Dave Roberts, Huish Epscopi,
has established links with Andre Erasmus at Simon's
Town.
There has been highly successful email contacts between
interested staff and eleven and twelve year old pupils
in Huish Episcopi School, Somerset and Simon's Town in
Western Cape Province. Dave Roberts - the teacher from
England - has been able to visit Simon's Town to establish
personal contact.
Andre Erasmus who is the ICT co-ordinator at STHS has
been developing the uses of computers in his school only
since May this year, and has already established very
effective practice. Every pupil above the first grade
has their own email address and is able to send and receive
mail regularly, at least once a week in their IT lessons.
He uses small business server software to facilitate this.
He is not in fact a teacher but he has worked with a class
teacher colleague to develop individual email links between
a sixth grade class and David Roberts' Year 7 English
class. The school has a most impressive computer suite
and another in the process of development. Mr Erasmus
has also established a lively website for the school.
It can be visited at:
http://www.wcape.school.za/sths
Simon's Town High School has existed since the mid nineteenth
century when the town served the British Royal Navy as
a base. It has a proud academic and sporting tradition
and has mixed race since 1992. The pupil population is
indeed very mixed and includes some pupils without English
as a first language and, indeed, those with many and
varied
first language skills. This makes the teachers' tasks
extremely challenging. The school's "catchment"
includes some "informal" settlements nearby
as well as those from more established "formal" housing
areas.
The geographical setting for STHS
is stunning as it is built on eleven levels overlooking
False Bay. The most recent acquisition by the school is
a boarding hostel which is built in a two storey, symmetrical,
neo-colonial style albeit constructed from donated shipping
containers - most ingenious. The hostel is for the accommodation
of overseas pupils who attend the school to study either
one of its two highly specialised "maritime studies" courses,
or its Tourism course.
Both Mr Roberts and Mr Erasmus are keen to continue to
develop the ICT connections between the two schools with
a view to strengthening whole school relationships in
the future, maybe even conducting visits of pupils. Is
there a potential sponsor out there?
The English pupils were enormously excited to receive
personal messages from their African counterparts and
Mr Roberts discovered an equal enthusiasm during the hour
or so that was spent talking to, photographing and delivering
messages and gifts to the Simon's Town pupils who have
been involved in the project.
Though not the principal aim of CROSSINGS, it is widely
agreed that such personal and electronic contact is a
most welcome spin off. Mr Roberts, as an English teacher,
is highly supportive of the link in that it offers real
live audiences for his pupils' writing and presents exciting
possibilities for the future.
