The School Corridor Tatler

Happy Birthday, Madiba - from Hillwood learners    As part of our celebration of Nelson Mandela's 95th birthday, we decided to reach out to our elders. Learners were asked to donate toiletries and educators were asked to donate socks.   We were overwhelmed by the outpouring of goodwill from our parents and members of staff.   We collected an enormous amount of toiletries, socks, scarfs, gift bags etc. Gifts from the givers of Lavender Hill All the contributions  Lionel Slinger with his learners and Margie    From these we made up gift packets for the elderly who reside at Village Aged Centre in St. Montague Village in Lavender Hill. Each class had a representative who assisted with putting together the gift packets, under the supervision of our general assistant (Mrs. Ockhuis). After school a group of seven learners, Mrs. Ockhuis, Mrs. E. Williams and I went to the the Village Aged Centre. There we met with Valencia, the centre's head. She directed us to th...

Calling all Heads on a Saturday morning... Why would we invite our school principals to a breakfast to hand over certificates of appreciation? Why not just have those ‘forever’ meetings with a ‘draft’ agenda entitled “Affirming our Heads” as per normal and then crack your brain thinking up ways to create ambience to keep everyone awake, long enough to walk the aisle to collect the certificate? Finding creative ways to honour School Heads The start of the certificate ceremony Don’t get me wrong – there is a dire need for such meetings or occasions to engage our Heads of school and we MUST have them. Even run the risk of seeing those droopy heads and getting those stolid looks sending telepathic messages of: ‘ would an e-mail not have served the same purpose?’  However, there are those opportunities to do something differently. We can find spaces and time to show our Heads that we appreciate them and their uneviable mission. In fact, we are humbled by their oft superhuman strength of...

Metrorail became my focus this morning, by no fault of their own. At 7h51 I received this bbm from my drummer boy, Christo, who is a Metrorail commuter to UWC in Bellville. Lost wallet “Mommy, my wallet fell out of my pocket in the train!!!!!” With crying face to boot. Now, I can be forgiven for being practical. My first question was with an appropriate “Oh no, first. Then, “Did you lose your ticket?” ( This ticket cost a solid R40 extra since UWC went on recess a month ago). And your ID?      (didn’t even want to think of strange-looking clones of my son drifting around in Cape Town). The delinquent wallet Metroril under the microscope And, Metrorail’s PR department, hanging on for dear life to improve the track record of the rail service, is in steep competition with my facebook traffic reporters who commute across the peninsula as Metro clients. Typical unflattering statuses would be along the lines of: “ GM Peeps. 19⁰ in cpt. No rain thru broken wind...

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...

Birthdays remind us we are alive and special Birthdays are super special events, even for adults who somehow dread celebrating their big day. Thanks to the various social media platforms we subscribe to and the personalized approach that our cellphone service providers, our medical aid schemes and even the retail stores have adopted, our birthdays have gone viral!. A few of the stores even throw in a gift voucher or points for you to use. The Executor aka Christo reading the last Will and Testament of Rocky Cockinis Senior I can almost hear those naggers complaining that their birthdays are private affairs; that most of the messages are automated and that they don’t make much of their own birthdays now that they are grownups. He..llo… why would you want to privatise your birth day when the entire universe celebrated your birth at the time , sending spectacular energies to all and sundry to announce your arrival? Did you not too, come screaming into the world when you sucked in your...