Glenvista Primary School due to open soon

GLENVISTA –  After many rumours and incorrect information about the new school which is due to open in the next few months on the corner of Laubscher Street and Stegman Road, Glenvista ext 4, the CHRONICLE spoke to Mr Graham King, principal of Glenanda Primary School, who has been given the task of caretaker principal until a permanent principal is duly appointed.

“Last October a meeting was held between local principals, School Governing Bodies, GDE members and Ward 23 councillor, Paul Smit, about the proposed new school in Glenvista ext 4. I was requested by the GDE to assist in the initial opening of the new school, which has been temporarily named, Glenvista Primary School,” said Mr King.

“It is common public knowledge that parents may apply at a school within a five kilometre radius of their residential or work address.

“All local schools were full to capacity for grade one for 2015 and many children didn’t have a place at any school in this area. Excess children residing in the five km radius have been referred to Glenvista Primary.

“The new school will be a pre-structured building, Alternate Construction Technology (ACT), and is expected to have about 36 classrooms. We have employed four teachers, who are presently teaching the grade ones and some grade two’s and three’s at Laerskool Suidhewels in South Hills. This school was generous enough to take all these children, who are being taught in mobile classrooms until their new school is ready for them to move over,” Mr King added.

Glenvista Primary will be a permanent structure and not mobile classrooms, as was rumoured.  The school is a fully functional school which includes adequate ablution facilities and administration offices. Once the new school is open there will initially only be grade one, two and three children in the school and it will be normal procedure that they will filter through up to the next grade, as far as grade 7.

King went on to say, “I think the community has to some degree been misinformed regarding the physical structure and associated developments, and this has resulted in uncertainty amongst residents.

“No one knows precisely when the school will open. It could be March this year or earlier. We are in desperate need of more schools. The growth rate of young families moving into the area far exceeds school places and schools are an essential service. Glenanda Primary is assisting and supporting this new school, through this development stage, which could, if managed correctly, become an asset to the area,” concluded Mr King.

* What are your views on this new school? Please comment or email to: juliem@caxton.co.za