We hope you are enjoying our Women's Day feature as much as we are! We are privileged to work with some incredible ladies. Remember to leave them some love in the comments!
"I am Kirsten, and I work at Weltevreden Park Primary School. I am the Grade 6 Head of Grade, Maths teacher and head of Charity and Community Councillors.
How I started being involved in the feeding scheme: I saw there was a need when kids would often come to school without bringing lunch. We set up a small scale feeding scheme at the school where we would raise money to pay for the lunches for the kids who repeatedly didn’t have lunch at school. The kids get food from the tuck shop and we are so fortunate to get fruit and juice from Africa Food For Thought for them. Any child can join the scheme if they can’t bring lunch from home. Luckily it was easy to set up as I work with amazing colleagues who gladly help in fund- raising and of course the ladies who make the food daily (Gaylene Hall).
My favourite aspect of teaching is creating a happy and safe environment in the classroom and watching children be their best selves. I love seeing a child try their hardest and then seeing it all click. It’s so rewarding seeing them being enthusiastic and being eager to learn.
Accomplishments in teaching often seem small at the time. But they act as building blocks. Throughout the year all these little changes add up and when you look back to the beginning of the year, it’s amazing to see the massive changes that have happened within a child. I love it when a past pupil comes to visit and I can see they are happy and doing well.
I'm also so proud of Welties kids who have such kind and generous hearts. If they are given the opportunity, they love to help or set up Community projects. It’s amazing to see what children can actually achieve. They have the passion and belief that they can make a big difference...and they do it.
On a personal level, my greatest accomplishment is definitely my daughter.
In many ways lockdown has been very stressful. It’s devastating seeing so many people losing income. I have also been so inspired by people who have quickly started to try new ways of making money.
Professionally it’s been difficult. Our school has been using Google Classroom to teach. All the teachers needed to try this new system. What is frustrating about it is that we can’t see who we are actually reaching. We can’t see if the kids actually grasp the concept and are doing the work. We also know lots of kids might not have access to it or an adult at home to help. To help with this, the school set up Drive-Thrus for learners to pick up work and a Drive-Thru to use the school's wifi.
From a personal perspective lockdown was nice to spend quality time with my daughter and husband. We didn’t have to rush around and be busy all the time." ... See more
