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

 

Social Distance. Quarantine. Virtual Classroom. Fever Gun. Lockdown. Face Mask. Curfew. Zoom Meetings.  These are all words that in the last month most educators have shifted from rarely using to being part of their daily vocabulary. 

A french novelist Andre Gige once said, “Man cannot discover new oceans unless he has the courage to lose sight of the shore.”  For most of us, in our new normal we are currently in the middle of the ocean with no shore in sight.  This period is unprecedented, uncomfortable and uncertain and it is important to acknowledge that and allow ourselves the space to process it.  March 2020 is a month where life on The Continent and throughout the world became forever changed.  As a human race we are left to grieve life as we once knew it and are tasked with rebuilding our new normal.  As educators we are tasked with not only doing this for ourselves and our families but also for our students. 

 

What story will we tell the next generation about what we did to shape a better future for our students during this time? 

 

 

The Socio-economic Gap 

The impact of the Corona Virus is universal.  This virus does not know nationality, nor tribe, nor race.  Where it does differentiate is along lines of socio-economic difference.  As an education community the onus rests with us to not leave children behind, to be their champions no matter of their status.  The socio-economic gap in education has the ability to widen significantly as we build a virtual instructional world.  These students are in more dire conditions than ever before.  They are at risk of being left far behind their more affluent peers. Some students will take the world of online learning by storm and others remain at home with no access, struggling to have their basic needs met.  I ask again, what story will we tell the next generation about what we did to shape a better future for them during this time?

We all have stories that illustrate this time for us – for me, a day I will never forget is March 17th, 2020. On this day, I had three different conversations, with educators on three different continents, all asking three different sets of questions about how we proceed forward for students:

• 8:00am EAT- Educator Group 1 – Have we ensured that all of our students have devices and data?  Do any adjustments need to be made to the new online timetable?  85% of our students were present in all of their online classes today – how do we get to 100% tomorrow? How are we ensuring that our culture principles are still a part of our students daily life? How are we going to ensure that we are able to coach teachers in the zoom classrooms?  How did online learning engagement go yesterday?  What can we fix today?
• 12:00pm EAT- Educator Group 2 – I hear we are going on full lockdown soon- do our families have enough water and food to get through it?  How do we raise funds to help?  There are 13 kids in that home where there is only one room – what can we provide to keep them engaged and learning during this time? How do we ensure that they don’t fall behind?  A packet will run out and where will the funds come from to keep printing them? How can we shift funds to make sure our kids at least have their basic needs met?
• 5:00pm EAT- Educator Group 3 – Why is everyone doing their own thing?  Shouldn’t there be a stance for all kids in our country during this time? Aren’t we one nation? Some of our kids can get online and some can’t. Is it really fair for me to just keep teaching online knowing that others are falling behind?  Isn’t this the definition of inequity?  

 

 

Different Continent, Same Struggle

Three phone calls, from three different groups of educators on three different continents with three different struggles came to my phone. Different, yet similar in that all were rooted in the idea of what does this new world mean for our students. What does our support need to look like for them?  What is doing right by them?  The questions of equity versus equality on every call quickly bubbled to the surface. 

I have been asked the question – ‘Is Africa far behind the rest of the world in education in this new world?’.  The truth is not at all.  On many occasions the innovations that I am seeing in certain schools on The Continent are far surpassing what I am seeing Stateside.  In this new world order collectivism is proving to yield dividends in ways that individualism cannot. 

 

 

How do we reduce the gap?

As we discover the new oceans that await us on the other side of Covid-19, we must ensure that our humanity rises to the forefront. We must not allow our children in the lowest socio-economic brackets from across the world to fall behind and widen the already wide learning gap. 

As you continue to lose sight of the shore I challenge us to discover new and more equitable oceans in the process.  I ask you one last time, what story will we tell the next generation about what we did to shape a better future for them during this time?

Students, teachers staff, 3rd parties and even parents, you have access to our beautiful schools daily but ever wondered how we go about ensuring that your time on our campuses is a happy and safe one?

