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Junior School Academics

Curriculum Focus Areas

Junior Curriculum Focus Areas

Curriculum

Our aim is to provide a world-class education that centres around the holistic development of each student and offers equality of opportunity, ensuring that every pupil is included, supported, and that no pupil gets left behind.

The curriculum in the Junior School has moved away from a traditional approach, providing many challenges, and engaging our students in solving problems, applying themselves creatively, and expressing their understanding effectively. Part of the curriculum has been re-designed into modules to allow for more flexibility in subject choice, and to include exciting and innovative electives. We work closely with the IEB and are part of their Primary School Initiative (PSI) which “aims to broaden the awareness of the importance of good teaching and assessment practices at the primary school level.’’ Roedean takes part in the variety of benchmarking opportunities that are offered in this initiative.

Strategic Initiatives

21st Century Education

Throughout their Junior School years, our pupils are exposed to current local and global educational strategic initiatives that complement the curriculum and enhance learning, to ensure that we remain globally relevant and meet the needs of our 21st Century South African learners.

Junior Curriculum

Cognitive Education Initiatives

Cognitive Education Initiatives

The 16 Habits of Mind.

 

Developed by Art Costa and Bena Kallick, provide the umbrella framework for the implementation of the Cognitive Education programme. The Habits of Mind are dispositions that empower creative and critical thinking, drawing forth certain patterns of intellectual behaviour when confronted with problems. This set of dispositions guides behaviour and learning and underpins the Roedean curriculum.

Cognitive Education Initiatives

Cognitive Education Programme

 

Accredited by the University of Exeter, our Cognitive Education Programme exposes all our pupils to a range of thinking skills and the development of a growth mindset; these assist students in embracing challenges, knowing that talent can be developed, understanding that effort is required for success, and that failure is an opportunity to grow.

Cognitive Education Initiatives

Mind, Brain, and Education (MBE)

 

This interdisciplinary field brings together the latest research from cognitive neuroscience, psychology and pedagogy, with a dedicated focus on evidence-informed teaching and learning practices. Students learn about the mechanics of the brain in order to better influence themselves emotionally and discover how to study and learn more effectively. MBE concepts and research also filter into the teaching practice, backing the curriculum design with more researched-based implementation of a hybrid curriculum.

Junior Curriculum

Literacy and Numeracy Initiatives

Jolly Phonics and Jolly Grammar

Teaches children to read and write, starting with synthetic phonics, a multi-sensory approach to teaching literacy, in which pupils gently, but quickly acquire the literacy skills to break the code that will enable them to read fluently and produce independent pieces of work by the end of their Foundation Phase. The Jolly Grammar programme is extended to Form II (Grade 4)

Reading Eggspress

This is an online reading programme used from Form II to Lower IV (Grades 4-6). It offers a vast range of interactive reading activities, online children’s books, and literacy games to encourage our students’ reading.

Pearson Abacus Scheme

Promotes a clear, positive attitude towards Mathematics and uses practical material to reinforce concepts.

Junior Curriculum

Pastoral Care, Life Skills and Leadership Initiatives

Pastoral Care, Life Skills and Leadership Initiatives

Conscious Discipline Philosophy

 

Conscious Discipline empowers us to be conscious of brain-body states in ourselves and in children. It then provides us with the practical skills we need to manage our thoughts, feeling, and actions. With this ability to self-regulate, we are then able to teach children to do the same. When we understand the brain state model, we can clearly see the importance of building our homes and school on the core principles of safety, connection, and problem-solving.

Pastoral Care, Life Skills and Leadership Initiatives

Mindfulness

The ability to be fully present, aware of where we are and what we’re doing, and not overly reactive or overwhelmed by what’s going on around us. Mindfulness training helps our students to understand that difficult situations may be unavoidable and gives them strategies to work through their feelings, calmly and without judgement. Mindfulness has a positive impact on reducing stress, strengthening focus and attention span, and supporting social and emotional growth. It also helps with problem solving and assists the pupils in making better choices in the moment.

Pastoral Care, Life Skills and Leadership Initiatives

Steerglobal AS Tracking Tool

This is a mental health tracking programme that is used extensively in other countries; it allows us to monitor the mental well-being of our students, to identify those who are at emotional risk, and to intervene and provide the necessary support as early as possible.

Pastoral Care, Life Skills and Leadership Initiatives

Social Justice and Diversity, and the Think Equal Programme

 

Our curriculum includes a strong commitment to social equality, gender, racial and religious equality, social and emotional health and well-being, and global citizenship. We follow the Think Equal programme during the first years of school. Think Equal is a global initiative, which calls for a system change in education, to end the discriminatory mindset and the cycle of violence across our world, and ensures positive life outcomes for our children. The curriculum then evolves into one of social justice and diversity in the older grades.

Pastoral Care, Life Skills and Leadership Initiatives

Round Square

 

We are a member of the Global Round Square Association, which is an international network of 200 schools in 50 countries, committed to developing courageous and compassionate leaders and to the values of the 6 Round Square ideals: Internationalism, Democracy, Environment, Adventure, Leadership and Service.

Junior Curriculum

IT Initiative

The CyberSharp Digital Citizenship Curriculum has been implemented in the Junior School. 

Our aim is to develop smart digital citizens who can thrive in an exciting new digital world and who are empowered to confront inappropriate online behaviour with regards to social media, cyberbullying, trolling and cyber-crime.

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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.