Transcript Khanya School

Khanya School
The evolving story behind Herne Hill
School’s “adopted” sister school
Introduction
• At the end of 2005, Herne Hill School formed an allegiance with
Khanya Primary School, a state school in Cape Town
• Our aim has been to form long lasting links which:
– Support this desperately poor school
– Provide benefits to our children such as making them more
appreciative of the material comfort they enjoy and aware of the
world they live in
• This presentation aims to:
– Introduce Khanya Primary School
– Explain the history of our relationship with them
– Describe the most important support initiatives to date (as of
Autumn 2009), which have been made possible through superb
fundraising efforts and help by our parent association the Friends
of Herne Hill School (FHHS or ‘the Friends’)
Khanya Primary School is a public state
school in Cape Town, South Africa
Cape Town
It started in 2004 as a split-off from an
overcrowded school in Samora Machel, Philippi
Xhosa is the native language in the area
Richard, the Principal, and his Deputy Linda,
have been leading it from the outset
The nearest available facility was in a
remote and isolated youth reformatory
As a result, all children had to come to
school by school bus (about 30 min. ride)
Since Khanya quickly grew to nearly
1’000 “learners”…
Khanya in Nov. 2005
Grades
Age
Children
Adults
Class sizes
1-7
6 - 13+
983 learners
24 educators
0 assistants
5 support staff
40 - 90
… the facilities became vastly overcrowded,
with frequently 60+ children per classroom
In Jan. 2006, Khanya was moved to the
better facilities of a school in the coloured
and much wealthier area of Mitchell’s Plain
Buckingham Primary School was relocated because it had only about
350 learners and was using only one of the school’s two wings
Although the children still need to
be bused to school…
… the facilities are more accessible
and much more spacious
However, this is not yet Khanya’s long-term home,
which remains an unresolved issue
The vast majority of children live
in shack dwellings…
… as about two-thirds of their parents
are unemployed and therefore very poor
An entire family lives in such a
dwelling, usually without heating
Only a small fraction of children live
in solid brick houses such as these
By contrast, the school is a safe haven where
the children proudly wear their uniforms…
…and where their learning amounts
to a beacon of hope
The children work hard and take
school seriously
Typical day for this 7-grader
• Get up at 5:30 a.m.
• Eat breakfast, wash, brush
teeth, put on school uniform
• Walk to bus stop at 6:40 a.m.
• Bus leaves at 7:10 a.m. and gets
to school at 7:40 a.m.
• School from 8 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.
• Take bus back home, change,
eat, wash dishes
• Homework
• Watch TV and play with
friends
From Reception through Grade 3, teaching is
essentially in Xhosa with form teachers
From Grade 4, teaching is
essentially in English and by subject
The children are excellent dancers
They also sing beautifully
Today, Khanya has nearly 1’400 learners for
30 educators – about five times more than
Herne Hill for similar staff numbers
Grades
Age
Children
Adults
Class sizes
Khanya
Herne Hill
Reception - 7
Nursery – Year 2
5 - 13+
3–7
1’400 learners
260 pupils
29 educators
5 assistants
5 support staff
20+ teachers
20+ assistants
5 support staff
40 - 55
16 - 24
A major improvement since 2007 has been
the provision of a hot rice and beans lunch by
the Dept. of Health’s
This was initially only available for the neediest children
but has recently been extended to cover all learners
The children eat standing or sitting outside
After lunch, they wash their plate and spoon
and keep them in the classroom
Another important and very recent improvement
(2009) has been the establishment of a modern
computer lab by the Dept. of Education
It is fitted with alarm, air conditioning and 28 work
stations enabling entire classes to be accomodated
(through double seating per workstation)
Herne Hill School’s link with Khanya started in
fall 2005 with the help of School-Aid
Origin of our relationship with Khanya Primary School
• Regular requests from parent
association FHHS to make school
in 3rd world charity of the year
• Definition of criteria (age range,
size, ethos, location, etc.) and
briefing thereof to School-Aid
• School-Aid visit in Africa identifies
www.school-aid.org
Supporting schools in
emerging countries
Khanya as ideal candidate in June 2005
• FHHS adopt Khanya as charity of the year and launch of
relationship through visit by Dominik in Nov. 2005
From the outset, we felt the Herne Hill children
would also greatly benefit from this link
• Awareness of their own relative material wealth and
thankfulness for what they have
• Realisation that material wealth is not all that matters
– The Khanya children can be just as talented and happy in spite
of their poverty
– Friendships and human bonds are also very important
• An additional way to experience our “loving, caring” ethos and
the satisfaction that comes from helping and giving
• Important element of becoming “responsible citizens of our
world community”, together with ecological awareness,
appreciating nature, etc.
