GC Staff and Students Represent Saints at International NCGS Conference

“Fitting in is about assessing a situation and becoming who you need to be to be accepted. Belonging, on the other hand, doesn’t require us to change who we are.” —Brené Brown

The virtual National Coalition of Girls’ Schools (NCGS) 2021 global conference, entitled Building Communities of Belonging, took place last week. Presenters and delegates from all over the world participated in online sessions that sought to further the conversation on making girls’ schools places of belonging where diversity is embraced and valued.

Congratulations are in order for our GC staff team of Ms Leanne Horwitz (Director of Transformation), Mr Richard Sibeko and Mrs Peta Hanly, who prepared and delivered a presentation on learnings and insights from the development of our “Ubulungiswa” social justice curriculum that has been rolled out in Grade 8 and 9 this year.

The presentation received excellent feedback, and useful discussion followed the presentation in the post-conference session. It is encouraging to see that our work is in line with international trends and offerings as schools across the globe are increasingly placing emphasis on civic education and social justice work. Grade 9 students Leago Leballo, Gabriella Natsis, Kerisha Dorasamy and Alexandra Evans also made a valuable contribution to the video presentation by giving their feedback on the Ubulungiswa Programme.

Ms Leanne Horwitz, in her role as Faculty Director for the Arts and Humanities, also presented a paper at the conference on her outcomes of a year-long action research project that focused on the use of Critical Friends Groups with a focus on the Grade 12 ORT projects in History. Ms Horwitz’s work has revealed the value of peer feedback in motivating students, as well as the personal accountability towards individual efforts and research work.

We are also very proud of Grade 12 student and Deputy Chair of our student Transformation Committee, Nokukhanya Lefatshe, who interviewed one of the keynote speakers, Lovelyn Nwadeyi.

A hearty thanks and appreciation is extended to our team who showcased the Girls’ College and indeed our country at this international online gathering.