POLOKWANE – The sound of of song and dance filled the Pietersburg Comprehensive School (PCS) sports grounds recently as the school celebrated its 20th birthday.
The celebrations continued at Millionaires Restaurant later, where the teachers enjoyed a gala dinner.
On January 10, 1994 PCS opened its doors with three teachers and Denise Claassen as the acting principal. On the 10th school day, there were 266 children and nine teachers.
Claassen gave a background of the school.
“PCS was the first combined school in what was then called Pietersburg. Provision would be from gr. 1 to standard 8. The school originated because of the influx of people into Pietersburg in 1994. Pemps was the only English medium school and could not accommodate all the children. The then Transvaal Education Department (TED) identified the necessity for another school. They identified the boys’ hostel of Pemps (Ireland House) to accommodate the influx of children,” said Claassen.
“The TED appointed building contractors to change the hostel into classrooms.
“We even had three army tents that were supplied to use as classrooms while the renovations were done.” She said the school became a primary school in 1995, with classes from gr. 1 to gr. 7 and 396 learners.
“On October 27, 1995, the school received an amount of R1 208 000 from Dr Aaron Motsoaledi to develop the hostel into a fully fledged school,” she said.
As the years continued the school’s enrolment increased. The governing body also continued with the development of the school: tennis courts, computer centre, classrooms, gr. R classrooms, boys’ ablution blocks, enlarging of the soccer field, netball courts and security fencing.
The school has produced top academic learners who were in the top 20 in the Polokwane cluster. Miss South Africa 2010, Bokang Montjane, is also a product of the school.
“The school currently has an enrolment of 1 085 learners and a staff of 39 teachers. The teachers are all very experienced, hard working and dedicated.
“The school governing body members are dedicated and always follow the vision and the mission of the school. The interest of the learners is paramount to them and we are looking forward to many more years.”
