Welcome
Adopt-a-School Foundation has hit the ground running in 2015. Following the release of the matric results on 5th January, we began a detailed assessment of the performance of all of our adopted schools which, on average, achieved a 77% pass rate in 2014. This was a 5% decline from the average pass rate achieved in 2013 and was slightly higher than the national pass rate. Our impact assessment, however, goes far beyond the matric pass rate. Over 59% of our learners qualified to study a bachelor’s degree or diploma and a number of learners performed extraordinarily well achieving up to seven distinctions. These are exceptional achievements, considering that these learners attend schools in some of our country’s most impoverished communities.
The Annual National Assessments, which have highlighted the poor quality of maths and literacy in South African schools, are also a very important indication of whether our interventions are making a meaningful impact in schools. While across the country, the performance of maths and literacy is worryingly poor; the results in Grades 3, 6 and 9 in our adopted schools have steadily improved since 2012. The foundation grades play a critical role in ensuring learners have the fundamental skills of reading, writing and understanding mathematics. Only then will learners matriculate with quality results that will enable them to access further education and build successful careers. The Foundation’s strategy is to place more focus on developing our foundation phase educators and the parents of the young children. We are also focusing more and more on the welfare of learners. In addition to our eyesight testing programme, we have embarked on a pilot with the IDC to assess the hearing and speech of primary school learners and provide the necessary therapy.
I hope you enjoy our February newsletter. We share news from our work in the mining town of Barberton, to the handover of the first infrastructure projects for the KST in Free State. We also put the spotlight on some of our star matriculants who have gone on to receive bursaries from the Cyril Ramaphosa Education Trust. Happy reading and best wishes for a year filled with teaching and learning wherever you go!
Regards,
Stephen Lebere
Executive Director
Adopt-a-School Foundation: 2014 Performance
