In the third term of this year, Reddam House, Waterfall Estate broke new ground by running the first of its kind, innovative 21st Century Skills programme at their school. The Reddam House executive team felt that the need for 21st Century Skills was becoming self-evident due to the rise of technology and the rapid changes in the workplace.
21st-Century Skills are a set of soft skills that employers believe that students need to master in order to be successful in tomorrow's world of work. These include skills like creativity, collaboration, leadership, communication, problem-solving, critical thinking, persistence, self-management, initiative, persistence, adaptability and social and cultural awareness and the ability to work with a wide range of people from around the world.
The pilot programme selected by Reddam House was the internationally developed Skills 21 gamified educational programme that combines an online game with facilitated strategy sessions run at the school. The game elements engaged the children while the facilitator led strategy and reflection sessions resulted in increased understanding and personal growth.
Reddam House and Arc Skills ran Skills 21 over 10 weeks with Grade 7, 8 and 9 students - 52 students to be exact. The programme’s weekly game strategy and reflection sessions were led by Reddam House teachers, trained in the necessary facilitation skills by Skills 21.
Reddam House students finished the programme feeling that Skills 21 gave them many new abilities, including how to: talk to new people (Samir); become a better leader (Boitumelo); be more tolerant with each other; (Nandhini) deal with reality (Jashmica); understand my true strengths and my true weaknesses; (Joshua) both lead and follow people (Gregory); acclimate yourself in different situations (Montana)
Teachers were amazed at how much students developed during the extramural programme, including identifying their own strength and weaknesses. “Quieter kids now speak more confidently” (Alise Marias); “Caters very nicely for the real world, and how things work” (Paulette Preyser) “Before Skills 21 there was nothing to put those skills in place” (Mark Baxter)
The headmistress, Lisette Noonan, and teachers at Reddam House Waterfall believe that their students have benefitted so much from Skills 21, that they are willing to fully recommend it to other schools.
In addition they have scheduled the programme for their new students again next year, proving without a doubt that Reddam House Waterfall is indeed a leading 21st Century school.
