Six years ago

 

On July 7th 2014, 20 teammates and 30 students gathered for the Pioneer Winter Programme.  There were two programmes: we welcomed 15 Grade 00-1 “Young Pioneers”, and 15 Grade 6-8 “Pioneer Innovators”.  It was the first time teammates and students would come together to do what we do: grow innovators and leaders!   With that step, after many months of preparation and anticipation, our journey to develop innovators and leaders who will shape the African Century began in earnest.  With that coming together, Nova Pioneer was born.

One year ago, as Nova Pioneer turned 5, we celebrated our birthday for the first time.  What a year it has been since then!  It has been a year that has led us to reckon with both a health pandemic and a global social justice movement that could well define our generation.  It has been a year in which we have faced up to the challenges of learning to work, learn and live in new ways; and most importantly of staying true and committed to our mission, our students and each other through the most challenging stretch yet of our journey together.  It has also been a year of important achievements: the milestone of our first graduates, the growth of our students in all grades and teammates in all roles; and the welcoming of new campuses, teammates and students to the Novaneer family.  

 

On a personal note

 

I have never been as challenged or encouraged by our journey as I have been this past year.  I have felt greater extremes of strain and setback on the one hand, and gratitude and admiration on the other, than I have in any year of my life to date.  In my birthday message to teammates last year, I wrote that I consider our team and culture to have been our greatest achievements of our first five years.  I still do.  Our collective response to the unprecedented challenges of this year — while remaining committed to our mission and each other through it all — will be a close second!  Indeed, that too will also be a reflection of our team and culture.  

 

Where will the world be, where will we be?

 

One year from now on July 7th 2021?  How about July 7th 2022?  I hope that one year from now we will be able to look back with a sense of accomplishment and pride at the year we will have led, the storms we will have weathered, the scars we will have endured, and the triumphs we will have earned.  I hope that two years from now, with a world emerging from a long winter and looking forward with the exuberance and optimism of spring, we will once again pause and be able to take pride in our journey — our learning, our adaptations, our choices, our successes.  As we do so, on both of those days, I hope that we will be able to look around at ourselves and feel an ever-stronger sense of unity and bond amongst ourselves, and look within ourselves and feel affirmed by who we will have individually and collectively shown ourselves to be.  

From Paulo Coehlo’s The Alchemist — a book that met me at the right challenging moment in my life — I share with you: “No heart has ever suffered when it goes in search of its dreams, because every second of the search is a second’s encounter with God and with eternity.”  I am grateful for every moment of this journey together with you, and look forward to the many years ahead of us! 

Happy 6th birthday Novaneers 🙂

The excitement has been mounting as we finally welcomed back our learners onto campus. It is important to note however that even though teaching and learning have resumed on campus, we are continuing to teach on our online platform in order to cater to our parents and students who have opted for online learning.  

 

Preserving our culture

 

In the midst of washing our hands, sanitising and keeping the distance we are intentional about preserving our culture of community. We have, therefore, created opportunities for interactions between the learners who are back on campus and the learners at home. This is achieved through our live sessions which take place twice a week. Through these,  the learners at home get the opportunity to connect with the learners on campus through Google Hangouts. 

 

Feelings of anxiety exist

 

As a result of the COVID-19 lockdown, social restrictions and school closures – feelings of anxiety exist. To cater for these, we have developed a Social and Emotional Learning programme for all students – those who are back on campus and at home. Where teachers, together with our Dean of Students and Psychologist, offer lessons as well as emotional support for feelings associated with COVID-19.

Research published on 14 January 2020 in Frontiers in Psychology states that students need to spend as little as 10 minutes in a natural setting to feel happier and experience reduced anxiety levels. With this in mind, we have planned our lessons in ways which will be of greater benefit to the holistic being of our students. Our grade 6 students at Nova Pioneer, Ormonde have had their English lessons outdoors in our first week back on campus. This allowed them to draw inspiration from their surroundings for their nature poems.

 

Reggio inspired pedagogy

 

Reggio Emilia identifies a third teacher for students, in addition to teachers and parents – the environment. With the understanding that students have spent their school holidays in lockdown, we do not want them to feel boxed by keeping them in the classroom all the time. We thus make use of our Reggio inspired pedagogy which encourages student interactions with nature to establish connections with the natural environment.

