By Nozipho Maphalala and Vuyisile Zandamela
The first-ever Makhanda Teaching Award honoured the excellence of local teachers at a dazzling ceremony at PJ Olivier High School recently.
Six exemplary local educators received personal awards of R30 000 each, while the winning Early Childhood Development Centre, the Little Red Dragon School, bagged R50 000.
Khutliso Daniels’ ebullient principal, Radio Mcuba, won the Excellence in High School Leadership award, while Khutliso’s Life Sciences teacher, Lungelwa Deliwe, won the Further Education and Training (FET) prize.
Khutliso’s 96% pass rate in 2023 set a new benchmark for the no-fee school sector. Before 2023, no fee-exempt school had achieved a pass rate of 95%. Khutliso Daniels almost doubled its previous record number of 25 bachelors, all the way to 46, out of a cohort of 84. In 2017, Khutliso’s matric pass rate was a paltry 25%, with no bachelor passes.
Mcuba told Grocott’s Mail he felt honoured to receive the award on behalf of his teachers. “As a leader, you need to study the potential of your team members and assign the task to the right person,” he said.
Rhodes University VC Prof Sizwe Mabizela showed his deep appreciation to all teachers in Makhanda: “Teaching is the most noble of all professions. It is not just a job but rather a vocation, a higher calling to serve our nation and humanity”. He said it was vital for educators to raise their expectations and strive for excellence to help learners reach their full potential.
The Awards came to fruition when Victoria Freudenheim, founder of the KAVOD Trust, visited Makhanda in mid-2023. She was struck by the positive strides in education across the city. In discussions with GADRA Manager Ashley Westaway, Freudenheim suggested the initiation of an annual Makhanda Teacher Awards to raise the status of teaching and celebrate the tremendous strides in public education in the city over the past ten years.
GADRA Education teamed up with the Department of Primary and Early Childhood Education at Rhodes to run the first awards in 2024. A committee of experts decided on seven award categories for the 2024 awards. These categories will not necessarily remain the same each year.
The 2024 Awards recognised all schools in the basic education sector, from ECD to matric.
ECD Centre of Excellence (R50 000 to the school)
Winner: The Little Red Dragon School, part of the Lebone Centre in Currie Street.
Runners up: Siyazama Pre-school and the Rhodes Pre-school and Day Care Centre
Adjudicators: Lise Westaway and Fortunate Gonzo
Excellence in Foundation Phase Teaching:
Winner: Mandisa Peter, Grade 3 teacher at Tantyi Lower Primary School
Runners up: Zoleka Kate, Grade 1 teacher at Fikizolo Primary and Zingiswa Mdingi, Grade 2 teacher at Holy Cross Primary School
Adjudicator: Kelly Long
Excellence in Intermediate Phase Teaching
Winners: Two excellent candidates were impossible to choose between, and two winners shared the award. Jade Botha, a Grade 4 teacher at The Good Shepherd Primary School and Kerry Knott-Craig, a Grade 4 teacher at Victoria Girls Primary School.
Adjudicator: Ingrid Schudel
Excellence in Senior Phase Teaching
Winner: Zuzeka Zisentle Ndumiso, Maths teacher at the Andrew Moyake School of Excellence
Adjudicator: Kavish Jawahar
Excellence in FET Teaching
Winner: Lungelwa Deliwe, Life Skills teacher at Khutliso Daniels High School
Adjudicator: Babsy Makombe
Excellence in Leadership: Primary School
Winner: Thulani Wana, Principal, Good Shepherd Primary School
Runners-up: Nicola Hayes, Principal, Holy Cross Primary School and Pricilla Glover, Principal, Tantyi Lower Primary School
Adjudicator: Ashley Westaway
Excellence in Leadership: High School
Winner: Radio Ncuba, Principal, Khutliso Daniels High School
Runners-up: Mzwandile Kleyi, Principal, Nyaluza High School and Jonathan Hellemann, Principal, Andrew Moyake School of Excellence
Adjudicator: Ashley Westaway.
Westaway said the awards were “objective, reliable and authoritative” and raised the profile of “this fantastic profession of teachers”.
In his keynote address, Mabizela said teachers’ responsibility for fostering young people’s intellectual and social development in their formative years “should never be taken lightly nor taken for granted”.