• Learning about Africa and the wider world
• Appreciation of the importance of education and how
seriously the Khanya children take it
Our support for and links with Khanya
broadly falls into three categories:
Material support (donations & funds)
Secondary school bursaries
Emotional support
& friendship
Our material support started with donations of
used books and stationary, which have been
shipped through School-Aid
This has enabled library corners in
every Khanya classroom
These books will also form the initial content of the new school
library, which is being established with our help
We have also sent curriculum books, which
the educators appreciate greatly
In 2006 and 2007, the Friends equipped the
newly founded Reception classes, for which there
were no resources whatsoever, with furniture…
… and all educational resources
The Friends also contributed for several
months to the first Reception teacher’s salary
until it could be included in Khanya’s budget
Other support by the Friends included buying a
science kit in 2006 and replenishing it in 2009
As a result, the dedicated science teacher has
had resources other than blackboard and chalk
The funds raised by the Friends have enabled
further material support for which Khanya
would have had no funds
• Purchase of an electronic keyboard and funding for a piano
accompanist for the school’s girls choir
• Purchase of drums and a marimba
• Support for sports and other clubs through purchases of kits
and equipment for netball, soccer and rugby and a set of
“drummies” (majorettes) uniforms
• Substantial support for IT and communications (although
keeping all up and running has remained challenging)
–
–
–
–
Computers and internet for the office
Projector and internet connection for the computer lab
Webcams and microphones for Skype connections
Digital video camera with the intent of exchanging footage
With the graduating class of Dec. 2007, we launched
our own bursary scheme to annually support six gifted
and deserving learners through secondary school
Bursary scheme outline
•
Six learners are chosen annually from the three Grade 7 classes based on:
•
The chosen bursaries all move on to local state schools, so, there are no
school fees and transport costs to pay – only the uniform, excursions and
stationery; this amounts to about £80 per bursary per year
•
This is provided for all six years of secondary school as long as the
bursaries continue to achieve good grades and stay in touch with Khanya
School
•
According to Khanya, the scheme has had a major motivational boost for
many learners – not just in Grade 7
•
We hope that some of our bursaries will eventually go to university and be
able to make a difference in their community, thereby “closing the loop” of
our support from the first school year through the entire education cycle
•
•
•
Academic performance and potential
Financial need
Good natured and giving personality
The Dec. 2007 pilot proved successful, and
we added six more bursaries in Dec. 2008
Yanga and Unathi, two of our Dec. 2008 bursaries, with their certificates and
welcome letters – Who knows, maybe one of them will one day become a
Herne Hill School gap assistant?
Beyond material support and our bursary
scheme, our emotional support appears to be
just as important
• “We thank the learners, parents and educators of
Herne Hill School from the bottom of our heart – not
just for your donations and financial help but also for
your emotional support” Richard Nogqala, Principal
• “You have brought us hope!” Linda Mahote, Deputy
Principal
• “It is reassuring to know that we have friends in the
UK who care. We’re so lucky to have you!” Sean,
Head of Department
The monthlong visit by Linda Mahote
(Khanya’s Deputy Principal) in June 2009 has
further deepened these bonds of friendship
Linda on her last day at Herne Hill singing and dancing
with Mrs Beales, Mrs Telford, Mrs Irby and Mr Carles
One of our ongoing priorities is to
expand the interactions and exposures
to Khanya for our children
• Learning on South Africa and Khanya embedded in the
curriculum
• Visits by Dominik to all Pre-Prep classes to talk about
Khanya School
• Broadband to improve e-mail communication and
exchange of digital pictures and to enable Skype calls
• Correspondence between our Year 2 and their Grade
4 classes
To conclude, we are proud to be
associated with these friendly, …
… confident, …
… studious, …
… responsible, …
… happy, …
… and lively …
… boys …
… and girls
They deserve and appreciate our help
Thank you so much
for supporting them!