Thank you to our management team, teachers and learning design team, who have worked tirelessly to ensure that the various needs of all students are met.

Connect with us on all of our social media platforms for updates on how we continue to provide the best educational experiences for Novaneers even during these uncertain times.

My name is Lesley Mpemba, I am a grade 12 learner (in a time of COVID-19) at Nova Pioneer. During my tenure at the school I have managed to achieve quite a bit. One achievement in particular that stands out as the highlight would be the establishing Nova Pioneer’s Spoken Word, a student led poets association, and helping host the school’s first-ever poetry slam.

 

 

Grade 12 in the Corona Pandemic

The year 2020 thus far, has been full of surprises, some good and some not so great. When the coronavirus hit SA it really raised news levels of anxiety for myself and my fellow peers. Not only that but it brought with it, fear, uncertainty and change. Even though change is the only constant, not many people are fond of it.

Before issuing a nationwide Level 5 lockdown, President Cyril Ramaposa had first announced mandatory school closures nationwide. This meant that we could not go on campus and instead, we had to engage in a programme completely foreign to us: social distancing and online learning. This involved the use of the internet for learning while in the “comfort of your own home”. As wonderful as it may sound, it wasn’t appealing to me. As comprehensive and robust as the programme is, I still don’t enjoy learning remotely. 

 

Longing for the ‘Normal’

Going back to school would be such a relief for me. Being a matriculant is already a stressful thing. We are worried about our end of year results, about matric farewells and most importantly, we worry about university applications. Going back to school will help us salvage what we have left of the academic year. 

What I look forward to the most is seeing my friends again. Although, we may not be able to interact the same way as before, just seeing their faces and hearing their voices is more than satisfying. I am truly looking forward to engaging in full class discussions and lessons, being able to ask questions and do cool activities while at campus. 

 

 

Leading through uncertainty

On the other hand, being part of the student leadership committee means that I have a responsibility to tend to the well-being of my fellow peers. In all honesty, this is a tremendous task.

Students need motivation, they need to know that everything is going to be alright, it is quite difficult for us to tell them that when we don’t know it for sure.

When we go back to school, there will be many safety precautions set in place to ensure that we are taken care of and to prevent the spread of COVID-19. As the leadership committee, we would have to see to it that student abides by the rules, it will take some getting used to.  Another frightening fact is that we will no longer be able to partake in sports and this includes, our Spoken Word poetry slams.

 

 

Looking Forward

Nova Pioneer encourages students to be innovative and creative, it is this very principle among 6 others that our school was built on. I trust my peers, I know how strong-willed they are, how smart they are, and how inspiring they can be. I have no doubt that through them, something special will be born.

 

We are in the middle of a global pandemic and news articles are increasingly grim and this ‘new normal’ is anxiety-inducing to say the least. So with the help of some pre-primary and primary schools students, we created our own news network. 

 

Welcome to Nova News

Joyous, creative news brought to you exclusively by our young Novaneers:

Thank you to Nosiphiwe (Grade 00),  Tameem (Grade 2) , Londiwe (Grade 1) and Liam (Grade 1) for your excellent reporting! 

Nova Pioneer secondary students Ungowakho Madolo and Tyler George use their creativity, through poetry and song respectively, to speak out on the global Black Lives Matter movement. Here’s what they had to say: 

 

Black lives matter

 

Poem by Ungowakho Madolo, Grade 8 Student, Nova Pioneer Ormonde

Since the spread of COVID-19, education has been changing rapidly. The restrictions of lockdown have urged schools to rethink their delivery channels, which has subsequently triggered a renewed sense of urgency for technological advancement within education.

At Nova Pioneer, we take pride in being a forward-thinking school network focused on teaching 21st century skills in an affordable way. This requires us to constantly think of better ways we can teach and deliver content to students that remains true to our strong instructional leadership culture.

 

Student-facing Google Classrooms

So in order to meet the need to now teach remotely, teachers across Nova Pioneer began creating their own Google Classrooms. Google Classrooms helps students and teachers organize assignments, boost collaboration, and foster better communication. This has enabled us to shift from physical classrooms to a digital classroom environment.

