Meeting the new face of Dannhauser Secondary, Mr McDonald

Change is coming to Dannhauser Secondary and it’s all thanks to new principal, Bradley McDonald.

A sports lover who’s passionate about teaching, Mr McDonald aims to lead the school into a new era of quality education. Originally from Durban, Mr McDonald and a group of eight other friends, who were all qualified teachers, set out looking for a challenge.

They left the comforts of Durban to see what education was like in the less privileged schools. When they arrived in Northern KZN they were given posts, with Mr McDonald being stationed at Emfundweni High. Twenty-two years of dedicated service later, Mr McDonald and one other friend, were the only two still teaching.

After teaching English and Life Science, Mr McDonald was promoted to Deputy Principal in 2001 until last year when he applied for the post of principal at Dannhauser Secondary.

Mr McDonald described his love for education and teaching as the driving force behind him staying at Emfundweni for so long. He also saw it as a way to gain experience for his future. “My years at Emfundweni prepared me for the job here. I couldn’t be the person I am without them,” he said.

Another positive of taking up the post at Dannhauser was that Mr McDonald could come into a situation where he could make changes that would benefit the school. And that’s what he’s already done.

Since taking over the reins, he’s already implemented many positive changes for the school. One of the first things on the agenda has been getting sports going in the school again, getting the ground graded and sports facilitators in to help get it going.

Mr McDonald has also set up lunch areas in the blocks for the foundation and intermediate phases, with old tables that were stored away for years.

Security was also on his list of changes and each block will be secured to stop older kids troubling the youngsters and Mr McDonald has also mentioned that the school would be getting CCTV cameras installed.

The school’s IT system has also received an upgrade and everything is now on a digital database.

Though doing so much in such a little time, it’s not the end of the changes coming to the school, changes that have many have longed asked for. “We’ve done nothing blindly. We’ve spoken to the community; people have had suggestions and queries. We took all that information and saw what’s viable and what could be done,” he elaborated.

With the school now growing from strength to strength, Mr McDonald urged the community to stick with the school. “Don’t take your learners away, give us a chance. We didn’t have the means before but we are improving,” he said.
“Put your trust back in us.”