Scenes from my school

The entrance to the salt mine where I slave all day-:)

 

The school badge with a Lammergeier in flight over the Drakensberg. School motto; Liber sed integrer. Freedom with responsibility.

Pedestrian entrance to the school. In the background, entrance to the school hall and reception area. Administration block on the right. Click on photos to enlarge.

Southern sports field, rugby, soccer and athletics. Net-ball courts on the to terrace next to the school.

Another view of the south sports field. If you look carefully when you enlarge the photo you will see part of the Drakensberg, unfortunately mostly obscured by cloud.

Southern sports field, cricket and hockey. To the left, half obscured by the tree in the left foreground, are our tennis courts and swimming pool.

View of the library taken from my work station. Right back, foundation phase library (Grade 1 - 3). This has just been added to the main library, hence all the boxes and no entry sign. About 1,500 books still to be put on the system. At the back and to the left out of photo non-fiction section. Middle shelf and to the right, and out of photo English fiction.

Left foreground, Afrikaans fiction. I have since had the TV and video recorder removed, the school has a separate  video room with large, wall mounted flat-screen TV with video and DVD player. Behind and to the left is the reference shelves and behind that the teachers resource library. The teachers resource library has about 2000 items.

View of the reference section, encyclopedias, etc., with teachers resource library behind. Between the two is where I prepare and repair books. Issue counter and entrance to the left.

The library is fully computerised and when I have completed the foundation phase section, will have +- 10,000 items in stock.

I do all the purchasing of books, preparing them, classifying and cataloguing, and entering new stock on the computer system. One teacher assists me with preparation and repair of books for one hour twice a week. I also have 5 library assistants, grade 7 learners, who help pack books and tidy up.

Furthermore I see all the grades from grade 1 to grade 7 every week, three classes to each grade. Grade 1 to 2 come for a half hour story reading. From grade 3 to seven they have a one hour library period where I teach them library use, research, etc. Learners also change their books in this period. Learners may change books at any time during the day, at break times, or after school from 2 to 3pm.

I usually get to school an hour before official starting time as I find this my most productive time to do administrative work and lesson preparation.

About three times a year I organise a Book fair where travelling book sellers bring their books and display them in the school hall. This Book fair is open to the whole community and other schools in the area.Local people and schools support the Book fairs enthusiastically. Once a year I get an organisation Called "Hooked on Books". These are drama students from the University of KwaZuluNatal, Pietermaritzburg campus, who present parts of books as a mini play. The learner's just love them. After these presentations I have to make sure that I have enough copies of the books presented, because they all want to read them.  Other schools in the area also attend.

I love my job and the days just fly by!