Matopo High a beacon of success

Prince Sunduzani, Chronicle Reporter
Moulding pupils of good character is Matopo High School’s sole purpose. The school believes a pupil is as strong as their character.

They say talent can take you to a certain level of success but it is your character that will keep you there.

Matopo High School, which is located about 45 kilometres from Bulawayo and surrounded by the Matobo Hills is a beacon of success in the district, province and is competitive nationally.

Good results are not a taboo at the school and already, the school has an O-Level pupil who attained eight As, another with 11 points at A-Level and 34 others with As in History in this year’s June public examinations.

This does not only reflect the pupil’s intelligence but a dedicated 38-member staff and a very learned headmaster.

Speaking to The Chronicle recently, Matopo High School deputy head, Ms Silindile Ncube, narrated how the school strives to be the most preferred in the country.

She revealed that the staff behind the good academic and sporting results is indeed well trained for the job.

Most of the teachers at the school are degree holders and those with diplomas are currently enrolled at various universities to improve themselves.

According to Ms Ncube, the headmaster Mr Gardson Sibanda himself has five degrees and several diplomas.

“We strive to produce good results and pupils with a good character and are employable as we work towards being the most preferred school nationally. We want to provide a holistic approach to our education,” said Ms Ncube.

“When a teacher comes in, we look at their qualifications, once we have employed them; we encourage them to register with a university on a block release programme so that they are relevant to the kind of assignment we have given them. Most of our teachers came in non-degreed but we have upgraded them.

It’s a must that whenever a subject is not performing, we sit down with the heads of department and look at the teacher’s qualifications and see if they are adequately trained for the job they are doing.”

The school, with an enrolment of 928 pupils is walking the talk when it comes to the much talked about new curriculum.

Matopo High School has made significant strides in terms of adopting and aligning themselves with the new curriculum.

They have done a lot in terms of development and equipping themselves with the necessary tools for the implementation and driving of the new government education blue-print.

“We implemented the new curriculum right away; we attended the continuous assessment workshops, we have done staff development and all classes that should be offered the new curriculum are doing the new curriculum. We have boosted the number of computers at the school, just this week we received 53 more so that the pupils can access technology and do their projects on time,” said Ms Ncube.

She said the school was building a vocational training centre which will promote the new curriculum and ensure that pupils who are not gifted academically will not be left behind.

“We have given budgets to all departments and have procured just enough relevant resources. And as a school, since all science subjects are now called technical vocational subjects, we have come up with plans to construct a vocational school starting with the bakery department which is very popular and also the agro-business section which is in line with food processing,” said Ms Ncube.

She said Matopo High School is also committed to promoting agriculture, which is the backbone of the country’s economy.

Ms Ncube revealed that as a school, they were embarking on several agricultural projects which will ensure self-sustenance of the school.

“We also expanded the agriculture department and have employed one additional specialist. We are working with Matopo Research Station to help boost our agriculture department in line with the new curriculum because it’s now offered to all classes as a core subject,” she said.

“We are embarking on poultry production, piggery, market gardening and we have sought permission to start goat breeding. We also want to try cattle breeding.”

Matopo High School resembles a centre of modern learning with new facilities and technologies embraced in order to digitalise the school.

Ms Ncube said the school was promoting the use of information communication technologies and was in the process of procuring tablets and laptops for pupils.

“A’-Level pupils bring their own gadgets like iPads and laptops to encourage e-learning. We want a policy of one computer per learner. We will also monitor their activity so that they don’t log onto illicit websites. We are planning to buy tablets for use by learners so that we demystify computer science; we remove it from the computer lab and it becomes a daily practice,” said Ms Ncube.

“We have also procured projectors and laptops; we have bought at least 10 computers for the Geography room and we have about 30 computers for the library. We also got 10 computers for the science department as a way of upgrading the education system.”

Ms Ncube said the school had implemented various systems to suit latest education methodologies where the teacher is a facilitator of e-learning.

