The Learning Trust first partnered with the Centre for the Community School (CCS) in 2011 when the centre launched the Manyano Network, a collective of school principals that sought to position the schools at the centre of community development.
The objective was two-fold,
1) to seek community solutions towards learner education outcomes (learner support)
2) use school resources to uplift the community.
The Learning Trust continued to fund Manyano directly which enabled the Network to appoint a Coordinator.
In 2015/16 we partnered with CCS to launch a Community of Practice (CoP) called OASIS (Organising After School and In School), to build the After School sector in the metro, as well as integrate After School into schools.
About the Centre for the Community School
The Centre for the Community School was established in 2011 as an engagement entity in the Faculty of Education at Nelson Mandela University, in South Africa.
CCS has been tasked with developing alternative approaches to school improvement that are relevant and responsive to the contextual realities of under-served schools and communities in the country.
The Centre for the Community School endeavours to:
- Develop theoretical and practice-based models of school improvement that are relevant and responsive to the contextual realities of schools taking into consideration social, political and economic contexts around the child, institutions and the community.
- Interact with multiple stakeholders through collaborative processes of teaching and learning, engagement, and scholarship.
- Support community schools in the Eastern Cape and elsewhere in the country.
- Collaborate with other institutions and organisations with a similar focus around school improvement locally and internationally.