FOUNDING HEAD OF SCHOOL

Mrs. Adesimbo Banjo

There are moments when you step back, look at what has been built, and feel the full weight of it, not with pride alone, but with deep gratitude. For me, Role Model School is one of those moments. This school was not born out of ambition. It was born out of a vision carried by Daystar Christian Centre and its senior pastors, Pastor Sam and Pastor Nike Adeyemi. I was shortlisted, interviewed, and recruited to help bring that vision to life and I had the honour of serving as founding head of school from 2001 until 2023, over two decades of building, stretching, and raising the bar..

RMS started with two children, a baby and a toddler. From those two, something extraordinary grew. One became ten. Ten became fifty. Fifty became hundreds. The school expanded in vision, in capacity, and in ambition, evolving from a small crèche into the full nursery and primary school that stands today as Role Model School. The name changed. The scope widened. The standards rose. But the conviction at the centre never shifted: that every child who walked through the gates carried extraordinary potential, and our job was to draw it out fully.

From the earliest years, we made a deliberate choice: We would be a school that produced exceptional human beings; sharp in mind, strong in character, and ready to lead. That choice showed up in our results. Our pupils consistently excelled in competitions, locally, across Lagos, and at the national level. They won. They placed. They represented, and distinguished themselves in academics, sports, music and other areas. A Role Model child was not a one-dimensional performer, they were rounded, confident, capable and they always showed up prepared.

At a time when ICT was still finding its footing in Nigerian primary education, RMS had already moved ahead. We did not simply introduce children to computers, we took them all the way. A significant number of our pupils left primary school as certified Microsoft professionals, having passed the required examinations and earned their credentials before the age of twelve.

The true measure of a primary school is not what children achieve within its walls, it is what they carry beyond them. By that measure, Role Model School's record speaks for itself. Pupils who served as head boy and head girl went on to become head boy and head girl at some of the most competitive secondary schools in Lagos. They won scholarships on merit. They were selected for leadership roles. They stood out, not because they were pushed forward, but because the formation they received here made standing out natural. Some of them have even gone on to excel internationally.
Today, those children are in universities, in careers, and in lives that reflect what was planted in them during their years at Role Model.

A young toddler from our earliest daycare days is today a career woman. married with a child of her own. That child may yet walk through these same gates. That is what legacy looks like.

When I stepped down in 2023, I did so without anxiety, confident that with a strong foundation in place, the school would continue to grow and flourish. The culture is embedded. The standards are set. The proof is already walking around the country and beyond in the form of young men and women who were shaped here.Role Model School was never just a place of learning; it was a place of becoming. What began as a small daycare in the basement of a church has grown into a legacy that will outlast all of us who built it. The story is far from over.