Eco-school principal leaves a lasting legacy
Scilla Edmonds described her 47 years in the teaching industry as an absolute joy.
BELOVED Birches Pre-Primary School principal is retiring after 47 years of teaching.
Priscilla Edmonds, fondly known as Scilla, has been at the helm of the proud Eco-school and One Planet Sustainable School which has won many awards over the years.
“Where did the years go?” This is what Edmonds said she has been asking herself.
Every one of 47 years of teaching, and most significantly, the last 32 years at The Birches Pre-Primary, she says have been a joy.
Also read: Birches awarded for their recycling programmes
Scilla qualified in 1977 to teach Intermediate Phase at the Natal Training College in Pietermaritzburg. Her first four years of teaching were in Grade Four and Five at Cato Ridge Primary and Scottsville Primary.
When she had her first child, Andrew, she studied Pre-Primary Studies and thereafter taught at Settlers Park Pre-Primary and then Stepping Stones Pre-Primary when they moved to Pinetown. She was finally appointed principal of The Birches Pre-Primary School in January 1992.
“Moving the school to its present premises in 1993 began a journey of changing the grounds of an old primary school into the well_known Sustainable Living Campus it is today!” she added.
She said the awards included the Mayor’s Award for Bio-diversity, the Mail & Guardian Greening the Future Award and SABC Enviropaedia Award.
“Sustainability in every form included the establishment of a Green Business which led to the school to bring entrepreneurship into the curriculum. The South Africa Country award in the School Enterprise Challenge led to the school achieving the Africa Region Award, then the Silver and Gold levels in the School Enterprise Challenge through Teach a Man to Fish and The Saville Foundation.”
As an individual, Edmonds won an Outstanding Achievement in Envronmental Education.
In 2023, Edmonds ran a 12-week pilot Early Years Challenge for ECD schools. Bringing sustainability, entrepreneurship and green business into schools at every level is Edmonds’ passion!
Also read: WATCH: Pinetown littlies march against climate change
In 2011, she was invited alongside 26 delegates from Africa, India and Asia to do an Advanced Training Programme for Education in Sustainable Development in Formal Education in Sweden.
Since then, she has showcased her school in Tanzania and in Botswana, and in 2017, at Oxford University in England. She has written eight books, five of them true stories for young children intended to inspire acts of sustainability, a workbook called Be Smart Be Money Wise and two teacher manuals.
“This is another area where I would like to give back as an ‘elder in the village’ in the future,” she says.
The retiring principal thanked the children, parents, staff and teachers for their support and participation in such a happy journey over the years.
She added that she leaves her precious school in the very able hands of Bronwen Aisten who will no doubt take the school to new heights!
For more from the Highway Mail, follow us on Facebook, X and Instagram. You can also check out our videos on our YouTube channel or follow us on TikTok.
