Jabu Thomo, our Educational Programme Director, is in the spotlight this month. We want to share our fun and fearless staff members who care about mathematics education and youth employment more than anything else! Jabu leads our fabulous team who are dedicated to turning underperforming classrooms into centres of maths and science excellence. Maths marriages Jabu is a teacher by profession, who taught secondary school maths for more than 10 years within the Department of Basic Education (DBE). While working there, Jabu occupied various roles as a teacher, Head of Department, and subject advisor for maths in the Ekurhuleni North district office. After that, he worked with various NGOs throughout the country as an education projects manager. This path led to where he is now, the educational programmes director at JumpStart. Jabu and his wife are both maths teachers. After meeting at university, they taught at the same school. They have now been married for […]
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JumpStart wins MTN Award for Social Change
It was a happy coincidence that during Teacher Appreciation Month JumpStart won the 2020 MTN Award for Social Change! This primary school mathematics education and youth employment programme is benefiting 22 000 foundation phase learners in the Ekurhuleni South District. The award, which attracted 143 entries across the three categories, was given in recognition for JumpStart’s excellent monitoring and evaluation (M&E) practice. General Manager, Callen Hodgskiss, received the award from Angie Maloka of the MTN Foundation at the Trialogue Business in Society conference on Wednesday, 14 October. All stakeholders can make informed decisions because of good M&E Maloka congratulated Hodgskiss, saying, “The judges felt that the intervention was designed with a high level of consultation and is focused on a clear problem, for which the root cause has been clearly analysed and unpacked. M&E has been embedded throughout the model to ensure that all stakeholders are able to use the feedback to make informed decisions.” […]
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Teacher Talk: Hope for learners at Izibuko Primary
This Women’s Month we feature some exceptional women in our community. The first of our August heroines is Barbara Bogogolela, who shared her experience of teaching Grade One under challenging circumstances. Back in January this year, Mrs Bogogolela stood on the long corridor outside her classroom door, leading the young Grade Ones into her class on their first day of “big school”. Izibuko Primary School in Katlehong serves the local informal settlements. Nobody could possibly have foreseen what 2020 would bring her way. Nothing in her 34 years of teaching could have prepared her for the challenges she faces later this month. On 24 August 2020, all those 40 young minds and bodies, will return after months of lockdown! These little ones who entered her life for just a few weeks and had learned to count up to five will have forgotten most of what they learned. However, she will try to give each child […]
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Teacher Talk: Mrs Macala motivates with JumpStart and hugs
Education with love is a daily happening at Tamaho Primary School in Katlehong. On a mild March morning near the end of the first term, all 43 learners in Mrs Nondumiso Macala’s Grade 2 class wait with excitement. Lined up outside her bright green door, those who have completed their homework are especially happy because they will receive their special “huggy huggy” welcome. All who’ve passed through her classes speak highly of this much loved and vivacious personality. After 14 years on the staff, she was appointed in 2016 as one of two HODs of the foundation phase, which caters to more than 800 learners from Grade R to 3. Her portfolio includes mentoring and supervising ten other educators, so she is very grateful to have two “angels” — JumpStart interns Hloniphile Mkwanazi and Abongile Mhlola. “They are my left and right hand, especially while I attend other school issues.” Inspiring discipline by rewarding behaviour […]
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Teachers give JumpStart top marks
At the end of every school year, when teachers have graded all the learners in their care, a group of Ekurhuleni South and Sasolburg teachers have one final report to write… That’s when all in JumpStart’s management team sit up straighter, awaiting their own report card! Project Director, Jabu Thomo, explains: “We administer a confidential survey with a representative sample of teachers at schools running our programme. In October 2019 we sampled 32 schools and received a total of 142 encouraging responses. We value this opportunity to see how JumpStart is doing so that we can continue to fulfil our mandate.” The survey measured teacher satisfaction and the impact of the programme. Additionally, it investigated the effectiveness of NumberSense workbooks and our interns, as well as teacher training, and where applicable, digital workbooks. Key findings from the 2019 survey Satisfaction with the NumberSense workbooks is especially high, followed by satisfaction with the performance of interns. […]
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