Little did he know what 2020 had in store and the upheaval the coronavirus pandemic will cause in the educational environment.
“On the bright side, what a blessing to spend lockdown here in the beautiful Bushveld. The wildlife has returned to the school grounds and even though the children are back, the birds have remained.”
Previously headmaster at Waterstone College, a Curro School in Johannesburg, Rorich said they love life on the “platteland”. His wife, Gerrida, is a keen marathon runner and still works for Curro Holdings.
Their youngest child, David, is 10 years old and has already settled at Waterberg Academy.
According to Rorich, being headmaster at a smaller school in a rural area has always been on his to do list. “I have been involved in starting a private school and been headmaster at a large private school. I have always had a yearning to experience a rural school as well,” he said from his office, the Bushveld beckoning outside his window.
The Rorich’s barely had time to find their feet before lockdown kicked in and the school had to close its doors temporarily.
“I am really impressed with the staff members that upskilled themselves in such a short time to ensure that the learners can continue learning. They went from only sending messages to holding Zoom meetings and compiling impressive Powerpoint presentations that are creative, interesting and colorful.”
One of the enthusiastic educators, Pieter van der Schyff, even compiled a “Pieter’s Greatest Hits” with slides from previous lessons to help the learners revise their work.
“We will keep all these presentations so that learners can have access to it again when needed,” Rorich said. “Our teachers could have decided to fall into a doom and gloom mindset, but they used these stressful times to improve their skills and improve the way they were doing things. I am very proud,” he said.
Rorich’s dream for Waterberg Academy is to create a “great school in the bush”.
“We would like to grow our number of learners and add more activities such as rugby, golf and other cultural events. We want to introduce an intense leadership programme from a young age,” he said. “Many children of the area attend schools in the city. We rather want to keep them here and, together with the community, create a great high school. It will be good for both the community and the school,” he said.
Although the learners initially found the new regulations somewhat daunting, they were back to their old selves within a few days of returning to school, Rorich said.
The school’s five matric learners are hard at work. “I told them they should focus on their academics, and I shall plan a special event for them even if we might not be able to have our traditional matric dance.
“I am excited about the future, even though we are now facing difficult times,” he said.
