A principal with a vision
Northern Academy Primary School has acquired the services of a new principal, Jacques Bartlett.
POLOKWANE – Northern Academy Primary School has acquired the services of a new principal, Jacques Bartlett, after longstanding head Alta Theunissen accepted a post at Curro Roodeplaat.
The 35-year-old Bartlett hails from the Doxa Deo Christian School in Edenvale, where he had taught maths and science for the past three years.
“I have known about Northern Academy through the Curro group of schools, and with my previous experience with combined schools, the shift to Northern Academy was not such a difficult move. I will be particularly involved with my departmental heads and will make sure that they will all have the required needs so that they can fulfil the tasks at hand without any problems,” says Bartlett.
“At first I would want to get into how this school’s system works. I would also like to look at things that work for the personnel and learners, and see where we need to improve on. If there are any deficiencies my colleagues and I will look how we can fill such gaps.
“One of my visions is to build relations with other primary schools in the city, especially sport related.
“Once we have achieved this, we can look to further expand informal sporting events to league matches.
“But it is important for me to help make Northern Academy relevant in the Polokwane community”.
Bartlett says to be relevant, the school also wishes to be involved in community projects like the upcoming Casual Day initiative for persons with disabilities.
“For me, participation in sporting activities is vital to the education of a child.
“It is not about getting accolades in sport, but more importantly, getting involved and taking part. Surveys have proven many times that children who participate in sport concentrate better in class than those who don’t compete in sport.
“And, as the teachers get involved with children on the sports field, they develop a better understanding of children’s personalities which might be very different when they are in the classroom.
“Sport in my opinion can also help to improve children’s discipline,” says Bartlett.
“What is really nice about living in Polokwane is that I live close to the school and am thankful for not having to sit in traffic anymore like I had to do in Gauteng.
“My family and I arrived here on Friday evening, and on Saturday I needed to go to the store. One of the first things that impressed me here was that even the shop attendants are way friendlier than where I come from.
“Even in the evening when I had to go to a pharmacist for a remedy for one of our three children, I was treated very friendly which was quite a nice surprise to me,” he says.
Bartlett is married to Mariette who is also a teacher.
They have three children, Milana who is 5, Evelitt who is two and a half years old, and the youngest addition to the Bartlett family is Ayrian who will be turning one this month.
“For now my wife will be attending to our children who are still very young, but she will be looking for a teacher’s post as from next year”, says Bartlett.
