School Life

A photograph album of two terms — sports days, choir practice, garden work, and the borrowed Saturday hours that stitch us together.

School Life

Fourteen photographs from the past two terms.

Taken by Mr Khumalo on his own phone, mostly. Edited only for brightness.

Whole-school Monday assembly under the assembly hall's tin roof — **Monday assembly**The week opens with a song.

A learner sprinting at sports day on the dirt track — **Sports day**Dust, cheering, no stopwatch.

Children performing a Setswana praise dance at the arts festival — **Arts festival**Praise dance & poetry.

Reading week — a child reading aloud to the Foundation Phase — **Reading week**Older readers visit the Foundation Phase.

Grade 6 excursion to the Lichtenburg Museum stopping at a tractor exhibit — **Lichtenburg excursion**Gr 6 visit our local museum.

Choir practice in the assembly hall, children standing in two rows — **Manana Choir**Two languages, one voice.

A small robotics-and-tinkering club building cardboard machines on the floor — **Tinkering club**Cardboard, wire, ideas.

Children passing a netball during PE on the patchy grass field — **Netball & soccer**Inter-school fixtures.

The school's vegetable garden tended by learners after lunch — **Garden hour**Spinach, beetroot, mealies.

Parents touring classrooms on the autumn open day — **Open day**Parents in the classrooms.

Heritage Day — children in traditional Tswana attire — **Heritage Day**September, in our regalia.

Grade 7 farewell — a small ceremony with parents and teachers — **Gr 7 farewell**The leavers' supper.

Children handing the Foundation Phase teacher a hand-made card on Teachers' Day — **Teachers' Day**Hand-drawn thank-you cards.

Grade 4 children planting a young tree to mark a growing-up ceremony — **Growing-up ceremony**Each Gr 4 plants a tree.

From their hands

Eight pieces of work we asked permission to share.

Children's first names only, with their families' consent. Nothing here was made by an adult.

A bright watercolour of a sunflower against the school wall

Sunflower at the Wall

Grade 3B · Liyana M.

"Mr Khumalo says my sunflower is taller than me, but I want it to be taller than the school." Painted with the spring batch of donated brushes.

A careful Setswana hand-written poem on lined paper

Setswana Verse — "Pula"

Grade 5 · Bokang S.

A four-line poem about the rains that did not come this season, copied out in Bokang's most careful handwriting for Heritage Day.

A hand-stitched fabric bag made of recycled school T-shirts

Recycled Tote

Grade 6 · Refilwe T.

Made from worn-out school T-shirts. Refilwe's class are stitching one for every Foundation Phase child.

My Grandmother's Garden

Grade 4 · Naledi K.

Naledi's first long English essay. Two pages — about beetroot and patience. We laminated it for the staff room.

A learner delivering a Setswana speech at the school's prepared-speech contest

Speech: "Why I Walk to School"

Grade 7 · Tshepo N.

Tshepo's first place in the rural-schools prepared-speech contest. Three minutes — Setswana, no notes.

Wind Catcher Prototype

Grade 7 · Lerato & Sipho

For the Tech "Wind on the Highveld" project. Made from cardboard, wire and a recycled drink bottle.

A laptop screen showing a simple Scratch program made by a learner

"Manana Mealie" — Scratch game

Grade 6 · Karabo & Aphiwe

A maze game where you collect mealies. Built on the donated laptops that visit us once a fortnight.

A class collage map of the local farm community made from cut-paper

Our Farm — Class Collage Map

Grade 5 · Whole class

Every child added a building, a path, a person from their family. Now hangs in the office.

Past Works Archive

Quietly proud

A few small wins, kept in the staffroom file.

District-level recognitions in the past 5 years — choir, sport, prepared-speech and reading.

Provincial-level awards — small for a township school, but for a farm school of 117, more than we expected.

84%

Of our Grade 7 leavers move on to high school in Lichtenburg or Mahikeng each year, and stay through Grade 9.

Children holding district reading-bee certificates outside the office

District Reading Bee — 2nd

Grade 4 · 2023

A learner holding a netball trophy with teammates

Rural-schools Netball Cup

U13 girls · 2024

Choir on stage at the provincial youth choir festival

NW Youth Choir Festival

Bronze · 2024

Setswana prepared-speech winner with their certificate

Setswana Prepared Speech — 1st

District · 2025

A team of learners at the Eskom science fair holding a poster

Eskom Expo Regional Finalist

Grade 7 · 2024

Soccer team with their coach on the touchline

U11 Boys Soccer League — 3rd

Lichtenburg cluster · 2024

Two children in school uniform holding a maths olympiad certificate

SA Mathematics Olympiad

Honourable mention · 2025

The school garden with a 'best community garden' provincial certificate

Provincial School Garden Award

NW Dept Agriculture · 2025