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Rene and Fred England Centre of Mathematics Excellence

Rene and Fred England Centre of Mathematics Excellence

Overview

The Roedean School vision around Mathematics is for every pupil to feel empowered to tackle the historically male-dominated field of Mathematics with confidence, and for every one of them to enjoy the subject, approaching it with wonderment and awe.

At Roedean we hope to expose our students to a wide variety of Mathematical topics, thus equipping them with the necessary skills to cope with any first-year mathematical course at any university in the world. Further Studies Mathematic (formerly known as Advanced Programme Mathematics) is an essential bridge between school mathematics and university mathematics. The evidence is overwhelming that pupils who complete Further Studies Mathematics at school have a far higher chance of passing any university mathematics course.

The number of students taking this advanced subject has grown exponentially in recent years. About 6% of the Roedean 2014 Matriculation group took Advanced Programme Mathematics, while the percentage of Matriculants doing Advanced Programme Mathematics by 2019 had risen to 30%.  This compares to a National average of Matriculants doing AP Maths of 0,7% (Government school matriculants and IEB matriculants all register for the IEB Advanced Programme Mathematics Examination). This high level of enrolment indicates that Roedean girls are feeling positive and confident about their ability to do, and enjoy, Mathematics. Girls are not in any way coerced into doing Further Studies Mathematics; their decision to do this optional subject is entirely voluntary.

The proportion of girls doing Mathematical Literacy is very low: The Matric 2019 class had 14% of the grade doing Mathematical Literacy. This compares to a National average of around 58% of Matriculants doing Mathematical Literacy. The IEB Matriculation enrolment for Mathematical Literacy was 34% of total registered candidates.

The Mathematics Department aims to maximise the mathematical potential of every pupil at this school, and endeavours to make their mathematical experience a positive one.
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Thabiso Madiba

Thabiso Madiba qualified as a Chartered Accountant in 2006 after completing his articles at Ernst & Young in the Mining and Manufacturing division. In 2007, he spent three months on secondment at Ernst & Young LLP in New York, where he focused primarily on auditing hedge funds.

In April 2008, he joined the University of Johannesburg as a lecturer, teaching the Finance 3 module to undergraduate students in the Chartered Accounting stream. During this time, he also supervised Master’s students in Taxation. He went on to complete his M.Com in International and South African Taxation at North-West University in 2010.

In addition to his academic and professional work, Thabiso provides financial and tax consulting services to small and medium enterprises. He also serves in various board and committee roles, including:

  • Sasol Khanyisa – Chairman
  • UJ Provident Fund – Chairman
  • Trevor Noah Foundation – Board Member
  • Peermont Global East Free State – Board Member
  • King Edward VII School Governing Body – Deputy Chairman and Chair of the Finance Committee
  • Old Edwardian Society – Executive Committee Treasurer
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Gontse Zuma

Gontse Zuma is a very proud old Roedeanian, a Roedean mother and a member of the SAORA Committee. Gontse holds a BSc in Property Studies and has a corporate background in retail developments leasing, corporate real estate, and lease agreement negotiation. Her background also includes experience in social media content curation marketing and brand communication.

Currently, Gontse freelances to various global organisations that deliver online education at scale, in the areas of transformational education and property development and investment.

Gontse is an avid writer and scholar on the topic of the mind, body and spirit as it relates to energy, nature, life and transformation.

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Monde Nkosi

Monde is an Investment Director of Value Capital Partners (VCP). He is also an experienced director who has served on the boards of five public companies listed on the JSE and Nasdaq in sectors including financial services, education, staffing, hospitality, and quick-service restaurants. Prior to joining VCP in 2017, Monde was a Senior Associate on the investment team of FFL Partners, a San Francisco-based private equity firm, and a management consultant at Bain & Company, where he focused on financial services and telecommunications clients across Sub-Saharan Africa.

Monde serves on the advisory board of the Centre for Development and Enterprise and is an Archbishop Tutu Leadership Associate. He holds a Bachelor of Business Science with Honours in Finance from the University of Cape Town, a Master of Arts in Education from Stanford University’s Graduate School of Education, and an MBA from Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business, where he was an Arjay Miller Scholar.

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Yusuf Noorbhai

Yusuf Noorbhai is a Senior Executive at Standard Bank, heading up the Corporate Finance Division. He also serves on the Executive Committee for Investment Banking.

He has over 18 years of global corporate experience, with a strong track record in building businesses, managing teams, client relationships, and operating effectively at a senior stakeholder level across a variety of cultures and markets throughout the world.

He has represented Standard Bank in various capacities, and has served on external boards of companies and investment funds in which the bank has strategic shareholdings. He has been integral to the development and execution of the Diversity and Inclusion Strategy for Standard Bank, which has afforded him insight and knowledge into the subject matter, coupled with an important appreciation for the challenges faced by any institution in navigating this complex yet crucial initiative.

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Sipho Maseko

Sipho Nkosinathi Maseko is Group Chief Executive Officer and Executive Director at Telkom SA and Principal at Kleoss Capital. He also serves on the boards of Afrox Healthcare, the Centre for Development and Enterprise, and the Gyro Group.

