Chamber lunch sets out to educate
"I think it's fair to say that business could learn something from us educators" says Andrew Cook, headmaster of Mitchell House.
The Tzaneen Chamber of Commerce hosted their last luncheon for the year last Friday at the Hotel@Tzaneen conference hall.
The lunch saw a great turnout as the venue was full to the brim.
Lukas Groenewald opened and officiated the luncheon as the chairlady of the Chamber, Llandi van der Walt was not present on the day.
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The closing lunch was set around the theme ‘Independent schools: lean, mean, teaching machines’, with Unicorn Preparatory School and Stanford Lake College being the sponsors of the lunch and Andrew Cook, a headmaster from Mitchell House was the guest speaker for the day.
Shortly after the opening Uwe Kroh spoke briefly about the CPF. “Our crime in Tzaneen is escalating and this is especially happening in the farming community.
“We are busy working on some big operations which we are trying to get the guys out of that,” stated Kroh.
He further stated that pamphlets will be handed out to make people more aware of the work the CPF, along with other policing and educational departments.
A moment of silence was taken for the members of the chamber and the occasion took off from thereon.
Speaking on behalf of Unicorn Preparatory School was Ian Houston who gave a brief history of the school and how it gained independence.
“In 1972 Unicorn Preparatory (Primary) School first opened its doors and in this time, the school has become an icon of education and a vital part of community life in Tzaneen. Unicorn started as an English-medium government school called Tzaneen English Primary and in March 1972 a new name, Unicorn Primary School, was announced. After running as a Model C school since the 90’s, Unicorn became an independent school in 1994 and since then we have served the community with pride,” exclaimed Houston.
He further stated current statistics of the school and the new ventures the school would be heading into. Houston gave a brief introduction about the guest speaker and opened the floor up to his teaching.
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“An interesting fact is that recently I read a statistic about Standard and Poor’s top 500 companies and their life expectancy’s. In 1958, top companies were expected to have a longevity of on average 61 years. In 1980, they held out for 25 years on average and in 2011 top 500 companies were expected to last on average for only 18 years. There is some further statistic that I do not want to misquote but it’s something like in 2019
it’s expected to be seven years. That is the longevity and the length they are expected to survive. When I compare, over 200 schools in South Africa that are older than 100 years, I think it’s fair to say that business could
learn something from us educators,” stated Andrew Cook.
He was later gifted with a hamper sponsored by Pest Control Specialists and the floor was then opened to Alan Redfern who is the headmaster of Stanford Lake College.
Redfern spoke on the success stories of a few of the people who successfully completed their education at SLC and are now doing great things in neighbouring countries.
He further took a moment to thank Cook for coming to Tzaneen and giving a talk about the importance of education.
The event ended off with lunch, drinks and a bit of socialising amongst those who attended.
