OASIS MAGAZINE, July 2013: Leadership Development in a Dynamic Society

Welcome to the last edition of Oasis for this academic session, 2012/2013. This has been a busy and exciting term in the school and I hope you will enjoy the photos and stories in the magazine relating our activities. The focus of the magazine this term is on our new prefects and the leadership role that they take on in the school. Prefects are the face of leadership within the school. During the year parents and guests have seen the leading role that prefects played at major events such as Founder’s Day. They also take responsibility for many programmes within the school including the mid-term carnival along with a range of daily duties.

As we have begun to develop our Alumni Association and taken time to reflect on the words of the Founder, it is clear that leadership is one of the key qualities that makes an Olashore graduate standout. In order to firmly embed this into the school we are actively making leadership the focus of all our activities. In school we are introducing leadership programmes for all students, beginning with our Year 9 students who started the LEAP Africa leadership programme this term and will continue that throughout next year. We will also roll out leadership programmes to all year groups in coming sessions. We have included an aspect of leadership in our extra-curricular activities. An example of this was during the recent Year 8 trip to Cotonou, students were divided into groups and each day one group led and managed the activities. The most successful group was recognised and rewarded at the end of the week.

The Lancaster University Foundation Programme has been one of my major foci this term. I was able to accompany the students on their annual visit to Lancaster University in April. This one week visit allows students to get to know the university and also experience  university life. This year we incorporated a number of lectures for both students and the accompanying teachers. These covered core study skills and were very successful. As a follow up to these lectures we welcomed Dr. Johnny Unger to Olashore in June. Dr. Unger is a lecturer in the Linguistics department and Head of Academic Summer Programmes at Lancaster University. During his visit he worked closely with the LUFP students to follow up and build on the work done in Lancaster. He also spent time with students in Years 9-12 developing their study skills and looking at possible career paths through Lancaster University. In addition to his work with students he also conducted a series of workshops for teachers sharing ideas on different teaching strategies which will benefit our students as they progress to higher education.

Olashore International School is a learning community and consequently we place  high value on staff development. In addition to staff joining a wide range of courses in Nigeria and Dr. Unger’s visit, we also received Dr. Ash Perry of Bradford College. Olashore and Bradford College have been working together for a number of years. During his visit, Dr. Perry met with Heads of Departments and other staff to review the schemes of work in the senior secondary school. This was with a view to further integrating the Cambridge IGCSE programmes with the WASSCE syllabus. The workshops also looked at widening the range of teaching resources available looking at ready-made print and electronic resources as well as teachers developing their own resources. During the visit we also made plans to continue and extend our in-service teacher training programme. Through this programme up to ten teachers each year follow a distance learning programme with Bradford College involving online training and exchange visits. A plan to develop all teachers over the next three years was agreed.

As we approach the end of an exciting and productive session you can see that we have already begun to put in place our plans to move the school forward in the coming session. Refurbishment of facilities continues with the upgrade of the senior hostels, plans for excursions are already in place for a number of classes next session, staff development and enhancement of our academic programmes goes on. We look forward to another stimulating session from September 2013 where everyone in the school, staff and students, will continue to grow to fulfill their full potential.