GRAVELOTTE: A boost for early childhood development at local school
The Selati Foundation has invested in Gravelotte Primary School by building an early learning centre.
When people who share the same vision meet, wonderful things happen.
This is the experience of Gravelotte Primary School Headmaster Mpho Victor Rabapane and the team from the Selati Wilderness Foundation, a non-profit associated with the Selati Game Reserve.
Together they have established a Grade R and Grade RR at the school,which services the town of Gravelotte and the surrounding areas.
“These early years are important.It is when children learn to value education and are grounded in the morals and attitude they need to succeed in school later on,” said Mpho Rabapane.
When Mpho took up the post of headmaster in 2014, the nearly 70-year-old was experiencing a dip.
Historically linked to the area’s mining and agricultural industries, in 2014, student numbers were down, the boarding facility had closed and there were facilities for Grade R and Grade RR learners.
There were also a number of empty buildings in the school’s park-like grounds.
“I want to make the most of the excellent infrastructure and environment that we have here,” said Mpho, who is passionate about early learning and development.
The school has had a long history with the Selati Wilderness Foundation( current landowners, Piet Warren and Henry Dunn both attended) and seeing Mpho’s vision, they knew it was time to revive the relationship.
Lourette Joubert, who supports the Foundation’s work reached out in 2015.
“We loved Mpho’s vision for an early learning centre at the school and recognised how this project was really for the greater good of the community in the area,” said Lourette Joubert.
“The importance of early childhood education cannot be overstated.It provides foundation which establishes the child’s social, emotional and cognitive development at this crucial early age.
For the Selati Game Reserve it is most satisfying to be helping the local school and community to expand and include this facility,” said Alan Du Toit, Chair of the Selati Wilderness Foundation.
The Foundation provided financial support for the centre, as well as a number of other projects relating to the school.
This included installing toilets, plumbing, renewing the flooring, lights, windows, refurbishing wooden doors and painting. Labour was supplied by Selati Game Reserve.
