School on Westfalia Farm exels
Tzaneng Combined School, situated on Westfalia farm, has proved that determination and hard work makes a good recipe for success.
This local school is among the most improved schools in the Mopani West region, with a pass rate of 80% improving from 2018’s 69,6% and 2017’s 33,3%.
According to Alpheus Lebea, principal of the school, teamwork is the driving force behind the drastic improvement in last year’s matric results.
A big change transpired after management and educators sat down and discussed various ways of producing better results.
Some of the changes included a subject improvement plan in which a teacher had to outline her or his target.
The teacher would be reviewed and monitored by a subject head after a particular period.
“We also came up with a exam strategy, where we went back to previous question papers and looked at the manner in which questions were set.
“We then also introduced a similar set of questions during tests and assignments, so that the learners could not be fazed during exams,”Lebea explained.
He also stated that the good relationship between educators and parents played a vital role in the success.
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“We had the full support from parents, whenever we wanted to implement something new, we would involved them and they would back us 100%,” he added.
The school is situated on a farm where most of the parents of the learners are farm workers.
Clement Maake (18) from Mokgoba, an informal settlement, is one of the learners who benefited from the improvements.
Maake will be studying towards a Bachelor of Arts degree in languages at the University of Limpopo.
His pass did not come easy, he had to conquer setbacks.
“Where I come from, there are a lot of taverns which always play loud music. The noise made it very difficult for me to study.
“However, the study camps and extra lessons which the school hosted played a huge role in me passing matric,” he said.
Maake advised the class of 2020 to start preparing early for the final exams and to be disciplined. “Because without education it is hard to make it in life.”
One thing for sure, the class of 2020 have big shoes to fill.
