The future is in our head, our hands and our soul
This motto guides our everyday actions and the planning of our future work.
In this work, we rely on the following three pillars:
1. Integrated for practical education
The two branches of the company BBN Integrated are tightly integrated. For example:
Persons working as health professionals in the company's health branch (coming soon) provide health education (e.g. personal hygiene, dental care, diseases: Characteristics and prevention, sex education and contraception, etc.) at St. Thomas Academy. Biology lessons are coordinated with medicine lessons.
Conversely, interested students in the final year of St. Thomas Academy Secondary School are given the opportunity to complete an internship in the company's healthcare facility (either in the healthcare field or in administration). This practical training should enable the students of St. Thomas Academy to quickly find paid work (in the health sector) in Uganda after completing their education.
However, the school not only integrates the health sector into the lessons, but also phenomena from the students' everyday lives.
Why is that?
Ultimately, it is personal motivation that determines whether and how much students learn at school. It is crucial for their motivation that teachers are able to arouse interest in their subject among young people. This is possible if our lessons are geared towards the students' world.
The integration of everyday issues into lessons is therefore a core element of our educational concept.
2. Built around the students’ curiosity
Children and young people are curious. They ask themselves: what is that? why is that? how is that? We want to leverage the curiosity that every student has. We integrate these questions from everyday life (of the students) into our lessons. We then show the students what skills, knowledge and techniques they can use to answer these questions. In this way, our lessons are not abstract and theoretical but have a strong link to practice. So our lessons are not about ticking off an abstract curriculum but about exploring the puzzles of everyday life. We are convinced that this is how students learn the most.
This will give opportunities to children in Uganda where the largest percentage of people are the young one to benefit from such practical learning and empowerment.
3. Many, many competitions
Not every student is a math genius, not every student is a born writer. But every student has something that makes them unique. What potential does a student have? How can we recognize it? The hidden champion becomes visible in the competition. Therefore, we organize many competitions. Not only in school subjects, but also in the creative, craft and sports areas. In this way, we get to know the students' potential and can develop it. In this way, we ensure that every student achieves an experience of success.