 

Well, that responsibility falls on the big shoulders of Nova Pioneer’s Health and Safety compliance officers who work behind the scenes to make that a reality.

 

Health and safety are the activities related to ensuring the wellbeing of all persons that are present on our school grounds. 

 

Health and Safety touch on physical as well as emotional wellbeing, and it makes this field very rewarding yet challenging at the same time. However, we at Nova Pioneer take our responsibilities in this regard very seriously and have instituted a formal health and safety program throughout our network of schools. 

 

Health and Safety at Nova Pioneer is governed by the following policies and these documents form the basis of all our health and safety practices at all Nova Pioneer schools.

 

• Health & Safety Policy
• Emergency Management Plan
• Health & Safety Procedures

 

In addition, each school has a fully functioning Health and Safety Committee, who are charged with the day-to-day management of health and safety risks at individual campuses. This speeds up decision-making processes and mitigation of risk, on the ground, as it arises.

 

All schools report once per term on the status of compliance on issues that have arisen during the term. This, in turn, is collated into a report to the Nova Pioneer Managing Director on the overall state of compliance with the standard of health and safety across the network.

 

In a follow up to this article, we will share some of the specific activities we engage in to ensure that we manage the health and safety of all Novaneers responsibly.

 

Click here to read more on our Nova Pioneer policy documents

 

On 19 October, Nova Pioneer North Riding hosted its first Cupcakes and Coding event at their Jackal Creek based campus. The three-hour-long workshop taught teachers from all over Johannesburg the basics of Swift coding, which is a language used by some of the top application developers worldwide.

 

Coding 101

As a school network group, we want to play an integral part in the sustainability of education on the African continent. The Cupcakes and Coding concept was born as a first step to achieving this goal. The class, offered free of charge, was inspired by our wish to equip all learners with the skills needed for future jobs.

 

 

 

 

Nova Pioneer School broke ground on a new piece of land which will house an extension of the current premises on 2 October.

 

Press Release: Head of school Jeanine Kerr said a new campus would be built and will accommodate Grade 4 to 7 learners. She added, “It will be a senior primary campus. Our oldest grade this year is Grade 5 so they will be moving to the new campus next year.”

The campus will be situated about 250m from the current one and will include sports facilities.

The school hosted a small ceremony to mark the occasion with Kerr saying the new campus would benefit the growth of their school and learners. There is the hope of a high school opening in 2022.

Property development manager for Nova Pioneer Carel Dill said, “We will be starting with the earthworks. We want to start with building in January next year with the school opening in our third term next year.”

Article published in the Midrand Reporter 

Nova Pioneer Secondary students competed in the 2019 AGEC19 challenge. Our students got the opportunity to immerse themselves in the gamified learning platform that was open to all high school students from Grade 8 to Grade 12.

 

Tough Competition

Our students competed against 300 other schools from around South Africa. During five weeks of competition, students were exposed to entrepreneurial development as well as exponential technologies like Blockchain, Digital Biology, Artificial Intelligence, Internet of Things or 3D printing. Students experienced this through bite-sized chunks of enriched, digitised skills-based learning.

 

Students gain exposure

Within this sphere of  #AGEC19 Novaneers were exposed to habits and concepts pertinent to being an entrepreneur. The challenges were categorised into themes like Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR), food security, affordable housing and healthcare. Novaneers engaged in this experience by researching (collecting data, interviews and creating applications) and formulated realistic solutions to these issues. 

Six of our students really demonstrated their #Joy of Learning and exceeded #High Expectations by achieving accolades for their work in the competition. Secondary students Neo Motaung, Siphesihle Dubazana achieved Bronze certificates while Tasmiyya Paruk, Ayanda Sibanda, Sandisiwe Nyoni, and Lesedi Mnguni achieved Gold Awards.

Tasmiyya Paruk has been selected to deliver her ideas in the form of a business pitch. She was selected out of hundreds of submissions. As a community of Novaneers, we celebrate these achievements and couldn’t be prouder of our future entrepreneurial leaders on their successes. 

