Nova Pioneer exists to thoroughly reimagine school and deliver a world-class learning experience to tens of thousands of students across the continent. Our learning experience is based on three core beliefs that guide our learning experience.

 

Traditional learning methods don’t inspire

Too often, in too many places around the globe, school isn’t exciting for children. There are few greater tragedies when institutions that should be igniting our dreams and turning us into lifelong learners instead leave students feeling bored, disempowered, inadequate, and underprepared. So the question is, how can schools deliver great teaching and how can we inspire students to enjoy their learning experience?

Below are Nova Pioneer’s core beliefs for great teaching and learning:

 

Replacing rote learning with enquiry-based learning

Instead of just memorizing and regurgitating lots of content, we believe that students should learn by asking questions, creating things, experiencing the joy of discovery, practicing with peers, and getting tons of feedback. We are not building schools full of classrooms where teachers lecture and students furiously take notes. We put students at the center of their own curiosity-fueled learning.

 

Developing the whole child

Too many schools see their job as developing “smart kids” and focus narrowly on building a student’s knowledge base and academic skills. While that is critically important, we hold ourselves accountable to a more holistic “Vision of a Novaneer”: we want to deeply develop our students’ character, capabilities and connection. Learn more about our “Vision of a Novaneer” 

 

We have used coaching groups, leadership class, innovation block, and other experiences to provide students the time and space to explore issues, passions and struggles outside the traditional classroom experience. 

 

Readiness for life beyond exams

Traditionally schools see their job as—and measures their success based on—students’ exam performance. We define our success based on a larger set of longer-term goals; we expect our students to excel in exams and attend great universities, build innovations and art, launch new companies, and impact their communities.

Ultimately, we want our students to become shapers of a world they envision rather than takers of the world they inherit. To this end, we will engage with our students long after graduation, learning from the struggles that our early alumni encounter and using those lessons to help better prepare our current students.

 

Closely tied to these core beliefs are strong convictions we hold about both students and teachers. Our impact begins with these mindsets. It is critical that you embrace these visions of students and teachers, regardless of your role at Nova Pioneer.

 

Students

We believe our students have boundless potential and are capable of much more at a much earlier age than most people think. We therefore hold them to the highest expectations. We encourage them to take risks. We give them constant feedback. Yet when things go wrong  we don’t blame them: if students are not learning enough, we take responsibility and work to find solutions to better support them. We see young people as fundamentally capable—capable of impacting communities, of impacting others, and of producing excellent work. 

 

Teachers

Our teachers are not there to lecture and to dump knowledge on students. We ask our teachers to release control so students are doing the lion’s share of the thinking and talking, putting them in the driver’s seat of their own learning. When you walk into a great Nova Pioneer classroom, you will see order, but you won’t see the teacher dominating.

Students will be passionately discussing a topic, collaborating on small group work, and actively and eagerly participating. The teacher will be inspiring curiosity, asking probing questions, and challenging students’ thinking—all the while coaching and giving feedback. And you will see a classroom culture that reinforces great learning: the powerful mix of joy, highest expectations, and safety that encourages students to take risks and push themselves.

 

Novaneers develop the deep, unshakable knowledge that they are fundamentally capable of learning and growing in anything they dedicate themselves to. This knowledge is a greater resource than any exam result and prepares our graduates to be optimistic, self-assured innovators and leaders throughout their lives.

A distinguishing feature of Nova Pioneer can be seen in how we make the learning student-centred, to encourage student voice and critical thinking, and to encourage collaboration amongst students. This is evident in our enquiry-based method of teaching, as well as in the physical spaces in which this learning occurs.  

The school’s academic team works very closely with the Nova Pioneer Property Company in defining how the schools look and feel. The continuous collaboration between the two ensures that the buildings helps facilitate the learning process for every Novaneer.

 

Space for Free Play 

We are intentional about creating the kind of space that encourages collaboration between students and allows for rich exploration through free play. 

Free play is unstructured, voluntary, child-initiated activity that allows children to develop their imaginations while exploring and experiencing the world around them. 

