There have been changes to the following policies:
- A review of the school’s Admission Policy and introduction of an equity score as part of the Grade 8 selection process. The review was accompanied by an audit of the admissions processes by members of the SGB. This audit will happen regularly.
- Better alignment between the Recruitment Policy and Employment Equity legislation, including the establishment of an Employment Equity Committee to examine barriers to recruitment and advancement at the school.
- Alignment of the school’s Procurement Policy with the principles of B-BBEE and including B-BBEE status as a compulsory criteria for all tender processes An Anti-Discrimination Policy, which aims to address both issues of bullying, but also racial or LGBTQIA+ harrassment, is in development. We are working together with L&N Advisors to ensure that all of our policies and procedures are free from unintended bias.
In 2016 discussions started with members of the RCL which resulted in the subsequent review of the Code of Conduct and School Rules. All pupils, and also parents, were given the opportunity to provide input. We will be revisiting this again, together with an external consultant.
In 2019, the school sought independent advice from the Governing Body Foundation and an independent consultant about amending our Admission Policy and, specifically, with regards to ways of shifting the demographics of our school. In the same year, the selection process was audited by two parents on the SGB who are people of colour (POC). They made various recommendations which have been incorporated into the selection process. This audit will be done regularly to ensure objectivity and fairness, and work towards a more diverse student body.
Grade 8 Academic and Sport scholarships were purposefully discontinued in 2018 and this money was redirected to make it possible to change the student demographics/composition. In 2020, we introduced academic bursaries specifically reserved for black learners. These are means-based, with amounts being awarded on a sliding scale, according to financial need. (This has been based on the process used by tertiary institutions i.e. NFSAS, where parents have to submit specific documentation such as proof of income etc.)
We have also accepted more learners from scholarship foundations and NGOs such as Allan Gray and Students for a Better Future. We are actively looking to secure new private and NGO partners to increase these student numbers. We hope that this will also assist us in identifying black learners for enrolment at our school and recipients for our academic bursaries.
While we can ensure that we offer a significant number of places in Grade 8 to POC in order to change the diversity of the students at our school, unfortunately, we cannot control who accepts the places that we have offered. This means that, even though we may offer a significant number of places to POC, they may choose to accept a place at another school, which then means that we may end up with fewer POC learners than we had hoped for in any given year.
The SGB appoints the staff employed by the school, while the WCED has to approve all appointments to state posts. An equity score is applied to all shortlisted applicants to both WCED and SGB positions. This practice has been in place for a number of years already.
We are monitoring our progress in terms of improving staff diversity and the current situation is as follows:
On the staff as a whole we have 51% POC:
- POC make up 33% of the teaching staff, of which POC fill 23% of Leadership Team positions.
- Appointments over the past three years reflect the following statistics:
- 60% of general staff appointments have been POC, 52% of appointments to teaching posts have been POC and 100% of appointments to executive leadership positions have been POC.
In 2018, we changed our management structure and introduced more positions so as to allow for greater diversity in the management team.
The management structure was reviewed in 2020 and the new structure was implemented in 2021. The Executive Leadership Team was expanded and now comprises the following positions: Principal, Deputy Principal (Academic Innovation), Deputy Principal (Holistic Growth), Campus Manager, Head of Communications and Fundraising, and Head of Finance and Operations Manager. As a result, this team is now more diverse. The School Leadership Team also changed and now comprises the Principal, Deputies, PL2 staff, Grade Heads (from 2022 Heads of House) and IT Innovation.
Towards the end of 2020, a decision was made to advertise the available PL2 position with the specific duty of overseeing the transformation processes at Rustenburg. Meetings, open to all staff members, were held to discuss what the job description should entail.
The PL2 position was advertised in the vacancy list and on the school’s website in February 2021. Short-listing took place at the end of April and interviews were held early in May. On 1 September 2021 Ms Norma Caesar was appointed.
In 2017, the school launched the “A School Where I Belong” programme, run by Roy Hellenberg and Dylan Wray. A full day ‘Implicit Bias’ workshop was attended by all staff and another shorter session by SGB and RCL members.
In 2018 “Dialogue Days” were born and teachers were trained to facilitate discussions. The first whole day workshop on “Implicit Bias” involved the whole school and was presented by Dylan Wray and Roy Hellenberg with guest speaker Jonathan Jansen as well as a panel discussion with past pupils from RGHS and other schools.
