Nova Pioneer Schools for Innovators and Leaders, recently celebrated their Midrand students’ Cambridge Checkpoint results. Nova Pioneer students achieved scores ahead of the international benchmark for English and Science, whilst staying at pace with international trends for Maths. 

 

Nova Pioneer is a pan-African independent school group that builds and operates world-class, affordable schools, offering students grades from preschool through to secondary. The school group offers Cambridge, an internationally accredited curriculum, where students can write their Checkpoint, IGSCE, AS-Level, as well as their A-Level examinations in their 13th year. 

 

 

Nova Pioneer Midrand’s current Grade 7 and 8 students participated in the Cambridge Primary Checkpoint last Spring. Whilst normally administered only in the Grade 6 year, the advent of COVID in 2020 resulted in significant interruptions in the administration of these exams by Cambridge International. The disruptions as a result of COVID over the last two years have made the results achieved by these students even more impressive. 

 

At the prize giving, Nova Pioneer acknowledged their Grade 7 top achievers for the 2021 Checkpoint, including –

• Shalathi Shikwambana for English and Maths, as well as being the overall top achiever in the grade
• Lwandile Mhlungu for English and Maths
• John-David Malaba for Maths
• Casey Oosthuzien for her top performance in Science  

 

In Grade 8, Nova Pioneer celebrated – 

• Kgosi Kekane for his top performance in Maths
• Kayden Reddy for Maths, as well as being the overall top achiever in the grade
• Yuveer Ramalal for Maths

 

Xolisa Luthi, the school leader for Nova Pioneer Midrand Secondary, said that he was thrilled to have this opportunity to engage in the assessments, which provide insight into how Nova Pioneer students are progressing in their mastery of the curriculum and in their readiness for Secondary school.   

 

 

Mr Luthi expressed gratitude to the Nova Pioneer teachers and leadership team. “Our students’ impressive results reflect their tremendous diligence and tenacity, as well as the unstinting support and inspiration of their teachers. We also thank our parent community for their continued partnership”.

 

 

Nova Pioneer is currently operational in both South Africa and Kenya with the mission to develop generations of innovators and leaders who will shape the African Century. Nova Pioneer Midrand Secondary School opened its doors in January 2022 and welcomed their inaugural class of Grade 8’s. The school will expand teaching and learning to accommodate families of Grades 8 to 13 students in the Midrand area and is now enrolling for Grade 9.

 

Nova Pioneer is excited to announce we will welcome the first Grade 8 students at our new Midrand campus, with enrollment open now for the 2022 school year. Guided by our mission to develop young innovators and leaders who will shape the world, we are excited to extend our offering in Midrand from preschool through secondary school, and to be able to serve even more families in the Midrand community. This is the second secondary school to be opened in our South African network of schools and the sixth to be opened by Nova Pioneer Globally.

Phase 1 of an Extensive Secondary Campus is Complete

The secondary school campus will be multi-phased and is situated on a spacious site on 3rd Road, Carlswald (next to Protea Hotel Midrand), just a few hundred metres from the current primary school site in Matuka Close. The newly built campus will serve both the school’s upper primary and secondary students.

Phase 1 of the development includes a modern double-storey classroom block with 10 classrooms per floor, as well as central studio space. The new block also includes a modern science lab for students. External facilities provide for age-relevant recreational areas, as well as sporting facilities, including a 25m x 8m swimming pool, multipurpose hardcourt (for tennis, basketball and netball) and a full-size sports field that can be used for soccer, other sports and extra-murals.

 

Cambridge Accredited

Nova Pioneer is a private school network that offers quality education grounded in the Cambridge standards, an internationally accredited curriculum that is both locally and globally recognised. Our secondary campuses offer grades up to and including Grade 13, which is optional but a popular choice for many students based on their specific tertiary learning plans.

We recently celebrated the 2020 matriculating class  at our Ormonde Campus for their strong achievement, which was most exemplary considering how disruptive the 2020 year was.  The Cambridge AS and A-level examinations set a very high standard that is both globally and locally respected.  Our graduates outperformed international benchmarks on 70% of the subjects examined.  In addition, our graduates exemplified the character, dynamism and positive confidence of innovators and leaders.  We look forward to similar success for students in our new Midrand secondary school.

Our Midrand based secondary school will open its doors in January 2022, catering for Grade 8 students initially and subsequently adding grades. 

