The Schools

Distinctive historic buildings on some of the pilot schools’ campuses (clockwise from top left): Inanda, Lemana, Tiger Kloof, Healdtown.

The six pilot schools continue to co-operate with the HSRP in the first steps towards fulfilling the HSRP mandate of excellence in education, and their relationship with the project grows gradually clearer and more focused.

We congratulate the schools that produced good matric pass rates in December 2008. Also in December we were delighted that Thomas Hagspihl, former Maths Department Head at St Stithian’s and Headmaster at Elkanah House, applied for (under the auspices of the HSRP and with the permission of the community and the Eastern Cape Provincial Government) and was appointed to the post of Principal at Healdtown. Thomas began at the school in February 2009, on the retirement of the previous principal.

We have always known that effective school leadership is crucial for the success of the HSRP and, though facing a very tough task, Thomas, like our other pilot school principals, is an extremely committed teacher and leader, and we have no doubt that he will negotiate all the difficulties at Healdtown with creativity and the wonderful missionary zeal that he possesses in abundance.

2007 Audits

The 2007 HSRP Annual Report included summaries of the KPMG audit report of the finances, human resources, infrastructure and management resources of the pilot schools, and the IQAA audit report on teaching, learning, attainments, progress, school functioning, governance and management, and values and social involvement of the pilot schools. These audits, completed at the end of the 2007/08 financial year and the beginning of the 2008/09 financial year respectively, were extremely valuable tools for the HSRP, and we are following up on matters raised in these reports.

Architectural Status Report

Towards the end of 2008 the HSRP’s core architectural team was requested to provide a status or baseline report on the physical state of three of the first six pilot schools, these being Healdtown and St Matthew’s schools in the Eastern Cape and Lemana High School in Limpopo.

A decision was taken to make use of local professional expertise wherever possible, and to appoint teams drawn from the provinces in which the schools are situated. A number of studies are being undertaken including: complete topocadastral surveys; assessments of existing service infrastructures including water, sewerage, electricity, telecommunications, roads and security fencing; vegetation and cultural landscape surveys and a heritage assessment of each school campus. A consolidated status report will be produced and sent to appropriate government departments and others.

Healdtown

Infrastructural services at Healdtown are reported to be completely inadequate, and in some cases nonexistent. Before any restoration or remedial work is done on the buildings themselves, it is essential that various services are implemented and improvements made. Phase 1 of the restoration process (up to April 2012) will address the following priorities: electricity and communications infrastructure; water, sewerage and storm-water systems; roads and vehicle parking facilities; sports fields and recreation areas, and security fencing.

Phase 2 (up to April 2013) will see the restoration of hostel accommodation for 160 boarders, dining room and kitchen facilities, and three staff houses. During Phase 3 (up to April 2014), additional hostel accommodation and interim remedial work on derelict buildings of historic value is planned.

St Matthew’s

The situation at St Matthew’s is similar, with basic infrastructure needs, especially water supply and reticulation, being the most urgent. These must be addressed during Phase 1. The refurbishment of the girls’ hostels (currently in use and in a bad state of repair) is also scheduled for Phase 1. Phase 2 will see additional boarding facilities for girls as well as kitchen, dining and laundry facilities, and the restoration of three staff houses. Phase 3 will include new hostel accommodation for 300 boys and refurbishment of staff accommodation. The Calabar Foundation has addressed the connectivity and some staff housing needs at the school.

Lemana

Regarding Lemana High School, it has been agreed in principle by the stakeholders (school and surrounding communities and local and provincial government) that the school is to be relocated from its present campus back to the original, historic campus. Despite this agreement, little progress has been made to date on the relocation of the school. It is understood that the previous inhabitants of the historic campus have vacated it and that access control and security have been removed. This is a matter for concern as it leaves the buildings (many of which are in good condition and contain equipment) vacant and open to vandalism.

It is agreed that 2009 will be critical in terms of protecting the existing environment of the original campus, and it is imperative that the buildings are not left unoccupied for any length of time. In addition, inadequate water supply poses the most serious problem at this stage.

During Phase 1, basic infrastructural and security work will be done as well as the refurbishment of toilet blocks and the building of four new classrooms. Phase 2 will see the refurbishment of two new hostel blocks, the dining hall and kitchen, and the restoration of three staff houses. The historic boys’ and girls’ hostel complexes will be refurbished during Phase 3.

St Matthew’s girls’ hostel, due for extensive renovation.

Above left: The old dining hall at Healdtown
Above right: One of the derelict staff houses on the St Matthew’s campus.

Healdtown ‘s original hostel for junior boys.

Historic buildings on the old Lemana campus.

Adams

Preliminary costings have also been done on three phases of restoration of Adams College in KwaZulu-Natal. However, a professional analysis was not completed. Phase 1 will include an upgrade of peripheral security and roads as well as some classrooms. Phase 2 will involve further refurbishment of administration buildings and laboratories as well as the dining hall, kitchen and boarding hostels. It will also include the building of a new laundry and the restoration of three staff houses.

