The School Corridor Tatler

At Mykonos All we did was go to Gumtree and punched in Mykonos holiday and up popped the West Coast Holidays advert, promising a   not-to-break-the –bank deals for a Mon-Fri stay at Mykonos during the first week of the school holidays. Well, in Superman style, Val   Hopley , our ‘travel agent’, promptly sorted out all the hiccups that we experienced in Levona's kaliva.. Then we were ready to soak up the pleasures of our own piece of Greece.   We are now on to day 3. Mykonos is the ideal getaway even for consummate homebodies Mykonos is your ideal winter getaway and caters for all kinds of holidaymakers – the seasoned ones and the ones who are terrified of going on holiday. Okay, I am exaggerating ,but goodness – the reasons we manufacture to justify why we can’t go on even a   ‘cheapie’! The reasons are often elaborate, pseudo-valid ones. There are some who would say “ No, we have to choose. Our children want a flatscreen TV or others would say “ I can’t bear to sleep in another be

Ocean View High School had a fantastic Motivational session for their Grade 12s post June Examinations Grade 12s visualise and share their dreams of their future with one another By 8h30 the Grade 12s had gathered in the hall and the excitement was visible. An NGO was invited by the school to facilitate a motivational session. Soon everybody was busy in their groups discussing their dreams. The animated expressions and the intensity of the exchanges showed that these young people were enjoying themselves. The Head of Grade, Andrew Saunders, stayed in the background, just making sure that all was well.   Two community speakers and entertainment by Cafda School of skills   During the second part of the programme, the learners were entertained by the newly-established jazz band of Cafda School of Skills. Two speakers, Adele Campbell, the SGB chairperson of Prince George Primary School and Elgan Fortune who works in the mayor's office were the keynote speakers. Taswell, the RCL chairpe

Schools in the Retreat-Lavender Hill-Steenberg Belt are working tirelessly to stem the tide of social collapse. The key drivers of safety, security and care and support are the Principal and his(her) Safer Schools Head/coordinator. The so-called soft issues are the ones that are difficult to fast track. One needs all the role players - government and non-governmental agencies to work in sync.  There is no short cut and one has to take literally one step at a time.  Retreat Safer Schools Cluster Today we had our safer schools cluster meeting at one of my favourite venues, Blouvlei LSEN school. As usual, there is always such warmth and camaraderie at these gatherings.  Steenberg Safer Schools Cluster The Arts and Culture Festival planned for 4 October  There is quite a bit of excitement because the Arts and Culture Festival of the circuit is taking shape. There are already 15 schools that have committed. Chief concerns are raised about the transport logistics and the fact that the e

I was shell-shocked for a few minutes and re-read the mail from our registry. There it was: the funeral arrangements of a colleague I had never met face to face, Lolita Macrill, yet someone who helped to ease my load. Goodness, I exclaim to Basil, when did all this happen? How? Did I miss a previous mail to inform us Lolita had passed on? All these questions raced through my head as I tried to process the death of a friend and colleague I had never ever seen. I search my mailbox and there I find the mail: Lolita suffered a heart attack. I had missed that mail - somehow I had... Immaculate service from Lolita I am talking about Lolita Mackrill, our CEMIS Head office contact person. Whenever we were stuck with some administrative or technical problem regarding our central education management system, I would phone Lolita. Whenever the schools I serve struggled, I happily directed them to Lolita to assist. All our queries were managed professionally and whenever we spoke, Lolita would be