“Teachers should be accorded the highest esteem in any society as they are not just teachers but also mothers, fathers, psychologists and social workers,” he said. “It takes a good teacher to inspire hope, ignite the imagination and instil the love of learning.”
Makhanda Circle of Unity manager Sakhe Ntlabezo, who acted as compere, said awards supported the vision of January’s Makhanda Education Summit that the city become the best educational city in South Africa by 2028.
The citations
Early Childhood Centre of Excellence Award
Makhanda is blessed with a large number of effective, high-quality ECD Centers. This year’s award goes to The Little Red Dragon Pre-School, established in 2005 and serves mainly the communities of Ghost Town, Hoggenoeg, Vergenoeg, Sun City and Scott’s farm. The preschool has gold-level registration with the Department of Education. The strength of the preschool lies in the practitioners’ and parents’ involvement.
The two multilingual practitioners offer classes in English-Afrikaans and English-IsiXhosa and are both BEd students at Rhodes University. The preschool strongly focuses on learning through play, supported by an excellent outdoor play area.
There is regular communication between the school and the parents through meetings, events, and interventions such as the Mikhulu book sharing.
Close collaborations with various stakeholders enhance the holistic early learning programme offered by the preschool. For example, the preschool is part of the Rhodes University Vice Chancellor’s ECD Centre of Excellence Initiative. It supports learners’ health and well-being by participating in campaigns hosted by the Department of Health, local audiologists, dentists, and optometrists.
Excellence in Foundation Phase Teaching
The winner of the award for Excellence in Foundation Phase Teaching 2024 is Ms Mandisa Peter, who has been an exemplary teacher in Makhanda for over 25 years, demonstrating a deep commitment to her vocation. Her dedication extends beyond the classroom; she actively participates in community engagements and holiday schools and directs children’s ministries at her church.
Her classroom is a vibrant, inclusive space where care and compassion are palpable. Ms Peter designs her lessons to connect with her learners’ lived experiences and adapts to their needs to ensure meaningful learning. Her commitment to her learners’ well-being is reflected in the supportive systems she creates and the extra efforts she makes.
Tabisa Booi, a panel member, noted, “Ms Peter’s dedication, resourcefulness, and positive learning environment were evident throughout my visit.”
Additionally, Ms. Peter’s pursuit of professional growth is impressive, with multiple qualifications from Rhodes University following her initial diploma from the Cape College of Education. She also excels as a mentor for pre-service teachers, demonstrating her dedication to advancing the profession.
Excellence in Intermediate Phase Teaching
This category is a little bit different. Two excellent candidates were impossible to choose between, so we have two winners who share the award in this category.
The Excellence in Intermediate Phase Teaching 2024 award goes to a Grade 4 teacher at The Good Shepherd Primary School, Jade Botha and a Grade 4 teacher at Victoria Girls Primary School, Kerry-Lee Knott-Craig.
Jade Botha plays a leading role at Good Shepherd Primary as a school management team member, phase head of English, and coordinator of the school nutrition programme. Her colleagues speak highly of her commitment to the school.
Ms Botha’s lessons are creative and stimulating and show a solid commitment to inclusivity and love of learning. She develops her own materials and uses technology well to share lesson development with learners.
She shows excellent attention to detail in her own lesson planning. She carefully reflects on learners’ progress and how she can adapt to improve lessons in the future.
Her classroom environment is bright and cheerful, and she encourages feedback from learners with a ‘mailbox’ in which they can anonymously share concerns.
Her excellent classroom control is kind and firm, and her well-managed active learning and flexibility for different needs keep her class captivated.
After school hours, she runs a remedial reading club called the Gogo-Gang, which is established to allow learners to spend time with a supportive adult outside the classroom and in the home environment.
Kerry-Lee Knott-Craig is a well-respected member of the Victoria Primary staff, as is evident from supportive letters from her peers and the principal.
Her bright and busy classroom walls indicate deep and engaging learning and are also used to encourage a caring and participatory environment. Ms Knott-Craig produces careful and detailed lesson plans, and it is encouraging to see how she integrates the National Arts Festival into her learners’ activities and does creative, integrated, practical work such as making crumpets in class.
She is clearly loved by the learners, who show trust in their engagement with her. She is known in her school to informally spend time with girls, talking and helping them work through social challenges.
