New principal takes helm at Brighton Beach Senior Primary

BRIGHTON Beach Senior Primary School’s (BBSPS) new principal, Dr Shalina Naicker was officially sworn in on Monday, 3 May.

School staff, the governing body and learners gave her a warm welcome during the morning assembly on the first day back for term two. She said that although she is still finding her feet and getting to know everyone, the experience so far has been amazing and has found BBSPS as a lovely learning environment.

“I couldn’t have asked for a better school. I saw the advertised post for the position and applied back in 2019. After doing my research on the school, I fell in love with its facilities, ethics, culture and academic and sports performance. BBSPS is well rounded and is a perfect fit for me. I feel very blessed,” she said.

Naicker’s passion for education and creating conducive learning environments speaks for itself. She played a pivotal role in the progress and developments at her previous schools. She taught at Burnwood Secondary School and Centenary Secondary School in Sydenham. She was promoted to a deputy principal position at Dianthus Primary School in Verulam before finding her way at BBSPS.

She obtained a bachelor’s degree, honours, masters from the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN). She did her PhD at the UKZN Edgewood Campus in 2003 and completed it in 2007. Her study was based on English Second language learning.

“My focus was on learning theories to speed up second language learning processes in children who come from schools where they don’t have much access to English. I found that when these children went to English medium schools they were at a disadvantage. The study also explored fun and exciting ways to promote English second language learning and integrate previously disadvantaged learners efficiently,” she said.

The proud academic also owned a speech and drama academy which she ran in Phoenix for 24 years before closing it down in 2019 just before the Covid-19 outbreak. Naicker has always seen herself as a teacher growing up, she shared a fond memory of how she convinced her father to buy her a black chalkboard and how she would teach anyone and everyone that would give her a listening ear.

“Being a teacher is something I fell in love with as a little girl. Nothing has changed. I feel like you have to be a very special person to be a teacher and I do believe it’s a calling. Children look forward to the teacher who thinks out of the box and makes the lessons fun. I am also quite the disciplinarian because it is very important and gives young learners structure.”

As the new principal, her vision is to see the school grow further in all aspects. “I just want to see where we can improve and grow as a school. I don’t believe in fixing something that is not broken there is a lovely culture and system here. All I can do is make it better.”

Her words of encouragement to her learners: “Do your very best at all times and if you are disciplined, consistent and mind your manners.  You will always be in a good space and you will be able to reach amazing heights in your academics, sports and your personal development.”