“Our vision is that by the end of 2018, in every lesson every child should have either access to a computer or a tablet. The IT department is working tirelessly on that one. We have procured two interactive boards; one in the Computer room and another in the Geography room in line with the new curriculum so that pupils can have more access to technology,” said Ms Ncube.

Matopo High School provides a balanced education which exposes pupils to all spheres of learning; culture, technology and sports so that they produce a well rounded adult.

Ms Ncube said the school realises the importance of culture and heritage and has put in place measures to ensure that students learn ubuntu.

“We have a Heritage Day once a year and usually it’s on Africa Day. On that day, we do all the traditional dances, cook traditional food and staff members come in their traditional attire. The event is run by the Heritage Department including Ndebele and History,” she said.

“It’s a must that teachers bring the cultural aspect to their lessons. Even when we supervise them, we should see that element being emphasised in every lesson so that pupils can understand cultural practices.”

Being a Christian school, Ms Ncube also said Matopo seeks to instill Christian values in their pupils.

“We want our pupils to be God-fearing. We emphasise on ubuntu and spiritual growth, Christianity as a mainstay since this is a Christian nation and a Christian school,” said Ms Ncube.

Authorities are working towards improving the school’s infrastructure although upon arrival at Matopo High, one is greeted by a well-built school with seemingly fully developed infrastructure.

Just recently, the Brethren in Christ Church-run school renovated the girls and boys’ dormitories, which Ms Ncube says can compete with the best hotel rooms in town.

She said the school was in the process of renovating classrooms and laboratories to ensure that they are modern and up to standard.

“This is an old school and although we have not constructed any new buildings this year, we have re-tiled the classrooms so that they are up to standard.

We just renovated a laboratory. Phase one of the renovations project which started in October has been done. We should start phase two which is renovating the second laboratory, then come January we get to the renovation of the last one, which is the Upper Six laboratory.”

The school has achieved a lot in terms of extra-curricular activities as they are the champions in the district and the province in many areas.

“We won the first prize in the district for our food, nutrition and bakery section. We also got a prize on the heritage front and our drama club won the first prize at an international event,” said Ms Ncube.

Matopo High School is also promoting STEM and has increased its science subjects’ enrolment.

In line with the government’s call to prioritise STEM subjects, the school has made giant leaps towards embracing STEM.

“We have 26 pupils at Upper Six and another 28 in Lower Six who are part of the science department. Previously, we used to have about 15 to 18 pupils in the science department but because of the STEM initiative, our A-Level science enrolment has doubled,” said Ms Ncube.

“We prioritise STEM subjects in our enrolment. Our curriculum is such that every child, when they come for Form One, is prepared to take up STEM and other vocational subjects and then after about six weeks into Form One, we market other departments like the commercials.”

According to Ms Ncube, procurement of textbooks is a challenge as they are expensive.

“We need 50 textbooks per subject, per class and each book costs about $15. Our tuition fees are very low, totalling about $370 including boarding and food. We are relying on e-books where possible and are also using handouts where staff members research on the internet then they come up with notes up until such a time when we have enough textbooks for every pupil,” she said.

The school is planning to modernise its sporting facilities and introduce new sporting disciplines so that pupils have a variety of sports to take up.

Some have so far done well in sports with a number of them representing the country.

School authorities say this will ensure that pupils develop themselves and realise their sporting talents while at school.

“We are developing cricket and tennis. In our five-year construction plan from 2018 to 2023, we are planning to construct an indoor games sports pavilion so that we can promote sports and gymnastics. In athletics, we have pupils who have gone out to represent the nation. We have some pupils who have gone up to the Cossasa games. Our volleyball team has also come first provincially,” said Ms Ncube.

The school has over the years managed to produce good results and it continues to improve. The pass rate in O-Level public examinations is above the national average.

The trend is such that every year, the results keep on getting better. In the past six years (2011 to 2016) the pass rates have been as follows; 54, 48.7, 68.1, 71.5, 79.3, and 81.2 percent respectively.

The school’s deputy head is confident that with the calibre of pupils they have and their dedicated staff, the results will continue improving. — @PrinceNkosy102