Tsoseletso High School made history by being the
first school in the history of the Free State province to have a newsletter of
their kind produced by learners. The project forms part of our School’s
Literacy Development Programme, under our Whole Development Unit.
The learners were selected by the school’s English
department. They went through a rigorous two months training period that
comprised of basic reading and writing skills, and leadership development
classes. The outcome of the training was having a team of twenty (20) learners
who could run a newsroom like any other. Together with the language department
and the school management team, we decided to introduce firm but fair rules to encourage
the learners to put their academic work first. The rules included a clause that
stipulated that: each learner’s overall average should not be below 65 percent.
They also had to comply with the three compulsory spelling and exercises per
month, organise and implement a literacy development programme in a primary
school and volunteer at the school’s library once in two weeks. Their elected committee is supported
the school’s languages heads of department. The learners are in charge of content production, supervised by their
educators. Initially, they newsletter was just going to be a publication for
learners by learners to just share stories about their school. In one
production meeting, the learners decided they wanted to feature thought -provoking
articles that have never reported by learners in a newsletter before.
They
wanted to use the newsletter to encourage their fellow schoolmates and parents
to begin having some of the conversations that the school has never sat down
with them and have. Some of these articles included one that investigated the school’s
textbook shortage crisis. The reporter came to a production meeting with a list
of people he wanted to interview starting from the school principal to the
learners and the educators. What was more inspiring was the learner-reporter
opting to use his article to encourage parents and learners to donate textbooks
they were not using to the school, and highlight the importance of learners
taking good care of the loaned textbooks. Another brilliant article covered the school’s Matric performance. The school has a reputation of being the best in the Free State province, but over the past two years, they struggled to achieve anything above 90%. The article looked at what could be hindering their school from reaching their 100% goals. The route the learner-reporter took included interviewing some of the past learners who did exceptionally well, the current Matric class, educators and parents. It became clear that the socio-economic challenges the learner’s families faced affected their school performance. The article highlighted the importance of parents coming in on board to support educators in running the school social welfare department. The learners were also encouraged to study together and help each other as early as the eighth grade.
The newsletter further serves as a fundraising initiative. The team decided to donate their first sales to the school. They have planned to purchase equipment needed in any newsroom to make their work easier.
“This has been overwhelming for us. We knew our
learners had it in them but seeing the final product is just overwhelming.
Thank you, for everything” said Mr. Motlolometsi, the school's principal.
Ke Ngoaneso – My Sister Project
The Ke Ngoaneso—My Sister project was established within days after our MD, Nangamso Koza realised that, at one of the schools she was tutoring English, a learner has missed schools for two days because they were on their periods, and could not afford sanitary towels.
The programme falls under our Learner Support Unit.
The Unit addresses the challenges learners face beyond the classroom. We work
with each school’s social welfare department and management team in
indentifying critical challenges faced by the learners. Our belief is not to
walk into a school with a solution, but rather work with each school’s
stakeholders in designing programmes aimed at addressing the identified
challenges. The programme is run by learners, assisted by the school’s social
welfare team. It is meant to not just only provide sanitary towels, but to
create space for dialogues about healthy lifestyles including knowledge on how
learners can better protect themselves from diseases. The learners convene
bi-weekly sessions, facilitate by their teachers, and at time themselves. On
monthly basis, we ensure that they have one session facilitated by a health
professional. The learners took the decision to present the programme to their
parents during one of the school’s parents meeting.
The parents were blown away by how matured the
learners were. They were impressed by how forward-thinking they were, and
immediately pledged their support. Some of the learners who serve within the
health department pledged to support with designing and supporting the
programme.
Over 200 packets of sanitary towels have been distributed to schools on monthly basis since June 2012. The project restores the dignity of the female learners by donating a packet of sanitary towels to each learner, as per list compiled by the school’s guidance educators. Our female learners no longer have to stay away from school because they are avoiding ’accidents’ that might embarrass them.
We are pleased that the young ladies are growing up to
be caring and considerate citizens. We believe that no child should ever have
to miss school because they cannot afford food or sanitary towels. We cannot
allow that to happen under our watch.
Feedback from the learners:
“I live with my mother and my two younger sisters. Our one roomed shack has a bed, a wardrobe, a table, two chairs and a sponge I sleep in. My mother passed away when I was seven, and I have never met my father. My periods started last year. I was 13 when they started and my grandmother said they started too soon. I used to use old pieces of cloths to avoid any accidents. I was forced to stay at home during the first two days of the cycle. Because of the hygiene pack I receive at school, I no longer have to worry about accidents. Thank you for making sure I am safe at school. Thank you” *Thandeka, 14 years
“Thank you for making me understand what periods really are, and how to take care of my body” *Kelebogile, 13 years
“Thank for Ke Ngoaneso. I had never used pads before.
