Capstone Connect Update

This first year at Chartwell for me has been filled with wonderful learning and discovery. I have been so impressed with the students’ engagement as they develop their core competencies and with the staff’s skill set as they work with the new curriculum in a deep and meaningful way. The Capstone Connect is a perfect example of innovative teaching and learning. Our Grade 6/7 team spent a lot of time developing this inquiry-based learning experience over the last two years since the inception of the Capstone. The first part of the year is dedicated to teaching the foundation skills that are needed in order to successfully engage in the project. Students explored the big ideas and questions with their teachers in early spring, were put into groups, and started their research before Spring Break. They have dedicated blocks of time to work individually and in groups and are approaching the completion of their projects. Grade 7s have a clear idea of the “end product” since they visited Mr. Fuller’s Capstone Grade 11 class earlier in the year and heard the fantastic presentations of the senior students. Grade 6 students are learning along with their Grade 7 classmates.

On May 24th, Grade 7 students will present their Capstone projects to their parents. Last week, our Superintendent Mr. Chris Kennedy came to visit our 6/7s and spoke to many students about their projects. We were both very pleased to hear the students speak confidently about their subjects and their plans to take action, which is an important part of the Capstone. Students have shown much creativity and initiative at school and in the community. Below is an article written by a student who wishes to raise awareness and bring support for education in South Africa. I hope you enjoy this small glimpse into Nazgol’s Capstone Connect project.

Lack of Education ruining South Africans’ Lives

More than 17 out of 128 million school aged children in South Africa will never have a chance to have a proper education. In recent months, BBC news says that South Africa has one of the world’s worst education systems. Even children who are going to school are not learning enough knowledge and skills to succeed in life. The teachers are very poorly trained and are unprofessional. For example, some teachers are not showing up for work and former students have reported that teachers often resort to force when teaching children. Also, there is still discrimination between skin color. This should not be the case in 2017! In my research,  I discovered that white South Africans are getting five times more opportunities for education than black South Africans. The white South Africans often live in the richer areas of the country, which means they have higher quality schools. In addition, there are large amounts of dropouts in higher grades (5 to 12). Kids are dropping out of school because of gender violence, child labour, and not having enough money to pay for school associated costs like supplies, uniforms and transportation. So how does this affect people’s lives in South Africa? Well, family members without a good education often don’t have very good jobs, which means that they cannot support their family properly. Without a good job they have no stability, and very little money. Some people are earning less than $2 a day! But what is being done about this issue? UNICEF is helping with training the teachers properly, and stopping early child marriages. The Department of Basic Education is providing South African schools with better quality learning materials, and training the teachers better. And people like me and you can help as well. We can donate to these amazing organizations and help them improve the learning and teaching of school aged children. We should all help South African children get an education so that they can have a good life and support their families. If you would like to support UNICEF’s education goals in South Africa please visit https://support.unicef.org/.

Guest Blogger Nazgol Z.

Congratulations to all the Grade 6 and 7 students for their efforts!