MALANSHOF – There is a star in our community and its name is Seren House Cottage School.
The Randburg Sun spoke to the principal of the school, Dr Eirwen Oswald, on what the school hopes to achieve. Running her own school has been better than what she envisaged it to be. Oswald said the word seren means ‘star’ in Welsh. Her hopes are to make each child the best possible versions of themselves purely based on their strengths and capabilities. “We have happy children who want to learn more and wake up every morning glad that they are coming here, knowing that they are safe and that they can learn.”
The school is a mainstream school and writes IEB matric. As many children tend to struggle in big classes, it was important for the school to keep the classes smaller with remedial help for the children as well as various therapists on hand to assist with the varying challenges a child may face.
Oswald explained she started teaching about 23 years ago and spent her time at both government and private schools. “I have done this with an absolute passion. From the time I was a child I have wanted to teach.”
She continued that she comes from a long line of teachers in her family with her grandfather, father, and uncle being teachers. Her aim has been to make a difference in the lives of children.
In the last three years of her teaching, she said she saw an education system failing children. “It seems as though schools are now more interested in making money and not to help children.
“Children are being put in environments that are going to hurt them and not help them.”
Oswald gave up her teaching to open up Seren House Cottage. With a staff of qualified teachers, she said there is no doubt that their vision for child-centred decisions and excellence will show through the work they do. “Our children are all incredibly happy and have all come from different environments, very few from the same school, and they have all settled in very comfortably.”
She hopes the school would become the type of school the children would look back to in fond memory. “But, most of all I want Seren House to be the school that did not sell out to big corporations and kept the dream small and kept making a difference.”
Details: Seren House Cottage School 065 983 8074.
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