Sid G. Rule Primary in Grassy Park celebrated its 60th year at a special assembly to commemorate the occasion on Thursday 24 March.
Special guests included former teachers, principals and learners.
Clifford Isaacs (82) was a principal at the school from 1983 to 1996. He shared some history about the school including that the school was first named Grassmead Primary.
“The school has a very interesting personal history. I taught at Rosmead Primary school in Rosmead and I started there in 1963 and there was always the confusion about Grassmead Primary and Rosmead Primary.
“The name of the school was Grassmead Primary and then after that it was changed to Sid G. Rule Primary so the department always confused the two schools.”
He added that the school changed from an Afrikaans medium school to a dual-medium.
“It was a single-medium Afrikaans school and I changed it to a dual-medium school, English and Afrikaans. I think that was the major contribution that I made and now it is an English school. At the time I also started the pre-school. There was no pre-school at school that time.”
Comparing the main differences between schooling and learning since then, Isaacs said the biggest change was technology.
“High-tech is the major difference, the technology that is being used today. I must compliment Mr Yon, the current principal, for driving things to a high-tech standard. We were not taught this and never knew these things. I have seven grandchildren and they are already pro-high tech. I still sit in front of a computer and do what I can, I enjoy it.”
His wife, Frances Isaacs, a former teacher at the school, said when she first started working married teachers could not find a teaching post.
“In 1967 I got a post in Heideveld and I started with 100 children in the class. For me I loved it, loved the children, but it was difficult because resources weren’t there, and one had to depend on one’s own resources to make education exciting for the children. When Sid G. Rule Primary started there was no pre-school. I started the first class and then the second pre-school class and also the third.”
She added at the time the school did not have the equipment to furnish the pre-school classes so she brought in her own furniture.
“We had to fit in anything else that the school did not have. I brought in my own furniture, especially for the pre-school that needed it. The tables were there and the chairs were there but the other things needed to make it conducive for the little ones wasn’t there.”
The former teacher said it was great to see the progress made at Sid G. Rule Primary.
“My love has always been with school children and I think it’s good just to be back again and to see the advancement in the school that I left last time in 1996. They’ve grown and I think it is just wonderful to know that we can see the progress in the coloured school, especially where we left last time.”