More Dialogue Days and discussion periods have been held since and have included the following topics:
- Privilege
- Mental Health
- Implicit Bias
- Judgement
- Gender-Based Violence
- Race and racism
- Gender and Sexuality
From 2019, all Grade 8 learners entering Rustenburg attend an ‘A School Where We All Belong’ workshop as part of Grade 8 orientation week. See ‘Did your daughter tell you’ newsletters.
In May 2021, each grade attended a full day study session with Lovelyn Nwadeyi. These workshops were very well-received by all our learners and sparked much discussion. Each study session covered Racial Literacy (explicit and implicit bias, discrimination, micro-aggressions, intersectionality and many other aspects) and Gender (gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, etc.).
On 17 September the Grade 11s attended a Leadership workshop with Lovelyn Nwadeyi where they continued the conversations from their previous workshop with her and also looked at building community and shaping culture. The learners had a chance to create their own questions for their Matric Leader manifestos which relevant staff reviewed. The manifestos have since been updated to include some of the proposed questions.
A full day ‘Implicit Bias’ workshop was attended by all staff in January 2017. This workshop was run by Roy Hellenberg and Dylan Wray.
Following this, the majority of our teachers attended a number of sessions to receive training in order to facilitate discussions with learners. A Transformation committee/team, made up of volunteers, was formed in order to arrange and manage workshops and Dialogue Days at Rustenburg.
The staff have undergone a number of transformation workshops over the years and have engaged in dialogue on relevant topics. We regularly have staff inset training, where all staff are included and have to attend regardless of how uncomfortable they may feel.
Grounds and cleaning staff have been included in all staff events, including discussions around transformation matters, over the past four years.
In June 2020 the school employed L&N Advisors, represented by Lovelyn Nwadeyi, to work with the school over a period of time in order to facilitate engagement sessions with staff, parents and learners in a manner that is tailored to specifically address matters of belonging at the school.
Furthermore, to provide the entire school community with tools and a framework to work towards the same goals for transformation through a lens of anti-racism and social justice. L&N Advisors encourages the use of a restorative justice approach within socio-cultural transformation processes. Staff study sessions started in August. These focussed on Racial Literacy and covered topics such as positionality, normative culture, microaggressions, anti-racism, white fragility, intersectionality, misogynoir and adultification, to name just a few. These study sessions continued in 2021.
Staff attended a two-day study session in April. These days focussed on bringing the staff together after a difficult 2020. The sessions included looking at aspects like: self-awareness, positional listening versus active listening, components of trust, internalised oppression versus internalised dominance, playing the system versus blaming the system, components of trust and moving towards healing. Another session was held in May and this focussed on Gender (gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, transgenderism, etc.). On 11 August the staff had their final workshop with Lovelyn Nwadeyi. This workshop focussed on teaching with social justice in mind. Click here for the Summary of Proposed Interventions by L&N Advisors.
See Transformation Timeline here.
For many years the facilities provided to our Grounds and Cleaning staff were inadequate, but in recent years, much has been done to improve their staff rooms on campus.
- New staff room provided for Cleaning staff as part of construction of the Maths & Science Block (2013) with changing facilities.
- New staff room with access to showers provided for Grounds staff (2015)
- Cleaning Staff staff room expanded as the team grew (2019)
- Paving of courtyard near workshops and Grounds Staff staff room to prevent flooding in the rainy season (2019)
- Cleaning Staff staff room was moved to a larger space, which includes a changing room. (2020)
In January 2020 workshops were led by an independent advisor to change our Vision and Mission statement in order to foster a more inclusive school environment going forward. These workshops involved some staff members, the School Governing Body and some members of the Representative Council of Learners.
In September, after further discussion with learner, staff and parent representatives, the new Vision and Mission statement was approved by the SGB.
The school song was re-written in 2020 with a new melody composed in 2021. The initial draft lyrics was widely circulated and critiqued by a number of role players, including the Principal, Mr Michael Gates, the 2020 School Leadership Team, 2020 Transformation Team, as well as the general staff and Representative Council of Learners. The 2020 Head of School, Hlonelwa Zimba, also offered constructive advice. The new school song was sung for the first time at the 128th Birthday Assembly on 4 February 2022.