It is the spontaneous play that comes from children’s natural curiosity, love of discovery, and enthusiasm.

 

Light and Space

We believe in transparency in everything that we do. This is represented in the design of our buildings through the use of a lot of glass to further reinforce this.

Glass doors encourage collaboration between different classes as both students and teachers can move between the classes and, at times, the doors can be opened to create a bigger space for project work or assemblies and the like.  That flexibility also creates efficiency in the use of space.

We utilise natural lighting techniques in our design of the classrooms. This not only saves on energy but it also creates a productive and joyful atmosphere for our students.

 

Learning on the playground

The facilities and playground are also considered as part of the school’s learning experience.

Sensory playgrounds integrate fun and engaging playground equipment that all children can enjoy, and provides an interactive environment that facilitates a physical, social and sensory experience that everyone can share together.

A sensory playground is one that contains playground equipment/elements that stimulate one of the seven senses – touch, movement, smell, taste, sight, hearing and balance.

Did you know that Nova Pioneer is a Cambridge accredited institution? Did you know that Nova Pioneer parents pay a fraction of the cost of most private schools offering the Cambridge Curriculum in South Africa? 

This is because one of the school’s imperatives is to keep fees accessible to the greatest number of families without compromising on the quality of education received at all its campuses.

 

A growing network

Nova Pioneer currently operates 13 schools across both East and South Africa. Every year Nova Pioneer grows its network so that it can serve more students, progressively working towards actualising the mission of developing generations of innovators and leaders who will shape the African century.  

Nova Pioneer’s vision is to do that through a large scale network of excellent and accessible schools that educate 100,000+ students across Africa. 

 

Our Vision Imperatives: The Vision Triangle

Three imperatives are embedded at the heart of our vision: (1) we must deliver exceptional quality to our students; (2) we must scale rapidly to reach more students; and (3) we must keep our fees accessible to the greatest number of families. 

These goals have also shaped our organisational structure in several ways. 

 

We are a social enterprise, a “for-purpose, for-profit”

We are for-purpose because we exist only to pursue our mission, not for money. At the same time, we know from decades of experience that money is the greatest impediment to spreading great education across Africa. 

The for-profit element of our structure enables us to raise the large amount of funding we need to rapidly scale; it is very difficult to secure enough purely philanthropic financing to fuel our vision. 

 

We have highly consistent practices across our entire network of schools

Our goal is for students to have largely the same experience whether they are studying in Lagos or Johannesburg or Nairobi. 

This focus on consistency is critical to enabling us to provide high quality even as we grow rapidly – new schools can rely on existing tools and rigorously designed and tested curriculum rather than building from scratch. 

And, it helps us provide that exceptional quality at a lower cost.

Click here to see our fees

You are invited to be part of shaping the African Century. By joining Nova Pioneer, you can become a part of a growing Pan-African school network with an internationally accredited curriculum. 

 

Africa is rising

The coming era should be the African Century, the time when the continent realizes its full potential and leads the world in prosperity and innovation. 

That potential transformation is fueled by one resource – the continent’s youth. By 2030, there will be more young people entering the workforce across Africa than the rest of the world combined. 

While other regions struggle with graying populations, Africa will be buoyed by a surge in youthful energy.

Nova Pioneer exists to play a central role in that story of the new Africa. To translate that youth bulge into historic growth, African countries need to provide their next generations with great education, to develop an army of youth with the skills and opportunities to be innovators, job creators, and responsible leaders in every sector of society. 

Nova Pioneer aims to be a guiding light for that education imperative. We will support tens of thousands of students each year to realise their potential and shape their countries and, in doing so, we will also inspire change in schools that serve millions more youth.

 

We are not just a school

Nova Pioneer Education Group is a pan-African independent school network, that builds and operates world-class, affordable schools for students from preschool through to secondary. Nova Pioneer currently operates 13 schools across both East and South Africa. 

Yes, we are an incredibly fast-growing network of schools. However, we want every family who joins one of our schools to have a similar experience at any of our campuses. A profoundly shared experience that joins every Nova Pioneer student, parent, teacher, and alumnus as a community. 

