Six years ago, 20 teammates and 30 students gathered for the Pioneer winter programme.
There were two programmes: Nova Pioneer welcomed 15 Grade 00 to One young Pioneers and 15 Grade Six to Eight Pioneer innovators to their Ormonde campus.
It was the first time teammates and students would come together to grow innovators and leaders.
With that step, after many months of preparation and anticipation, the journey to develop innovators and leaders who will shape the African century began in earnest.
Today, Nova Pioneer operates 13 schools across South Africa and Kenya, serving students from infancy through the end of secondary school. Guided by their mission, their future intention is to continue to grow and serve students and families all across Africa.
Their learning approach is unique in that it brings a rigorous and innovative approach to education that focuses on developing each individual’s full potential. Nova Pioneer uses the Cambridge curriculum and delivers it through an enquiry-based learning model.
“The Nova Pioneer journey has really not been without great challenges that would have threatened our very existence, however, fueled by our always growing culture principle, we managed over the years to pivot above most of the obstacles we have faced,” said Chinezi Chijioke, co-founder and CEO of Nova Pioneer.
“We have seen many people become part of the brand and some grow from it. Our biggest joy is in the number of lives we have positively impacted from our commitment to providing quality private education.”
Innovative solutions
The organisation like many others also faced the harrowing effects of the global pandemic, Covid-19, which has negatively shaken the economy and social fabric.
Nova Pioneer, however, has pivoted above the crisis, innovating their education offering making learning available to its students from the comfort and safety of their homes.
“We are securing our place in this ‘new normal’, reflective of our growth and tenacity’. Nova Pioneer has introduced innovative solutions such as virtual tours of our campuses, virtual open days, virtual assessments and remote learning through Google Classrooms.
“One of Nova Pioneer’s highlight’s to date include the recent partnership with the National Association of Social Change Entities in Education this year.
“This partnership saw the successful distribution of 10 000 Cambridge curriculum remote learning materials created by our learning and design team. “The learning packs went to children in disadvantaged communities across the country. Nova Pioneer strives to foster this initiative throughout the year and beyond.”
Time to celebrate
“So as we say happy birthday to Nova Pioneer this year, we celebrate our teams and their relentless effort in building one of the most globally competitive educational organisations in the world.
“We acknowledge our leadership team who are tasked with the greatest duty of steering this ship in a time when the world is hit with the worst social and health pandemic storms.
“We also want to celebrate our little Novaneers who continue to set high expectations on themselves and work hard to achieve them, forging through a global health challenge to build for themselves a future they and all of us will be proud of.
“To all our stakeholders including our regulators, investors, teammates, students, parents, suppliers and communities, thank you and looking forward to the next great year ahead,” noted Chinezi.
