Every day is International Day of Happiness at Radley Private School
As an educational institution that is integrating entrepreneurship into the entire CAPS curriculum, Radley Private School strives to immerse every single one of its young entrepreneurs in a “marinade” of entrepreneurship.
All of Radley’s faculty members undergo specialised training at South Africa’s top-rated business incubator, Raizcorp, to gain a thorough grounding in business concepts, the language of business and business as a whole.
As part of its innovative educational offering, the school has introduced three “entrepreneurial sets” which guide all lesson plans and activities. The mind-set (or “I learn”) focuses on the child’s ability to see opportunities and think in a more entrepreneurial way. The skill-set (or “I do”) is the child’s aptitude for and application of entrepreneurial concepts in life.
The final set is the heart-set (or “I feel”) and relates to the child’s attitude and approach to life, learning and entrepreneurship.
At the beginning of each school day, all the entrepreneurs – from Grade RR to matric – are encouraged to use a clothes peg on the “I feel” board so that the whole class and the teacher know how they are feeling that day.
Implemented in January, this system has been resounding success at the school. To quote Grade 1 entrepreneur, Khumo, “I love listening to how my friends feel because I can help them if they are sad.” Grade 2 learner Bikwe says, “I like the feelings chart because choosing my feeling makes me feel good.” His classmate Emma remarks, “I like to know how my friends feel.”
By encouraging entrepreneurs to express their feelings, the classroom becomes a safe space for the child to work through the emotions they are experiencing in a guided and constructive manner. It also allows Radley’s teachers to tweak their lesson plans to suit the current emotional atmosphere of the class. When there are more negative emotions at play, the teacher is able to boost morale and drive a more positive energy.
The introduction of this technique has proved especially comforting for Radley’s Grade 7 class who made the move to the High School campus in January. Far from struggling to integrate, entrepreneur Tsheamo says, “I have never felt so welcomed and warm hearted in my learning experience. I was frightened to move to the high school but it feels good to have a lovely family.”
The Grade 8 class concurs saying, “For the first time in our lives, we know that how we feel matters in the classroom and it is empowering.” The matric class have also embraced the heart-set with entrepreneur Pryashan saying, “I really enjoy the new learning rhythm which gives us the power to express our feelings and feedback every day.”
Radley Private School believes that it is critically important for young learners to be able to express their emotions and feel safe while they are doing so.