Winston Park Primary School appoints new principal
Mike Foster has been appointed as the new principal of Winston Park Primary School.
WINSTON Park Primary School welcomes the appointment of Mike Foster as the school’s new principal. Foster began his career in education in July 1990 at Westville Boys’ High School. He was appointed the head of department for history but also taught geography and English until 2003.
During that time he also went to teach in London twice, in 1994 for a year and then again in 2000 for a year.
“It was amazing experience, I was so proud that the school gave me the opportunity to go teach in a foreign country,” said Foster.
He then taught at Clifton School in Durban from 2002 to 2009. He did various things such as serve as a sports director, deputy head of high school and became principal of the junior primary from 2007 to 2009.
Thereafter he spent a short time at Kearsney College teaching geography and physical education and was assistant housemaster in Pembroke House. He then went to Eden College for a year as the director of sport teaching pupils in Grade 000 to Grade 12.
He was appointed as deputy principal at Winston Park Primary School in 2011 and acting principal in 2015. He was officially appointed as principal of Winston Park Primary School in January this year.
“I felt honoured by the appointment. It’s an incredible school with an amazing reputation and always referred to as a small school with a big heart. Winston Park Primary School has 606 pupils and a staff compliment of 90,” said Foster.
He added that the one thing that made Winston Park Primary School stand out from other schools is that the school has 21 people in its internship programme, with three new additions – two sports interns and an IT intern.
When Foster is not at school, he enjoys spending time with his wife, Gill, and son, Joshua. Foster is also a serious hiker, swims the Midmar Mile every year and has completed 11 Comrades Marathons. Due to an injury to his calf muscle, Foster will not be competing in the Comrades Marathon this year, but instead will be competing in the 70.3 Iron Man (half) competition.
His motto in life is, ‘Never take anything, especially yourself, too seriously’, which ties in with his second motto, ‘Seize the day’, as he believes every single moment is an opportunity to do something.
Foster’s advice to his pupils is threefold: “You can achieve anything if you work hard for it. To live a life you will remember as your tears of joy and sadness will define you and lastly a world is desperate for those who care, who really care, about humanity and our planet, which ties in with the school motto – ‘Grow in strength’.”
The school also welcomed two other staff appointments: Julie Munn was appointed as the junior primary head of department and Angeline Moonsamy as the senior primary head of department.
