POLOKWANE – Good Hope Primary School bid farewell to two of their teachers, Naphtalie Buiys and Patrick Lebepe on Friday.
Buiys is retiring after 37 years as a teacher. His career started in 1976 at Pietersburg Primêre Skool in New Pietersburg.
He was one of the teachers that started with Westenburg Secondary School when it opened in the early 80’s. He was also the school’s financial officer.
In 2001, he moved to Good Hope Primary School, where he was the head of the department and financial officer.
“The joy of my work was having a different group of children every year and having a different method of approaching each group. I will miss working with children the most,” Buiys said.
Lebepe was a teacher for 16 years and decided to resign to work in the private sector at an engineering company.
He started his career at Westenburg Secondary School in 1996 and moved to Good Hope Primary School in 2001, where he was the deputy principal.
To show appreciation for what these teachers had done at the school, some of their colleagues took a trip down memory lane to express their gratitude.
The principal, Cindy Buys said both men were humble and would be dearly missed.
“Naphtalie is a humble person and father to the school. Patrick is a go-getter and a chancer. We worked as a team and because of that the school was able to progress. I thank you for that and I wish you well in your future endeavours,” Buys said.
Rowland Stander, the chairperson of the school governing body thanked the two teachers on behalf of the parents for the good work they have done at the school.
Stander said: “Patrick is a very principled man who works according to the book and is always punctual. Naphtalie is my mentor and coach. He was my gr. 7 teacher and I remember he used to have this small stick he would carry in his jacket pocket and whenever we misbehaved, he used to take out the stick and say ‘Johnny Walk wants to talk to you'”.
Stander urged both men to not forget about the school as they start their new journey, but to plough back into the school as they would always be part of the school.
