Parkfields Primary School in Hanover Park celebrated their 50th birthday with a variety show on Saturday October 1.
Principal Diana Williams said the school started in 1971 as a dual shift school in a prefab building. In 1982, the new school was built and could accommodate more pupils. There are now 817 pupils attending the school.
Ms Williams said that 50 years of going strong is a big achievement and it felt good to be able to celebrate such a milestone. The five decades of course came with challenges such as financial issues, and discipline problems from pupils but also saw many successes such as the school’s win in the GrowSmart spelling bee competition in 2018.
She said that one of the main challenges was that pupils were raised by their grandmothers and because of their age they had minimal energy but tried their best to look after their grandchildren.
“They are committed but it becomes difficult because their spirit is willing but their bodies can’t take all the challenges. That is why we normally have a grannies appreciation day to make them feel special as they play such a big role in the community. We are really grateful for what they do for our pupils,” she said.
Ms Williams said that over the years the school had built a good relationship with the community and parents know that discipline is important.
“We are strict where attendance is concerned and parents know that we will fetch the kids that are not here at school. Our functions are well supported by the community and we would like to host a parents’ day for the learners who are performing well because many times they are overlooked,” she said.
Grade 1 teacher Rochan Arieff has been teaching at the school for 44 years. She is the longest standing staff member. She said some of the biggest changes over the years included a dramatic decline in pupil behaviour.
She said that parental support wasn’t the same as it was with regards to strictness. Included in the challenges were pupils suffering from fetal alcohol syndrome as a result of their parental addiction to substances and alcohol.
“That has resulted in learning problems at school. Although we try to inculcate discipline, pupils tend to try to over power us hence we spend a lot of our time repeating discipline,” she said.
Ms Williams said that part of the changes over the years also included the phasing out of subjects such as hand work, needle work, and art which pupils enjoyed and needed for skills development.
“Guidance teachers were also take away, and pupils needed that for their development. We needed those subjects as part of discipline and life skills. Pupils don’t know how to do hand work. They are bored because they have nothing to do. That is why we have made extra mural activities is compulsory from Grades 4 to 7. Pupils must choose one extra mural for the year and must stick to that for the entire year as it teaches them about responsibility of ones choices,” she said.
Ex-pupil and Grade 1 teacher Natasha Paulsen knew that she wanted to become a teacher from a young age because of the great role models as teachers she had. She said that she chose to teach at Parkfields Primary School so that she could give back to the school which groomed her.
“’That time children never really attended pre-school so coming to school was the nicest thing for me, I thought I was coming to play every day. I had the best teacher and I really learnt through all the play. I knew from a young age I wanted to be a teacher because of the wonderful teachers I had, and the way they treated us was the way I would treat my kids in my class,” she said.
She added that her message to teachers would be that it is important to have fun with pupils and for them to feel comfortable so that they can be themselves and be comfortable enough to confide in you.
“You must have structure but make it fun. Kids remember things if they have fun learning it,” she said.