how do schools bridge the gap?
QEF has identified Queenstown Get Ahead Project’s (QGAP) Makerspace as an example of an effective enrichment programme.
We are excited to invite all heads of schools and interested teachers from QEF affiliate schools to visit QGAP’s innovative Makerspace class. This is an opportunity for us to further develop and grow collaboration among our affiliate schools. (Please see the attached invitation for Monday, 26 August between 14:30 – 15:30.)
Get Ahead Project embarked on their STEAM journey in 2016 and have done extensive professional development with their staff in order to equip their teachers with the necessary skills for technology integration and cross-curricular teaching.
The Makerspace is a designated area where DIY meets education. It is where students have an opportunity to explore their own interests, learn to use tools and materials, both physical and virtual, and develop creative projects. Playful learning helps students to make learning connections and solve real-world problems, providing context for their learning.
This space empower students, encouraging a shift from being passive consumers of knowledge and information to active creators and innovators. The Makerspace offers authentic learning experiences connected to the real world, engaging students in the ‘big picture’. The focus is not necessarily on the end product, but on the process involved during the design and construction phases.
According to Makerspace teacher, Sarah-Lee Frewen, this innovative room has the following benefits to the students:
QEF recognises GAP as leading the field for how it has attracted interest and energy to their space and is delighted to make it possible for you to visit.
QEF DIGITAL MEMBER SCHOOLS are Queen’s College Boys’ High School, Queen’s College Boys’ Primary School, Queenstown Girls’ High School, Balmoral Girls’ Primary School and Laerskool Hangklip.
QEF AFFILIATE SCHOOLS include: Hoërskool Hangklip High School , Southbourne Primary School, Get Ahead Project, Get Ahead College, Get Ahead Project Whitlesea, Hexagon High School and Stepping Stone Primary School.
A 200-strong group of school leaders and teachers from 12 public and private schools of #Komani (formerly known as #Queenstown) gathered this week to invest in their Continuing Professional Development (CPD).
The gathering was arranged by the Queenstown Education Foundation NPC (#QEF) and is just one indicator demonstrating how it is building a universally-recognisable centre of educational excellence in the Eastern Cape of South Africa. Each of the participating schools were invited by QEF to participate, due to their ongoing association with the Principal’s Forum.
CPD has been shown to increase teacher motivation, confidence and commitment. Learning new skills and applying them in the classroom leads to more stimulating and effective teaching environments.
Bizskills came on board in early 2019 as QEF’s trusted partner in presenting innovative SACE-accredited workshops to #QEF-affiliate schools, running them over three separate times of the year. These sessions run on 12 and 13 August covered the topics of Emotional Intelligence, Leadership and Influence and Communication Strategies. Five more sessions will follow later this year. The first two sessions of the year were run in March.
Four private schools participated, as well as nine public fee-paying schools of the ECDOE – Eastern Cape Department Of Education. These included Queen’s College Boys’ Primary School, Queen’s College Boys’ High School, Queenstown Girls’ High School, Balmoral Girls’ Primary School, Get Ahead College, Get Ahead Project, Get Ahead Project Whittlesea, Laerskool Hangklip, Hoërskool Hangklip High School, Southbourne Primary School, Queenstown, Stepping Stone Junior School and Hexagon High School.
Queen’s College Boys’ Primary School hosted the large group of teachers in its spacious hall, well known for its architectural beauty. Another QEF-affiliated school will take a turn to host the next series.
