IMMACULATA’S VISION FOR 2023: TO BUILD AN INSTITUTION OF EXCELLENCE
LEADERSHIP:
We are encouraging as many of our girls as possible to assume leadership positions at school.
Our RCL group was duly elected and our Prefect System is also up and running. The RCL portfolios range from events management to various issues that affect our learners. The RCL also represents the learners at SGB meetings.
Talitha Ndabambi, Chairperson of the RCL has also been elected as the Regional Deputy Chairperson of the Western Cape. We are very proud of her for flying the flag of Immaculata so high.
Our prefects headed up by Lerato Selela (Headgirl) and Asha Dyanti and Emanuela Kazadi (Vice-Headgirls), are doing a very good job of assisting the staff in maintaining order and discipline.
We have also encouraged the following leadership groups:
- Class Captains and Vice Captains
- House Captains and Vice House Captains
A work in progress is to get the girls involved in Safety and Security by training a Safety Officer in every class and a First-aider in every class. We will be looking into getting training in order to capacitate them.
BOOK-DRIVE:
We are in the process of revamping our library so it is currently not operational. Many of our learners are so keen to read that I have started a small short-loan library that operates out of the Principal’s office in order to meet this need.
We have started a book-drive in order to get a wider selection of books to be enjoyed by our learners. We have asked girls to donate books that they have read and enjoyed to the school. Progress is slow but we continue to encourage their generosity.
SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY:
Our girls are growing up in very challenging times where morality seems to be very ‘elastic’ and where temptation is around every corner. As teachers, many of us have used our available time to mentor our girls on issues ranging from morality to nutrition and everything in-between. We realize however that the issues are overwhelming and so we have appealed to the adults in our school community to assist us in mentoring our girls.
The girls themselves have also recognized the need to address the various issues and have formed the following groups to address these issues:
- IMAD (Immaculata makes a difference) to deal with issues like the environment (inside and outside the school) among others.
- Journalist Group (Immaculat-Her Theory) that reports on topics ranging from school events to social and interpersonal issues affecting our girls.
- True Love Waits (TLW) under the auspices of Reverend Basil Sampson who retired two years ago (2021) but is still passionate about giving back to Immaculata. TLW encourages our girls to practise abstinence in a world where so many children are born to teenage parents without the love and support of a loving family.
NEEDS OF OUR SCHOOL:
The needs of our school are many and varied. The majority of our learners are drawn from historically-disadvantaged communities.
Our aim is to give a quality education to young women across the various divides that separate us as people. We therefore strive to keep our school fees as low as possible in order to give an opportunity to those who have the potential but are held back by a lack of funds.
However because of Covid-19 and job losses resulting from the closure of many businesses, many of our parents cannot afford to pay school fees. This has hit our school quite hard and we have even had to embark on a nutritional and grocery programme to assist our learners and their families.
The generosity of the Alumni and of individual donors, have assisted us tremendously. For this, we are thankful.
TUCK SHOP
Because of the very difficult economic climate, we had to find ways to raise funds and we started a Tuck Shop. It started out on a small scale and was run by a few teachers. This Tuck Shop is now formally being run by the school. Again, with the assistance of a few well-wishers and donors, we are able to see a small profit that helps to cover a few small expenses that we encounter on a daily basis.
We are hoping to revamp the Tuck Shop space and we have asked our parents who are in construction to donate their time and expertise to assist us.
CURRENT ISSUES:
Load-shedding and Area water-cuts have affected us negatively. Water-cuts have led to early school closure because of the pressure on toilets.
We have therefore identified our next project to be to connect the JoJo tank that we have been given to our bottom toilets so that we don’t have to cut lesson time with early closures.
Load-shedding has impacted our electrical system. The school is so dark when load-shedding hits that our girls have to use their cameral torches to see their work.
With the arrival of Winter and with June exams looming, we have decided on a temporary measure to raise funds to buy some rechargeable lights for our 15 classrooms and the Hall.
CATHOLIC ETHOS:
Immaculata is named for the Immaculate Conception and we celebrate our feast day on 8 December every year.
This year we decided that we would like to build a Grotto in honour of Our Lady. We want to build it on the school grounds, at the entrance.
We have already sourced a donation of rocks to begin building the grotto and we will continue to source the materials needed over the course of this year.
Our biggest expense will be the statue of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception but we will continue to raise funds to purchase that later in the year.
We hope to have our project completed by the time we celebrate our Feast Day on 08 December 2023.
Lastly, we want to say a huge THANK YOU to the Alumni – those who have donated in cash and in kind over recent times. We also want to thank our learners who have come up with so many ideas to raise funds. Even though we cannot use all the ideas, we appreciate the fact that they are looking at ways to help their school and ultimately themselves.
We are very proud of all these young women who are showing such incredible leadership potential and who are striving to move our school forward.
“Ever onward let us venture; ever upward we will climb” as many sisters who hold up the flame of Truth.
I salute you all, Veritas Women!!!
Chauntal Noble
Acting Principal
11 May 2023