The small primary school at the heart of Saxonwold is adapting to keep up with the Fourth Industrial Revolution by launching an innovation hub to enrich the curriculum and make it more interactive for the current generation.
Saxonwold Primary School launched the Marion Wheater Innovation Hub on 16 February, a project that was funded by parents of the school over three years.
Named after the current principal of 25 years, school governing body head Manessah Alagbaoso described the new addition to the school as a gift to introduce learners to the Fourth Industrial Revolution.
Wheater said, “This has been a long and challenging project in the making… We wanted to create a safe space for learners, most of whom spend 80 per cent of their day at school. This innovation hub gives them the space to finish their homework, relax and have fun.
“We had to relook the way learning looks for children in a digital world and embrace the digital onslaught to provide relevant schooling for this generation.”
Wheater hopes that the new space which combines IT technology, coding and robotics with the charm of books and literature will enable learners to develop critical thinking skills enabling them to tackle the rapidly changing working world.
“This is a launch pad for learners to become relevant citizens in South Africa,” she added.
Wendy Pienaar of Standard Bank, who has assisted to educate staff on how to use this new technology said, “This is about joining the physical world with the digital world as 47 per cent of our roles and jobs will not exist in 20 years so we need to rethink how we prepare kids for the future. We need to help them think and adapt.”
A number of learners interacted with Standard Bank’s robot Pepper before Wheater cut the ribbon to officially launch the hub.
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