COVER STORY LEARNING without limits ENRICHMENT PROGRAMMES, AFTERSCHOOL CLUBS ANd A FRESH PUSH FOR ExCELLENCE BOOST SCHOOL PRIdE AT SALTUS By Rosemary Jones “ ry to reach a little higher,” Chemistry teacher Samantha Naudé coaxes one of her hesitant protégés as she belays the ponytailed fifth-grader up the Olympic Club’s towering climbing wall. Between 12 and 20 students, aged seven to 17, have learned to swallow their fears and scale the structure’s heights like gleeful lemurs at her afterschool Climbing Club every Wednesday this year. “It’s rewarding to see how proud they are once they persevere and manage to get to the top,” says Naudé, who belays students up and down the wall’s various routes and overhangs with the help of Olympic Club staff and parent-climber and alum JP Skinner (’84). “It’s quite a workout for them—physically and mentally!” The club, which Naudé initiated four years ago, has become one of a growing slate of popular offerings aimed at reinvigorating the School’s menu of student programmes. Harnessing technology, teaching prowess and partnerships with outside organisations, a wide range of initiatives has been launched—with the aim of providing more services for students and parents, and complementing curriculum with enrichment, extension and afterschool activities. New faculty have energised certain areas of the curricula; afterschool clubs offering everything from cooking to computers have been launched; student transitions between departments T have been made smoother; the tracking of student performance at all ages has been modernised; netbooks have been provided to Upper Primary students for class time and clubs; and the push towards “greener” practices on both campuses has been entrenched—all within the context of a far stricter budget to weather lean economic times. “It’s about the intangibles—not necessarily the bricks and mortar—that turn a good school into a great school,” says Headmaster Ted Staunton, whose focus this year has been to encourage such innovation and energy in all Saltus departments— both during the school day and after-hours. “We want to make learning and teaching more dynamic, we want students to be respectful, engaged, community-active citizens, and we want high academic performance. This year’s focus has really been on programmes, faculty, teaching excellence, school pride, standards—tightening everything,” he adds. “I liken it to nuts and bolts on a tyre. Everything has to be ratcheted tighter to perform the best it can.” While Staunton’s first year as Headmaster was dedicated to creating a strategic plan and “putting out fires,” the 2010–11 period has been an exercise in adhering to the new mission outlined in 2009 and building a successful infrastructure to carry it out. Careful hiring has been a key priority; Saltus S A LT U S M A G A Z I N E 24