In the spotlight: Get to know the people in our town
Getting to know Gail Spann.
Brenthurst Primary School will bid farewell to aftercare manager Gail Spann after 30 years of service. Hailed as a legend, “Aunty Gail” will be retiring at the end of the year. The 59-year-old Brenthurst resident is married to Carl (64) and has two sons, Warren (38) and Justin (36), and two grandsons, Reagan (15) and Blake (8).
• Describe one of your typical workdays?
A typical day would be arriving at the aftercare centre and starting my admin before the aftercare children arrive.
I mark the register and the children have something to eat and drink, and then start their homework, which I supervise and help if needed.
Some children need extra help and I assist with information for projects, etc.
Homework normally finishes at 4.30pm and then the children play outside and wait for their parents to collect them.
I wait until the last child leaves.
• You are retiring. What are you going to do with all your spare time?
I think at first I will enjoy the peace and quiet, and spend some quality time with my husband whom I have neglected for sometime.
• What will you miss most about working at the school?
I will miss so much, the aftercare children and my colleagues, especially those with whom I work so closely, namely Barbara Gaylard and Sibongile Zwane.
We have worked so well together as a team.
It makes me proud to see the aftercare children receive prizes at honours evening.
I am grateful to Dr Razia Ghanchi-Badasie (principal) for giving me the opportunity to work with these children for so many years.
• If you could start all over again, would you change your career path in any way? Why?
I would not change it for anything in the world.
Duncan Ross asked me to run the aftercare centre in 1990 and I’m so happy I stuck it out for so many years.
I love helping children.
• Do you have any hobbies or special interests?
Next year I am going to start reading my collection of books.
I love doing crossword puzzles and Sudoku.
• What is the most important lesson life has taught you?
Never take things for granted; it can be gone in a second.
• If you had the power to solve one and only one problem in the world, what would it be and why?
Building more educational centres, universities and schools so classrooms would not be so overcrowded.
It would be a huge help to both teachers and students.
• Who or what inspires you?
The person who has always inspired me was my late father.
He was always so wise and gave me so much practical advise about life itself.
Thanks Dad.
• What makes you laugh?
What makes me happy is my husband, my children and my grandchildren.
They are my world.
I laugh when former aftercare students (adults now) pop in to say hello.
It reminds me how old I am.
They tell me about their lives and how big their own children are today.
I laugh as I remember the antics of those wonderful old aftercare days.
Some remember the macaroni and cheese and spaghetti bolognese I use to make for them so many years ago.
• Name one thing about yourself that most people don’t know.
I think everyone knows me as an open book – what you see is who I am. Real proud.
Read: Brenthurst Primary welcomes Grade Ones
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