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Allan Gray Orbis Foundation

Circle of Excellence recognises top South African schools

Tue, 20 May 2008 12:11

The Allan Gray Orbis Foundation has launched a new programme recognising 73 of South Africa’s top secondary schools.

Through its Circle of Excellence initiative, the Foundation aims to support and encourage South Africa’s centres of educational excellence to ensure that their high standards are maintained.

With a firm belief that entrepreneurial thinking is key to unlocking economic growth and to creating a vibrant and sustainable economy tomorrow, the Allan Gray Orbis Foundation was established to identify and grow South Africa’s future change agents.

Launched in 2005, The Allan Gray Orbis Foundation aims to bolster job creation and alleviate poverty by harnessing the power of pioneering, young bright sparks with enough entrepreneurial potential to positively impact our collective future.

To that end, the Allan Gray Orbis Foundation has several long-term programmes focussed on individually developing bright young minds. These Scholarship and Fellowship programmes list comprehensive financial support as one of their many benefits.

Now in its third year and with the eventual aim of having 1,000 learners and students enrolled at any one time, The Allan Gray Orbis Foundation is providing these benefits to approximately 140 enrolled students as well as 12 learners and is furthermore equipping them with the skills, attitudes and motivation to succeed.

“However, it must be said that finding these candidates is challenging. A concerning reality of the secondary school system in South Africa is the relatively small pockets of educational excellence which exist,” says Anthony Farr, CEO of the Allan Gray Orbis Foundation.

According to research by the Centre for Development and Enterprise, 70% of the higher grade mathematics passes locally are produced by only 11% of its secondary schools. The Foundation experienced a similar phenomenon when reviewing its previous candidate selection campaigns.

Farr moves onto explain that despite working with hundreds of schools to identify potential candidates for its Awards programme, analysis showed that 60% of the final stage selection candidates over the last two years were represented by only 40 schools.

The Foundation identified a further handful of schools that have historically produced extraordinary results, particularly in the disciplines of mathematics and science, to derive its current list which will be adapted and amended as further institutions are identified.

With a total number of 73 schools from across the country, the Allan Gray Orbis Foundation launched an initiative fittingly named Circle of Excellence to support and encourage South Africa’s centres of educational excellence.

“The Circle of Excellence aims to build stronger relationships with these institutions in jointly developing South Africa’s future human capital thereby equipping our country’s future change agents with the skills, attitudes and motivation to succeed. Of course, this is only the beginning. We welcome participation and collaboration from all schools, especially those that strive for educational excellence,” says Farr.

Visit www.allangrayorbis.org for further information.