Previously, he held the positions of Chairman of Shell and BP South African Petroleum Refineries; Chief Executive Officer of BP Southern Africa; Chairman of the Business Connexion Group; Managing Director and Group Chief Operating Officer of Vodacom SA; Chief Operating Officer and Executive Director of the Vodacom Group; and Managing Director of Vodacom (Pty) Ltd.

He holds a graduate degree from the University of KwaZulu Natal and an undergraduate degree from the University of the Witwatersrand

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Dominique Laroque

Dominique Laroque is a third generation Roedeanian. She matriculated with distinction and was awarded the prestigious white honours blazer for colours across four sport disciplines. In tertiary she graduated at the top of her class with a BSc QS and a BCom (Law).

Dominique enjoyed a very successful career path in construction and mining before moving into investment banking. As an analyst at JP Morgan she achieved ratings in various sectors locally and abroad and gained extensive corporate finance experience as a member of JP Morgan’s global aerospace advisory team. She then spent years in research management at Credit Suisse and Nedbank before starting her own stockbroking company in 2017 as an empowerment initiative.

It has been an upward trajectory for Dominique and her team who have developed a mathematical model which evaluates an organisation’s ability to generate long-term value for investors. They are currently ranked no. 3 in South Africa in this field.

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Thembi Mbengashe-Mazibuko

Thembi Mbengashe-Mazibuko serves as the Chief People Officer at Pick n Pay, where she leads the overall People function across PnP retail stores, serving a workforce of over 33,000 employees. A career spanning close to two decades in the retail and communication sectors, Thembi possesses qualifications in finance and information systems.

Throughout her career, Thembi has held various leadership positions, at PnP, Unilever and Woolworths. She has held diverse roles across Marketing, Strategy, Commercial/Buying, ESG, and currently, People/HR. In her current role, she assumes responsibility for directing the strategy and implementation of the complete employee value proposition, which spans recruitment, training, reward, change management, and industrial relations. Thembi’s commitment lies in cultivating a customer-focused, values-led, diverse, and inclusive team within the organisation.

Beyond her professional pursuits, Thembi finds great fulfilment in her role as a family-oriented individual. She has two young children, who attend Roedean and St Johns College. Furthermore, she embodies optimism regarding the future of her country and wholeheartedly believes in actively engaging as a social citizen.

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Dale Quaker

Dale Quaker is currently the Chief Financial Officer for Cupric Africa, a private equity owned mining company which through its Botswana sister company Khoemacau Copper recently completed the building of its copper silver project.

He was previously the CFO of the Khoemacau Group leading the finance function as the Group transitioned from an exploration company, through the fundraising of a $650m debt, streaming and equity funding package through to completion of construction..

Prior to joining Cupric, he was an independent consultant to the mining and construction industries. In his last corporate role, he headed up the marketing and logistics function for Xstrata Coal South Africa, after having fulfilled a senior finance role in the company previously..

Dale held roles at BHPBillition subsidiary, Samancor Chrome, both at the operations and corporate office in Johannesburg. Dale is a qualified Chartered Accountant and Chartered Management Accountant.

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Claudia Bickford-Smith

Claudia Bickford-Smith is an old Roedeanian who began her career as a teacher in South Africa. She has extensive P&L and Board-level experience in education: learning design, edtech, qualification and assessment development and school management, working with senior executives, Heads of schools and their leadership teams, investors, Ministries of Education, Regulators and Awarding Bodies. Over the last 15 years Claudia has worked as a Global Director for both Cambridge University Press & Assessment, and Oxford University Press (OUP), based in the UK.

As CEO of Aldates Global Education, headquartered in Oxford, UK, Claudia is leading on the diversification of Aldates Global Education’s portfolio, focusing on global expansion of best educational practices, while developing a sustainable growth strategy for schools, working with partners to deliver this: technology platforms, school operational services, research partners and sales and distribution.

Claudia holds a degree in History from the University of Cape Town, a Master of Arts from the University of Cambridge, as well as Master’s Modules in Education & Technology from University College London’s Institute of Education. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts (F.R.S.A.), and a member of the Harvard Graduate School of Education Professional Community.

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Lindi Dlamini

Mrs. Lindi Dlamini has been at the helm of Roedean as Executive Director of Roedean since January 2023 and is the first black woman to be in this role in the 120 years history of Roedean. She has a wealth of leadership experience with 20 years executive leadership experience. She serves as an Independent Non-Executive for a bank and wealth management firm.

Prior to her tenure at Roedean School (SA), Lindi was the CEO of the President’s GBVF Response Fund1 which was set up in 2020 to resource the fight against Gender-Based Violence and Femicide as part of South Africa’s commitment to SDG5 (Gender Equality) and the country’s National Strategic Plan (NSP) on GBVF. She was previously a CEO of Safrican Insurance Company, Group Executive of PPS Human Capital, MD of Alexander Forbes Retail and Group Executive for Emerging Consumer Markets and Retail Operations in South Africa at Liberty Holdings. She has over twenty-five years of financial services experience. She is a fellow of the sixth class of the Africa Leadership Initiative (ALISA) and the Aspen Global Leadership Network (AGLN).

She holds BA (LAW); LLB and LLM degrees.