Strong Schools: Non-Profit Organisation That Facilitates Sustainable Change In SA’s Public Schools

Article source: www.strongschools.co.za

Strong Schools is a Non-Profit Organisation that facilitates sustainable change in government schools. We design and guide whole school development journeys in order to build schools that are efficient and effective in its mandate of education.

Such organisational change involves training, development and capacity building of a school’s management, teachers and operations and coordinating community involvement to assist in practically executing a school’s strategic goals.

Strong Schools helps government schools to develop into effective, well-functioning educational institutions. Our team of organisational psychologists use their experience in change management processes to equip the leadership teams of schools to manage their own strategic school improvement programs. Together with the development of the school’s staff and operational processes, we coordinate community collaborations. We invite the surrounding community of local businesses, organisations, volunteers and parents to offer their time, finances and expertise. We do this to help fast track the implementation of a school’s strategic goals – to see change take place.

After we started communicating with the Helderberg community in October 2019 about our plans to launch the Strong Schools non-profit organisation, we received such encouragement and soon we had no less than three real examples of collaborations:

• Photogrpahers
• Music concert
• Iphepha (I must add a sentence or two about each of these initiatives

We integrate such practical assistance into the overall change process. In this way the community’s contributions make a more sustainable impact in the school. We want to promote values such as ownership, maintenance, stewardship and longevity – it is not a quick fix but a process of upliftment. We trust that what we invest in the roots, will turn into the desired fruits.

ROOTS – The symbolism that roots bring into our organisation is very relevant and significant to the way we believe true change will arise.

Roots are underground – the work we do in human capital development cannot be seen with the eye, so too the support structure that carries and enable a school – the community around it. The success of a school will make known the level of community involvement it receives, or not.

Roots reflect the tree that is above ground, or it can be even larger than the tree itself. What anchors the school is its people, process and support from outside. Many collaborators are necessary to ensure that a school can withstand its storms.

Roots feed the tree – a community connected to its school can allow the school to stay healthy and grow; to operate an efficient and effective institute and moreover to offer opportunities for its learners to flourish.

You have to dig deep to work with roots. We do not propose a quick fix, but a sustainable one. We do not propose a superficial change, but true transformation. We do not propose an exterior facelift, but an interior awakening. If the roots are strong, the tree will be the proof.

A whole school improvement program requires a lot of time and dedication, especially because of the complexity of the challenges that these schools face. Due to our involvement with the Western Cape Education Department and school leadership of 13 public schools in the Helderberg Basin over the past four years, we understand the context of these schools very well. We have refined our school improvement model and we are ready to launch it by partnering with likeminded school stakeholders and financial partners who have a passion to develop under resourced schools.

Why School Improvement Programs?
A school is an incubator for society. Whatever we grow there will be harvested later. 25 years of democracy, there is a massive divide between the quality of education for the rich and the poor in our country. The education system is not alone to blame, because schools are a reflection of the communities they represent. Often dysfunctional homes, families, economies and environments in a community create a losing battle for their local schools. This is a downward spiraling generational cycle which we want to break by building Strong Schools.

Yes, we agree with Madiba that education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world so we want to start on our doorstep with our local government schools. There are 33 government schools in the Helderberg Basin but are we satisfied with the quality of education that takes place at these institutions? All of these schools will produce a person who must integrate into society as they grow older … what sort of futures are these schools able to offer the youth of our district? We must not write off our government schools – they already exist. Instead, we should team up with them, collaborate with them in order to restore them to well-functioning schools and then lead them to become beacons of hope for their communities.

Now, more than ever, schools must fulfill bigger roles in the lives of our children: from providing meals, to counselling, to extended academic support and access to basic health care to post matric possibilities. That is why we have to equip our schools so that they can equip the children. How? Through change management journeys based on relationships and human capital development.

The Strong Schools Model
How does it work? Once we have the funds to launch one school’s change management journey, we

1. Form a partnership among all the stakeholders
2. Then we conduct a detailed whole school audit;
3. From which we deduce and present a whole school improvement plan.
4. The rest of the journey will involve full time project management of this improvement plan. Human capital development and implementing the strategic plan will run parallel:
   1. Organisational development (people, teams, processes and systems) through professional industrial psychologists’ sessions, and
   2. Practically implement the school’s strategic plan through coordinating community involvement – inviting local businesses and individuals to give of their time, money, products and expertise.
5. It will be a pleasure to then give feedback, celebrate successes and share the inspiring stories that these change journeys will birth in the schools, the lives of individuals, the education department and potentially in the entire community.

The Strong Schools mission creates the possibility to be busy with this important work on a daily basis. If we diligently help our government schools to become Strong Schools, we believe it can lead to meaningful breakthroughs that have the potential to transform individual lives, local communities and our collective future.

To read more about the Strong Schools Community Collaborative, to follow them on social media and how to contact the founders, please visit the website www.strongschools.co.za

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Date published: 25/04/2020

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