Thank you to all who attended the Life on Life – Teaching to Transform Educators Conference earlier this month. Despite the cold weather it was a blessed and warm experience.

DUNAMIS- WEST CANADA ACSI and EAGLE’S NEST CHRISTIAN SCHOOL
Eagle’s Nest Christian School was privileged to host visitors from Western Canada for the unveiling of 3 new class rooms.  The 3 classrooms and prayer rooms were donated by ACSI (Association of Christian Schools International) Dunamis-Classrooms for Africa Project.  At the unveiling, ACSI Western Canada Director Mr. Phil Hills and Director of Dunamis Ray Sutton presented a plague to Eagles Nest on the new class rooms.
“We are indeed blessed and thank God for this blessing” –Eagles Learners and Staff.

Dunamis works with ACSI Member schools and are currently involved in Cape Town: Eagle’s Nest (yes, the same name!) and KZN: Mount Carmel.

PHOTOS

Mr. Mac van den Berg (Principal), Ms. Elsa van den Berg (Deputy Principal), Maropeng Mabotha (Head boy) and Mosima Manabile (Head girl)

Ms. Pat Sutton (Dunamis), Mr. Mac v. d. Berg (Principal), Mr. Eric Sikhwari (School Board Chair), Mr. Phil Hills (ACSI West Canada Director), Mr. Ray Sutton (Director of Dunamis)

New classrooms at Eagles Nest

ACADEMIC NEWS

CLARIFICATION WITH REGARD TO LANGUAGE IN THE NEW PROGRESSION/PROMOTION REQUIREMENTS
GRADE 1-9
The new progression/promotion requirements for Grade 1-9, as explained in the Curriculum News 8 of 2009, have been announced in writing by the Department of Education on 2 April 2009.  Enquiries received from principals who contacted the SAOU Curriculum Services, show that there is uncertainty concerning the requirements pertaining to LANGUAGE. The uncertainty is caused by the use of the term ‘Home Language’ instead of the term ‘Language on Home Language Level’ (which is the actual intention).  The following example should elucidate the problem: A Grade 5 learner with Setswana as his Home Language is enrolled in an Afrikaans medium school. The school thus offers Afrikaans at Home Language Level, English at 1st Additional Language Level and Setswana at 2nd Additional Language Level. The new pass requirements determine that a learner must achieve a 3 (50%) for the ‘Home Language’ (as put in the requirements) or the Language of Learning and Teaching (LOLT). The intention therefore is that for the learner to pass, he should achieve 50% for Afrikaans, the Language presented at Home Language Level (in this example Afrikaans is also the LOLT). However, as the policy uses the term ‘Home Language’, instead of Language at Home Language Level, it could be read as meaning that if the learner scores 50% for his Home Language, which is Setswana 2nd Additional Language Level, he complies with this requirement. This would be an erroneous interpretation. The problem has been brought to the attention of the Department and the terminology will be amended.

 GRADE 1 – 9 PROMOTION REQUIREMENTS: USE PROFESSIONAL DISCRETION TO MANAGE IMPLEMENTATION

Official circulars on the implementation of the new promotion requirements for Grades 1-9 are currently in most provinces starting to reach the schools. School principals are concerned about the high failure rate which will result from the implementation of the new requirements, especially those for Literacy/Language and Numeracy/Mathematics.
Discussions with officials from the national Department of Education, have led to the conclusion that the intention with the stiffer requirements, is to improve learner performance in Language and Mathematics. It would also appear as if school principals are expected to do the following:

1. Introduce measures to improve the quality of Language and Mathematics teaching from as early as possible, i.e. Grade 1 in primary schools and Grade 8 in high schools.
2. Regard 2009 as phasing-in year and manage the implementation this year with discretion in order to avoid an unrealistically high failure rate.

SAOU Curriculum Services wishes to advise school principals to consider the possibility of revising the school timetable and to make more time available for the Language of Learning and Teaching (LOLT) and Mathematics. This could possibly be done by reducing the time used for activities that are not required by the NCS and to increase the time for the LOLT and Mathematics accordingly. In the case of schools with learners whose home language is not the LOLT of the school, it is suggested that principals approach the relevant district office for permission to slightly reduce the time allocated to learning areas other than Language and Mathematics and to allow more time for the LOLT and Mathematics. This could apply for an interim period only.

Remember that ACSI requires that Bible Education (Grade R-12) receive the same time allocation as Maths and Languages in your school!

RESULTS OF ANNUAL NATIONAL ASSESSMENT GR 3 AND 6 IN 2008 (FOUNDATIONS FOR LEARNING)

General concern exists in state schools about the performance of primary school learners in language and mathematics. ACSI again encourages our member schools to participate in external benchmarking exercises to compare your school’s standard with others and to continuously work at improving them….GOOD TO GREAT!