Education Subcommittee

e HSRP recognised early on that simply restoring the physical plant at the schools without paying attention to the many components that contribute to a successful school was not conducive to the long-term sustainability of the schools. Accordingly, a more holistic approach has been adopted by the Project and, in addition to the restoration of the infrastructure of the schools, attention needs to be paid to other areas such as administration and finance, curriculum development and the level of ongoing training required for the educators.

It has become clear that the role of training of educators is a key factor in the development of excellence within schools. The results of the IQAA report, published in 2008, have highlighted that all the schools recognise the need for ongoing training of educators, particularly with the introduction of the outcomes-based education (OBE) model adopted by the Department of Education. While the training of educators was initially seen as a subsidiary intervention by the HSRP, it is now recognised that such training is an important component of the restoration process as a whole, and should be implemented in parallel with the infrastructural development planned at each of the schools. It is for this reason that the appointment of an Education Director within the HSRP framework has become an urgent requirement, and the process of defining the position and identifying and employing a suitable candidate is under way.

Adams College students smile for a photograph.

It is envisaged that the Education Director would report directly to the HSRP Executive Director and would enjoy support from the Education Subcommittee which has been appointed by the HSRP Board. Broadly, the role of this subcommittee is to define the education programme and processes required for improved educational quality at the schools, to make recommendations to the HSRP Board on this, and also to advise the Executive Director and the Education Director where required.

A cultural display at Tiger Kloof

Promoting Cultural Excellence

Some initiatives have been undertaken in order to fulfil our mandate of cultural excellence. The first was a discussion with Mr Themba Wakashe, Director-General of the Department of Arts and Culture, and some of his senior staff. We agreed that it was necessary for us to bring together a group of people that would be tasked with discussing and defining what we meant by ‘cultural excellence’ and how it should be implemented at the historic (and other) schools. Proposals for this process have been submitted to the Department and we await their response.

The second initiative has been mentioned earlier in this report under ‘Partnerships’, namely the Hugh Masekela Music and Arts Academy. This will provide a facility where accomplished artists can share the benefit of their experience in various art-related fields with learners at the Academy itself but also, through the Academy, at the historic schools. We plan that this partnership will engender a greater knowledge of and respect for the arts and our uniquely South African cultures.

The ZK Matthews Educational Trust

Sustainability of the historic schools during and after their restoration has always been a matter of vital importance for the HSRP. As a vehicle for ensuring this, I decided to create an educational trust fund which, after consultation with members of the Matthews family, has been named the ZK Matthews Educational Trust.

It is not difficult to justify our use of his name. Zachariah Keodirelang Matthews had an illustrious educational career. In brief: he was schooled at Lovedale (an historic school) and became the first African to obtain a BA at a South African Institution – namely Fort Hare. He was appointed first African head of Adams College (one of the six HSRP pilot schools) in Natal. He was President of the Natal Teachers’ Association and, after studying privately, became the first African to earn an LLB degree in South Africa. He completed an MA at Yale University in the USA, and studied anthropology at the London School of Economics. He became a lecturer at Fort Hare and later a professor. He became increasingly involved in politics and is credited with being a moderating and guiding influence on African history in its most crucial period. He was known as South Africa’s (perhaps even Africa’s) most distinguished African intellectual. He finally became Botswana’s ambassador to the USA where he died in 1968.

Work towards the creation of our educational trust began during 2008, the 50th anniversary of his death. Investec, as I mentioned previously, has offered to manage it for us pro bono. The purpose of the ZK Matthews Trust is to provide funding for endowments, subsidies, bursaries, scholarships and various research and other awards to deserving students from the HSRP schools.

I will be one of the Trustees, and others who will be approached to serve are Professor Wiseman Nkuhlu, Justice Thembile Skweyiya, Dr Sindiwe Magona, Justice Ian Farlam and Mr Sello Moloko. Ms Sheila Sisulu will chair the Trust.

2009/2010

I continue to visit the pilot schools and other historically significant South African schools which will be included in later phases of the Project. In January I was warmly welcomed at Morris Isaacson and Orlando High Schools in Soweto. Visits to Moroka High School in the Free State and others in other provinces are planned for the near future.

Rainbow over the Tiger Kloof campus.

Intensive workshops for principals, senior staff members, SGB representatives and others will take place during the next financial year. The workshops will be held for a number of reasons, including the fine-tuning of the relationship between the HSRP and the historic schools, but also to help motivate and equip school principals and staff to promote excellence in education, which is the mandate of the HSRP. There will also be further consultations planned with communities as they are extremely important stakeholders in the renewal processes.

Meetings with government leaders and negotiations with government on a number of school-related issues will continue, as will applications for further funding from government, big business, the faith communities – particularly the schools’ founding churches, alumni organisations and civil society. We are currently in discussion with a number of organisations, including the Ackerman Family Education Trust, the Oppenheimer Memorial Trust, Tshikululu Social Investments and the Zenex Foundation, around donations towards particular needs of the pilot schools and the HSRP office. As I stated in the opening paragraphs of this report, this is a project with enormous ramifications and we must ensure that we lay proper foundations.