Oh how things have have improved in the teaching profession since I was a Grade Two (Class One) pupil in a small rural school in the KZN Midlands where Classes One, Two, Standards One and Two all shared one of the two classrooms the school was made up of, whilst the older Standards 3, 4 & 5 shared the other. I have no memory of anything as exciting as what the kids seem to experience at St Francis College and in fact have little memory of junior school, hey it was a long time ago, other than dipping the blonde pigtails of the lass in the desk in front of me in the inkwell of my desk. Inevitably this resulted in taking two on the bum which certainly stood me in good stead for high school where ‘taking six’ for a variety of misdemeanors seemed the most advanced experiential learning technique on offer.
Inkwell some may ask? Yes inkwells! Ball points hadn’t been invented yet, in fact plastic hadn’t been invented yet and groceries were packed in brown paper bags and bought over the counter not in a supermarket. Back to the pen, these had to be regularly dipped into the inkwell every few words and unless care was taken in forming your words, the page would soon take on a masterpiece that Picasso could have claimed as his own.
But I digress for teaching has advanced since those freezing days when we had to walk five miles barefoot through the veld and snow to attend school as the younger generation have all had their grandfathers tell them.
But back to the story of the headline where Pirates invaded St Francis College.
St. Francis College Grade 2’s recently held their Annual Pirate Day and it was celebrated with great enthusiasm by all the pupils. A day filled with pirate tales, stories, shipwrecked sums, treasure hunting and terrorizing the rest of the school. A theme that has become a all-time favourite at the college!
Great to see teachers coming up with new and exciting ways of encouraging learning in different ways. Well done to all the teachers at St Francis College for the great work you are doing with our future.
Grade 2 Teachers Caroline Anderson and Chane De Jager enjoyed being pirates with their pupils for the day.
Photographs by Annelita Carpenter
St Francis College text supplied by Roxanne Litherland and Beth Cooper Howell
Other rambling text by your ‘old balie’ editor
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