Wendy bids Hillcrest Primary farewell

AFTER 18 years of teaching at Hillcrest Primary School, the beloved Wendy Moorcroft will begin a new chapter of her life as she enters retirement.

Before she took up a post at Hillcrest Primary, Wendy taught at a number of schools in the Durban area including Merchiston, Montclair Primary, Van Riebeeck Park Primary and Yellowwood Park.

Wendy was promoted to Junior Primary Head of Department at both Van Riebeeck Park and Yellowwood Park and was also the acting deputy principal at Yellowwood Park.

She started teaching at Hillcrest Primary in 2002 as one of the first teachers in the Learners with Special Education Needs (LSEN) Unit, where she taught the combined Grade 2 and 3 class in a very small remedial unit. She continued to serve the school, especially the LSEN unit, for the next 18 years.

While the term inclusive education was still a mystery to most educators in South Africa, Wendy recognised the overwhelming need for a facility that would meet the needs of learners who needed local remedial assistance.

Prior to this, all of the children who needed remedial classes were forced to travel to Pinetown or Morningside.

After beginning her teaching years at Hillcrest Primary School as the remedial teacher, her passion for the unit saw her being promoted to the position of deputy principal, as Head of the LSEN Unit.

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After nearly two decades under Wendy’s careful guidance, the LSEN Unit now caters to about 300 learners who benefit from the services of specialised educators, psychologists, speech and language therapists and occupational therapists in world-class facilities.

All of this development was done with very limited state funding and it is through her sheer determination that Hillcrest Primary boasts these facilities today.

“My dream is to give every child in our unit a quality facility where they can be nurtured to grow and develop into the best possible persons they can be. Our children often come to us feeling that they have failed as they have not made the grade academically,” she said.

The fondness with which past learners visit the unit to proudly tell their teachers of their accomplishments, speaks volumes of the incredible difference that Mrs Moorcroft and her dedicated team have made to the lives of these young people.

Theuns and Wendy plan to travel across South Africa in their campervan as well as visit their children; Rayne who lives in the Netherlands and Kim, in Magaliesberg.

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