At the same time, we are committed to expanding our reach to serve as many families across the continent as we possibly can.  

These two commitments shape the way in which we build and live within our network. Perhaps most importantly, they push us toward a high degree of consistency in our academic model and organisational structures. 

That consistency enables us to open new schools more quickly and ensure ongoing great quality learning in all our schools because we have a clear and detailed blueprint—a “Nova Pioneer way”—from which to operate.  

Nova Pioneer parents share in our mission of building the next generation of innovators and leaders and thus, we occasionally look to them to help us find more families who share in our vision and values. This is because we believe in building a community of like-minded people who want to come along for the journey, and share in our story, as we continue to expand our offering throughout South Africa.

 

Benefits of growing our community

At Nova Pioneer, we know how important it is to build community. Who better to help us do this than our very own parents? As an existing Nova Pioneer parent, you could qualify for a R3500 discount in your annual tuition for a period of one year when you refer a parent who successfully enrols their child at any of our Nova Pioneer campuses.

 

Which parents are eligible for a discount?

1. In order to successfully benefit from referring a student, the parent must state that they were referred by you (name and surname) when they fill in the online application form in the ‘how did you hear about us’ section.  
2. Referred students cannot have a sibling currently or previously enrolled at Nova Pioneer. 
3. The referral discount is awarded to the youngest child – if you have only one child at Nova Pioneer, that child will receive the discount. 
4. You will be entitled to a R3500 discount per referral, up to five referrals. 
5. If you are not yet an enrolled parent, you ONLY qualify for this discount once you have confirmation of enrolment.
6. This discount is awarded per enrolled student that is referred, up to five students (or a maximum tuition discount of R17500)

 

What does “Successful Enrolment” look like: 

Step 1: Current family/parent talks to a friend and tells them about Nova Pioneer.

 

Step 2: The prospective parent completes an online application form and in the ‘how did you hear about us’ section, they select ‘referred by a current parent’ and write the full name of the parent and student who referred them. We can only identify the family that referred you if you give us first and last name.

 

Step 3: The prospective parent attends a Nova Pioneer event and the learner completes an assessment. 

 

Step 4: The prospective parent, who is very excited about Nova Pioneer then completes all online forms and submits required documentation before the finance team complete the affordability check and give go ahead for enrolment fee payment.

 

Step 5: The prospective parent then pays the grade-relevant enrolment fee to secure their child’s spot. 

 

Step 6: The referral is then flagged to our finance team who will pick up the name from our billing sheet and ensure your account reflects the referral discount.

 

We started Nova Pioneer to provide schools that were different: schools to develop young people with the wherewithal to shape their world.  That’s why we call ourselves Schools for Innovators and Leaders. 

 

The Vision of a Novaneer

That intention is all centered on our vision of a Novaneer as a young person with strong character (founded on our 6 Culture Principles), distinctive capabilities (academic mastery & collaborative problem solving), and deep connection (to their communities and with each other).  Our intention is to develop generations of these young shapers all across Africa.

To deliver on that vision we have a distinctive approach to learning and teaching that we describe as rigorous enquiry-based learning.  This approach requires a commitment to collaborative instructional learning and leadership from our faculty, and is supported by a dedicated learning design team.  Underpinning that distinctive practice is a focus on developing deliberate people and culture systems, in line with our culture principles and with our model of instructional leadership development.  

 

 

Building Character

We believe that our students’ success will be powered by their strength of character, as defined and reinforced by our 6 Culture Principles. We see our culture principles and our focus on leadership shining through classrooms and schools. 

We use our morning meetings in Primary School to discuss specific culture principles, what they look like and how they shape our behaviours.  We see these principles play out on a day-to-day basis including our servant leaders who are assigned or selected across campuses to help from Open Days to running grade 8 Orientations, to student arrival days in our boarding schools being run by upperclassmen and women. 

Every conversation with a child is rooted in the celebration, unpacking and reflection of our culture principles, we believe, helps shape the character of our young navaneers as they go out into the world.

