{"id":105,"date":"2020-01-12T15:19:19","date_gmt":"2020-01-12T15:19:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/africaaplus.org.za\/?p=105"},"modified":"2020-07-15T21:54:24","modified_gmt":"2020-07-15T21:54:24","slug":"building-the-vision-for-africa-a-schools","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/africaaplus.org.za\/?p=105","title":{"rendered":"Building the vision for Africa A+ Schools"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Africa A+ Schools project ignites creativity in early education<\/h1>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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While most people were still on holiday, the CCDI was abuzz with song, dance, art and games when the first three Africa A+ member schools, iThemba Pre-primary, Chameleon Campus and ABC Pre-Primary, attended the A+ Summer Schools Institute from 4 to 8 January \u2013 but behind the song and dance lay a serious intent.<\/span>
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The Summer Schools Institute is a five-day professional development programme that introduces new member schools to the A+ approach. The Institute enables schools to think, plan and nurture children\u2019s creativity and entrepreneurial mindset in order to prepare them for life-long success.<\/p>

The programme was planned by the Oklahoma A+ Schools (OKA+) in partnership with the Africa A+ team. The OKA+ programme director Rosalynn Wade, and OKA+ Fellows, Cindy Scarberry and Jenny Richard flew to Cape Town specially to facilitate the Institute.<\/p>

The Africa A+ facilitators (we call them Fellows) attended the Institute as process observers in order to get more deeply acquainted with the A+ approach. The fellows will be supporting the three schools in implementing what they experienced and learned over the five days.<\/p>

The A+ approach to school transformation is to involve the whole school. Each day the three principals arrived with their full complement of teachers and support staff.<\/p>

The week was packed with music, singing, drama, creative movement and dance workshops. The participants were first encouraged to connect with their own creativity before making connections between what they had experienced, how they could involve the children, and how the activity linked to the 0 \u2013 4 years National Curriculum Framework and Grade R CAPS. They also learned how to integrate different learning pathways into their curriculum mapping and lesson plans. Howard Gardner\u2019s ideas of multiple intelligences is key to the A+ approach to teaching and learning<\/p>

The workshops enabled teachers to realise links such as learning language through drama and play-acting; learning about rhythm and patterning though singing and creative movement; learning about different body parts and human movement through dance; learning science through drama and visual arts; and developing the capacity for listening and self-regulation by making music using simple instruments like shakers made from egg shells and drums from empty water bottles.<\/p>

\u201cIt helped us to think out of the box,\u201d said one teacher. \u201cIt has taught us that we can use anything to do activities, instead of complaining that we don\u2019t have resources.\u201d<\/p>

The eight A+ essentials were woven throughout the five-day programme. According to Cindy: \u201cAs the A+ approach was being developed, these eight things kept coming up about what made a successful school \u2013 so they became the eight commitments or essentials of the A+ Schools.\u201d<\/p>

These are:<\/p>

\u2981 Arts \u2013 we value the arts as a means of facilitating the curriculum in meaningful ways to young children<\/p>

\u2981 Curriculum \u2013 we integrate the arts into our learning programmes<\/p>

\u2981 Enriched assessment \u2013 we allow children to demonstrate mastery through multiple means<\/p>

\u2981 Multiple learning pathways \u2013 we all learn in different ways<\/p>

\u2981 Experiential learning \u2013 we learn best through doing<\/p>

\u2981 Collaboration \u2013 we can do so much when we work together<\/p>

\u2981 Infrastructure \u2013 we organise our time, space and resources to support transformative learning<\/p>

\u2981 Climate \u2013 we respect teachers and children and we value creativity<\/p>

Despite a heatwave during the week, the participants enthusiastically returned each morning eager to explore their creativity and to learn new ways of teaching, learning and planning.<\/p>

CCDI executive director, Erica Elk, welcomed the schools to the first Africa A+ Institute. In her welcome address she said: \u201cWe have inherited a country with issues \u2013 unemployment, poverty, social inequality and injustice. The generation coming through our schooling system is not adequately prepared to deal with these complex issues. We have to nurture the next generations differently and create a new stream of individuals who are more creative, with greater capacity for innovation, critical thinking and problem-solving to become our future leaders and pioneers who will contribute to create new values and new value for our society. At CCDI we felt that the best place to start with our pilot was at the beginning \u2013 at ECD level \u2013 which is why we are so excited to be part of this initiative.\u201d<\/p>

Africa A+ Project director, Anya Morris said: It was an intense week of doing and learning. Two things pleased me most. The first is that we learned a lot about the Africa A+ approach \u2013 the facilitation by the OKA+ team was amazing. The second was the schools\u2019 enthusiasm and commitment to providing the best education for their children.\u201d<\/p>

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The last word goes to OKA+ Fellow Jennifer who summed up the A+ approach: \u201cEverything that we do is in the best interest of our children in South Africa. This is our vision and mission as educators at Africa A+. It\u2019s all about the child\u201d<\/p>\n


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Africa A+ Schools project ignites creativity in early education While most people were still on holiday, the CCDI was abuzz with song, dance, art and games when the first three Africa A+ member schools, iThemba Pre-primary, Chameleon Campus and ABC Pre-Primary, attended the A+ Summer Schools Institute from 4 to 8 January \u2013 but behind 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