Click here for a video about the birth of the new school song.
A multi-faith prayer space/room, sponsored by a parent, was created at the start of 2019 and has no affiliation to a particular religion. We encourage a variety of religious readings and devotions in assembly. This is carefully managed so that one religious group does not do more than another. This is so that those with and those without a faith are all represented in the style of devotions. Over the past few years secular and ‘spiritual’ songs have been carefully selected so as not to have reference to a specific deity, however, going forward only secular songs will be chosen for collective singing at compulsory events e.g. assemblies, prize-givings, Valedictory etc.
For the past few years we have indicated on the school calendar that no assessments should be done on Eid. Going forward, we will be mindful to ensure that the day before and after Eid are also taken into consideration.
We have undertaken a process to promote and encourage isiXhosa as a subject at Rustenburg. In 2020 it was decided that, in addition to isiXhosa First Additional Language, we would offer Conversational isiXhosa for two years to Grades 8 and 9 students until we have enough teaching time allocated to make it financially feasible for a teacher to accept an isiXhosa Second Additional Language post. Conversational isiXhosa was a way of building up towards our goal of offering the subject as a second additional language. We have appointed an isiXhosa Second Additional Language (SAL) teacher who will grow the subject from the start of 2022.
A decision to appoint a person of colour, in line with learner preference, as a non-teaching counsellor was approved by the SGB at the start of 2020. A black woman was appointed as a non-teaching school counsellor and started at the school in January 2021. The school has had conversations about the formation of a committee for POC learners and will continue these conversations with input and guidance from an external consultant. Click here to read more about the Student Development Unit
This does form part of our initiatives of removing institutionalised discrimination and is addressed as part of the Life Orientation curriculum. Proper education around identity and LGBTQ+ has been done with staff and students in their respective study sessions with Ms Lovelyn Nwadeyi in 2021. We have a very popular PRIDE Society that has been active in the school for a number of years now.
2022 saw the implementation of the Vertical Tutoring System which resulted in a change in Matric Leadership positions. At the end of 2021, Grade 11 pupils had the opportunity to apply to be a Matric Leader. This was followed by an election in which Grade 10-12 pupils and staff voted. Those who chose to stand for the position of House Leader were interviewed, and then voted for by the Grade 11 pupils. Each house has a House Leader and two deputies.
We welcome having past pupils involved in the life of the school and have actively engaged with our Alumnae Association more recently in this regard. We hope that initiatives such as the alumnae mentoring programme are supported by past and present pupils and prove fruitful. Alumnae representatives have been invited to SGB meetings in the past and we hope to continue to do so in the future.
Rustenburg Alumnae has recently formed a transformation sub-committee to help facilitate change at the school and we encourage past pupils to make contact with them directly.
The Sports Department has re-evaluated the sporting codes on offer at RGHS, including the trophies that are awarded, to ensure that all sports are represented, acknowledged and treated fairly. We have investigated sport teams and their racial demographics at school level, and are conscious of sporting codes that lack representation. We are actively trying to remedy this from participation, through to selectors, coaches, and those we send to Western Province trials.
A real effort has been made via the RGHSSport Instagram platform to acknowledge all sports teams on a similar level. We will continue to ensure that fast-growing sporting codes such as Football and Touch Rugby are acknowledged in the same way our other sporting codes are.
In the past, there have been some events held at Rustenburg for parents to engage. These include a past pupil speaking at the Matric and New Parent Evenings, “A School where I Belong” book launch for Dylan Wray and Roy Hellenberg, Lovelyn Nwadeyi on Race and Racial Literacy and the production of My Father’s Coat – a history of South Africa. Sadly, most of these were poorly attended.
Parents have their own social responsibility to inform and educate themselves and while we will continue to provide these opportunities for engagement they are ultimately accountable for their own growth. We are, however, looking into ways to ensure this happens more intentionally, as this is something that the learners have often requested.
An online parent engagement meeting was held on 16 September 2020, to discuss the steps the school has taken since the Grade 12 call to action and to invite parent feedback regarding transformation at Rustenburg. This meeting was facilitated by Lovelyn Nwadeyi.
Lovelyn continued these online webinars for parents in 2021. The first was held in April and focused on Racial Literacy and the second was in September and was titled: “Questions on Identity – Conversations your child wished you’d had with them when they started high school”.