We teach – they learn and tomorrow, they lead
St Marks International School in Mbombela boasts being in the Golden category of the local circuit in terms of the performance of its grade 12 learners. Tendai Tambanemoto is the school principal of St Mark’s International School in Mbombela.
He has been teaching since 2009 and became the principal of St Mark’s a year ago. St Mark’s is an independent school established in 2003. It currently has 350 learners from grade one through to 12, and offers hostel facilities for those learners from outside Mbombela.
“Today’s world is fast and demanding, and since inception, St Marks has empowered many learners from different countries with the necessary academic and professional skills to become successful adults who add value to our world. Many have excelled in sport, music, dance and drama. Our learner[1]centred teaching methodologies are based on religious values that develop well-rounded individuals,” said Tambanemoto.
This approach is supported by qualified and competent educators and committed administrative staff. The school also employs a quality assurance manager who inspects all the work done by both learners and teachers.
“This allows us to address academic and other challenges expeditiously by offering learners and teachers support and additional training or extra classes to assure a high standard of learning, teaching and eventual success.” The current teacher[1]learner ratio is 30 learners per teacher. “Our school fees are on par with and often less than that of former model C schools,” he said. St Mark’s’ curriculum follows the Department of Education. It includes compulsory educational excursions and subjects like Portuguese, French and siSwati. “The world today requires the development of methodologies to stimulate learners’ interest in subjects like maths and sciences. Be that as it may, practical (artisan) and technology competencies are equally important so as to create generators of GDP and not just consumers thereof,” said Tambanemoto.
St Mark’s boasts strong representation, even on a national level, when it comes to sport. One of its proudest is playing for Bafana. Another was winning a 65-seater school bus in 2017 in u/17 sport.
“Teaching, though rewarding on so many levels, is challenging these days. The availability of information and access to technology has opened the world for both teachers and learners. This has benefited all of us. It does, however, challenge teachers to find innovative ways of presenting information to learners who do not embraced reading,” he said.
“Language is another of the aforementioned challenges. Fortunately, though, the support from the education department through workshops and networking is superb, and this enables us to equip our children with the knowledge that will move them forward into adulthood. “The teachers and management team at St Mark’s are like a close-knit family. This makes our school a passionate facility for growth, teaching and confidently moving forward into the future,” concluded Tambanemoto.
Please visit our website for more information or visit the school.
