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from the Advisers
Tom Rank
Extract from Report on work at St Bernard’s High School,
Motheo District - October 2004
Introduction
First, I should like to record my appreciation to the Free
State Department of Education for inviting me here and going
to such efforts to make the project work. I should also like
to thank Elsie Mbaza for her help and advice throughout the
week – and for the hat! Many of the points in this report
were discussed and clarified in discussion with Elsie during
the week. The staff and learners at St Bernard’s made
us most welcome from the start and were most responsive to
requests and advice.
Before I left the UK I worried about losing things whilst
I was here – especially the work and pictures I hoped
to gather. In fact all that was quite unnecessary –
the only things I lost were my laptop power adapter, which
I left behind at the school on Friday afternoon - and my heart
to the learners at the school. ‘You get educated at
the school,’ as one of the teachers said. I should like
to quote from what one of the other educators at the school
wrote for the e-Lapa website:
‘I am an Afrikaner, born and bred in Bloemfontein....
What I’ll remember most about this school is how hard
teachers work and how they love the children. I’ll
also remember how hard some the learners work and how motivated
they are. I learned an incredible lot about the black people
while working here. I learned that they are proud people
and that they stand together. They are extremely rooted
in their culture and I admire that about them.’
Contact sessions at the school
SMT
We met with the SMT on Monday to outline the project and share
initial ideas.
On Friday we reviewed progress, pointed out the issues raised
during the week, looked at how the project could be taken
forward, the criteria for the visit to London and the role
of ICT in the School Development Plan.
Educators
In addition to introductions in staff meetings:
Training session on the uses of the interactive whiteboard
for about 1½ hours on Thursday afternoon. This was
attended by all the Grade 8 teachers and most of the other
staff, along with two staff from the adjacent primary school,
St Mary’s – who asked why they weren’t involved
in the project!
Demonstration lessons – educators were invited to
two English lessons with Grade 8 learners to see the whiteboard
in action. About 8 staff attended.
Educators were also involved in lessons we took in the computer
room with Grade 8 during the week as they worked on the website
materials and in more informal sessions after school each
day when we worked with the learners to compile material for
the website.
Learners
Apart from the two demonstrations above and some other lessons
I observed and took part in, contact with learners was mostly
during ICT lessons, when the main focus was on creating material
for the website, and during follow-up sessions after the end
of the school day.
Reports from the Project Advisory Team
Here are some reports from the MirandaNet team: more will
follow.
- Andree Jordan,
e-Lapa Adviser for Retief High School
- David Thomas,
e-Lapa Adviser for Heilbron School, Heilbron
- Mara Chrystie,
e-Lapa Adviser for Gelukwaarts School, Van Stadensrus
- John Cuthell,
e-Lapa Adviser for Ikanyegeng Combined School, Ratanang
- David Jordan
, e-Lapa Adviser for Marallaneng School, Ficksburg
- Mara Chrystie,
e-Lapa Adviser for Unitas Welkom
- Tom Rank,
e-Lapa Adviser for St Bernard’s High School, Motheo
District
- Lawrence Williams,
e-Lapa Adviser for Retshedisitswe
Article in the Volksblad, October 28th
2004
World ECitizens Newsletter
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