Streetlight Jeppe Park Flagship Primary School has expanded its curriculum this academic year and they have introduced a Grade 4 class.
The school is South Africa’s first environmentally green school based in Jeppestown, the Johannesburg CBD and it mostly targets underprivileged communities.
The school was built from various recyclable waste material and according to the officials, it was also certified as a green star building by the Green Building Council.
With the newly introduced grade, the idea is earmarked to attract more learners, according to the school’s chief operations officer, David Fu.
Fu said the school aims to serve a globally competitive educational curriculum in the areas including arts and creative learning to communities of the inner city and surrounding areas.
Streetlight School Flagship Primary School was founded in 2013 by Melanie Smuts to enhance new ways of teaching and learning for children in their area of service.
“It started with a storeroom pilot after-school programme in Bjala Square in Jeppestown in Johannesburg and then it was launched in January 2016 as early childhood development,” he said.
“The school further progressed to launching a prototype school model as a test initiative. It further developed creative, curious, imaginative, playful and problem-solving dynamic learners.”
A majority of our learners are from underprivileged families with single-parent homes, marred environments of crime or xenophobia and riots, added Fu.
He said they want to create a safe-haven to enable children to reclaim joyful childhoods, skillsets and mindsets to attain a future with an innovative curriculum.
The school has partners with the likes of Michael and Susan Dell Foundation, The DG Murray Trust, Edu Soil, The Click Foundation, Solid Green and Bjala Better Urban Living to help enhance their programmes.
Fu said they aim to achieve international benchmarks in numeracy and literacy learning two years ahead of the South African curriculum standards.
Details: sthembiso@rallincamedia.com; www.streetlightschools.org
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