Mrs. Ajala Angela, the founder of Ladela school has been on the education journey for over 30 years. She has taught and worked across all tiers of the school system, from Nursery to Primary, Secondary, and tertiary level. She lectured for over 11 years, and eventually sat on the Board of NBTE (National Board for Technical Education) where she got immersed in the values of technical education and skill-building.
The education expert has always been passionate about nurturing and transforming lives, especially that of children. Seeing a child grow and blossom is always a joy for her to behold.
Whenever she hears great things being done by her school alumni, her heart bursts with appreciation to God and all the pain seems worth it. She lives and breathes education and has continued to impact lives and being a change agent.
In this interview, she spoke about how parents can help support their children succeed in post-Covid, and what the government should do to support the private education operators.
The world of Education has experienced so many rapid changes, what are the things you believe good schools must do to continue to deliver great services?
Good Schools must consistently deliver great services and this can be done by constantly reinventing, innovating, and researching current trends. If a school doesn’t have a continuous professional development, research, and development culture, it won’t be able to offer value to parents and students. Certain things are a constant – teacher quality, good leadership, having high expectations of students and teachers, and constantly evaluating performance.
How did Ladela cope during the pandemic?
Ladela School used many strategies to cope during the pandemic.
We Participated in relevant webinars to stay updated and shared global practices; Re-tooled and up-skilled our staff members by having a training each week that included mental health strategies for coping; Engaged in constant communication with our School community keeping all abreast of new happenings and just sharing inspiring posts and coping strategies for all; Had a mental health coach always available to support interested people; Organized team building and team bonding activities including prayer sessions together online; Looked at other investment options we could tap into as a group; Developed and deployed a Business Continuity Plan; Set up different teams for different tasks; Flattened our hierarchy and transited to a more inclusive approach.
What health measures are in place in your new facilities?
The health measures in our new site; Sickbay room, 1st Aid corners, and COVID-19 compliant procedures e.g., hand washing points; sanitizing points etc.
What are the challenges in the school (post-COVID-19 of the post-COVID-19 challengers are, helping our children maintain social distancing, the spontaneity of holding friends or hugging is no longer possible, making sure screen time is not heavy as we transition to the blended curriculum, and going through a transition like moving School to a new site- which we are currently doing is also rigorous in this season.
What are the values and uniqueness of Ladela?
Ladela is a unique school because it has highly qualified teachers. Our teaching method and dedication to nurturing every child stand us out. We are constantly innovating and encouraging creativity, and our diverse and varied education offerings and services give room for every child to thrive, from AI to coding, Art, music and drama, and even to scientific inventions to dance. Our co-curricular activities are carefully selected to build relevant skills in a fun way.
Our curriculum is a rich mix of Nigerian/British, with Montessori mix in the early years. We also develop skills such as public speaking, critical thinking, emotional intelligence etc. This has contributed to our solid track record of academic excellence and high credibility as a School.
Our values as a School are; Nurturing, Professionalism, Value, Innovation, Empathy, and Honesty.
What is your advice to parents who wish to support their children to succeed, especially post-COVID?
Parents should help their children build resilience in order to help them succeed post-Covid. They must teach the children to thrive, rather than cope, ensuring they get essential skills vital for future economic success, and are equipped with the skills needed to succeed in a post-Covid world.
What are your future plans for the school?
Our future plans are to build a community that becomes the hub for excellent service delivery. We intend to have an entrepreneurial hub with practical solutions.
What is your advice to the government in the education sector?
The government should always include private education operators in key decisions affecting education in the country such as curriculum review, teacher training curriculum, continuous professional development process, safeguarding policies to ensure the safety of all in the education community, etc.
We also hope the importance of technical vocation education can be built into the school system.