After hours, she runs a reading club for those in need and provides intervention sessions for those needing homework help or who are struggling academically. She is a reflective teacher with a keen interest in integrating her assessment practices and research.
Excellence in Leadership: Primary School
Tulani Wana of Good Shepherd Primary is a stand-out principal who is professional to the core. He regards South Africa’s children as our most important national asset and thus prioritises offering them a safe, healthy and stimulating environment at Good Shepherd Primary School.
His understanding of an excellent school is all-encompassing: it should ensure effective academics and holistic child development, encourage full stakeholder participation, prioritise compliance with all legal and ethical frameworks, and enable ongoing professional development.
In all these respects, Mr Wana leads by example: he teaches Life Orientation and Economic and Management Sciences; he is personally involved in extra-mural offerings; he communicates confidently and respectfully with all stakeholders and is furthering his own studies through the University of Johannesburg.
He has a good all-around skill set (including curriculum and financial skills) that he brings to bear on school management, which has had a good effect.
Finally, his character strengths (respectfulness, inclusivity, thoroughness, consistency) have enabled him to connect with the Makhanda community to the advantage of his school. Unsurprisingly, therefore, there is abundant evidence that his leadership is producing fantastic outcomes; for example, Good Shepherd has performed very well in the city-wide Grade 4 Comprehension study.
Excellence in SP teaching award
Zuzeka Zisentle Ndumiso at Andrew Moyake School of Excellence is a highly engaged Makhanda citizen and passionate teacher who strives to provide high-quality Mathematics education. Her continuous professional development endeavours include pursuing an MBA, which has contributed to the multidisciplinarity featured in her teaching strategies. This helps her learners see the connectedness between different subjects.
Furthermore, Zuzeka’s creative multi-sensory teaching approach draws on the love that her learners have for Performance Arts. This is evident in her classroom practice, which incorporates fun learning activities such as role-playing, singing, and rapping, which foster a productive disposition towards mathematics. Zuzeka’s lessons reveal coherent progression that contributes to making Mathematics knowledge accessible, and real-life examples allow for relevant practical application. The result is that her learners not only enjoy their Mathematics lessons but are also empowered for lifelong learning. Zuzeka’s teaching excellence is praised by her colleagues and school leadership, her school learners, and Rhodes University student-teachers.
Excellence in the FET Phase
Lungelwa Deliwe, a Life Sciences Teacher at Khutliso Daniels Secondary School, demonstrates outstanding passion and dedication in her teaching; her enthusiasm shines through in every lesson. Her presence in the classroom is both commanding and inspiring, fostering an atmosphere of respect and focus that enhances learning. Her strong classroom management cultivates a well-ordered environment where learners can thrive. Ms Deliwe has demonstrated meticulous organisational skills and a commitment to adapting subject material to meet the diverse learning styles of her learners.
Her ability to present content in engaging and practical ways, particularly through hands-on Life Sciences demonstrations, truly brings the subject to life for her learners. Colleagues and novice teachers commend her for her exceptional organisational skills and empathy, noting how she prioritises understanding and connecting with each learner. The positive feedback from her peers highlights the significant impact she has made, not only as an educator but also as a mentor and role model within the teaching community. Over the past two years, Ms Deliwe has achieved 94% and 96% pass rates in Grade 12 Life Sciences. In the recent June exams, her Life Sciences Grade 12 results were the second highest average, following IsiXhosa Home Language.
High School Leadership
Radio Mcuba, Khutliso Daniels: The broad challenge that Mr Mcuba took on was to transform Khutliso Daniels from an underperforming school into a school of excellence. To rise to this challenge, he embraced a transformative leadership approach in which he sought to influence everyone in the school community… teachers, parents and learners. Key aspects of his hands-on approach have been: leading by example, delegation and teamwork, promoting a strong work ethic, developing trust and support, and showing courage. His approach has been impactful: the learners’ conduct is exemplary, the teachers are united and willing to go the extra mile, and the parents are completely on board. He has created a culture of ubuntu, respect and accountability at the school.
The outcomes that he has achieved are sensational. In 2017, the Matric cohort size was 32; there was a 25% pass rate and 0 Bachelors. Six years later, in 2023, the cohort size had more than tripled to 84; there was a 96% pass rate and 46 Bachelors. 96% is the highest ever-ever matric pass rate in a fee-exempt Makhanda school.
