Ten pupils from DD Siwisa Primary School have been selected for a Finland exchange programme.
Ten pupils from DD Siwisa Primary School have been selected for a Finland exchange programme.
The programme is the result of a co-operation agreement between the municipalities of Makana, and Raseborg. The school is one of five selected to experience the Fiskars Model, in a Raseborg school.
A document on the education model explains that it encompasses the whole village community in which the small primary school is situated. Pupils are aged 6 to 12. In the Fiskars Model, artists and crafters from the village give workshops on skills such as woodwork, art, or glass-blowing.
The main teaching methods, according to the document, are "learning-by-doing and active learning in authentic 'real life' contexts".
The trip to Finland is scheduled for May 2015 and 10 pupils from grades 4 and 5 currently in grades 2 and 3 will go. DD Siwisa principal Zolani Gosani said they had selected pupils of average to best ability for the week-long visit. "We have selected learners who are primarily independent and can grasp the information quickly," said Gosani.
The intention is for the exchange pupils to be able to teach others when they return. English is a second language at both DD Siwisa and the Fiskarin school and the pland is for DD Siwisa pupils to teach Fiskarin pupils Xhosa, and for the pupils from Extension 6 to learn some Finnish.
The aim is to strengthen the relationship, meeting each other half way. The Fiskarin school has music in its curriculum, but they cannot play cricket – something the Grahamstown children can offer. Pupils were also selected for the programme who had basic English, since it will be the shared language of pupils from the two schools.
Gosani said he hoped the trip would be paid for and parents would only need to provide pocket money for their children. And if the principal – who visited the Finnish school last year – has his way, the trip will have an extra spin-off. "Every learner in Fiskarin school is required to take off their shoes when they enter the classroom," said Gosani. It's a practice he hopes to introduce at his school, since the school employs no cleaners and he thinks not tracking dirt into the classrooms will help.
The Grahamstown-Raseborg co-operation was launched in October 2010. Grocott's Mail reported in August 2011 that a three-year co-operation plan, supported by the South African Embassy had been drawn up. The move was on the basis that both municipalities are festival towns.
The main areas of co-operation are education, culture and municipal services.
Highlights in the plan include research in water projects, waste-water recycling and sanitation and improving the local curriculum and school administration systems.
