The School Corridor Tatler

Both my blogs have been entered into the SA Blog Awards 2015.  If you like the content of the blogs, then please vote for my blogs. Perhaps a brief profile of each blog will help  refresh your memory of the focus of my blogs. In my lifestyle blog, www.3 dreflectionsoflife.com , I generally write about all my experiences and encounters from breakaways, friendships,  family life, to personal nuggets of my own life. Sometimes I ramble on about little things and at other times I am just giving you peek into the real me.  In my educational blog, www.schoolcorridor.com , I focus on school matters. I try to share stories of schools, give advice on management and leadership, human resource management and other school matters. I hope that The School Corridor Tatler will become a useful resource for school managers and their SMT teams. I wish I had more time to write posts but perhaps in the future, I will be able to generate far more posts than I do now....

Learners playing the violin and recorder One of the perks of my job is that I am often invited to school events. This morning I attended the 80th anniversary thanksgiving service of St Mary's R.C. Primary School. The service with all its pomp and ceremony was beautiful. The school choir and the liturgical dancers stole my heart. At one point I looked back to check if it was the school choir singing like nightingales. You almost feel whisked away to another era! A few of the past teachers and their past students The reception after the service was like a market place. Everybody was somehow connected. I even met an old neighbour, Sister Mary, who struggled to disentangle herself from someone else who was overjoyed to see her. As usual, I assumed my role as photographer, snapping away at various scenes unfolding in the hall. When I wanted to take pictures of a group of past students, one woman asked me to wait a while. She darted off and then returned with her then "Sub A...

  Tonight was a glorious evening. South Africa was represented at the UNESCO Arts Education Week 2014 by two local Cape Town schools, Steenberg Primary School and Oaklands High school. This was made possible by CICLO Arts Educational exchange project that coordinated Arts Exhibitions and Performances in four cities: Cape Town, Copenhagen Rio and St. Petersburg. CICLO partnered with the Frank Joubert Art Centre where the Steenberg Primary learners receive lessons.   The performance, aptly named Into the Sun, tells the story of how young people try to find a solution for the problems of pollution and crime in their 'Hood'. The stage came alive as the young performers dazzled us with their music, dance and drama. The infusion of learner artwork evident in the props and costumes is a visual testimony of the creativity and genius of the youth. They are born to be expressive and to cross all boundaries of race, class and culture. The fact that the Grade 7s of Steenberg Primary schoo...

There is nothing you can really do if you don't have a Matric certificate. You can have all the knowledge and skills in the world, but if you don't have your Matric certificate, doors will slam in your face. The Matric certificate is the golden ticket to create opportunities for you.   You will still search for a job, but it may be easier to secure a job if you can show a Matric certificate. You may want to find a better job, but the prospective employer wants that grade 12 certificate. Only then will he or she allow you to be considered as a potential employee. Then only will your skills be recognized, no matter what people may tell you to the contrary.   If you find this hard to believe, ask any one of the 141 adult learners who sat for their Business Economics examination today at just one of the Examination centres I visited today. According to the chief invigilator, Mr Charles, 100 of the candidates did not turn up. The Steenberg High centre manager, Mr Williams told me ...

One Act plays produced, cast and directed by young people themselves are sure winners. I wonder why more schools don't explore the Interhouse drama competition which has so many benefits for schools and their communities? Bergvliet High School's cast of actors in the four One-Act plays held on 15 May 2014 All schools have interhouse programmes, but in many cases the Interhouse is reserved for once-off sport events. But, why not develop the interhouse into a broad-based program that goes beyond just one day of fun?   There are schools that have well developed, institutionalised House systems. Besides competing at interhouse athletics level, houses also compete on other platforms like drama and debating. Let's have a peek into the House play model.   Features of the One Act Interhouse Plays I like the one-act interhouse plays that many schools host. The learners must produce their own play, provide their own cast drawn from their house members and direct the play themselves...

Learners pledging their commitment to uphold the anti-bully code   Term 2 of this year has started just two days ago. And so has the shooting between two rival gangs in the Lavender Hill area. This morning was no different. In the Lavender Hill township, learning, looking for employment and dodging bullets are par for the course.   At about eight o clock this morning, while the learners were walking to school, gunshots were fired from one block of flats to another block of flats further north. Only an open field of about 500m separates these blocks of flats. This very field is the one that the learners of the primary schools of Levana and Hillwood and Lavender Hill High school use to get to school on time. Between the three schools the learner pedestrian traffic is in the region of 3 600 learners. When the children leave their homes in the morning, they become moving targets, already at risk less than 500m from home or school.     When I arrived at Hillwood Primary ...

Ernest looking happy and relaxed after the event and he had no clue what had transpired earlier. Our country still has to travel a long road in terms of accommodating our people who have disabilities. I became aware of this yesterday when a group of us - a few of the school principals and I - attended Jonathan Jansen and Molly Blank's launch of their book, How to fix South African Schools, at the Book Lounge in Roeland Street, Cape Town. The place was packed to capacity, even the basement was overflowing with folk who wanted to hear the pair speak.   I spotted two of my colleagues, Bevil Velensky, the head of Kommetjie, and Nelson Mafrika, the head of Masiphumelele High school right at the back of the bookstore. They indicated that there was a vacant spot close to them and waved at me, urging me to join them. Now, being able-bodied, I wormed my way through the crowd, apologizing profusely and made sure that my arms and handbag did not become missiles in the process. Another guest...