We have defined leadership here at Nova Pioneer as personal leadership:  our capacity to know, understand and manage ourselves.  We are invested in learning about leaders in our community, continent and beyond and how they have shaped our world.  Lastly we unpack servant leadership, which we define as serve in meeting the needs of our community, be it our classroom, our school or beyond.

 

Distinctive Capabilities

When we are discussing capabilities, we mean that our schools are places where learners can develop the soft skills outlined in the work we do to build character, and they have the 21st century skills of problem solving, collaboration and critical thinking.

Additionally, and critically, they are able to demonstrate the academic mastery that they will need to be successful beyond Nova Pioneer. 

We look at, and track, academic mastery in two ways:  (1) growth over time to demonstrate our value added/impact on students and absolute achievement–meaning the performance of students on given exams at a singular point in time; (2) we do not assess for both in every grade and subject, but we try to be strategic to get a holistic picture of the academic mastery of our students over time.  

 

Deep Connections

We define connection as the opportunity for our Novaneers to build community  both within their classrooms during the school day, and beyond our classrooms in the greater world.  We plan for connection in our school day through group work and rotations, which are research-based methods for instruction that support deep learning for students. These practices also give students an opportunity to continue to build connection and relationships within their classroom communities.

We continue to be excited about the work of our Post School Success (PSS )team, who not only work with students to explore their paths after Nova Pioneer, but in the work that they are doing to connect students to the greater world while they are still with us.  Some of the work the PSS team supports includes organising internships and job shadows for students, academic support programming during holiday breaks, a speaker series, and an Alumni engagement and connection plan – setting up systems that will allow our graduates to continue to be connected to one another once they leave our walls.

We cannot possible name all of the ways in which our students have made connections beyond Nova, but will highlight just a few.

1. We had a student in Paulshof who went to Italy as a result of an essay competition he entered;
2. We sent secondary students from Kenya to Yale for the Yale Young Global Scholars program;
3. We had a cohort from Tatu Girls campus who went to the US to compete in the World Scholars Program; and
4. We held our second student exchange where high school students from both Kenya and South Africa visited one another at their campuses.

We get our children involved in spelling bees, music competitions, sports matches and many more activities that allow for engagement. 

 

You are part of a community

We currently operate 13 wonderful schools across East and South Africa, serving students from infancy through the end of secondary school.  Guided by our mission, our future intention is to continue to grow and serve students and families all across Africa. As a Nova Pioneer parent, you are part of this story.

As a parent you may be wondering what differentiates us from other schools? Perhaps you’re wondering what the inside of a Nova Pioneer classroom really looks like? Well, certainly learning looks a little bit different at Nova Pioneer. From how the classrooms are designed, to the language our students and teachers use in the classroom and even down to the behaviours our students exemplify. 

 

It’s important for us to create a responsive classroom

We are very intentional about creating a responsive classroom and there are four key domains to achieving this. They include:

1. Engaging Academics: Learner-centered lessons that are participatory, appropriately challenging, fun, and relevant and promote curiosity, wonder, and interest.
2. Positive Community: A safe, predictable, joyful, and inclusive environment where all students have a sense of belonging and significance.
3. Effective Management: A calm and orderly learning environment that promotes autonomy, responsibility, and high engagement in learning.
4. Developmentally Responsive Teaching: Basing all decisions for teaching and discipline upon research and knowledge of students’ social, emotional, physical, and cognitive development.

 

How do teachers engage with students?

Our teachers use a number of prompts and routines to create an environment that best facilitates learning. Here is some of the language you will hear in a Nova Pioneer classroom:

1. Risk It: A prompt to challenge students to attempt a response, even if they aren’t sure if they’re correct.
2. Do Now: A quick assessment question that students answer at the beginning of class to test their mastery of a previous lesson.
3. Exit Tickets: A short questions given at the end of a lesson to test student mastery of what they have just been taught. Exit tickets are a student’s ‘ticket out of the classroom’ and are used by the teacher to gauge student understanding of the lesson material.
4. Reflection meeting: A whole class meeting in which a problem or a theory from an investigation is posed to the students.

 

How do we setup the classroom?

