By adopting a new onboarding programme for Grade 8s, St Andrew’s School for Girls has successfully bridged the academic gaps created by the Covid-19 pandemic.
As educationalists, we’ve historically adopted an approach similar to that of the Titanic, where we forge forward full-steam ahead, safe in the belief that we have successfully navigated this albeit on a different ship, many times before.
But perhaps adopting a historic ship’s approach to crossing the Atlantic over 110 years ago isn’t the ideal way to navigate a post-Covid-19 educational programme. We need to consider the cause of the Titanic’s sinking. Was it the failure to understand that it was a new ship, unlike others that had sailed before, or was it that the crew, though vastly experienced, had never sailed on this ship together? Was it the iceberg’s fault?
The passengers were from diverse social, economic and geographical backgrounds. Some paid 120 times more for their ticket than others, yet everyone was on the same ship, heading to the same destination when disaster struck.
As we navigate the educational spectrum, we know that change is constant. Schools and educators need to move, adapt and innovate to survive. Yet, we tend to hold on to what brought us success in the past for fear that any change to methodology or pedagogy may negatively affect our precious and proven matriculation results.
St Andrew’s School for Girls, like many other schools, follows the traditional academic journey from preschool to junior school, and our students begin their senior school journey in grade 8. Here they complete the GET phase, preparing them to select their FET subjects for their final Grade 12 examinations.
Most of our students complete their Grade 7 year in our junior school and follow a curriculum and set of standards that are familiar to our senior school. The transition into Grade 8 is, therefore, aligned at an academic level that allows our students to continue to achieve their potential.
Warning: Icebergs ahead!
Navigating educational icebergs requires recognition that not all our Grade 8 students enter St Andrew’s with the same skills and content knowledge as a result of the impact of Covid-19. While it seems like a distant memory, the effects of the pandemic will be felt for many more years to come. That being said, the annual intake of Grade 8s will require a dynamic academic approach.
In addition, a third of our Grade 8 year group comprises students who are new to St Andrew’s from a large variety of junior schools, both independent and government. Although each year group is always unique, and each student is at a different academic level, this disparity was amplified post-Covid-19.
We recognised that the starting point of grade 8 cannot be the tried-and-tested page 1 of the “prescribed textbook”. Our approach to orientating our Grade 8s could no longer follow the same baseline assessment and activities used in previous years. Instead, it was necessary to review and interrogate each student to determine an accurate pastoral and academic understanding.
Replotting the course
We discovered that our successful academic track record and excellent matric results resulted from a tried-and-tested collaborative system and techniques, but that these overlooked one important aspect – term 1 of Grade 8.
Education is exciting when collaboration with like-minded and diverse thinkers occurs. In 2022, we set about planning a solution to the gap between the academic norm and where our new intake of students would be, while ensuring that pastoral care remained in place.
St Andrew’s has celebrated the success of our Skilled for Life programme and the nurturing environment that cements the strong sense of sisterhood. Our existing students welcome new girls into their academic class groups, their co-curricular groups and teams, as well as their social circles.
2023 saw St Andrew’s introduce a new onboarding programme for all Grade 8s. The existing orientation programme was expanded into focus areas which ran over two weeks, namely:
- Pastoral
- Technology
- Academic introduction
- Modular elective offering: MADF
- Mathematics & English extension
During week 1, we adopted a pastoral focus, including integrating new and existing students, making friends, having fun, understanding the House and support systems and finding a sense of belonging.
Grade 8s were paired with matrics and took part in various activities to get to know each other. They designed recyclable matric dance outfits, built rafts, and raced around the school, enthusiastically solving cryptic clues. Much fun was had by all, and relationships were developed.
Week 2 followed a restructured timetable, where the students attended academic workshops with their pastoral House groups. This reinforced friendships, the feeling of belonging and happiness, and formed a critical base without which academic success cannot be achieved.
All Senior School students use their iPads, certain standardised Apps and various platforms to support and enhance their academics. A day was dedicated to familiarising students with the technological requirements needed for their academic journey ahead. This included basic iPad use, digital notetaking and filing, the use of MS Teams, and receipt and submission of assignments. Cyber-awareness and digital citizenship were important components of the day.
The academic introduction began with excitable exchanges between Grade 8s arriving at their workshops. Over the next four days, the groups attended sessions on all subjects and engaged in various activities. This allowed each Grade 8 teacher, in conjunction with the academic head, to gauge the academic level of the students and the subsequent starting point for the unique year plan for the curriculum.
The students were introduced to Music, Art, Drama and French, were allowed to choose two of the four subjects in their grade 8 year. This encourages the focused exploration of their interests, abilities and talents.
The Mathematics and English onboarding activities were designed to establish the starting point of instruction and identify students in need of additional extension in these core subjects. A separate programme is available to these students to assist them in their Grade 8 year and to provide the support required to fill any gaps that developed during the Covid-19 years.
The advantage of this programme is its integration into the normal curriculum, which prevents students from feeling anxious about being behind and needing to catch up.
The journey continues
After a full term’s academic cycle, we observed that the Grade 8 group of 2023 were ahead of the normal teaching, learning and assessment benchmarks. In addition, teachers were more aware of the specific needs of the group. The pastoral programme has resulted in happy, integrated confident students who belong socially, explore their talents in the sporting, cultural and musical arenas and who engage actively in academics.
We acknowledge that there can never be a one-size-fits-all solution. Each year provides opportunities for us to work with exciting and diverse students. We believe that each student needs to have the same opportunity to achieve their best potential and effort. Every student deserves our best effort, which includes the customisation of an onboarding programme.