T Grade 12 learners have been learning how to switch on their brains today. Levona, a physiotherapist, has volunteered to demonstrate how learners can improve their concentration. Simple exercises were done with the enthusiastic learners. They were showed how to march and do crossovers to activate their brains. Learners were surprised to hear that sipping water regularly helps keep the brain alert.  When the learners did the deep breathing exercises, they found the leg and hand crossovers fascinating. Loud breathing could be heard in the school's makeshift hall. "The brain is our engine. We are learning to develop new habits. We have to learn how to eat properly, learn how to relax and how to concentrate. You are as gifted and as talented as any other learner at other schools. All we have to do is harness our energies and make the commitment to retrain our brains. That is the secret,"said Levona. The group of learners were amazingly attentive and willing to try the exerci...

  The crowd enjoying themselves while the veld burns in the background On Saturday, Prince George Primary school hosted their fundraiser, an International food fair. When I arrived there just after lunchtime, I was told that the food fair was brought to a halt about a half hour before my arrival. There was shooting in Lavender Hill, a stone's throw away from the school.   Apparently, when the gunshots went off, panic set in. The crowd dropped to the ground instantly and the principal, Lameez Rabbaney and the school chairperson, Adele Campbell, threw themselves on top of the folk, trying to act as shields.   " We tried to calm the people, but they were scared, " said Fernall van Aswegen, a Head of Department at Prince George. "There was a stampede as people tried to run off and a little boy got badly injured when he fell."   " We thought our food fair was going to end on a bad note,"said Adele, the SGB chairperson. But here they are returning again a...

Grant showing off the sushi plate with Marwaan in the background. Imagine my surprise when I saw Grant, one of my past students at Grassy Park High, preparing sushi! Grant a reserved young man - as he was at school as well - looked bemused and slightly taken aback by the flood of questions I asked him. Never in my wildest dreams did I picture Grant as a chef in the first place.   Grant's colleague, Marwaan, was equally amused by the conversation which centred on Grant's occupation. My head was already well over the sushi bar counter at Pick 'n Pay. I wanted to see how Grant was preparing the California rolls and other sushi delicacies that have names I can never remember. He was preparing the shape of a hotdog length- sized California roll, to be cut into the bite sizes. How did both of them become Sushi chefs, I asked? Wasn't it difficult to learn how to make sushi? . I noticed even the cashier was hovering around to follow this conversation. Marwaan responded first...

Faeez is busy configuring my computer Our education district is in the process of migrating to a different mail client service provider. That means all our computers have to be reconfigured. Today it is the turn of our satellite office to be set up for the new mail client, Outlook, which is a Microsoft mail service. I received all this information from Faeez, the desktop technician, who is overseeing this migration process in my office. Faeez is a alumnus of Spine High School, in Mitchell's Plain. I wanted to know why Faeez had chosen this occupation. "They say you normally follow in your father's footsteps and that is true in my case. My father is in the IT industry and I was always exposed to computers. That is where my interest started. When Mweb advertised for interns, I was accepted and worked there in the call centre. I worked there for a year and then  moved to my present company,"said Faeez.  We discussed his high school. I asked whether he had ever gone back ...

Sasha Before The start of the 2014 school year and the MBM buzz Look, I am risking my motherhood by writing this post about matric balls. But I need an outlet and you are my best confidant now. You see, my daughter, Sasha, is rather ambivalent about her relationship with me during this period. And it is all about this MBM ( Matric Ball Mania) fever that has struck our home. Only two weeks ago I was still the 'fun Mom'. Now I am more the grouch in the closet and her dad is probably the hippest dad on planet earth. I can't recall having a similar experience with Brett and Christo. They knew we had to hire a Tux, buy the shirt they identified and get the shoes. It was that easy. Not so with sister dearest, though. Everything was pretty quiet at the beginning of this year. Sasha and I had agreed last year (December 2013) already that her Matric Ball was going to be relatively low key financially, but an historic event. We decided on a limited budget and got all the aunts to p...

Watching how the drill squad is taken through their paces While I was at Chrysallis Academy, the venue for our RCL conference, I heard the drumbeat and the regular sound of marching coming from the other side of the hilly road. I stopped and waited for the drill group to appear. The drumming became louder and the marching clipped the air with its rhythmic heal beat. Then the blue column with their beige hats appeared on the hilltop.   The marching column was being taken through their paces by two trainers. The one trainer was at the back and the other more animated one ran ahead of the drill team. The members of the column kept a stoic look while they were marching. Now and then I could hear the commands barked out by the trainers. Down the road the blue column came with remarkable bearing, posture, in unison.   Even though the drill team was marching downhill, they kept their formation and stared straight ahead, as if the ground was level. When the marching column came close...

Estelle showing me her penpal treasure file. I was fascinated to learn that Estelle, the secretary of Sibelius High School, still communicates with her penpal in Italy. The relationship has been going strong for the past 20 years! The two penfriends met when Estelle was about 14 years old. Estelle says she and her penfriend have been through all the normal experiences in life, together. They were there for each other as teenagers and now as adults, share the excitement and disappointments of love, family and career. Estelle says they started off, solely communicating via letters. Nowadays we have other forms of communication like e-mails and the various social media platforms. The lifelong pen pals have now shifted mainly to sending e-mails and making the odd telephone call. "We don't write letters anymore. We have also become more hip, moving with the times. We know each other so well. We know each other's writing style and we can chat forever when we phone. All we need n...