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Bedford Country School
Bedford Country
School has developed as a natural progression
from our existing Bedford Pre-Primary School,
which has served the greater Bedford Community
for well over 20 years.
The building
our new school is housed in was originally built
as a school in Bedford in 1910. Generous
benefactors have kindly purchased this building
for the purpose of moving our existing
Pre-Primary School and expanding to include
Grade One, Two and Three classes. Boarding
facilities will be available in January 2010 to
accommodate children who come from afar. We
intend to create a homely atmosphere whereby the
parents will be welcome to sleep over should
they wish. The school has forty children in
attendance for 2010.
Bedford
Country School aims to provide affordable,
individualized, quality, hands on education for
Bedford and the surrounding communities. We are
a Christian-based school, offering small
co-educational, dual medium classes. Our
educational programme is based on the Revised
National Curriculum Standards but we at Bedford
Country School will continually strive to
develop their learning experiences far beyond
the required assessment standards. With these
goals in mind, we have added the following
specialized programmes: Knowledge Network,
Eco-School Curriculum and Music for our little
ones.
Bedford
Country School has a subsidy fund, offering
financial support and assistance wherever
possible. We subsidise a third of our pupils but
unfortunately have lost our main sponsorship for
2010. These children have been at our school on
subsidies from the age of 3 and now, in great
faith, we have told them to return in 2010 and
hopefully we will find the funds to support them
further.
One of our main aims is to use who we are, our
industries, our environmental problems and
nature in learning
One of our
main aims is to use nature, our beautiful
surrounds and our talented community as our
extended classroom. Eco-School was just a
natural path to follow and incorporate into our
curriculum. Bedford and the surrounding area is
rich in history, wildlife, bird life, flora,
fauna and a world renowned garden festival which
takes place annually at the end of October
(Bedford Garden Festival). The community is full
of talented people from conservationists,
artists, passionate gardeners, a butterfly
collector with some of the world’s rarest
butterflies in his large collection, historians,
a vintage car collection and a world-renowned
watch maker. We have our very own animal
whisperer who has a bush camp and often takes
school groups on outings and talks where they
track animal spoors, droppings and learn about
cross species communication. Here they get the
opportunity to observe animals in their natural
environment.
Our area is
steeped in history, from the rare and beautiful
Koi San paintings in the surrounding mountains
to the church and gravesite of Thomas Pringle
who settled in the nearby valley in 1820.
Bedford is also a very popular hunting and
photographic safari destination. The area is
malaria free and offers a vast variety of game
and bird life species. Bedford is easily
accessible from Port Elizabeth and East London
airports and has accessible roads for bus tours.
The professional hunters are normally the
landowners and manage to monitor the hunting and
culling process closely. The hunters normally
use the walk and stalk method, which is one of
the most ethical ways in which to hunt.
Farming
is the main industry in our area and most of the
farmers are moving into their 6th generation.
Beef, sheep, wool, goats are the main farming
industry in our area. Bedford has over 30 game
species and is +- 30km from a game farm which
hosts the Big 5. Bedford has many suitable camps
and lodges to accommodate large groups.
Our farmers
are daily faced with the following conservation
issues:
-
Drought:
We are currently faced with the biggest
drought in 100 years and if it doesn’t rain
before March our re-growth for next year
will not be able to sustain our animals for
grazing. Due to the lack of feed the
wildlife has had to be culled or sold.
Farmers have been forced to downsize their
stock as the carrying capacity of our land
has diminished severely.
-
Fire
breaks: Arsonists are deliberately
setting fires along the roads burning out
huge areas of grazing. The new green shoots
that appear after a fire attract the now
hungry game which allow the poachers easy
shots at innocent game grazing on the road
side.
-
Water:
Our local municipality has mismanaged our
town water supply. Due to this our town dam
and river have dried up and the municipality
were too late to implement water
restrictions.
-
Pollution:
The sewerage dam has also been mismanaged
and now overflows into the Bedford River
with livestock grazing off the green velt
nearby.
We have built
these eco-problems and their solutions into the
school and our eco-programme. Knowledge Network,
their e-learning extensions and the use of
e-learning has fitted into the vision we had for
our new school. We often interlink our Knowledge
Network lessons with our eco-school programme
and community-based project.
Here are a few examples of how we are using
Knowledge Network and the e-learning extensions:
Based on the
Knowledge Network lessons where animals gather
in the forest to discus man destroying their
forest homes.
-
Carbon
footprint lesson – the pupils were awarded
nuts for each “correct” answer e.g. How do
you get to school? Walk, car, bicycle. The
pupil who responded with walking or bicycle
were awarded a nut. Numerous questions were
asked and the learners with the most nuts
had the smallest carbon footprint.
-
The pupils
walked to the dry Nyoga River, which is the
main town river. They were shown how an
overdeveloped township without proper
forward planning has resulted in the river
running dry. Due to the lack of water, the
fish, frogs, insects and birdlife have been
severely affected.
Based on the
fishing in the dam Grade 01 lesson and the water
sport pre-primary lesson we have linked it to:
-
Water
conservation – Bedford is in the midst of
its worst drought experienced in 100 years.
-
Running water
– numeracy lesson on how to save water from
brushing teeth, washing hands etc.
-
Placing 2l
coke bottles in the toilet systems.
-
Planting
vegetables in an eco-circle – recycle and
save water, which is linked to water
lessons.
-
Clubs –
fishing
Based on the
worm lesson – drawing worm bodies we have linked
it to our wormery which we use in the vegetable
garden. The worm juice works wonders as a
fertilizer and shows how worms can turn waste
into goodness for the soil.
Marketing and entrepreneurial projects
-
Jenna, a 5
year old making her grandparents’ 50th
wedding anniversary invitation using clip
art and word art.
-
Chad, an 8
year old making a poster using the same
skills for an entrepreneurial project.
Through the
full implementation of Knowledge Network
integrated learning using ILAMM (Integrated
Learning and Mentoring Methodology developed by
Jil D Hrdliczka in 1994) and the materials for
each of the Progressive Learning Programme
levels (Pre-school, Grade 00 R, Grade 01, Grade
02) – using the computer as a tool for life and
learning, working indoors and outdoors with
environmental outdoor issues and world issues,
climate change, global warming, learning how to
live in your environment without destroying
nature or polluting the environment -
We are empowering our children with the
knowledge and practical knowhow to live a green
life and to spread this powerful message to
family and friends thus making a difference not
only in the individual’s life but also within
our community. |