We are intentional about creating the kind of space that allows for students to receive individualised attention and to also encourage collaboration between each other.

Desks are arranged in 5 “centers” which consists of 6 students per center. Each center allows for a different activity to take place at it, and allows students to engage in the content being taught in different ways – whether it be a group activity, using a chromebook or in an individual capacity.

Centers gives the student opportunity to learn to work collaboratively with others but also work individually. Each center takes 20 minutes to complete, before students rotate to the next center.

 

How do we incorporate technology in the classroom?

Technology is a big part of who we are as Nova Pioneer and what we do, and we blend this into our students learning experiences. We makes use of Blended Learning as part of our teaching.

Students make use of Chromebooks during their rotations during lessons. Technology is also offered as part of the innovative space. Our students start coding and robotics from Grade R.

 

Creating transparency using glass walls

We believe in transparency in everything that we do. This is represented in the design of our buildings. The glass doors also encourage collaboration between the classrooms as you can move the doors open.

Glass doors also encourage ‘positive distraction’ and students get comfortable with positive stimulation (other students learning) happening around them.

Nova Pioneer is excited to welcome students back across all of its seven campuses. On the morning of June 8, all campuses were abuzz with students ready to get back to learning. 

Staggered start to Term 2

A couple of weeks ago, the Minister of Basic Education announced the planned staggered reopening of schools in South Africa.

Nova Pioneer has taken the decision to be reopen schools using a grade phased approach where the higher grades return first, followed by the staggered return weekly of the remaining grades until Grade R. We await further direction from the Minister on when our youngest Novaneers (pre primary grades and below) can safely return.

 

Preparations to open safely

Nova Pioneer has worked hard to ensure that all the necessary health and safety measures are in place for the preparation of school reopening at all our campuses. The measures are guided by the strict regulations issued by the Education Department and, most importantly, by our commitment to ensuring health and safety of students and staff at all of our campuses.

 

Continued Availability of Remote Learning

Since schools were closed in March, we have offered an extensive remote learning programme for our Novaneer students. These have been warmly received and appreciated. 

Nova Pioneer recognises that the decision to send your child back to school during these uncertain times is a difficult one. As such, Nova Pioneer will continue to provide remote learning to all of our students for the rest of Term 2. Students who physically attend school from 8 June 2020 will work through the same material as the students who are learning from home.

Past learning packs are made available widely on the website for students outside the Nova Pioneer community to also benefit from.

 

Health and Safety

The health and safety of staff, students, parents and people visiting our schools remains the utmost priority for Nova Pioneer.

Nova Pioneer schools will provide all students and staff with face masks and hand sanitisers. The school will also ensure mandatory temperature screening with a digital thermometer of all authorised students and teachers arriving at campuses, daily.

Our campus spaces have been reconfigured and our operations and facilities extended in order to:

• Deliver on the arrival-testing standards; 
• Ensure classrooms have been set up to meet social distancing requirements; 
• Ensure every campus has an isolation space set-up as needed for symptomatic students or teachers;
• Provide extended certified cleaning services to ensure regular and strict cleaning and disinfecting of all surfaces including desks, furniture, door handles and all other shared facilities.

Every campus has a Covid-19 representative to monitor, evaluate and report to the School Leader on the adherence to regulations and measures put in place.

 

Training & Education for Covid-19

Teachers have received extensive training so as to fulfill their role in ensuring the safety of students in their care.

Continuous Covid-19 related training will be facilitated in class, by teachers and the school leadership, for all students to ensure they understand and can adequately practice student safety protocols and that they remain informed with age-relevant  information. 

 

Social Distancing

Nova Pioneer will ensure social distancing of 1.5m between students and staff at all times. Classrooms will be set up accordingly and teaching routines amended to ensure this is adhered to for student and teacher safety.

The campuses  have social distancing markings around the campus to manage daily class, toilet and break-time routines.

 

Nova Pioneer is ready to welcome students back

Nova Pioneer is excited to reopen our schools and welcome our students back to campus – we have missed our students terribly over this time. We remain committed to supporting students through this transition back to campus and continuing to support continued learning, whether at campus or remotely, while ensuring all necessary precautions for the health and safety of our learners and staff are prioritised.