Thank you for making me feel like I too deserve them” * Sibongile, 15 years
“I wish you could make all girls feel so special like you do with us. Bless you” *Lerato, 16 years
“I share my pads with my sister. Thank you”
*Tsholofelo, 14 years
Our Leadership Development Programme attracts the UFS
A total of 22 schools with more than 220 young
leaders formed part of the programme. The programme included quarterly RCL
training and mentorship sessions and school visitations.
The first training session attracted well known educationalists and leader-developers like the likes of Prof Jonathan Jansen, the Vice-Chancellor of the UFS, and the university’s then Deputy –Dean of Student Affairs, Mr. Phumelele Mgolombane. Prof. Jansen dwelled on the importance of academic excellence and authentic leadership in schools. He got the young leaders excited about the future by showing them a life beyond their current socio-economic needs.
The first training session attracted well known educationalists and leader-developers like the likes of Prof Jonathan Jansen, the Vice-Chancellor of the UFS, and the university’s then Deputy –Dean of Student Affairs, Mr. Phumelele Mgolombane. Prof. Jansen dwelled on the importance of academic excellence and authentic leadership in schools. He got the young leaders excited about the future by showing them a life beyond their current socio-economic needs.
The schools now boats having counter-cultural
innovative leaders whose portfolios range from Academic to Environmental and
Community Engagement Officers—portfolios the schools never had. The training included some of the UFS’s student
leaders who serve as school mentors. They are students who faced the same the
same challenges the learners are currently facing when growing up. They are students
who have benefited from a variety of internal leadership development programmes
the UFS offers, and have experience in mentoring RCL members. The follow-up training sessions also continued on
the same path, creating an opportunity for the RCL learners to interact with
some of the national educationalists, leadership experts and mentors. We are
humbled by Prof Jonathan Jansen’s belief in our dream, and his continuous
support. We are very pleased with how our RCL Development Programme has been received by the schools, and our partner, the UFS. We wanted to expose the young leaders to a selfless leadership philosophy - puts the needs of those we serve first before ours
Feedback from the learners:
“I was elected into a position because I think I
scare some of my classmates. I had no idea that serving people actually brings
one inner peace. I feel so different now about everything. I need time to think
about what I am meant to be and how to change to be a better person” * Boitumelo, 17 years
“I feel like a new person. You saved my life. Thank
you” *Tshepo, 15 years
Phetogo – A Book Club driven by a desire to make
change
Phetogo is a vibrant book club that introduced a
new culture of reading at Tsoseleso High School this year. The club boasts a
membership that has each grade represented. The learners were trained on how to
run a functioning book club. The book club’s main objective is to popularise
reading in their school.Each member reads one book per month. The reviews
they write are marketed in the school throughout the month. This method has
worked as more learners have been reportedly singing up with the library to be
able to access books. The club is very strict on this rule as members who don’t
submit their reviews cannot be permitted into club meetings until their
submissions have been received. 
The club decided to honour former President Nelson
Mandela by celebrating his birthday (18 July) with learners from Pholoho School
for the Blind and Disabled, in Bloemfontein. They had organised reading and
writing exercises for the learners. This was history in making as no book club
in the history of the Free State province had ever done that before. 
They blew
us away by organising one of the best spelling bee competitions we have ever
formedpart of. Because of the interest the competition had generated, the club
had to hold two preliminary rounds prior to the scheduled day. In total, twenty learners participated on the
day. The audience decided to donate R1 at the door in a form of an entrance fee
that is used to purchase more books for the school’s library. On that day, the
Resource Centre was jammed packed with excited learners who wanted to see who
was going to be crowned as the school’s best speller of the year. The team was
assisted by the school’s RCL in organising everything, from designing the
programme to ensuring we donated prizes to the best spellers. The biggest
shocker of the day was seeing a Grade Eight learner crowned as the school’s
best speller of the year. Phetogo book club has prepared to set up five more book clubs in their school as more learners have shown interest in joining this reading revolution. They also plan on hosting a SeSotho Spelling Bee competition to promote the use of indigenous languages amongst learners. We look forward to what 2014 has in store for our journey with them.