 

Post School Success Team

At Nova Pioneer, we place a high value on students’ post-secondary school success. We strongly believe many elements can impact a student’s ability to succeed after completing secondary school. 

Thus, we want to ensure that students perform well academically and ensure that they feel supported and prepared to succeed beyond Nova Pioneer.  We recognise that those paths will be as diverse as our students are, reflecting their passions and talents.  To that effect, we have a Post-School Success (PSS) programme to provide all students with personalised guidance on exploring post-school options. Our PSS programme is a unique offering available to our senior secondary students,” said Chijioke.

Since its introduction in both South Africa and Kenya, Nova Pioneer’s PSS programme has facilitated the admission of students into universities both locally and abroad.

 

Schools for Innovators and Leaders

It is our belief at Nova Pioneer that too many schools focus too narrowly on knowledge memorisation and content accumulation.  While Nova Pioneer considers academic mastery and skills to be critically important, we also places focus on a more holistic set of skills aligned with our vision of developing high-character leaders and innovators.

We focus on developing our students’ character, problem-solving capabilities and interpersonal connection.  We call these our ‘3Cs’.  We expect our students to excel in exams and attend great universities, but ultimately our success will be measured by our graduates’ lives.  By the innovations they develop, companies they launch and lead, art they create, and impact they have on their communities.

Ultimately, we want our students to become shapers of a world they envision, rather than takers of the world they inherit. We are very proud of all our students and wish them well as they transition into the next secondary learning stage of their lives. We look forward to having our students complete their entire schooling career (Grade 000 to Grade 13) at Nova Pioneer Midrand and openly welcome students from other schools too.

At first, when we were told about the online learning program, I was worried. I didn’t want to spend all of my study time on a computer. I know that I’m more likely to retain knowledge if I can apply it in the real world. So I thought to myself, “How would an online class possibly provide those kinds of assignments?” I pictured a virtual classroom full of glassy-eyed students reading articles on a webpage and filling in standardized electronic tests.

 

I could not have been more wrong!

Much of the work assigned in the classes I’ve taken has been hands-on. Students are actively encouraged to leave their computers behind and explore the world around them for applicable solutions to problems. You can expect to do a lot of research on your own time. How involved you are in creating an interactive, hands-on experience is almost entirely up to you, but you’ll be encouraged to think outside the box and take charge of your own assignments.

What I have noticed in the period I have been doing the online learning program, is that you’re investing your time, energy and resources into it. That means you care and want to see certain results like building skills – you want that to be a good investment. So what I have found has helped me keep focus during classes is:

 

1. Find Your Prime Time

How you structure your day is crucial. Turns out, there are hours during the day when we are most and least productive. Imagine the difference it can make to move your online classes to that prime time! The characteristics of this most productive period of the day are that your energy levels are at their highest. It’s much easier to find focus and keep it at that time, you retain information better, and you are more motivated to engage in the lesson. So, find your peak time and structure your day around it.

 

2. Identify And Remove Distractions

Distractions are everywhere. Even if you’re alone in your room with your laptop, there can still be plenty of factors negatively impacting your focus. A noisy environment, someone coming in the room, a wandering mind, notifications from your phone, etc. Clearly identify these, and then solve for each one of them.

 

3. Tame Your Mind

A great way to ease your mind and let go of anything else happening around you in the moment, or later in the day, is to take a few deep breaths, do one thing at a time, remember why you wanted to take this course, and how it can prove to be a good investment of your parents’ money. Now, some people suggest that you do need to let your mind wander every now and then as it’s what unleashes your creativity and helps you focus better when it’s time to learn things. That is true. But, right before you get to work, you need to leave behind the distractions around you and inside your head, and simply concentrate on this one task in front of you. You then become present and your mind is alert. Whenever we do something consciously and pay all our attention to it, we do a great job.

 

4. Rest Well

Meditation, taking a power nap, as well as mental breaks, work and help high performers reach their goals. And chances are, if you’re a motivated student who’s got a lot on their plate (like me!), you don’t have that much time set aside for rest during the day. However, you need to do so if you want to improve your focus and memory.

Start by fixing your sleeping schedule. Going to bed and waking up earlier are sure ways to give your body and mind the rest they need but also kick-start them both as soon as the day begins. If you add a short meditation session during the day, you’ll be able to have a clear mind until the evening. Such a trained brain concentrates more easily and for longer periods of time.