The School Corridor Tatler

A few of the Lavender Hill High Grade 12s Lavender Hill Grade 12 learners themselves have amazing inspirational power. Today, we met the 126 Matric students, the class of 2014. A well-mannered group of young people who still have a sparkle in their eyes. The fact that these learners reached grade 12 despite their hardships and their daily grind to protect their souls and their integrity, is a morale booster for folk who have been spared such trauma. Despite their lived wisdom of how to overcome adversity, these very learners need a constant feed of motivation to remind them of their awesome power. Domingo sharing his " work-in-progress" journey with the learners Today it was Domingo's privilege to meet these future trendsetters and to add a nugget of hope. Like his audience, Domingo too attended a school in the "ghettoes" as he put it. He was here to share his journey of carving a new life for himself. Domingo entitled his talk "Against all odds".

I listened to a colleague telling me how difficult it is to get teachers to come and teach in the Lavender Hill belt of schools. Farieda says that people think you will become a casualty of crime or that teaching in the area is non-existent. Farieda, a Maths specialist, says even she would say she is teaching in Retreat at times because people are quick to even judge your competence when you say you are teaching in Lavender Hill. Ivor, the Head of the school who is listening to this exchange, retorts rather abruptly : “ They have lost the plot… it is a privilege to teach in an area like Lavender Hill.” This is the training ground for teachers.” I fully agree with Ivor. In fact, I think all teachers should do community service in poor areas so that they can identify fully with the challenges of educating our youth who are stuck in such webs. We will quickly learn how our own glib recipes of “how to apply Blooms Taxonomy” will become our own nightmare! In these schools the odds are stac