New principal appointed at Kloof Pre-Primary School

SALLY Comins has been appointed as the new principal of Kloof Pre-Primary School.

Sally previously worked at Kloof Junior Primary School, where she was Grade R coordinator for seven years. She has been teaching in the foundation phase and pre-primary for 22 years and also previously taught at Kloof Pre-Primary.

She said she felt a mixture of excitement as well as a bit of trepidation when she received her official letter of appointment as principal of Kloof Pre-Primary School.

“It’s never easy starting at a new place of employment with new faces and new ways of doing things, but I have always been one to love adventures and experiences in life and have always loved the quote, ‘If it doesn’t challenge you, it won’t change you’,” she said.

She said she spent her last seven years of teaching in a junior primary school, and although she loved it, she always felt that her heart belonged to the little ones.

“I also taught previously at Kloof Pre-Primary and my daughter went through the school, so the warmth and friendliness that I always felt there was also a big attraction for me,” she added.

When asked about what she feels is the biggest challenge facing pre-primary principals these days, she said it was getting parents to understand that children under six years learn best when experiencing concepts concretely.

“Children do not learn as effectively when they are passive. Active engagement with things and ideas promotes mental activity, which helps children retain new knowledge and integrate it with what they already know. Too many parents these days will unfortunately judge a school by the work presented on paper and fail to realise that it is the concrete experiences that lay a more solid foundation for learning,” said Sally.

Sally has always believed that the most important thing as a teacher is for the children in your care to be happy. She said if children have a happy and positive attitude to their schooling, then they are more open to learning and discovering new things.

Children say and do the funniest things, she said. Sally’s most memorable one and a question she is asked every year is: “You have a mommy? I thought you lived at school.”

The school governing body, staff and pupils of Kloof Pre-Primary welcomed Sally Comins and looked forward to having her lead them into the future. The school has invited prospective parents to meet Sally Comins at the school’s open day on Wednesday, 2 March from 8am to noon.