Local resident, Marlene Mouton’s deep love for children has inspired her innovative and entrepreneurial spirit that has changed the way Maths is taught in South Africa.
With a BSc Ed degree from the University of Johannesburg and a six-year career as a maths and science teacher, Mouton embarked on a journey in the pharmaceutical industry where she gained invaluable sales experience.
After watching a television programme in 2005, where five-year-old Japanese children were doing the most incredible arithmetic challenges, Mouton was on a mission to see where and how these kids learned such incredible skills. After much research and perseverance, A+Students was born.
A+Students by CMATHS is an acronym for Calculating Mental Arithmetic Tuition with the help of Japanese Soroban. Soroban is the Japanese word for an abacus, one of the tools used to teach this exciting programme. CMATHS is a whole-brain development course aimed at children from two-and-a-half-years and up.
“Our programme enables pupils to ‘see’ maths. Our aim is to accomplish whole brain development, A+Students is much more than a mathematics course, it also heightens the skill levels pupils need throughout various learning areas, like comprehension, concentration, the ability to listen and pay attention, creativity and problem-solving,” explains Mouton, CEO of A+Students.
Since 2005 the company has a vast array of achievements both locally and internationally. Mouton was appointed as president for PAMA South Africa, the Pan Pacific Abacus and Mental Arithmetic Association, in 2010, Small Business of the Year Award 2013, and runner-up for Educational Business of the Year in 2014.
Learning starts with play, is Mouton’s approach which has seen 607 teaching facilities open in all nine provinces, and has enrolled over 25 000 pupils since 2006. The pupils have participated in several PAMA Global annual international Abacus & Mental Arithmetic Championships as well as annual regional and national championships.
In June this year, A+Students took part in EduWeek, the largest African education event in sub-Saharan Africa. The exhibition proved a success for A+ Students as they gained much exposure with a new audience and hoped to reach even more pupils through the programme in future.
A+Students are on the verge of exciting new ventures including expanding into the United States in early 2017 and into England thereafter.
Details: A+Students Head Office, 086 117 3627.
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