The LEAP Institute

Sharing what works, so more schools can do what LEAP schools do.

Where the Institute comes from

For more than 20 years, LEAP Science and Maths Schools have shown that learners from township and rural communities achieve at the highest level when a school believes in them, knows them and builds around them. That did not happen by accident. It came from a way of teaching, leading and working alongside communities that we have tested and refined, school by school.

The LEAP Institute grew out of that work. It was created to take what we have learnt at LEAP Schools beyond our own campuses, to teachers, school leaders and communities who want the same for their children.

Put simply: the Schools prove the model. The Institute shares it.

What we believe

A school can be the heart of its community. When schools and communities thrive together, children are better placed to succeed, and when children succeed, the whole community benefits.

Our work is rooted in Ubuntu and draws on the thinking of Steve Biko, Paulo Freire and Frantz Fanon. The principle is simple: change that lasts is built with communities, never imposed on them.

How we work

We begin by listening. Before any programme starts, we sit with teachers, parents, learners, local businesses and officials to map what a community already has: its skills, its culture, its knowledge and its people. We build from those strengths rather than from a list of deficits.

From there, the Institute does three things. It incubates new educational projects that respond to real needs in schools. It convenes schools, nonprofits, businesses and government so that their efforts reinforce one another. And it co-creates solutions with communities, so that ownership stays local and the work continues long after our direct involvement ends.

Six levers for change

The first projects incubated by the Institute are six levers, each aimed at a barrier that holds learners back:

• Raising Consciousness and Real Interconnectedness. The LEAP Way of emotional development, woven into every programme, building empathetic young people and more humane school communities.
• Transformational Leadership. Equipping teachers and school leaders to lead differently and to bring others with them.
• Ubuntu Maths Institute. Helping teachers and leaders overcome the barriers that stand between children and Mathematics, because every child can have a relationship with the subject.
• Self-Liberating Digital Transformation. Closing the digital divide, which is inseparable from the economic divide.
• Living and Learning Labs. Hands-on, collaborative science that treats every African child as a citizen scientist.
• Make Your Moves. Preparing young people for work through job readiness, design thinking and entrepreneurship.

The LEAP effect so far

• 14,000+ young people impacted
• 300+ educators and leaders trained
• 10+ active partnerships
• 8 LEAP schools operating as community hubs

How we measure progress

We track what we do and what it changes. In the short term, that means how many teachers, parents and learners take part, how many partners are actively engaged, and whether teaching and leadership practice improves. Over time, the true test is whether initiatives continue without us, whether schools become genuine community hubs, and whether communities report greater well-being and self-sufficiency.

Work with us

Whether you fund education, shape policy or lead a school, there is a place for you in this work.

• Partner with us to bring the LEAP approach to a school or community you care about. Contact us
• Fund a lever. Each of the six levers can be supported on its own, so your investment goes exactly where you intend. Speak to our Advancement team
• Read the full picture. Our 2025 overview sets out the Institute’s model, Theory of Change and measures of impact in detail. Visit the LEAP Institute website

To learn more about the Institute’s programmes and partners, visit the LEAP Institute website.