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Learners are gaining golden opportunities in and around Steenberg and Retreat, thanks to the dedicated staff at Floreat Primary School.
Noel Isaacs, principal at the school, says they aim to keep the community informed of the opportunities available for learners who perform well and show dedication to possibly make their way to better-resourced schools.
According to Isaacs, the school’s teachers keep parents and learners abreast of available scholarship programmes.
“Parents and learners have choices. I support the choices they make. The thing is the opportunities for the kids at those better-resourced schools. They can do swimming, they can do music, there are smaller classes, extra lessons – like if you go to Wynberg Girls’ or Boys’, you can do engineering, robotics, drama,” he says.
“We still encourage the children to go to the schools in the area – 60% of our teachers went to Steenberg High – but children and parents can exercise their democratic right to pursue a bursary and we support them,” he adds.
Kristi Rossouw, one of two heads of departments for the Intersen phase (intermediate and senior school phase) and the teacher coordinating the bursary applications, says the Grade 6 and 7 teachers are making it their mission to guide learners and parents who may want to take the bursary route.
“We are aware that there are bursaries available for learners in Cape Town that offer tuition – whether it’s 100% or 50% – to learners starting in Grade 8 and the application process starts in Grade 6,” she explains.
“Our goal at the school is to be aware of when the bursary applications open and close, and then we just try to be a conduit for the parents to learn about them,” she says.
They keep interested families up to date on the different bursary programmes available and help guide and support them.
“The responsibility lies with the parents – they need to apply – but we give them the forms and inform them of the date and we send the information to the parents.
“Some parents ask for support – like for us to email on their behalf or ask for print-outs – we do that because our goal is that we make use of the platforms available for those who may not know of all of the bursaries,” says Rossouw.
She adds they cannot interfere in the application process but can guide learners when it comes to writing motivational letters or sourcing the necessary academic documents required.
One such learner who is grabbing at this opportunity with both hands is Joshua Bumbangi. The Grade 7 learner has been accepted to Reddam House through the Spirit Foundation to start his high school career next year. He says by securing the scholarship, he is following in the footsteps of his sister and role model Syntyche Bumbangi – and he’s working hard to keep it in his grasp.
“In most of my free time, I’m doing schoolwork or I’m researching things. I also do a lot of art – I like art and I’m trying to teach myself how to dance. After I finish school, I want to either become an engineer or a graphic designer and animator.”
Asked what he thinks Reddam will be like, he says: “I’m expecting work that’s very different from the work I do now, so I’m getting myself ready for the change. I’m practising harder work, things that are at a higher level.”
