Four students and two staff members attended a 5 day conference in Makhanda (Eastern Cape) at St Andrews College. Thank you very much Refilwe Lekhoana who submitted this report.
After having much doubt about going on the conference, I honestly have absolutely no regrets about attending such an amazing gathering of truly wonderful people from around SA and the continent at large. There were many fun activities for both the learners and teachers, but the core and essence of it all being the values and principles of the Round Square IDEALS.
You can read more about Round Square by clicking here.
Hearing what other schools are doing in terms of Round Square, also incorporating the Discovery Framework into their lessons and many other activities goes to show how passionate their school communities, teachers, learners together with the parents and ordinary members of the communities are about promoting the IDEALS and living them out. For me, it sounded more like a lifestyle and culture I think would be lovely to be accustomed to. I could go on and on about the experience, but what was constantly on my mind was the question of what and how we the Tiger Kloof community, teaching and non-teaching staff, learners and parents, could get everyone involved and fully participate in promoting the IDEALS of Round Square, and make it a part of our culture?
Seeing our girls presenting a mind blowing project using an original concept of a cooler by using cow dung, embracing our own reality, and getting first place against the best private schools with world class facilities, proved the amount of potential and abilities our learners have. We really have no excuse not to be the best, and not to do more than what we currently are in every aspect of our school, academics and Round Square activities. Round Square is more about being, and not doing.
A few meetings were also held. I attended the AGM and the Reps meeting on behalf of Mr Botma. A few important points that were discussed that I noted were:
- Exchange policies for students and teachers
- Legalities of the use of the Round Square logo for events, on emails and on letterheads
- Round Square Discovery Framework training
- School visits
- Attendance of conferences
- Application for hosting conferences
In conclusion, I’d like to really extend my thanks to Mrs Du Toit, Mr Zackarias, Mr Botma, SGB and the board at large for the opportunity to attend the conference at. It was really a great experience for me and exposure to what other teachers do in their schools.
Written by Refilwe Lekhoana ~ Teacher at Tiger Kloof