 

Class Assignments

Our grade 4 to 7 students have been completing their assignments completely digitally and submitting them back to teachers. What is amazing about this is that students are learning to use digital tools like Google Docs, Sheets and Slides, which are building essential collaboration and digital literacy skills for the future ways of working. What sets innovators apart from others is that they use technology as tools for active creation and collaboration, rather than only for passive consumption of content.

 

 

Weekly Live Check-Ins

Every week teachers are connecting with their students via Zoom or Google Meet making sure that teachers remain connected and in relationship with their students as they move through the curriculum at home.

 

Weekly Lesson Videos

“Technology alone does not transform education. It’s the school culture and the pedagogy that is transformative. The technology is merely an enabler for change”

One of the distinctive features of Nova Pioneer is our strong instructional leadership culture. Coupled with education technology tools from the G-Suite for Education, Nova Pioneer has been set up to deliver engaging learning experiences for all Novaneers remotely and at scale.

In partnership with our learning design team, teachers and instructional leaders, we are building out a library of rigorous enquiry-based lesson storyboards, which are helping guide our Novaneers through the Cambridge and CBC curriculum at home. We have been thrilled to see the engaging learning moments that have been happening across Novaneer homes!

Students enjoy receiving pre-recorded lesson videos every week per subject from a team of passionate teachers at each campus, which are delivered via their Google Classrooms.

 

Student Engagement & Personalization

As students watch the lesson videos, they are able to respond with emojis and leave comments to questions posed in the lesson video. This helps make our lessons active learning experiences. Another thing that has been spreading like wildfire is teachers creating their own personal avatars using the Bitmoji app and using them in lesson videos. Create your own by downloading the app: https://www.bitmoji.com/

 

Teacher-facing Google Classrooms

At Nova Pioneer, we have been getting classy with Google Classrooms for a couple years already. We have been using Google Classrooms to deliver lesson plans and materials to teachers across the continent.

We also use Google Classrooms to provide self-paced, video-based training for upskilling our teachers with EdTech tools.

 

 

Parent EdTech Support Sites

We understand that the shift to a completely digital environment can be challenging for our students and parents alike. So to help make this transition easier, we have built an EdTech Support Site with the necessary videos and instructions to help make the transition to Google Classrooms. You can visit this website by following this link: bit.ly/phase2parents

 

Preschoolers are digital natives, they don’t know a life without smartphones, tablets, and computers or cartoons on demand. Technology has changed our way of life including preschool games.

Coding isn’t just for computer whizzes or high school students – when introduced the right way is a fun interactive (and hands-on) way to learn the critical skills needed to prepare your students for a successful future in the tech world.

 

 

Bridging the Gap

Preschool educators who learn how to code can bridge the gap that still exists between the adult digital immigrants and the digital native children. Learning to code can help educators, parents and students who are not interested in pursuing computer programming, but would like to gain a better understanding of technology and how it’s shaping our world.

If preschool educators learn to code, they can show their own young learners how to master problem-solving skills by breaking larger tasks into a logical sequence of smaller steps, diagnosing errors and coming up with new approaches when necessary.

 

 

Five Reasons Educators Should Learn to Code:

1. Coding helps teach you problem-solving skills.
2. Coding helps you develop new ways of thinking by breaking up big problems into smaller steps.
3. Coding helps take the fear out of making mistakes or failing. It teaches persistence in finding a way to solve your problem.
4. Coding is fun and learning to code should be hands-on and collaborative
5. As a 21st Century skill, it is an opportunity to help prepare children for the digital future and inspire their creativity.

Bonus: This generation of kids is the most diverse, mobile generation ever. They immerse themselves in content, not just as consumers, but as creators. Through your newly learned skill in coding, you can fuel your learners’ creative confidence, self-expression, and curiosity.

We recently hosted preschool educators who experienced the joy of learning coding skills which they will teach to their little students. The program was a fun and interactive workshop which explored subjects such as how to teach coding, coding applications and more. The preschool educators who participated in the program were very happy to discover how easy it is to learn coding. They believe coding is a necessary skill that would add value to the future development of their learners.

 

Would you like to learn to code?

