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Three core principles
A “credo is a statement of a core belief; it is something that matters so much to you that it defines who you are. At ASE, we have three of these.
Excellence is a Habit.
When we call ourselves “African School for Excellence,” we are not talking about a destination–winning a race or performing a play or passing an exam, or answering every question correctly. Excellence is not something that happens at the end of a journey. It is the journey itself. We show up on time. We apply ourselves to every task, always doing our best. We work diligently without distracting ourselves. We treat both other people and ourselves with kindness and compassion.
These are the habits that bring success. We cultivate them now, every single day.
We Help Each Other Learn.
At ASE, everyone is a teacher and everyone is a learner. Our scholars are expected to teach each other, to share their knowledge with their peers as they gain it. Our teachers are always learning, both from one another and from our scholars
At ASE, a scholar does not have one teacher or a few teachers who support his or her learning. The entire school is responsible, just as this scholar should take responsibility for supporting the learning of everyone else. We do not thrive by being selfish; we thrive by focusing on supporting each other.
This credo, along with the first one, provides a very simple guide for behaviour. We encourage scholars to ask themselves, Is what I’m doing helping my classmates learn?” If the answer is yes (tutoring, encouraging, building on ideas, even competing or criticizing constructively), we do it. If the answer is no (distracting, insulting, disrupting, bullying), we don’t do it.
Get it wrong first
“Get It Wrong First” is probably the hardest credo to understand. We don’t mean to get it wrong always. We want to learn things, and we want to get answers correct. What we mean is, don’t be afraid of getting things wrong. Don’t be ashamed of wrong answers. Don’t be scared to do things just because you think you might fail..
The fear of failure is usually the biggest obstacle standing in the way of our learning. It causes us to avoid taking risks, to avoid speaking up in class, to stay silent instead of asking the question when we are worried about sounding “dumb.” It even causes us to give less than our best effort, to protect our ego from the possibility of failing after trying our best.
That is the path to a scared, timid, mediocre life. Instead, we encourage scholars to try new things with boldness, even when we feel unsure of ourselves. Wrong answers are the pathway to the right ones. There is no shame in getting things wrong; there is only shame in refusing to try.
History
Nonhlanhla Masina and Jay Kloppenberg, the co-founders of ASE, started the school because they believed that, while exceptional talent is found everywhere, exceptional opportunity is not. They wanted to show that, contrary to popular belief, a South African township school with township faculty can produce academic excellence matching the best schools in the world.
They designed a novel learning model based on individual work, teamwork, and dialog-based learning. They tested that model in a pilot holiday programme, hosted by Buhlebemfundo, 2011. The success of this pilot enabled them to raise the money needed to start a full high school in 2013. ASE moved into its current, permanent building, in 2015, and has been educating dedicated scholars there ever since.
Campus
Building:
ASE’s unique, purpose-built facility was designed to facilitate active, collaborative learning and scientific inquiry. It was shortlisted for the prestigious AfriSam-SAIA Sustainable Architecture Award in 2016. For more on the ASE building, see here
Science Lab
ASE’s state-of-the-art scientific research facility was a generous gift of the Mary Oppenheimer and Daughters Foundation in 2016. It is used for novel chemistry and physics experiments daily, and is a host facility for the prestigious Eskom Expo for Young Scientists.
Gym
All ASE scholars complete a personalized fitness programme to develop their strength, agility, endurance, balance, and overall physical fitness.
Computer lab
In a world where “every company is a technology company,” advanced technology skills are no longer optional. ICT (CAT in CAPS language) is important but insufficient: young people must also learn the languages of computer programming, how to conduct research and distinguish between fact and myth online, how to leverage and negotiate artificial intelligence, and how to leverage use technology to learn–and not to be used by it.
We use our fully-functioning computer lab to drive all of this and more. Our scholars have learned through technology daily from the moment we opened our doors in 2013, and its uses continue to evolve and expand.
Library
Leaders are readers. Among the greatest crimes in South African education is how few students read regularly for pleasure, and how few well-stocked libraries exist in our schools. At ASE we promote regular reading of both classic novels and independent choice books, and work tirelessly to develop our scholars’ love of and passion for reading.
Hall
Perhaps the ASE campus’ most distinguishing feature is the large multipurpose hall in the center of our building. We use this hall for morning assemblies, for full-school academic activities such as independent reading and mental mathematics, to host basketball and futsal matches, for musical and dramatic performances, and more.
