During the staff development days at the start of the 2020 school year, a discussion was started about transformation and diversity within our school. This conversation continued in the background for a few months whilst the school dealt with the many challenges brought on by COVID. In the middle of this year, the leadership team at ISCT made a commitment to focus on and engage in a process of transformation and diversity that would see our school being a place where each individual would feel a deep sense for belonging. We are looking for ways to take an already diverse school community with many strengths and see how we can further refine and develop so that we really are a place where everyone can feel at home.
Kascha Reed, Deputy Principal
We are keenly aware of the privilege that schools have of not only equipping students to be agents of change, but also of being institutional agents of change. We want to be an active participant in the ongoing story of transformation so that we can positively impact not only South Africa, but our world.
With this in mind, we have started an extended process to better understand the culture within our school. As we listen to the experiences of individuals and groups within our community, we will respond by looking at ways in which we can adapt to reach our goal of being a place where everyone can thrive.
Our Goals
- To actively work towards creating a space where everyone feels respected and celebrated.
- To develop a Transformation and Diversity policy and review all school policies through the lense of transformation.
- To create a Transformation and Diversity task team.
- To develop a Transformation and Diversity plan based on the input from all stakeholders in our school community which focuses on addressing key concerns within our school.
- To allocate resources and measure and evaluate our progress in achieving this plan.
Latest Update
2020
Community Feedback – School community surveyed to gather feedback to inform our transformation and diversity journey.
Staff Training – Anti-ism Workshop for staff run by ISASA.
2021
Community Task Team Formed – A Community Task Team was created with members of the school senior leadership team and student, parent, and staff members. The Task Team meets twice a term to ensure that progress is made towards achieving the items on our annual action plan.
Policy Updates – The Religious Policy has been updated and shared on the school website and various other policies are being refined and aligned with each other.
Staff Training – A staff workshop on Transformation and Diversity presented by ISASA will be held with school staff members in July.
Parent Workshops – Each term a parent workshop is organised and offered to our school community. These workshops have a focus on issues of transformation and diversity.