Join a FREE coding session hosted by one of Nova Pioneer’s campuses: 

• Boksburg – 30 May
• Ruimsig – 6 June

Reserve your seat by contacting a campus near you. Simply email marketing.sa@novapioneer.com

If you’re like me – the worst part about growing up was being forced to nap! Can you imagine cutting play time short – for a nap? But now, I see I shouldn’t have taken it for granted! Have you ever wondered why a nap is so important to your health and wellness? Let me assure you – you’re not alone! Many adults are unfamiliar with the importance of taking a nap, not just for themselves but for pre-schoolers as well! As a Grade 00 teacher, let me explain why our Nova Pioneer preschools nap, and why we would love for you to implement daily naps at home as well. Sleeping is a big part of living a healthy life, and it helps young children boost their mental, emotional and physical development. Unfortunately many children do not get their required amount of sleep during the night (11-12 hours) which is why most children need to sleep during the day as well.

“Ultimately my goal as a preschool teacher is to set my preschoolers up for success, and nap time is a good place to start.” – Teacher Emma Grade 00 Teacher at Nova Pioneer Midrand 

 

 

Napping helps growth

When little ones go through periods of rapid growth, they need more than just extra food. They need extra sleep too. A lot of their growth is happening while they’re in dreamland, so depriving them of that time impacts them physically as much as mentally. A missed nap or two may not seem like a big deal to friends and caregivers who see the child for an hour and then leave. But talk to the parents later that evening or the next day—when they’re dealing with extra fussiness, whining, and tantrum-throwing—and it’s a different story.

As explained by sleep scientist Dr. Monique LeBourgeouis, “Sleepy children are not able to cope with day-to-day challenges in their worlds.” Of course, this isn’t to say that parents who bypass naps every now and then are somehow robbing their little ones of the ability to learn, grow, emotionally engage, and sleep soundly at night. It just means that, when possible, napping should be prioritized—for the sake of parent and child alike.

 

Three reasons why we encourage naps at Nova Pioneer:

1. Naps can provide much-needed downtime for your child that aids both the physical and mental development that happens during early childhood. –
2. Nap time gives your child a break from the stimuli of learning and fun and keeps them from becoming overexerted. When a child is extremely tired, their mood changes and simply makes it harder for them to sleep at night.
3. Naps can help a child recharge from all the activity they have experienced during the day. The nap allows the brain to sort all the information they have learned and gives the cells an opportunity to develop faster! This helps the brain learn faster! So in summary, preschoolers nap because it is an opportunity for both their minds and their bodies to rest, recharge, reset and have a successful rest of the day.

Meet the new kid on the Nova Pioneer Block: Our Ruimsig campus. Nova Pioneer Ruimsig is located on the beautiful and quiet neighborhood of Amorosa Ext 27 in Ruimsig, Roodepoort.  The school opened its door to the Roodepoort communities in January this year.  It covers both pre-primary and primary education from Grade 000 to Grade 2, with a grade being added every year to ensure we grow with our little Novaneers.

 

 

The Campus

Set on an expansive 36 200m squared property, the school boasts an elegant building with modern contemporary architectural. Each element is intentionally designed to create a harmonious learning environment that stimulates curiosity and joy of learning for all the students. The glass wall class partitions opens up our school to form one open learning space. This is designed to promote collaborations and inspire confidence and creativity, while allowing positive distractions and cross-class engagements.

Our unique classrooms provide our little Novaneers with a platform to engage and learn in a group setup or as an individual. Our desks are arranged in 5 centers allowing group engagements and team participation of 6 students. This allows for different activities to take place and students to engage in the content being taught in a different way.

 

The Curriculum

The school offers an English medium Cambridge curriculum delivered using our unique enquiry-based learning approach. This ensures our Novaneers are learning to think and behave like leaders and innovators. Our lessons are designed to promote confidence and communication and all students work on solving real world problems. From ideation, prototyping to building and deploying their solution on campus and beyond. 

Robotics and coding are introduced to all students from as early as Grade R to prepare our Novaneers to thrive in a rapidly developing digital world and allows them to configure computer or robotics based solutions to shape the African century of automation and digital revolution.

