We are a small school with a small budget. So we are honest about what we can and cannot offer. These are the things we put time, training, and our own salaries into — not a brochure’s worth, but a teacher-meeting’s worth.
A confident reader by Grade 4, in two languages.
CAPS-aligned English instruction from Grade R, scaffolded with Setswana and Afrikaans home languages. Foundation Phase teachers are trained in Bilingual Reading Practice; we run a daily 20-minute Drop Everything And Read slot in every classroom, every day, no exceptions.
One real project per term, made of real things.
Each Intermediate Phase class runs a term-long project rooted in Rooigrond — mapping our water borehole, designing a safer school crossing, building a model of the local taxi rank. Recycled cardboard, local interviews, and a small public presentation to parents.
A counsellor, a quiet room, and a teacher who notices.
A part-time school counsellor (two days a week) supported by Department of Health partnerships. Every classroom holds a 15-minute Friday circle for feelings. Staff are trained in trauma-aware teaching — for the children who arrive carrying more than a school bag.
A school garden, a chicken coop, monthly veld walks.
Grade 4–6 learners spend one Life Skills period per week outdoors — weeding the spinach beds, recording rainfall, naming Acacia and karee trees. The vegetables we grow go straight into the NSNP kitchen. Science becomes hands — not just a textbook chapter.
The history that begins on this road, not on another continent.
A Setswana storytelling slot every Friday morning, run with our gogos and grandparents from the community. A Heritage Day assembly with traditional dance, songs in Setswana, IsiXhosa and Afrikaans, and a shared meal of pap, morogo and chakalaka prepared by the SGB.
A school is the safest place a child should ever know. We take that seriously, even on the days nothing happens.
We do not have walls of glass or fingerprint scanners. What we have are sensible routines, kept by people who know each other’s names.
A daytime security guard at the gate from 06:30 to 17:30, a signed visitor book, and a perimeter inspected by SGB members on Sundays. CCTV at the gate and on the main quad, donated by the local farmers’ association in 2022.
A free hot lunch for every learner, every school day, under the National School Nutrition Programme. Menu rotates weekly: pap and morogo, samp and beans, soya mince, fortified maize porridge. Kitchen run by two trained cooks from our parent body.
A small counselling room (the old book store, repainted in 2023), staffed by Ms. Refilwe van Wyk on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Confidential, child-led conversations. Monthly wellness assemblies on bullying, body changes, and grief.
For learners on the farms, the provincial scholar-transport buses run two routes (Lichtenburg road & Ottosdal road). A trained school assistant rides each bus. Parents are notified by WhatsApp if a route is delayed by more than 15 minutes.
A simple sick-bay near the principal’s office, stocked weekly. School-Health Programme nurses visit once per term for screenings (vision, hearing, basic dental). Mahikeng Provincial Hospital runs our fast-track referral line for emergencies.
Fire and evacuation drills twice a term, run with the local fire brigade. Every classroom has an A4 emergency plan on the inside of the door — in English and Setswana. Roll-call point is the netball court, marked with white paint.