Through partnering with The Principal’s Academy (http://www.principalsacademy.ac.za/) we have been introduced to Mr. Halbert Mlindazwe, the principal at Bongalethu Primary School in Phillipi. Bongalethu was taken over by the WCED in 2005 and Halbert has been the principal since 1996. Bongalethu is co-educational and has just over 1000 students ranging from Grade R- Grade 7. The school building itself has huge potential, especially being situated in an area with many diverse needs. The building sits between two gang territories, where the road outside divides two rival groups.
Halbert (on the far left of the picture) spent four days of this last school holiday with fellow principals from all over Cape Town. It was the start of their Management Development Programme at the UCT Graduate School of Business. This is what he had to say, “I found myself exposed to uncertain terrain. It was very intellectually demanding and I especially found the session on ‘Personal Mastery’ very challenging. I have never done anything like that before and it pulled me out of my comfort zone and really made me think about myself, what I was doing and why I was doing it. I enjoyed working with other principals and discussing various issues – both during the course and in our off time. I think that having this knowledge will help me to get the school to act together. I have already discussed the course and the principles we learnt with the School Governing Body”.
Keith Richardson, Halbert’s mentor from The Principal’s Academy has been great in helping Halbert to identify areas of concern; arranging for teachers to visit other school’s for further training as well as planning for a workshop on ‘Classroom Discipline and Management’ later this month.
Next month you can read more about Bongalethu and how you can get involved.
Team Kamvalethu 🙂