ACSI is currently part of a Task Team that meets with the DOE on a monthly basis regarding national assessments for Grade 3 and 6. These assessments will be compulsory for subsidy receiving schools. ACSI has copies of the 2008 assessments. Any school that is interested in using these in their school can contact the office: annamarie_russell@acsi.org
HATFIELD ON LINE SCHOOL:
The full “online option” at Hatfield on Line School, allows students to do 7 subjects of which, English, Afrikaans, Maths or Maths Literacy and Life Orientation are compulsory. A further 3 subjects need to be chosen from what they have on offer. The school will be expanding to Grade 11 next year and Grade 12 in 2011.  Students will follow the national curriculum and through assessments and tutorship, students will be prepared to write Grade 12 set by the IEB (Independent Examinations Board).  The ‘top up” option allows a student to register for one or a few subjects to enhance or add to what they are doing at school or at home. This would be ideal for someone wanting to do a subject which wasn’t offered in their school. Each subject is tutored by an online teacher who takes responsibility for the academic process of answering and guiding the student through the subject, marking and giving feedback on assignments etc. Each teacher is a subject specialist in the subject that they tutor online. For more information contact gholloway@hatfieldcs.co.za or visit http://www.onlineschool.co.za 
NEW TUTORIAL ON CREATION-FALL-REDEMPTION-RESTORATION Click on the links and it will take you there!
“Help your students connect what they study and creation-fall-redemption-restoration,” a free tutorial, has been posted. This tutorial involves you in reflecting on questions, including: 

• What’s creation-fall-redemption-restoration?
• How are you students connecting the course content and Biblical principles they study and creation-fall-redemption-restoration?
• What excites/concerns you about helping your students better connect the course content and Biblical principles they study to creation-fall-redemption-restoration?
• To help your students better connect the course content and Biblical principles they study to creation-fall-redemption-restoration, what do you need to keep doing? start doing? stop doing?            

         
ACSI TEACHING AND LEARNING MATERIAL
 LIFE ORIENTATION GRADE 11:
A new Bible programme, Missio Dei, has been developed by the ACSI team in Colorado Springs for seniors (Grade 11 and 12). This programme is completely different to the usual Bible Courses. It deals with all those questions young people ask and teachers sometimes find difficult to answer. It is not for the faint hearted teacher but it is especially for those kids who say: “I do not like God!”! It focuses on homosexuality, abortion, etc. The series comes with a teacher and student handbook, but also with a journal that students should keep that will reflect their walk during this year course. This is a must for any school that is serious about the spiritual formation of their senior students and who want to approach it in a different, challenging way that will interest and challenge students. There will also be a blog and website for student interaction and comments.
          SCIENCE 6: will be available first week in July (Student – 7513; Teacher – 7514; Notebook – 7520)

Please place your orders for any ACSI Material for 2010 with Annie Rittman at Impact before 15 September 2009 for 2010: adevilliers@hatfield.co.za or 012368 2358.

TEACHER DEVELOPMENT SUMMIT

The Teacher Development Summit took place from 28 June to 1 July 2009. More than 300 delegates attended. This summit
Was critical to the debate around the nature of teacher development, and professional development points and will begin
 to define policies for the years ahead.  The website www.tdsummit.co.za is a useful source of information about teacher development. Even more important is the interactive nature of the site. Teachers are being invited to share their views and experiences about what constitutes good teacher development as well as bad teacher development.
There is a link to the relevant page on the site which asks you to answer two questions concerning your experiences.
Please take the time to access the website and click on “Submit your comments” and complete the questionnaire.
Please visit www.tdsummit.co.za for more information.

ADVOCACY

REGISTRATION OF GRADE R CLASSES:
Please contact your ACSI Area Co-ordinator or local District Office to receive the necessary forms for registering your school’s Grade R class with the PED. All Grade R classes need to be registered with the relevant PED and no longer with the Department of Health and Welfare.  Unfortunately there are different requirements from different provinces and some provinces are not even in the process of registering Grade R classes yet.
UMALUSI
Thank you to all the schools that have responded to our request to share your Umalusi frustrations with us. We are taking this further as part of NAISA and will keep our school informed about any response from Umalusi regarding any of your queries.
REMEMBER….. ACSI International Accreditation is still the ultimate in quality assurance for any authentic Christian school! 

• MEMBERSHIP FEES 2010

The new membership fee structure for 2010 is currently available from the office and will be mailed to your school soon.

• QUICK SURVEY: TEACHER OF THE YEAR AWARDS

By clicking here, please let us know if you would be interested in ACSI presenting a TEACHER OF THE YEAR award to deserving teachers.

• SPIRITUAL FORMATION AUDIT:

ACSI is keenly awaiting replies from schools who are interested in undergoing the Spiritual Formation Audit offered to our
schools at a cost by the Graybeal Association from America under the leadership of Dr. Phil Renicks. Schools need to contact
Anna-Marie Russell before the end of August to indicate interest in this project. Schools requiring more information regarding this project can contact Anna-Marie Russell at the office.

• LONG SERVICE AWARDS:

ACSI would like to honour teachers who have been in education for 10 years or longer. Please forward your school’s
information to judy_marais@acsi.org, if you have not yet done so.

     BRAIN SIMMONS our New ACSI President:
 
CONTROL AND CLICK TO FOLLOW THE LINK TO LEARN MORE ABOUT OUR NEW ACSI PRESIDENT

 Educational Leadership Experience
Served on and chaired numerous ACSI accreditation teams
Presented over 40 workshops at ACSI conventions and at Indiana Non-Public
Education Convention conferences
Served on conference planning team for ACSI Mid-America Conferences,
1994–2005
Currently serves as president of Nehemiah Group, LLC, a consulting firm
Currently serves as president and board chairman of Nehemiah Group Outreach
Society, Inc., a nonprofit group serving Christian schools worldwide
Established and led the Indianapolis Christian School Association, 1997–2005
ACSI Executive Board member, 2001–2004

Prayer Guide (cONTROL AND CLICK TO FOLLOW THE LINK)

A monthly prayer guide that provides our prayer partners with daily prayer requests from our international schools and regional offices.

South African Teachers Union
Michael Essenburg, Christian Academy Japan