A small school, rooted in Manthestad.

“

Dumela. My name is Motlhabane Molaodiemang William, and for the better part of two decades I have had the privilege of walking this small dusty courtyard with the children of Manthestad. I want to tell you, plainly, what we believe about a child.

We believe a child is not a test score. A child is a small person who arrives at our gate carrying breakfast (or sometimes not), a worry from home, a question about the world, and a whole life ahead of them. Our work is to make the school day a place where she can put down the worry, eat a proper plate of food, ask her question out loud, and then get on with the patient business of learning to read, to count and to think clearly. I remember a little Grade 2 girl named Lerato who came to us last year having missed almost a year of school. By second term she was reading aloud to the Grade R class. That moment — her finger under the words, her teacher kneeling next to her — is the kind of victory we measure ourselves by.

We are a Quintile 2, No-Fee school. That number on a government list does not change what we owe each family. It only sharpens our commitment. We will keep our classrooms quiet enough to think in and warm enough to ask in. We will keep the NSNP kitchen running every school day so no child sits down to learn on an empty stomach. We will keep the gate open to parents, grandmothers, the SGB, the local SAPS officer who teaches our Grade 6 a road-safety lesson every term, and any neighbour who wants to come read a story aloud. The work of raising these 490 children is too important to be done by 18 educators alone, and we have never tried.

If you are a current parent: thank you for trusting us with your child. If you are a parent considering us: come and visit. The kettle is always on. The classrooms are open. We will tell you the truth about what we do well and what we are still working on.