Glenmore principal reflects on 15-year legacy

AFTER 15 years at the helm, Glenmore Primary School principal, David Spiteri said goodbye to the school on Friday, July 31. Spiteri said he left just a day ahead of his 65th birthday on August 1, as per government regulation.

Spiteri worked at a Morningside school for 16 years before joining Glenmore Primary School in 2006.

Reflecting on his time as principal, he said: “There were 420 children here and my aim was to grow the school because there was a lot of scope for growth. At the time there was a dire shortage of space in the Glenmore area for learners going from Grade 3 to 4. One of my first functions was to find space for these children, so we decided to build three classrooms at our own cost and expand the senior primary (Grade 4-7). That enabled us to grow the school considerably- we grew to 630 learners.”

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As the school grew so did staff opportunities and Spiteri was able to promote staff to new positions such as vice-principal and head of department.

“It gave scope for people to be promoted and grew the staff,” he said.

Equalizing salaries was another goal for Spiteri.

“I made it my mission to equalise salaries. In many schools teachers employed by the school are not paid the same salaries that are due to state paid people. You have this imbalance in what people earn for the same job. I felt this was terribly unfair and bad for morale. When we employ a teacher, it’s at a state salary, which is good for morale and makes people feel worthy,” he said.

Enriching the school

Spiteri also built an outdoor amphitheatre to enrich the school’s extramural offering.

“We do a lot of dancing in the school – various from of dancing from Hip hop to Pantsula to traditional isiZulu Dancing. These extra curricular activities take place at the amphitheatre. If teacher’s want to do role play or oral presentations, it can be done there as well,” he said.

The project was one of the first Spiteri tackled when he took on the role of principal.

“I asked teachers to tell me what their wishes were and they showed me a space in the school that was naturally suited to an amphitheatre. We did that almost immediately. I helped design it with my maintenance manager and he got blocks and cement and we build it in no time,” he said.

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“It’s never just ‘you’. As a principal, I am part of a team. You’ve got to have other people’s ideas feeding into your ideas. I am the kind of person that believes there’s no time like the present,” he said.

As he retired, he hopes to continue working with people.

“This kind of job is people orientated. Being involved with children and people and then going to nothing would be disastrous for anybody. One of the ideas I have in mind is to go back to work in a restaurant I have been involved in,” he said.

Spiteri met his wife at Glenmore Primary. The pair have worked together for 15 years and have been married for seven years. His wife, Jenny Spiteri who is the vice principal at the school takes over from Spiteri as acting principal until a replacement is found by the department.