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To commemorate its 60th anniversary Windermere High School has embarked on a journey to plough back into the community.
On Wednesday 8 May, the school based in 10th Avenue, Kensington, hosted about 10 boys aged 10 to 15 years. They were gifted with hygiene packs.
The school celebrated its anniversary on Sunday 7 April.
Craig Leetz, the school principal, explained these boys were loitering in the area daily, did not attend school and came from disadvantaged backgrounds.
He said: “The school will host a dance next month to celebrate its 60 years. But as a school, we also thought about what we could do to give back. While the ultimate aim is to get them reintegrated into a school system, the school imparted some positivity into their lives. We see some of these boys daily standing at traffic lights or on street corners. So we thought we could do something.”
Leetz explained that with the help of a community worker, who collected the boys and brought them to the school, they were able to host them.
“While the ultimate aim is to get them reintegrated into a school system, the school imparted some positivity into their lives. Some of our matrics, prefects and RCL learners spoke to the boys, motivating them about the advantages of attending school.
“We provided them with breakfast and then we split them into groups. They were then allowed to sit in on classes with other learners and form part of the lessons.”
Leetz said the aim was to get them to experience that “school can be enjoyable”.
“They also spent time in our computer lab, for some of them it was their first time in front of a computer. Many of them don’t want to stand at traffic lights, but because of their circumstances, they don’t have a choice. We wanted to show them these things are offered at school. We want them to understand that being in school is beneficial and fun.”
The principal said they hoped the day encouraged these boys to make better choices.
Leetz explained the school had partnered with Limadi Industrial Projects, a skills-development company, which did a life-skills workshop with the boys.
Leetz added: “A special thanks to Limadi Industrial Projects, which provided food and hygiene packages to the boys as well as a life-skills session. Thank you to our teachers and everyone involved. We hope to host these boys again and perhaps some others too.
Leetz said for these past 60 years the school had been a beacon of hope for the community, which wanted it to continue in this way, long into the future.
“It has provided the necessary support to a community that is quite often beset with social obstacles. The area the school serves has grown tremendously over the past few decades. No longer is it only learners who reside in Kensington and Factreton. The school now has learners who live as far as Dunoon, Gugulethu, Khayelitsha and beyond. It is testimony to the service the school provides that learners want to be here.”
