Schools collaborate at Derby Day
Four schools in Cape Town who enroll students from various communities across the wealth spectrum, hosted the first of a series of Derby Day events on Saturday, 14 November.
The Derby Day, branded Simunye (we are one), provided an opportunity for children to meet on equal ground, in order to foster relationships; build a foundation for understanding, respect and acceptance; minimise the development of unconscious bias, with the end goal of ultimately bridging the unequal wealth gap in South Africa.
Twenty Grade 6 students from each school, namely Die Duine Primary in Lotus River, Mzamomtsha Primary in Driftsands, Rondebosch Boys Prep in Rondebosch and Christel House South Africa, a non-profit school in Ottery, enjoyed a fun-filled, yet productive day at the Christel House premises. Students received Simunye branded items, goodie bags and delicious food and important Covid 19 guidelines and rules were shared with them. Afterwards, an ice breaker, games, deep conversations, exercises and an exciting go-kart race allowed students to interact and bond with each other.
“I had loads of fun at the Derby Day event and made many new friends from other schools”, says Chloe W., a Grade 6 student at Die Duine Primary School. Hein L. from Rondebosch Boys Prep, Bonga B. from Mzamomtsha Primary and Raihaanah I. from Christel House all agree and look forward to the next event.
According to the World Bank, South Africa is one of the most unequal countries in the world with a Gini coefficient of 0.63. An International Foundation, whose aim is to reduce wealth inequality is supporting Christel House in forging meaningful partnerships between wealthy and underprivileged schools from 2020 until 2022. This includes the development of joint activities and curriculum to reduce the gap between the South African youth. The long-term aim of the programme is to foster more equal relationships across the economic divide to enable healthy, diverse workplaces, communities and to build a strong economy.
“Our intention is to bring students from all walks of life together, so that we can remove barriers and ultimately build bridges for the youth, our future leaders.,” says Christel House SA Junior School Principal, Ms Carol Kriel. “We are able to make a difference by working with other schools and with the help of our generous donor. We want all our children in South Africa to be confident and able to thrive across the wealth spectrum”
More about Christel House
Christel House South Africa is a non-profit school with a single mission: to break the cycle of poverty. It offers no-fee scholarships to students from some of Cape Town’s poorest neighbourhoods and support them for 18 years (Grade R to Grade 12 and five years post matric) through character-based and career-focused education. The school’s beneficiaries include 740 students from grade R to 12, 250+ post-matric students and more than 3000 parents and other members of the communities it serves.
The main criterion for admission to Christel House is not evidence of talent – but evidence of poverty, one measure of which is a maximum average income of R1,500 per household member per month. Key aspects of Christel House’s model include poverty mitigation services in the form of daily transport to school and back, professional health care, nutritious meals, psychosocial counselling, family assistance and college and careers planning and support.
The school is justifiably proud of its 99% matric pass rate since inception and that 93% of its alumni are studying, working or both. In doing so, Christel House transforms the lives of its students and help to build self-sufficient, contributing members of society.