 

Wearing a face mask in public spaces may be something that we, as adults, have fast become accustomed to, however we need to acknowledge that it will feel strange and new to children.

 

Wearing a mask can save a life

To avoid the spread of COVID- 19, the Centre for Disease Control (CDC) recommended that children wear masks except for children under 2 years of age (Dr. Day-care Learning Centre, 2020). In South Africa wearing a mask is mandatory for access to shopping malls and other public places. This new reality may pose a challenge for parents who have toddlers that don’t understand why their mouths and noses have to be covered, especially if a child is sensitive to wearing masks (Bruwer, Tzanos & Toi, 2020).

In this blog post, we will discuss the challenges children may face with the use of face masks due to their age or developmental stage. We will also provide ways for parents looking to teach their children about the importance of wearing a face mask and tips for how to help them adjust to wearing (and keeping) their masks on.

 

Why your child may have a hard time with the mask?

We already know that even adults, when wearing a facemask, struggle to avoid touching their face. This may be extra difficult for children as they have poor impulse control (Bruwer, Tzanos & Toi, 2020). Not always the case for the older children who may have more mature sensory systems whereas they can filter out a sensory stimulus that doesn’t change (Bruwer, Tzanos & Toi, 2020).

For example, if a child puts on a cap for the first time, they may be aware of this feeling on their scalp. After a short period however, their sensory systems block this background sensation to allow the brain to take in sensory input of greater importance (Bruwer, Tzanos & Toi, 2020).  

Young children with still-developing sensory systems may struggle to block out background sensations, making it extremely difficult for them to adjust to wearing the mask on their faces for a while (Bruwer, Tzanos & Toi, 2020).  

 

Challenges of teaching with a mask

Children are learning to read and make sense of other people’s facial expressions. Discerning facial expression becomes a challenge if a person’s face is partially covered by a mask especially for young children. This can provoke their anxiety levels (Bruwer, Tzanos & Toi, 2020).  Even children who are highly sensitive to smell may not be comfortable with the mask against their noses (Bruwer, Tzanos & Toi, 2020). 

 

Explain why it is important to wear a mask

Talking about current news and health related issues with children is not easy but we believe that not saying anything at all is more detrimental to their safety. Children notice changes and may overhear discussions between adults (Bruwer, Tzanos & Toi, 2020). Informing children may reduce their anxiety levels. Our team would recommend that when parents talk to their children regarding healthy and safety issues, that they consider their child’s level of understanding. 

 

Age appropriate conversations around COVID 19

For the youngest children, the recommendation is that parents explain how certain germs can make people ill and therefore in an effort to stay safe face masks and face shields need to be used (Bruwer, Tzanos & Toi, 2020). Parents can make this experience joyous by drawing the image of a dog or cat on a plain white face mask at home. Turn it into an opportunity to teach toddlers animal sounds by making sounds that correspond with the animal on the mask. Maybe even sing “Old MacDonald had a farm”. This will teach toddlers about nursery rhymes and also helps to develop their language.

For the older children who understand what COVID 19 is and its impact, parents can explain about  (1) the need to use face masks; (2) the need to regularly sanitise and wash their hands; as well as (3) their responsibility to cough into the elbow as means to prevent the spread of COVID 19 and to avoid becoming ill. Parents can also make it fun by challenging their child to design unique fun character patterns their plain white facemasks. Having said that, it is also important to stress that children will model what their parents do and learn by observing parent’s personal protection safety measures.  

Below are a few tips to encourage your child to put the mask on and to avoid touching their face.

 

Make sure the mask fits

If a child is given the option to select a face mask, they may be more receptive to wearing it, if it fits them comfortably around their heads or ears (Bruwer, Tzanos & Toi, 2020).  The face has multiple touch receptors therefore choosing how the straps are tied or buttoned at the back of the head for comfort is important (Bruwer, Tzanos & Toi, 2020).  A snug but comfortable fitting breathable face mask for children who are sensory sensitive is advised (Bruwer, Tzanos & Toi, 2020).  

