The 2023 Chronicle

5. Emyezaneni Secondary School 6. Dabulamanzi Combined School 7. Lion’s River Primary School 8. Dargle Primary School 9. Corrie Lynn Primary School 10. Silindile Primary School 11. Crystal Springs Primary School 12. Nottingham Road Primary School 13. Isiphetho Sendezi Primary School 14. Sibonokuhle Primary School 15. Bruntville Primary School 16. Curry’s Post Primary School

The report below details how this impact has improved our 16 footprint schools as functional places of learning.

OUR REACH 6,286 Learners, 300 Teachers, 16 Schools OUR SCHOOLS 1. Asithuthuke Combined School 2. Jabula Combined School 3. Injoloba High School 4. Shea O’Connor Combined School

MATRIC RESULTS FOOTPRINT HIGH SCHOOL S

100 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0

2020 2021 2022 2023 2019 2018

PERCEN TAGE

87, 5

97, 8

0

0

0

0

70 ,6

91 ,7

66 ,7

39 ,3

36 ,3

72 ,7

37 ,5

52 ,6

53 ,3

83 ,3

92 ,3

23 ,9

79 ,4

75 ,6

88 ,4

64 ,6

87 ,5

47 ,4

95 ,2

78 ,4

66 ,1

95 ,6

82 ,6

82

70

64

87

87

92

100

Asithuthuke

Dabulamanzi

Emyezaneni

Jabula

Shea O’Connor

Injoloba

In 2023 we encouraged our six secondary schools to develop their own revision programmes, with assistance provided when requested. A major challenge was load shedding and adequate lighting for afternoons and evenings. Shea O’Connor received a donation from their twin school St Peter’s that enabled the installation of inverters and 20 solar panels to ensure they are not solely dependent on Eskom for electricity. Asithuthuke were able to install an inverter as a result of a €3,000 donation organised by the Farfield service boys. The boys also secured extra blankets and 30 solar-powered night lamps for the matrics. At Jabula the Grade 12 Maths and Physics learners attended afternoon revision classes on Mondays and Wednesdays. These were run by one of the passionate Michaelhouse mathematics interns, Mr Sinethemba Mabeleka. He then opened his classes to all matrics living in Lidgetton, and started a Sunday class. This class was made up of learners from Injoloba, Howick West Secondary, Shea O’Connor and Jabula. There has been positive feedback and we hope to start sooner in 2024. Importantly, the quality of matric passes in 2023 has significantly improved, with a higher number of bachelor’s and diploma passes being achieved. We would like to especially commend

The national lockdown in early 2020, including the closure of schools, meant that children were left without contact teaching. This has negatively affected the matric pass rates in most of our footprint schools. Dabulamanzi, Emyezaneni, Shea O’Connor and Injoloba, in particular, were casualties. Conversely, in 2021 Asithuthuke and Jabula showed resilience with improved matric pass rates. Jabula lost their principal, Mr Mabaso, in September 2020 and consequently lost momentum. This was evident in the 2020 results. In 2021 Mr Mnikathi, a previous student at Asithuthuke, was appointed principal. He implemented a vigorous matric revision programme which resulted in a 95% pass rate. Asithuthuke’s commendable performance can be attributed to the teachers’ workshops that were held by Steuart Pennington (East, 1968) to increase the motivation and contact with Grade 12 learners, in particular, during lockdown. Over the last four years Steuart has conducted one-on-one interviews with the Grade 12s to ascertain what they felt were appropriate revision requirements. Assistance was also received from the Michaelhouse interns, with extra classes for Life Sciences and Business Studies.

106