Success is planned

PAMELA Vaull Starr, wife to the Beatles drummer Ringo Starr is quoted saying; “Reach high, for stars are hidden in your soul. Dream deep, for every dream precedes the goal”.

Background about Trust Academy High School (TAHS)

Trust Academy High School is wholly-owned by a developmental agency or a non-governmental organisation called Zimbabwe Project Trust (ZimPro). It is part of the Trust Academy brand.

Since its establishment in Bulawayo Trust Academy High School produced exceptionally wonderful results for both Zimsec and Cambridge examinations. Some of the students won international accolades especially those who wrote Cambridge examinations. These were announced at the Cambridge Outstanding Learner Awards Zimbabwe ceremony held at the Meikles Hotel in Harare on 5 May 2016. In June 2016 the pass rate for all subjects was above 50 percent. It is pleasing to note that 30 percent of the students doing Mathematics and English Language were A-level graduates who were held back from proceeding to university by the absence of a pass in the same subjects at O-level. All of them passed and successfully secured places in local universities. Two went to Nust to study for a degree in Animal Science while two others were admitted at the University of Zimbabwe to study Tourism Management and Urban Planning.

These achievements are premised on the school’s philosophy that in education, as in most other service and philanthropic activities; the human being, rather than profit, is the centre of service delivery. As providers of education we realise that we cannot be driven by the profit motive at the exclusion of the human being. In other words the human being is at the centre of all our activities. There are two human constants in the Trust Academy High school set up, that is, the student or learner, and the teacher.

The first human constant in the Trust Academy High school focus are the pupils or learners. Learners are a very important stakeholder, maybe the most important constant in the whole learning-teaching matrix. Learners are the foundation of the teaching-learning equation, and indeed the learners are the bedrock and future of our nation. The school enrols students from a very wide background. In that regard it is important for teachers to be sensitive to needs of these pupils who come from diverse backgrounds. Our students differ in the primary schools they are coming from, their O-level former schools, or even those who transfer to Trust in the middle of a course. Our teachers are trained and psyched up towards reconciling these disparate diverse backgrounds. We have a team of sensitive, responsive teachers who will make sure that pupils are given all the assistance they might need in order to make sure that their stay at Trust is as comfortable, fruitful and successful as possible.

Trust Academy is mindful of the fact that students have different learning abilities and needs. Our classes are small and manageable. Our teachers are able to give individual attention to the students. Our situation allows us to give one-on-one tutorials, which is a big plus for pupils who might be experiencing learning difficulties. We also offer remedial lessons. So whichever way one looks at it, Trust Academy is the ideal school which caters for the different learning styles of pupils.

At Trust Academy High School, we pride ourselves in having a team of teachers whom we have confidence in. We have assumed a new thrust where we engage teachers who have not only academic and university qualifications but who also have professional educational qualifications. Long ago there used to be the adages that “If you can’t you teach.” The more cynical would even say “Anyone can teach.” In other words, teaching was the job that could be done by anyone or a job that people took up while they were waiting for “something better” to do. Not so any more. Scholars, governments, investors, parents and a whole plethora of other stake holders realise that it is important to have trained teachers in the classroom. No parent or guardian would want to entrust the education and future of their children and wards to anyone; any person who is coming from the streets and waving about an academic qualification which is not backed up byany professional qualification.

Education is a social scienceand the practitioners must have an educational qualification. TrustAcademy,together with other stake holders is cognisant of this development and the high school has gone out of its way to engage qualified teachers. These are teachers who will take care of the philosophical, sociological and psychological needs of the learner. Gone are the days when the teacher’s most effective teaching aid was the whip or sjambok,or some lengthy piece of hose-pipe.

The world has moved and teachers have become moresensitive to the needs of their pupils. The world has also become very litigious and if teachers useunorthodox teaching methods they run the risk of being suedleft, right and centre. The only safe refuge for today’s teacher is a professional qualification which empowers them to teach most effectively anddevelop a mutuallybeneficial relationship with their learners. That iswhy the high school strives to engage qualified teachers who are an asset to the school, to the learners and to the community as a whole.

The feedback that we get from our learners and parents seems to suggest that our efforts in engaging qualified teachershave not been misplaced nor misguided but they are in fact reaping fruit as our stake holders are full of praise for these teachers. Our teachers are praised for professionalism and impeccable subject mastery.

Still on the theme of the human resource, it is important for a schoolto involve parents in the teaching-learning dichotomy. Parents are full partners in the education of their children. Trust Academy High School has various facilities that encourage parents to be involved in the school. The Trust Academy High School is planning to publish a newsletter regularly tokeep parents abreast of what would be happening at the school. The school would also like to put in place a School Development Association so that parents can make a direct input into the growth and development of Trust Academy High School.

This gives them opportunity to appreciate the teachinglearning environment and also discuss the strengths and challenges which their children could have. Those students who are doing well get the opportunity to consolidate their performance while those who could be facing challenges could be encouraged to step uptheir game. It is important for the school and the home to present aunited front so that students perform at a consistently high level.

For the parent-school partnership to be most beneficial to the student, both partiesshouldplay their roles. Pupils are very quick to pounce on any weaknesses they might perceive between the parentsand the school. The parents and the school should play complementary roles in ensuring that children-cum-learners are well-behaved, disciplined, well-groomed, do their homework, etc. While the children are at school, the teachers act in loco parentis; ie they are parents to the children but once the children are at home, the parents must be both parents and supervisors. The values of the school must be mirrored in the home; and vice versa.

In these days of financial challenges, the parent has a critical role to play in the sustainedstay of their child in school. The parent should pay their children’s school fees on time. It is dishearteningand disruptive if pupils have to be excluded from lessons because their fees have not been paid. The payment of fees is a serious commitment and parents should ensure that they discharge of this responsibility diligently, consistently, and without fail. The doors of Trust Academy are open if parents face challenges in paying their fees timeously. Parents should come to the High School and make a payment plan. It would be irresponsible on the part of the parent if their wards or children were excluded from class for failure to pay fees. As Trust Academy High School sending a child home for non-payment of fees is not an option. We therefore implore parents never to abdicate their responsibility of fees payment on flimsy excuses.

Failure in national examinations is not an option!