Nova Pioneer Schools have been directly involved in research on the pedagogy of play project with Project Zero of Harvard Graduate School of Education. They work with teachers from around the world to determine best practice for learning through play. Mardell and his research team visited Nova Pioneer to observe lessons. Nova Pioneer was a part of a group of three schools selected in South Africa chosen.

 

PRESS RELEASE: Ben Mardell is an optimist. Or as he explains, “Being in schools where children’s natural inclination to create, collaborate and care is supported makes me optimistic.” Ben is Principal Investigator at Project Zero, the oldest research group at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. He investigates how children who learn through play develop social and cognitive skills.

Ben recently spent time at Nova Pioneer, a leading network of schools in South Africa and Kenya.  We got to ask him how the Pedagogy of Play teaches children emotional maturity. Children who learn this way are self-confident and prepared for the future.

Harvard University and the Lego Foundation research learning through play. They work with teachers from around the world to determine best practice for learning through play. Mardell and his research team visited Nova Pioneer to observe lessons. They loved what they saw, saying it was one of their most inspiring days in any school.

Mardell’s research shows that learning through play has many benefits including engaging children to be caring, creative and democratic citizens.  Play reconnects us and restores our sense of community while creating a generation of leaders. 

 

Developing more adaptive, active learners

At first, learning through play seems to oppose traditional school structures. However, learning through play is not devoid of rules and structure. It does not ignore the disciplines of reading, writing, mathematics and scientific method. Rather, it integrates with traditional schooling and offers the best of both worlds. 

Play is not unique to humans; in fact, we find it in all mammals. Play is part of our DNA, preparing us for unpredictable situations. “We instinctively learn through play. Imagine that one of our ancestors encountered a mammoth. This has never happened to our ancestor before. If he tried to figure it out in that moment, he would have been in serious in trouble. But, because he played hunting games as a child, he is adept at making spontaneous decision,” says Mardell.  In our fast-changing world, our children will certainly encounter a great deal of uncertainty.

Play fuels learning  because players are engaged but not stressed. “ It encourages novel experiences, active engagement, and learning from peers and adults.”

 

The Reggio Emilia Approach

Nova Pioneer’s curriculum follows the Reggio Emilia approach, a play-based pedagogy. The school also supports the Africa Reggio Emilia Alliance, chaired by Nova Pioneer’s Director of Academics, Des Hugo.

The Reggio Emilia Approach is an innovative approach to early childhood education. It values the child as strong, capable and resilient; rich with wonder and knowledge. Every child has a deep curiosity and potential. Children are curious to understand their world and their place within it. The fundamental principles of Reggio Emilia resonate with Nova Pioneer’s learning approach. And so, the school incorporates play as part of  learning

The Reggio Emilia philosophy underpins Nova Pioneer’s learning model. Hugo explains, “Playful learning, curiosity and exploration are essential for building knowledge.”

“Project Zero’s research perfectly aligns with our work. We offer an African perspective to complement the research done in Europe,” says Hugo. “The pedagogy of play offers rigorous learning opportunities. Students engage in joyful, contextual learning.”

 

Playful learning at Nova Pioneer a school developing  innovators and leaders

Playful learning, curiosity and exploration are essential for building knowledge.  At the same time, respect, responsibility, and community underpin Nova Pioneer’s curriculum. 

The curriculum incorporates play into daily school activities. A typical day at Nova Pioneer has many opportunities to learn in pairs and groups. The children learn to collaborate and share ideas.  The transition times and classroom routines support fun and play while learning. 

Game- and play-based activities reinforce literacy and numeracy lessons and build core skills.  Exploration days develop deep, inquiry based learning, that is playful and joyful.

 

Balanced learning

A pedagogy of play helps balance play with traditional school structures. For example, in play, children take risks and try new things. In a school we want our children to be safe from physical and psychological harm. “Both of these things are true,” explains Mardell. “We want children to explore and we don’t want them to get hurt. Realizing that the two aspects are not mutually exclusive was a defining moment in our research. We need to figure out a way for teachers to do both.”

