LEAP Science and Maths School A school of excellence Telephone: 021 531 9715 • Facsimile: 021 532 3714 E-mail: [email protected] • Website: www.leapschool.org.za Street Address: Mupine Complex, 307 Forest Drive Extension, Pinelands 7405 • Postal Address: PO Box 2229, Clareinch 7740 LEAP Science and Maths School Annual Report 2008 Contents 1 Introduction .................................................................................................................... 2 2 2008 Overview ............................................................................................................... 2 3 LEAP Schools ................................................................................................................ 5 3.1 LEAP Learners ....................................................................................................... 6 3.2 Code of Conduct ..................................................................................................... 6 3.3 Life Orientation ....................................................................................................... 7 3.4 Strategies for Improvement in Maths and Science .................................................. 8 3.5 LEAP 1 (Langa) ...................................................................................................... 9 3.6 LEAP 2 (Gugulethu) .............................................................................................. 16 3.7 LEAP 1 (Langa) and LEAP 2 (Gugulethu) Combined Activities ............................. 18 3.8 LEAP 3 (Alexandra) .............................................................................................. 21 4 LEAPSA ....................................................................................................................... 23 5 LEAP Teacher Training Programme ............................................................................ 24 5.1 Opportunities and Challenges ............................................................................... 25 5.2 Programme Improvements .................................................................................... 25 5.3 LEAP Teacher Training Programme Students ...................................................... 27 5.4 Looking Ahead ...................................................................................................... 27 6 The Learning Centre .................................................................................................... 28 7 Community Outreach Programme ................................................................................ 30 7.1 School Activities .................................................................................................... 30 7.2 Community Engagement....................................................................................... 31 8 Governance and Operations ........................................................................................ 34 9 Future Plans ................................................................................................................ 36 10 Finance and Funding Partnerships ........................................................................... 37 10.1 Financial Overview ................................................................................................ 37 10.2 Funding ................................................................................................................. 37 11 The LEAP Metaphor ................................................................................................. 39 Board: Anthony Galloway (Chairman) • Grant Clark • John Gilmour (Executive Director) • Leon Glanvill • Joe Kainja Mackie Kleinschmidt • Sibusiso Mabuza • Lynne Matthews • James McGregor • Moses Ngobeni • Ben Rabinowitz • Crispin Sonn ISASA registered school • NPO No 061-261-NPO • PBO No 930005342 LEAP Science and Maths School A school of excellence 1 Introduction LEAP Science and Maths School started in 2004 with the aim of creating a model that could begin to address the inequalities in the South African education system. Our aim is to transform educationally disadvantaged communities in South Africa through mathematics and science focused education initiatives. The values-based framework of LEAP creates an empowering educational environment that enables each learner to develop fully as a human being with a positive, caring lifestyle and healthy work ethic. LEAP consists of: 3 community intervention schools serving Langa, Gugulethu and Crossroads in Cape Town and Alexandra in Johannesburg Community Outreach Programme LEAP Teacher Training Programme The Learning Centre LEAP actively seeks to share its innovation and entrepreneurial approach with other schools and contributes positively within the national education framework. 2 2008 Overview LEAP Science and Maths School continues to grow and the year 2008 has been a particularly significant year of development and success. This success is particularly reflected in: the outstanding results of the first school, LEAP 1 (Langa), as all 40 matriculants passed well achieving new levels of academic success for LEAP. the successful establishment of the third school serving the township community of Alexandra in Johannesburg the growth of the second school in Cape Town serving the communities of Guguletu and Crossroads We continue to place the simple values of our Code of Conduct at the core of all our actions and ensure that this code underpins all LEAP educational endeavours. The values supported by this code are simple and demanding. We celebrate that in 2008 this code continued to serve as the basis of our actions and continued to provide a base from which children could internalise real values and as individuals develop authentic voices. The outstanding maths results achieved by the Grade 12 LEAP learners, to enable 5 of these learners to achieve A symbols and 9 to achieve B symbols, reflects our growing expectations of LEAP learners. Importantly, the focus of the schools has been to consolidate and refine good practice from the classrooms at LEAP and to begin the process of documenting and sharing our classroom and organisational practices. INTAKA YAKHA NGEENTSIBA ZENYE INTAKA A bird builds its nest with another bird's feathers 2 LEAP Science and Maths School A school of excellence Key staff appointments have enabled us to focus on the application of technology within the science framework and Jeff Fearon, an experienced engineer, has begun to add real value in this area. Within the maths framework, Dr Pieter van Jaarsveld’s role to bring cohesion to the various levels of maths interventions, both within LEAP and within our feeder schools, brings new structure, new expectations and new frameworks within which our teachers and learners can operate. Cultural activities at the LEAP Science and Maths Schools continue to be a very important part of the weekly routine and in 2008 further progress was made as our various choirs and dance and music performing groups refined their areas of expertise and engaged in a wide variety of presentations at our partner schools, such as Bishops - Diocesan College and Redhill School. During 2008 we have established new partners in a range of contexts. We have consolidated existing relationships and we have set new levels of involvement within community organisations and structures. 2008 has been a year of establishing new academic partnerships and a real foundation has been laid on which we can build and grow academic initiatives into the future. Partnerships with organisations such as Africa Centre for Climate and Earth System Science (ACCES) and the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) have enabled our learners to present and participate within the SASOL Science Festival and to go further to take their presentation to many different forums in the Western Cape. This has set a precedent for the future and will enable us to plan and grow this participation. Our learners have engaged in a wide variety of educational outings that have taken us to sites where science is visible in action. Places such as Pretoria Zoo, factories, universities and science centres. Our international partnership with Teach with Africa provides a platform for inter-continental collaboration and we have already seen the benefits of this partnership during their first internship during 2008. We continue to track our graduate group and we are excited and encouraged by the progress that is being made by our past pupils in their chosen field of tertiary studies. 2008 saw the formalization of the establishment of the LEAP Past Students Association (LEAPSA) with the acceptance of a constitution and the first election of a working committee. LEAPSA has an important role to play providing a source of strength and inspiration to future students. We have established a teacher training internship programme at LEAP with the stated intention of ensuring that at least 10% of our graduating learners will elect to become teachers and will use the framework of LEAP as the space in which to learn and develop. These students have registered at UNISA to complete Bachelors of Education degrees. In 2008 we had seven students directly within the full-time programme and one student completing the UNISA Access Course in preparation for starting the degree programme. The Learning Centre continues to provide an appropriate framework by which LEAP learners are recruited. It also plays a significant role in reaching out to the learning communities