37 years of teaching come to an end
ORCHARDS – "To teach is to change a life forever," said Veronica Yselle a retiring teacher who has been imparting knowledge for the past 37 years.
Yselle is an Afrikaans Grade 7 teacher at Orchards Primary School, she will be retiring at the end of January after an extensive period of service.
The history of the school stretches back to 1928, when it opened its doors as Norwood Afrikaans Medium Skool. In 1929 the name was changed to Orchards Afrikaans Skool, in 1993 it was renamed to Laerskool Dirkie Uys until 2000.
The stalwart has been with the school since 1977, at the time “There were 150 pupils in the school, and one teacher for each Grade. I had 14 pupils in my first class,” she said.
In 1996 the school was transformed into a dual medium, opening doors to both English and Afrikaans speaking pupils. In 2000 the school was renamed to Orchards Primary and subsequently became an English medium school, serving the needs of a multi-cultural society.
Afrikaans is the oldest language in the world, developed around 1904. “I make sure the children enjoy it, we have sing-a-longs and I know they have great fun,” said the 89-year-old.
Jacqueline Sibanda, a Grade 7 pupil at the school and Yselle’s pupil said she was sad the her teacher was leaving, “I wish she could stay, I don’t know why she is retiring because she has so much energy and she’s full of fun, she’s the best Afrikaans teacher. I’m going to miss singing with her.”
Yselle said her philosophy on children was that “There are no problem kids; the problems lie in their circumstances. Once those are sorted out, a child blossoms.”
She has numerous accomplishments including training teachers in the new Curriculum Assessment Policy Statement. Yselle said she was not bidding her final farewell to teaching and said she would love to continue teaching Afrikaans where needed.