At Nova Pioneer, play is woven into the more traditional Cambridge curriculum. Literacy and numeracy games are often part of the morning meetings. Children get to practice their skills, and teachers get to assess progress.

Teachers introduce the children to literacy and science objectives through real-life scenarios. They learn the importance and use specific academic concepts in small collaborative groups.

 

It takes a village

Learning does not happen only in the hallowed ground of the schoolyard. As the saying goes, “It takes a village to raise a child.” Children are always learning. Parents can support teachers in a learning through play approach. “Ask your children questions and share in their wonder,” Mardell says.

Parents must become active participants in their child’s learning. Inquire about the explorations your child is doing at school. Find meaningful ways to support it. If they are learning about animals, plan a trip to the zoo. If they are learning about trees and plants take them out into the garden or a park.

“Ask your children questions; have conversations. Enjoy being curious and exploring with your child. This way, you lead your child by your own example. “A playful learning environment at home supports your children. It makes it more fun to be together and enjoy learning together,” says Mardell.

 

Adapting to change

There is a lot of hype around emerging technologies. The changes our children will need to adapt to are not in the far-flung reaches of science fiction. Self-driving cars and robots that perform surgeries already exist. It is only a matter of time before they become normal, for good or ill.

Nova Pioneer integrates technology into blended learning with Maths and Literacy. Hugo explains, “We use Mathletics and Reading Eggs programs for these rotations. These are game-based. Exploration Days also incorporate technology. Children learn basic coding, circuitry and even robotics.” 

“Our children are going solve problems using new technology,” says Mardell. “They cannot learn how to do this from a textbook because we do not know exactly what that technology is.  There isn’t a textbook about this.”

Children who learn through play have the confidence to handle uncertainty. We equip them with skills and empathy to work together in groups to solve common problems. 

 

Children who go to schools like this emerge as democratic citizens. They are adept at communicating, and creative. These children have learnt through doing long-term projects, and group work. They will be well prepared for the challenges they are going to meet in the future. 

The Pedagogy of Play – employed by schools like Nova Pioneer – will have a profoundly positive effect.  It will create a generation of engaged, caring and optimistic leaders. Leaders who are excited to tackle the challenges that may lie ahead.

Carla Hercules was recently appointed as the new Head of School at our newest Campus, Rumisig. This comes after the news that we would be opening a new campus in Ruimsig that will cater to parents with children in pre-primary and primary school, in January 2020. 

We are confident that with Carla’s extensive experience and her inspiring leadership, Nova Pioneer Ruimsig students will be developed into our future leaders and innovators. Carla is passionate about the unique Nova Pioneer learning approach which prepares our students to be globally competitive in the 21st century, and subsequently go on to change the continent and the world. As a long-time resident of the Roodepoort area, Carla has expressed her excitement to join the beautiful Ruimsig community and work closely with its residents to maintain the spirit and energy of their neighbourhood.

Carla and moved to join Nova Pioneer from her role at Sharonlea Primary School, where she had been Principal for seven years and deputy for six years prior. Before that, she was a teacher at Bushlands Primary, in KwaZulu-Natal, for just under ten years.  Along with a Diploma in Education, she also has two accreditations in organisational leadership – she is a lifelong learner and someone who exemplifies Joy of Learning.

These skills and her extensive prior school leadership experience will stand her in good stead, as she develops the team at Ruimsig, to welcome our first students to this new campus in 2020. Carla officially steps into this role in November 2019 to ensure the new Nova Pioneer Ruimsig campus is ready for a great start in January 2020.

Nova Pioneer Ruimsig will open its doors in January 2020 for students in Grades 000, 00, 1 and 2.

Entrepreneurial skills can be taught but they can only be strengthened when you practice in real life, what you learn in the classroom. In an effort to further invest in teaching and honing our students’ entrepreneurial skills, Nova Pioneer introduced Entrepreneurs Day at all campuses. Entrepreneurship Day was specifically designed to expose students to real-life situations and life lessons.

 

Entrepreneurs create jobs

We know that, in order to thrive as adults, today’s children will need to know how to problem-solve, work collaboratively, and communicate well but more importantly. All these skills will be critical to develop a capacity to start a business and also to think creatively and ambitiously. 