 

Keep them busy

Give your child something to play with while they have their mask on. If a young child’s hands are busy with elastic bands, play dough textured paper or a Rubik cube to fidget with, it could help them to avoid touching their faces while wearing masks, especially when parents are running errands. (Bruwer, Tzanos & Toi, 2020). Use extrasensory calming techniques to ground your child while he/she is wearing the mask. Older children can chew gum or enjoy a sweet while wearing the mask to soothe the extrasensory stimulus and avoid taking off the mask (Bruwer, Tzanos & Toi, 2020). However, very lengthy shopping trips should be avoided.

 

Reward good facemask habits

Initially, parents can reward their child with a visit to the mall if a mask is worn sometimes. This should be done with caution as a child should not only be willing to wear a mask just to get a chance to go to the mall. A child’s receptiveness to wear a mask should be balanced with a child’s need for autonomy as the child adjusts to wearing the mask over time.

 

It is important to avoid a tug of war with your child about using a mask and rushing the process as it could create confusion for the child about having autonomy about what happens to their bodies (Bruwer, Tzanos & Toi, 2020). The objective is to help your child to adjust to wearing the mask over periods for example a trip to the shopping mall with their parent for the parent to buy essential items (Bruwer, Tzanos & Toi, 2020).

The Nova Pioneer team is excited to make some of our custom-designed and comprehensive learning resources available on our website. Parents and families who are not part of Nova Pioneer’s community can now access online learning resources for their children through the website. This initiative has been launched with the intention to support learners and families who may not have access to any, or high-quality, learning materials during the schools shut down. All of the learning packets were custom-designed by our in-house Learning Design Team for Pre-Primary to Primary School learners.

 

About our Learning Design Team

Our Learning Design Team is a unique offering available only to Nova Pioneer schools. The team is responsible for designing and creating standardised curriculum, assessments, and lesson plans for all our schools – in Kenya and South Africa. This is to ensure there is consistency in learning across all our campuses and geographies. 

In preparing for possible school closures, the Learning Design Team, in collaboration with the School Leaders and School Teams, worked to find solutions to keep learning happening remotely. The virtual learning programme that they created replicates as much of the in-class experience as possible.  

 

Our Culture Principles in action

What’s been amazing to see is that, while we normally associate our culture principles with positive times as an organisation, they are also just as applicable in this global crisis. We have put our culture principles in action over the last three weeks:

• #SolutionsFirst in our ability to quickly transition to online learning and remote working.
• #HighExpectations in continuing to hold a high delivery bar for our students. 
• #GreaterTogether in the partnerships we have strengthened with our parents as they continue to support their children from home. We have been touched by the many thank you messages received from parents. 
• #JoyofLearning in creating and delivering highly engaging learning packs.
• #ServantLeadership in how teammates from across the organisation have worked long hours to ensure that everything continues to run smoothly during a time of uncertainty.
• #AlwaysGrowing in continually improving through feedback that we get from our families on how to best deliver a home-based curriculum.

With the help of our amazing parents, we have made strides in ensuring that education and student learning continues at home, while we as a nation and a community practice social distancing. During this time, we have also all been inspired by the stories of those who have already done much to ease the tough times that many of our fellow South Africans and Kenyans are facing. 

 

We are all in this together

However, as an organisation, we have had to ask ourselves, “how can we reach beyond our own students and families.” Collectively, we feel the need to do our bit, however small that may be. With the launch of the online learning resources, parents who are not part of Nova Pioneer’s community will now have access to past curriculum resources for their children. While the benefits of this will not match the benefits of the full teacher-supported home-based learning programme that our own students receive, we are thankful to be able to share some resources that will support motivated students across Africa who are doing what they can to continue learning in these unprecedented times.

 

Building partnerships to support learners

Furthermore, recognising that the majority of learners in our country do not have access to internet or smart devices and, as such, are losing valuable teaching time during lockdown, Nova Pioneer has partnered with the National Association of Change Entities in Education (NASCEE) to provide learning material to children in vulnerable communities throughout South Africa.