Welridge Academy is bidding farewell to two teachers whose warmth and dedication have shaped the heart of the school for many years.

Jana Joubert and Leona Thomas are stepping into retirement after decades in the classroom, leaving behind a legacy felt deeply by the learners and staff they worked with.

For Jana, teaching has always been more than a job – it was a calling she discovered as a little girl on her very first day of school. She laughed as she shared the memory of being excited on her first day in Grade One, when she started talking to all the children around her and landed up in trouble.

“The teacher walked past, and she gave me a slap on the arm with a wooden ruler,” she said. “I thought, ‘oh, I’m going to cry’. And then I said to myself, ‘you’re a big girl now. You’re not going to cry’,” she shared.

She was asked to tell a story to the class, and everyone enjoyed it. It was only later in life that she understood that this moment was the start of her lifelong journey as a teacher.

“I’ve been teaching since 1974.”

Through the years, she has held onto one guiding belief: That children need love and acceptance above all else.

“Every child in the school, whether they are in Grade One or in matric, they all need the same thing,” she said. Her strong connections with learners have never faded. Not long ago, three girls she taught in Grade Three came back to see her as Grade 11s.

“We hugged, and I cried,” she shared. “I said, ‘come back, come back, I love you’.” For her, every child who enters her classroom becomes one of her own in her heart.

Leona, who previously taught in a government school until she retired, describes her years at Welridge Academy with equal emotion.

“I found this wonderful school, and they accepted me with open arms,” she said. “It’s a privilege to work here.”

She is retiring only because she needs a knee operation, saying, “I’m devastated that I have to stop. I wanted to stay here till I die.”

Still, she hopes to return once she has healed. “I need to be connected with children. Teaching for me is like a drug. I need to have my fix every day.”

For 30 years, Grade Three has been her happy place. She often brought the natural world into her lessons, believing it kept learning exciting.

“When you’re passionate about something, you bring that in with you,” she said.

Together, the two teachers leave a powerful legacy of love, joy and passion for teaching. Their influence will continue to be felt in every learner they have taught.