Changemaker Academy launches in Victory Park
The launch of King David Victory Park's Changemaker Academy was an evening of education, inspiration, and musical excellence, in no small part thanks to the Johannesburg Philharmonic Orchestra.
On an evening described as a captivating blend of education, inspiration, and musical excellence, King David Victory Park launched Changemaker Academy. An integrated education programme that’s said to be one that looks at transforming traditional learning by teaching students to become active creators of positive change.
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Teacher at the school Loren Lachman said the academy, which is based at the school, offers age-appropriate experiential learning opportunities across different grade levels. “The programme is a core educational approach that prepares students for future success by building purpose, agency, collaboration skills, and creative problem-solving abilities.”
The academy, which is characterised as being designed to enrich a child’s life, is meant to do so in various ways, some of those being: real-world skills development, confidence building, future readiness, agency and empowerment, community impact, and purpose and meaning. Lachman said the academy plays a vital role in creating a thriving school community by: building learner engagement, making learning meaningful and purposeful, fostering school pride and community spirit, and connecting classroom work to real-world impact.
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On the night of its launch, guests were welcomed by the school’s band. “They were able to interact with the Wall of Change mural, which displayed hundreds of notes from the students about the change they would like to see in the world,” she said. A harmonious addition to the evening was the Johannesburg Philharmonic Orchestra who, for the Changemaker Academy, perfectly embodied their inaugural theme, being: Finding your power in the greater harmony. Lachman explained the orchestra demonstrated how individual instruments and musicians contribute their unique voices to create something powerful together. “It also provided an immersive, high-impact experience that brought our concept to life.”
Throughout the evening, the performance alternated between full orchestral pieces and interactive segments with brief storytelling moments between selections. That gave learners the opportunity to: learn about specific instruments up close, understand how musicians listen to each other, and experience how small changes in tempo or volume create different impacts.
A special highlight was when a learner was selected to join the musicians on stage to experience first-hand what it feels like to be part of this harmonious system.
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