Our Link School in South Africa
Throughthe charity Link Community DevelopmentLoughborough High Schoolwas linked to Tsolo High School in September 2007. Tsolo High School is situated in theEastern Cape of South Africa, near the town of Umtata.
The school is a mixed school consisting of around 300 students (called “learners”) and 10 teachers in total. Students range from 14 to 20 years old and they walk up to 10km to reach the school.
Tsolo High School was founded by the local community in 2005 and is currently looking for new premises as they share the grounds of the feeder school, DRC Junior School. The average class size is over 60 pupils and the school has very few resources, including no textbooks, no staffroom, no phone and no computers.
We feel there are many mutual benefits that can be gained from this partnership with Tsolo High School. Our numerous curriculum projects have enhanced the link and enabled both schools to find out about the similarities and differences of two very diverse cultures.
"Education is the great engine of personal development. It is through education that the daughter of a peasant can become a doctor, that the child of farm workers can become the president of a great nation." Nelson Mandela
To find out more about our link school read the school profile.
To see the case study Link Community Development has written about our link with Tsolo High School go to http://www.lcd.org.uk/uk/casestudies/.
Visiting Tsolo High School
During February half term, 2009, Miss Lewis, Miss Partridge and Mrs Webster visited Tsolo High School to set up further curriculum projects and help build communication.
To see a PowerPoint about their visit, click here.
During our stay we were able to do many different activities. Miss Lewis taught a very interactive maths lesson on the topic of the beauty of mathematics.
Mrs Webster took a parachute out with her and taught some team building skills and games. She was able to leave the parachute as well as some other games kit for them to use in the future.
Miss Partridge taught a lesson on self-esteem and was able to assemble a wall display using the work they’d done.
We also took enough LHS pencil to give every learner in the school one. As you can see were very appreciative!
Before leaving for South Africa, parents and pupils at LHS collected enough football T-shirts for every pupil in the school. The pupils at the school were so pleased and touched, and wanted us to pass on their gratitude to all those who donated them. One teacher at the school said “This has really made our learners feel special.”
Pupils at LHS put together a scrap book to take out to South Africa, to give staff and pupils a flavour of life here at LHS. The pupils all loved leafing through it, and treated it with such care and respect. It was a lovely gift to leave with them.
During the stay, we were also able to conduct an assembly for the pupils at Tsolo High School, to show them what an assembly at LHS would be like.
On the last day of our stay, the whole school was taken off timetable and Tsolo High School held a Cultural Day in our honour. Staff and pupils took part in singing, drama, poetry recital and traditional African dancing, including a gumboot dance. It was a fantastic celebration of the rich South African traditions and was thoroughly enjoyed by all!