LAERSKOOL PAARDEKRAAL

School Profile 2023

School Background

General

Laerskool Paardekraal’s aim is to let a strong character, charming personality, self-discipline, love of one's neighbours, willingness, knowledge and insight come to the fore.

Every person (educator, parent and learner) has his own personality and as such we must respect each other as individuals, emotionally and physically.

We live in a fast developing and changing world. It is imperative that learners at Laerskool Paardekraal must be equipped and able to cope with these challenges. Therefore, educators are aware and familiar with all the changes.

We strive to be a happy school and community and that parents, learners and staff members will be loyal to our school.

The Principal is available at all times and prepared to listen to the problems of parents, learners and educators.

Date of establishment

Only 3 years after Krugersdorp was founded “De Krugersdorp Ondersteunende School” was established by the NG Kerk. The Chairman, Mr JC Human, Magistrate of Krugersdorp, opened the school on 15 June 1890. In 1899 it became a state school with Mr PJ Kloppers as principal. Dr Ah du Preez van Wyk, Director of Education, opened the new school building on 31 October 1959. On 15 June 1990 Laerskool Paardekraal was 100 years old.

Type of learners the school serves

The school was opened as an Afrikaans school with 200 afrikaans speaking learners. In 2003 we became a parallel-medium school (separate Afrikaans and English classes) and started to enrol English speaking learners in grade 1. At the end of 2010 the last Afrikaans speaking learners left the school and we became a sole English speaking school as from January 2011.

School Quintile

Laerskool Paardekraal is a quintile 5 school.

Vision and Mission of the School

To create the maximum education and tuition opportunities for all the learners.
The SGB approves of education based on the Christian foundation and English as education medium.
The SGB will ensure that the school’s education is of the highest profession, moral and Christian standard.
The character and ethos of the school is important.

Areas in need of improvement

The ANA school results for the Intersen Phase were not very good. The school is improving on that.
Educators will be motivated to improve where possible.
Better discipline is necessary by the learners as well as the educators.
Learners who struggle with their school work need more support.
Development in place, especially for new educators.
Development in place for educators who struggle with big classes and languages of learners who do not speak English as first language.

School Results

We want to give more support to learners with barriers to improve the school’s passing rate. It is a real challenge to improve our results due to the fact that English is not our learners’ home language.
With dedicated educators, the right resources and parent involvement we will achieve the expected levels of performance.

Maintaining Safety

At our school we are maintaining safety by doing access control. During a normal school day all the gates are kept locked. Most gates have been motorised to ensure that no gate can be forgotten and left opened. To gain entrance to the school during the day, one has to enter through the main gate which is under camera surveillance. The person or party that wishes to enter must clearly identify themselves before they are allowed entrance. A register is kept that must be signed when a learner leaves the premises early. The majority of the school and its classes are also under camera surveillance.

Another aspect of safety that we take very serious is the cleanliness of the school grounds. Corridors, stairways and buildings are kept very clean, we do not want people slipping and falling because of litter. We also clearly mark dangerous areas, warn people. Safety equipment like first aid kits and fire extinguishers are kept in allocated places where they can easily be accessed. Everything is kept serviced and in good order.

The buildings – cloakrooms, classrooms and administration block – are kept clean and locked when not in use.

We have an emergency plan in operation that we practice regularly to ensure that everybody knows what to do in case of an emergency.

Parental Involvement

It is very important to get the parents involved and we do this in many ways:

Information Evenings
Parents Evening
Sport Days
Culture / Revue / Dance
Honour Evenings
Weekly Newsletters
The Foundation Phase sends out weekly information sheets to inform the parents about the curriculum.

Educator / Learner Ratio

1 Principal, 1 Deputy Principal, 3 Heads of department, 17 Educators, 4 PS Staff, 10 Educator (SGB), 6 PS Staff (SGB).
Total of 42 posts – ratio 1:38
Growth posts were allocated to the school

Resources Needed

Better LTSM materials for practical subjects e.g. Technology, Arts & Culture and Life Orientation (Specific need in Human Movement).
CAPS material for GR 4 – 6.

Extra-mural Activities

Athletics: 60m, 80m, 100m, 150m, 200m, 800m, 1200m, 1500m, high jump, long jump and shot put.
Cross Country
Soccer
Cricket
Hockey
Concerts, revue
Eisteddfods

Important information to promote sponsors

The school’s aim is to educate learners, teach them self-discipline, develop strong characters and charming personalities so that they can become good citizens.

From 2011 the medium of teaching is only English.

Learners come from 37 different areas – Krugersdorp central and townships.

The school is in need of sponsors for curriculum and extra-mural activities.

Challenges

That all learners will come to school on time, neatly dressed in their school uniform.
That learners will behave and set a positive example to other learners and educators.
That everybody will act according to the code of conduct of the school and give 100% cooperation.
That learners will feel safe, cheerful and happy.
That educators will enjoy teaching and feel safe everyday.

Times

Learners are expected to be present during the following school times. Should the learner not be able to attend at these times, the learner's teacher or principal needs to be informed beforehand:

LEARNERS

Mondays - Fridays: 07:25 - 13:40

OFFICE HOURS

Mondays - Thursdays: 07:30 - 13:30

Fridays: 07:30 - 13:00