Luxolo awards achievers

ABERDEEN —Luxolo Intermediate School recently held their annual prize giving ceremony.

The event was held in the school’s new outdoor hall, and the high roofed structure provided welcome shade for the learners and parents. About 200 parents attended the ceremony, which was many more than in previous years. As always for this prestigious event at Luxolo, the teachers made an impressive sight in their academic gowns, adding dignity to the occasion. The drapes behind the “stage” area added to the picture, which was completed by the neatness of the children, smartly dressed in their distinctive black and gold uniforms. The first speaker of the day was grade 9 learner Faith Jack, who spoke fluently in English about her time at the school. She stressed the importance of resisting negative peer pressure, and encouraged her fellow learners to focus on their studies. Ronnie Magielies, a member of the school’s governing body, explained the role of the SGB in supporting the school. Chairperson Joan Mafilika then encouraged the parents to become involved in the SGB, and informed them about the forthcoming elections in 2018. School principal, Jan Mathiale, reflected on the achievements of the year, and talked about the vision of the school. He explained about the funding for the hall from the National Lotteries Commission (Lotto), and thanked SANRAL for their assistance with the paving. The parents were also told about the generous donation of laptops from Vodacom. Mathiale also thanked his teachers for all their hard work during the year. He went on to explain to the parents the meaning of the achievement levels of the pupils, and how each level represented a wide range of percentages. This is particularly important in the foundation phase, where only a level, and not a percentage mark, is given. Noluthando Jacobs, guest speaker, talked about the role of the parents, in particular regarding preparing the child for school each day with a nutritious breakfast and neat uniform. This was also picked up by the main guest of honour, Lyndsay Maseko. He is a past head boy of Kamdebo Primary School, now a senior lecturer at the University of Johannesburg. Maseko talked about the intertwined roles of the parent, teacher and learner, focussing on discipline and commitment from all sides.

Between speeches, entertainment was provided by the school choir and the youngsters of the Mloza Junior Choir, who are all pupils at the school. The main part of the day followed, the handing over of diplomas, which had been designed and printed by teacher Christo Frazenburg. In each grade, the class teacher was responsible for presenting the diplomas to the learners concerned. For the first time, diplomas were only awarded for achievements over 50%, thus, if the top pupil in a subject scored less than 50%, no award was made.

Awards were also made for sporting achievements, and in the cultural field, for the winners of Miss and Mr Personality.

The top achiever in each grade was as follows: Grade 1: Awodwa Desha

Grade 2: Zoey Boesak (who was also the top achiever in the foundation phase)

Grade 3: Emihle Pillay

Grade 4: Analo Moti (top achiever intermediate phase) and Siphumonde de Beer

Grade 5: Ahlume Spayer

Grade 6: Emihle May

Grade 7 Singalakha Maphekula

Grade 8: Khanya Nale

Grade 9: Ntando Jacobs

As top achiever in the senior phase, Khanya Nale received a trophy, R1 000 for educational needs for the next year, and R2 000 in an investment portfolio for higher education - all donated by Lyndsay Maseko. Khanya was also the top senior learner last year, so now has an investment portfolio of R4 000!

On the sportsfield, Emihle May, 12 years old, won the netball award for representing the school at both U.14 and U.15 level. Lubabalo Mbaduli (Grade 7) won the soccer award for being the top goal scorer. Christolene Fani won the girls’ athletics award, and Breyton Boesak, who represented the Sarah Baartman District in long distance running, won the boys’ award. Miss Luxolo was Asiphile Blayi, with Wilmary Mintoor and Priscilla Booysen as first and second Princess. Siphumonde de Beer won Mr Personality, with runners up Ahlume Blayi and Olona Desha.

Although long, the event was enjoyed by all who attended, and the benefits of the new outdoor hall were greatly appreciated.