Kenridge Primary’s “Love song to the Earth” has a Growth Mindset tune
14 November 2019
Kenridge Primary School staged a production called “African Dreams” in its school hall to capacity houses from 15 to 24 October 2019.
In what has become tradition, the Foundation Phase puts on a production every three years allowing each child the opportunity to be part of a show within their time in the phase. The school, a fervent proponent of all things music, art and drama, deems it vital for all learners to be given the platform to show their talent and have their voices heard.
Against the backdrop of the Transform to Perform (T2P) strategy, a radical, values-driven intervention of the Western Cape Education Department (WCED), it was refreshing to hear the young talent use the term “Growth Mindset” in their dialogue. Growth Mindset is aimed at transforming the minds of learners from a fixed mindset of “I can’t and I won’t…” to a growth mindset of “I can’t do it YET but with a bit of effort and practice, I shall”.
In the production, the children and creatures of Africa were given an opportunity to save the planet by thinking, solving problems, persevering and taking on challenges. The little ones’ positive resolve and determination to embrace the three “R”s, namely, reduce, reuse and recycle, and then advocating it in their show, suggests that they already have taken the wonders of Growth Mindset on board.
The crucial message stemming from the learners’ almost casual reference to Growth Mindset belies the fact that what you have in the learners is a rather large emergent group of children with an inherently positive spirit, ready to tackle not only all Earth’s issues in a courageous, self-confident, kind and generous manner but a transference of the use of such exemplary traits to other spheres of their lives, both within themselves as well as their relationships with family, friends and society as a whole. The latter cognitive state is of course exactly what we want to see at all schools across the province. We appeal to schools like Kenridge to share their best practices and continue to advocate, assist and inspire other schooling communities lagging behind.
