One School at a Time is a non-profit organisation created as the Corporate Social Initiative for Joe Public, a creative agency. The organisation believes in bettering schooling.
The One School at a Time organisation assists with the upliftment and advancement of high schools in Johannesburg and primarily assists with the increase and more importantly, the quality of the matric pass rate but also addresses leadership and managements skills of the SMT and establishes a clear purpose and value system for the whole school. They believe that a schools success and growth is very much dependent on the visibility and quality of leadership within the school, and those who create a positive culture within a school.
The first school the organisation partnered with was Forte High School in Dobsonville, Soweto. The school is a no-fee paying school, the students come from the township community including the Reconstruction and Development Programme and most of the households within the settlement, are child headed families.
“Forte High School’s purpose is to be a beacon of light: academically, socially and politically – and One School at a Time is here is assist them with this purpose and help them achieve their vision of becoming the top township school in Gauteng.”
The organisation initially teamed up with various sponsors to make the school environment better. The first project was with CTM, they renovated the boys and girls bathrooms, Tracker improved sports facilities and Joe Public also assisted in refurbishing the schools Library, the Italtile Foundation has supplied classroom desks and chairs and the IT company Macroots sponsored 50 chess sets, allowing the school to create a chess club for the learners to attend after school.
“We can also very proudly announce that we have partnered with our second school – Itirele-Zenzele Comprehensive School in Diepsloot”
“We have already started the same programmes and approach we use at Forte High School with our second school with great success”
The organisation’s main focus is to assist the schools in achieving a 100% pass rate with at least 60% of the students achieving a bachelor’s degree pass by providing extra lessons on Saturday mornings and during the school holidays. Pass rates have improved over the years from 52% to 93% at Forte High and from 62% to 85% at Itirele-Zenzele High.
The organisation is in the process of becoming a beneficiary of the MySchool programme. MySchool raised over R70million for its beneficiaries last year, just by collecting funds from consumers MySchool card swipes.
“MySchool cardholders can nominate up to three beneficiaries and then swipe their cards at participating retailers every time they shop. The retailers make contributions on behalf of cardholders based on a percentage of their spend, which is then distributed to the schools, charities or conservation bodies of their choice, at no additional costs to the shoppers.
For schools and non-profit organisations across the country, MySchool MyVillage MyPlanet has become an important fundraising partner making a much-needed contribution to the on-going funds they need to carry on their vital work. Shoppers get the opportunity to support the causes they care about, whether that’s improved education, a better society or a more sustainable planet.”
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