St Joseph's Nudgee College

February 25, 2010

St Joseph’s Nudgee College Year 11 students heard from two inspirational people earlier this week as part of the College’s Leadership Formation Program.

Founder of yLead, and Nudgee College Old Boy, Bernie Kelly (NC 1971-1975) and Founder of the School of St Jude Gemma Scicia spoke with the students about their respective organisations, how they came to be created and how they continue to assist those less fortunate.

Bernie, who was awarded a Pride of Australia Medal in 2009, founded yLead in 1989 while doing some work at the College.

“yLead started in a little room not far from where we are now in Ryan Hall,” Bernie said.

“It is about creating a congruency between communities and being there for each other. It is everything I remember the Nudgee College community being.”

All groups Bernie takes to Africa must raise money to build boarding houses and classrooms for students at the School of St Jude.

Bernie described Gemma as an “inspiration” while introducing her telling those present how she has raised “$7 million in seven years to build a school for the poor and worthy in South Africa”.

“Gemma’s goal is to change Tanzania by bringing in professional people. Those she helps will, in 15 years time, give back to South Africa by being professionals such as doctors, lawyers and surveyors”

Originally from a property in northern NSW and the only girl in a family of eight children, Gemma always wanted to work in South Africa and went there after she finished university.

“I came from a family who valued education and worked hard to send us to boarding school so it was hard to go somewhere and see schools with no qualified teachers and children sharing pencils,” Gemma said. 

“I decided I wanted to build a school to give students a chance at a proper education but being straight out of uni I was pretty broke. I raised the money to buy the first block of land by using a clipart picture of a brick, writing some words on it and selling the bricks for two dollars each.

“Each child at St Jude’s has a sponsor back in Australia to pay the student’s fees. In 2002 I could only find three sponsors so we had three students. Today there are over 1300 students. The three original students are now in Year 8 and there are three Schools of St Jude as we can’t handle more than 600 students per school," she said.

The School of St Jude opened boarding in 2008 when they realised that some student’s home lives were affecting their academic life and they were falling asleep in class. Secondary classes opened in 2009. The School of St Jude now has 130 Tanzanian teachers and 90 per cent of the staff are Tanzanian.

“The education system in South Africa is very different to here. Traditionally, students are given exams at the end of Year 4. Those who don’t pass the exam join the workforce. Those who pass receive a place in Years 5 and 6. They then sit another exam at the end of Year 6 to determine who will receive a place in secondary school,” Gemma said.

Staff and students at the School of St Jude get to go on excursions, are fed at lunchtime and must get good results. In the national tests in 2009 even the weakest students at the School of St Jude were in the top 10% of students in the country and the school itself was ranked 15th overall.

The School of St Jude receives over 2,000 applications each year but can only take 200 students. Due to the huge numbers who apply, the school only takes one child per family and students must meet strict criteria.

“Students must be 5, 6 or 7 years of age, had no more than one year of school and must be able to read. Those who meet the initial criteria sit a 20 minute test in the school’s Dining Hall. Students must also pass the school’s poverty test. If the family home has electricity, more than two rooms and anything other than a dirt floor a student is ineligible. There is less than a 1 per cent chance of enrolment for applicants.”

Once accepted, students at the School of St Jude must continue to excel academically with a 70 per cent pass rate required at all times. If a student has an average of 69 per cent they must repeat a year level. If they again achieve a 69 per cent pass rate they are asked to leave. Three students were asked to leave in 2009.

“The School of St Jude provides students with a free primary, secondary and tertiary education so we need to be sure that the students we select are worthy of receiving 18 years of free education,” Gemma said.

Year 12 student Brett Grabbe-Clare-Nazer spent a week at the School of St Jude in December after climbing Mt Kilimanjaro in Tanzania to help raise funds for the school.

“We raised about $130,000,” Brett said.

“Seven of us went on the trip and we were sponsored one dollar for every foot we climbed. It took 8 days in total to climb Mt Kilimanjaro. It was a great experience and I enjoyed visiting the School of St Jude. I would recommend it to others.”

Further information about yLead and the School of St Jude, including what you can do to help, is available from the websites below.

Links

School of St Jude

yLead