The School Corridor Tatler

2014 Grade 8 Achievers with Adele Poggenpoel I was invited to Crestway High school's Awards Ceremony today. The Awards Ceremony was supposed to take place a week ago, but the weather was not suitable for the outdoor event. Crestway High School does not have a school hall and thus the Whole school awards ceremony must be done in the school's quad.  Today, the weather was equally unforgiving, but the school had decided to push ahead. In my speech, I highlighted the following points: According to research, there are two key ingredients to become a successful organization: Everybody at the organization must be A-level people. A-level people are passionate, committed and disciplined people. Everybody at the organization must be be focused on the one single defining goal that drives the organisation. 2014 Grade 11 Achiever In a school context, the A-level people are the students, parents and teachers. If each of the members in these groups is passionate about ...

Today I visited two of my high schools: Crestway and Ocean View High Schools. Crestway High School Vernon Safers with his deputy principals, Cheryl Jacobs (left) and Janet Daniels(centre). Crestway High School is one of our Robin Hood schools. Everybody is welcome here. The school has improved their Grade 12 results in 2014, surfacing from an implosion they suffered the previous year. The school principal, Vernon Safers, and his two deputy principals, Janet Daniels and Cheryl Jacobs are happy with their performance, but they are still guarded. "This pleasing performance of our Grade 12s is the result of very hard work," said Vernon. We are learning from our mistakes. We started early with our support programmes. The tutors from the district helped. We extended the day for our Matrics and we made the telematics programme available for the students throughout. We are still drilling into weaknesses in our system here. We want to expand the model to our grade elevens. ...

Two of the youth leaders proudly showcasing one of the huge collages made during the holiday programme New World Foundation hosts a School holiday programme at Crestway Let’s face it: the June 3-week school holidays can be a nightmare for parents and school children on the Cape Flats. Once the euphoria is over that there is finally a break from the classrooms, reality sets in. There is far too much free time and way too few wholesome recreational facilities and activities to keep our children occupied. This is what makes bridge builders like Zain and his volunteer Youth leader team from the Lavender Hill-based NGO, New World Foundation, such a critical social lever. Zain, a youth worker is dynamite. I met Zain when he organized the first art exhibition in Lavender Hill last year.   Here at Crestway High school, Zain and his 25-strong youth leaders from Crestway, Sibelius and Lavender Hill High school and German Student volunteers, hosted a 2-week holiday programme for learners in t...