There will always be a need for teachers, doctors, lawyers and accountants but the job market will change significantly over the next two decades and many of the jobs which we rely on for employment may not exist. Children need to learn the skills that will position them to innovative in order to invent and shape their own careers.

For example, in May this year, South Africa’s unemployment rate increased to 27.6% in the first quarter of 2019, according to Stats SA. The jobless rate at the end of the fourth quarter of 2018 was 27.1%, meaning the rate increased by half a percentage point. We need to prepare students to be self-starters if we want to see the rate of unemployment drop. Entrepreneurs create jobs.

Learning the three r’s (reading, writing and arithmetic) are no longer sufficient to prepare today’s children for their future. Furthermore, in addition to these basic skills, all children need a thorough grounding in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM). Yet, children will need more than academic skills to succeed as adults, no matter what field they work in.

 

 

Putting the entrepreneurial skills into practice

Nova Pioneer has introduced an initiative across all its classes which focuses on fostering a solid understanding of entrepreneurship while supporting students in developing skills such as goal setting, working with money, people skills and basic marketing principles.

Entrepreneurship education benefits students from all socioeconomic backgrounds because apart from teaching core business skills, it trains students to think outside the box and nurtures unconventional talents and skills. Putting this into practice, our Primary schools students got an opportunity to host and participate in their own Entrepreneurs Days. 

Learners are encouraged to actively identify gaps to provide services/products that meet a need and are required to set a goal of the amount of money they aim to raise, as well specifying the cause or goal the funds would be used for. Learners take ownership of the marketing around the school and raise awareness of the event, supported by teachers who oversee the process and guide the students throughout this initiative. 

 

 

Finding the gap and filling it

Entrepreneurship day was specifically designed to expose students to real-life situations and life lessons. They were asked to identify a goal (what they would like to buy with the money they will make), and duties were distributed amongst one another.  On the day, they set up and sold the products and services to the rest of the school. 

They are encouraged to actively solve problems by using principles from the engineering design process:  research, brainstorm, select a solution, develop a prototype, test and revise it if necessary and then communicate the offering and benefits.  Through this process students develop skills like communication, presentation, pitching, understanding risk-taking, failure and building resilience, using models to solve problems. All schools across the Nova Pioneer network actively promote and develop entrepreneurship skills as part of its curriculum.

We’re not just showing and talking to our students about entrepreneurship as a concept. We are creating real-to-life opportunities for our students to be future-fit in a way that combines creativity, real-world skills, enjoyment and a true sense of accomplishment. If we plant seeds of entrepreneurial thinking early enough and nurture them constantly, today’s students will become tomorrow’s leaders and will be well-placed to meaningfully contribute to society and the economy.

This article was published in The Young Independents 

Did you know that our Nova Pioneer Ormonde Secondary has introduced a Year 13 programme that will allow students to sit the full Cambridge A-level exams.

Our current Grade 12 students are preparing to write the Cambridge AS exams which is the normal exit point after 12 years of schooling. It is important to note that Year 13 is an optional year. There are four possible scenarios where a parent should consider extend their child’s High School career to 13-years.

So, why consider doing A-levels next year?

 

Build a stronger academic portfolio

You are uncertain about your plans for 2020 and would like to do a bridging or academic gap year. Doing A-levels is a good way to structure your year and end with a strong academic portfolio. 

 

Your passport to International Studies

You would like to have access to top international universities. A-levels are essential for those. A-levels are your passport to a global study. 

 

Your passport to local Studies

Depending on how your child performed, their results at IGCSE and AS levels may not be sufficient to see them get accepted at a University in South Africa. Or, they may want to improve their options of getting into their preferred course. Doing three A-levels (and passing them) improves chances of admission greatly. 

 

Improve your employability 

Whether you go to university or not, A-Level qualifications will impress future employers and help you to stand out. And, if you decide not to go to a university, that is ok! Possessing A-Level qualifications will demonstrate that students are educated, independent and self-motivated… all qualities that potential employers value.