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Author: Delia Kench (IT teacher)

Let’s start with a confession: I grew up in the eighties; the decade of big hair, shoulder pads, and truly questionable fashion choices. It was also a time when toys came in two categories: pink and domestic for girls, and gears and gadgets for boys.

I still remember writing the Maths Olympiad in Standard 9 (that’s Grade 11 for those born after floppy disks). One question was about how gears interact and I was completely stumped. I think I could have worked it out if I’d had the chance. My brother had a Meccano set. I had dolls. In those days, you didn’t give Meccano to girls.

The bursary that changed everything

Luckily, my parents believed fiercely in education and they knew Maths and Science opened doors. They moved me to Damelin College in matric, where I landed in the top academic class, improved my marks, and earned a Transvaal Education Department bursary to study teaching.

It was also at Damelin that I first discovered my love for technology. I chose to take the new Computer Studies subject as an extra, simply because it sounded exciting. It was one of those pivotal moments that changed the direction of my life. I fell in love with logic, problem-solving, and the thrill of making a computer do what I told it to.

And then there was Mr Spies, my brilliant Maths teacher. He was the first teacher who made me want to teach. His methodology was clear, creative, and inspiring and it worked. Over 80% of our class achieved an A in Maths that year. Watching him teach showed me how passion and precision can transform learning. That was the moment I knew I wanted to do the same.

Back then, those bursaries went to the top learners: the prefects, the achievers, the ones universities wanted. Teaching was a career of choice for the bright, the capable, and the idealistic. We didn’t go into it because we’d run out of options; we went into it because we wanted to change the world.

It’s something worth remembering as we raise the next generation. Nearly half of South Africa’s teachers will retire in the next decade. If we don’t inspire bright young women to teach, who will shape the future scientists, engineers, and innovators?

Fast forward a few decades...

After 25 years teaching in a boys’ school, I joined Assumption Convent and what a joyful culture shock it was!

At the boys’ school, risk-taking was practically a sport. If they didn’t know the answer, they’d argue about it loudly until someone half-right won. At Assumption, I quickly discovered that quiet doesn’t always mean calm; sometimes it means confused but polite.

Girls tend to want to be right before they speak. They fear looking “silly.” Meanwhile, boys have no such fear. If their code doesn’t run, they’ll blame the computer. Girls? They blame themselves.

I sometimes joke that when girls don’t ask questions, it’s not because they know the answer; it’s because they’re cleverly manipulating me into giving it away so we can all move on. (And honestly, it often works.)

Over time, I realised I had to adapt how I teach girls. I discovered the Building Thinking Classrooms approach, where learners solve problems on vertical whiteboards in small groups so their thinking becomes visible. It’s been transformative. When girls stand together at a board, their confidence grows; they take risks, debate, test ideas, and laugh through mistakes. The classroom hums with energy and courage; the kind of learning that sticks.

So, what’s really going on?

Culture. Not in the “museum trips and theatre outings” sense (those are still wonderfully relevant) but in the subtle, everyday expectations we put on our kids.

We still raise girls to be neat, careful, and kind (all wonderful traits) but often at the cost of confidence, risk-taking, and problem-solving grit. We raise boys to explore, tinker, and fix things and sometimes forget to hand girls the spanner.

When I ask, “Do both your son and daughter try to set up the new TV or connect the Wi-Fi without help? Do they both learn how to follow GPS directions when driving, or fix something simple around the house that’s broken?”, I’m not trying to start a gender debate. I’m trying to start a conversation about opportunity.

At our STEM Night, I couldn’t help noticing the dads itching to “help” (okay, take over) their daughters’ tasks. Would they have done that with their sons? I suspect not.

Why Assumption is the right school for your daughter

Here’s the good news: Assumption Convent School is a gem; small enough to be agile, big enough to matter, and filled with teachers who genuinely get it.

We are a happy, loving Catholic community where faith, compassion, and academic excellence are interwoven. Our girls grow up surrounded by care, encouragement, and a belief that they are capable of extraordinary things.

At Assumption, we live our Catholic values daily (kindness, integrity, humility, and service) but we also prepare our girls to lead in a modern world that needs women of courage, reason, and heart.

We’re not just teaching subjects; we’re cultivating curiosity and character.

• Our STEAM approach (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics) blends creativity with logic, faith with reason.
• STEM Night, Space Camp, and the IT Showcase aren’t just events; they’re launching pads for confident, capable young women ready to explore new frontiers.
• Our teachers are agile and innovative, constantly improving the curriculum to nurture independent thinking and resilience.
• We actively encourage girls to make mistakes, learn from failure, and focus on finding solutions, even if it takes a few attempts. Because perseverance is as valuable as perfection.
• And in every classroom girls are encouraged to question, to create, and to discover joy in learning.

When you see your daughter debugging code, designing a robot, or standing proudly at a whiteboard explaining her idea, you’re watching a future STEM leader in the making; one grounded in values, guided by faith, and unafraid to think differently.

Final thoughts (and a plea from a happy, tired teacher)

If I could go back in time, I’d tell my younger self: “Use the Meccano to design a pram that actually turns when you steer it.” Because girls can build things too, and usually, they’ll make them better.

But since time travel isn’t part of the syllabus (yet), I’ll say this to today’s parents:

Let’s raise our girls to take risks.
Let’s normalise not knowing the answer and celebrate the courage to ask.
Let’s give them both compassion and curiosity, both dolls and gears.
Let’s celebrate failure as part of learning because each mistake brings them one step closer to success.

And maybe, just maybe, let’s encourage them to see teaching, yes, teaching, as the honourable, world-changing profession it truly is. Because when the brightest girls choose to teach, everybody’s future gets a little brighter.

I am genuinely happy at Assumption Convent School, surrounded by a staff who live our values, laugh often, and work tirelessly to help every girl reach her potential. It is a school where love, learning, and leadership meet, and where young women are quietly becoming the innovators, thinkers, and change-makers our world needs.

And if they happen to make a few teachers sweat along the way with their relentless questions... well, I’ll consider that a job well done.

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