 

 

The Facilities 

Our Campus boasts a variety of extra-curricular facilities such as a swimming pool available to all students from Grade R to participate in swimming lessons. We also have a basketball/Netball court, Tennis court and a soccer field where our kids are able to play, stay active and develop their talents while we carry opportunities to learn into the playground. The Nova Pioneer Ruimsig Campus is under the incredible leadership of Mrs Carla Hercules who has extensive experience and skills in school leadership.  

 

Contact Us 

Nono Masunyane is the school’s Brand and Admission Associate who will gladly welcome you to the school and assist you with everything you need from application, child assessment to enrolment.

You can contact Nono directly for a new application or more information about our school on 076 662 8616 or send an email to admissions.ruimsig@novapioneer.com.

As a growing network of schools, we needed to find innovative ways of engaging with families during a time of social and physical distance. As a result Nova Pioneer has adjusted their application process and created The Virtual Admissions Experience to answer all your enrolment needs from the safety and comfort of your home. 

 

 

For Parents: Our Virtual Open Day

Whether you have put in an application or not, you are welcome to attend the Nova Pioneer Virtual Open Day. Each Nova Pioneer campus in our network hosts their own open day via Google-meet.

• The first step is expressing interest in attending this event. You can RSVP right now using this form 
• One of our admissions associates will be in touch and send you a calendar invite with a link for our one-hour virtual experience.
• You will receive the two videos below as pre-event ‘homework’.
• At the Virtual Open Day, School Leadership will share details on our enquiry-based learning model, curriculum, student-teacher engagement, extra-curriculars, STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math) Focus, hybrid learning, health and safety protocols, behaviour management and much more.
• We encourage you to ask questions directly or through the chat box so that we can address them.

 

Want to add the Open Day Link to your Calendar?

Click on the name of your closest Nova Pioneer campus to do so. We have events every two weeks. 

Boksburg

Midrand

North Riding

Ormonde Primary

Paulshof

Ruimsig 

 

For Students: Our Virtual Assessment 

Nova Pioneer hosts entrance assessments for all new joiners. We do this because students come from a different learning environment and we would like to get a sense of what they have covered at school. It is a grade-level assessment and is not designed to trick the child, but rather allows us to get to know them. For the months of July and August we have waived our R350/R550 admissions fee, so make sure you book your virtual tour and assessment before the end of August. We host virtual assessments one learner at a time to ensure they can be comfortable and ask questions whenever they want to. We will give you and our school teams feedback so we know how we can support the student best. Here is what you can expect at a Nova Pioneer Virtual Assessment:

 

For Grade 00 and 000

This assessment is merely a meeting/introduction with a member of our school team. Please note: this is only observed at only some of our campuses.

 

For Grade R and 1

A trained admissions associate or teacher will send a calendar invite for a live virtual assessment session and engage directly with your child. You will need to gather some preparation material such as pencils. In the 30-45 minute session we assess comprehension, counting, matching objects and motor skills testings with the student. Please note, we have designed the assessment so that the learner feels like they are playing. 

 

For Grade 2, 3 and 4

This is also a live virtual engagement with a member of our team. This assessment is structured more like a test and has two parts: comprehension and math. We will send you a calendar invite and the two forms to download just before the time. The assessment is completed on the form directly (whether printed or on the computer). We will briefly engage with the student and observe them while they complete the assessment. The learner should have a notepad/paper and pen/pencil with them. As far as possible, parents need to give the students space to complete the test independently. Afterwards, you will need to email us the completed assessment for processing. You will receive feedback within 24 hours. 

 

Grade 5 and up

Students complete an intuitive online assessment, which is literacy and math based. This test assesses academic capability and potential. Once you have paid the admissions fee, you will receive an assessment link and a time to complete the assessment by. We do not have a team member observing this assessment and we trust that parents ensure learners complete the assessment independently and in a quiet space. 

 

 

The Next Steps

So you have attended a Virtual Open day and your child has completed a virtual assessment, what next? You will receive a letter of acceptance from our team which will also remind you submit documentation to our online parent portal. Our finance team then completes an affordability check, after which you will be asked to pay an enrolment fee to secure your child’s place. 

We are so excited to e-meet you and your young innovator and leader. We hope you enjoy your virtual experience with us as you become apart of the Nova Pioneer family!