Gadra Education

02/09/2026

What a privilege it was to celebrate another remarkable group of educators and education leaders at the 3rd Annual Makhanda Teacher Awards.

This year’s award recipients represent so much of what is exceptional about education in our city: teachers who make learning joyful and meaningful, mentors who invest in the next generation of educators, and leaders whose commitment strengthens not only their own schools but the wider Makhanda education community.

🏆 ECD Centre of Excellence: Little Stars of Hope
🏆 Excellence in Mentor Teaching: Sibusiso Mkhize – Victoria Girls’ High School
🏆 Foundation Phase Teacher of Excellence: Devon Florence – Victoria Primary School
🏆 Intermediate Phase Teacher of Excellence: Enkosi Zulu – Archie Mbolekwa Primary School
🏆 Senior Phase Teacher of Excellence: Dr Donovan Wynne – Victoria Primary School
🏆 FET Teacher of Excellence: Jillian Frazer – Victoria Girls’ High School
🏆 Primary School Leadership Award: Susan Green – Good Shepherd Primary School
🏆 High School Leadership Award: Anna Retief & Kirsty McCrindle – Victoria Girls’ High School

Behind every one of these awards is a story of dedication, creativity, care, professionalism and an unwavering belief in what learners can achieve.
Congratulations to all our 2026 award recipients — and to every educator who was nominated and shortlisted. Makhanda has much to be proud of. ❤️

We are enormously grateful to KAVOD, whose generous support makes these substantial awards and this celebration of educational excellence possible.

01/08/2026

The 2026/27 Executive Committee held its inaugural meeting yesterday, after having been elected at the May AGM.

28/07/2026

Tune in at 12h35 on Wednesday on Algoa FM.

27/07/2026

On Saturday 25 July, 1 Gowie Street was a hive of activity as GADRA Education hosted a Rhodes information morning. Rhodes students who are part of GADRA's Peer Support Network shared their experiences with GMS students who will be applying to Rhodes for 2027. Saturday's vibrant information hub underlined that knowledge is indeed power. Matric School.

06/07/2026

Please note that GADRA Education will be operating out of 1 Gowie Street (the main campus for the GADRA Matric School) from 6 July until 17 July.

The office phone number for this period will be 046 622 2437.

Many thanks.

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04/06/2026

During COVID, Sweden taught the world that "Lagom är bäst" (Just the right amount is best). For the Department to close all public schools yesterday and today is an entirely overblown reaction to a little dose of weather inclemency. Very poor decision-making!

02/06/2026

GADRA Education condemns the current protest action in Makhanda organised by ‘Grahamstown Deserves Better’ as ill-advised and counterproductive.
One of the few issues that our community has got right over the past decade is public education. We see this clearly in relation to the Matric results and throughput to Rhodes University. Makhanda now has a much more equitable education system than it did ten years ago. Our no-fee schools (Khutliso Daniels, Mary Waters, Nathaniel Nyaluza, Nombulelo, Ntsika, and TEM Mrwetyana) now produce higher pass rates and more Bachelor passes. The number of disadvantaged students gaining access to Rhodes has increased twenty times over the past fifteen years: from 10 to 200! Importantly, access to tertiary institutions is secured based on mid-year examinations results. In 2026, these all-important examinations commenced yesterday (1 June).
For ‘Grahamstown Deserves Better’ to choose this moment to disrupt public transport and related services is ill-advised and counterproductive. It undermines the prospects of our 800 matriculants to perform well in the mid-year exams, which they must do so that they can apply to tertiary institutions for full-time study in 2027.
GADRA Education upholds the constitutional right to protest, but not at the expense of other rights, such as the right to education and freedom of movement. Local government elections will take place in five months’ time. Citizens are advised to effect the change that they would like to see through the ballot box in November.

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01/06/2026

"Low-cost, classroom-embedded interventions such as QondaRead can improve foundational reading outcomes in multilingual, English-medium classrooms." The publication of research emerging from our programs legitimizes our claims of their positive impact and outcomes. Well done, Kelly Long!

Reading & Writing is an open access, peer reviewed inter-disciplinary and inter-professional scholarly journal that explores how literacy is defined, enacted and promoted in a range of institutional, socio-c

28/05/2026

Nine-tenths of education is encouragement. The other tenth is partnership.

26/05/2026

GADRA is humbled to partner with Rhodes University on a range of impactful initiatives. Together, we are transforming Makhanda into a city of 'positive educational deviance'.

Forty-three per cent of Makhanda’s Grade 4 learners can read for meaning, more than double the national figure of 19%. The pattern has held across nearly 4,500 children at every primary school in the city, who have been tested annually for four years running.