Baobab School, which had formerly been run by Catholic nuns, maintained a Catholic and Christian ethos. This was reflected daily in the prayers that were said throughout the day by learners, as well as the Bible readings and virtues that were presented at Wednesday Assemblies.
In Assembly one Wednesday morning, I observed the Grade R and Grade 1 classes present the virtues of love, kindness, caring, sharing, peace, and hope, alongside various Bible readings upholding a strong Christian ethos. They held up large posters on which they had drawn the words describing these virtues, and recited a poem on being kind that they had learnt by heart.
The Grade R and Grade 1 teachers did the readings and spoke about the virtues. This illustrated the importance the school placed on teachers and learners being inclusive. They encouraged all learners to be accepting of one another and to be caring and kind to everyone at the school.
Line-ups were held every morning before lessons commenced, but on Wednesdays were formal Assemblies at which Bible readings were offered. They were held in the front court-yard and the entire school attended with learners lined up according to their grades. There was not enough room in the hall for all the learners, so Assembly was held in the court-yard. The number of learners had increased substantially since the time the school was first built, and various structures, such as the hall, had not been enlarged to accommodate all the learners.
Additions, however, were made to the number of classrooms. This is discussed below.
The principal was a calm and steady presence at the school. He addressed the learners and teachers every morning, when they had lined up in the court-yard before going to their classrooms. As head of the school, he set an example of quiet but firm authority.
There was a set daily routine at the school, from morning line up in the court-yard, to Assembly every Wednesday, to a hot meal served to each grade throughout the morning, to first and second break. The teachers were always present and lessons were on time. The sense of responsibility and commitment to the welfare of the school and learners emanated from the principal through to the teachers and other staff at the school.
The serving of a hot meal to all the grades was staggered throughout the morning. At 09h10 the Grade Ones interrupted their lesson to collect and eat their meal, after which the lesson resumed. Each of the other grades followed the same routine thereafter. This interrupted the flow of the lesson and may have made it difficult for the learners to follow the concept that had been taught earlier.
The school’s code of conduct, its rules and discipline, were enforced and maintained. I saw evidence of this on various occasions, from the principal’s speaking at Assembly about the need to respect each other and their elders, to a teacher’s informing Grade 2 in class not to go to the bottom field to play at break time. This was the area designated for the high school grades because the school did not want younger learners mingling with older learners when not being carefully supervised.
Learners were polite when an adult entered the classroom, standing up to greet him or her, and they thanked catering staff after being served their meal. They seemed to have internalised good manners as part of what was expected at their school, helping them identify with and be proud of their school. I did, however, see learners being unruly and rough with each other in the court-yard and corridors where there was no supervision. This is possibly normal behaviour among boys playing together and was not unlike the behaviour of boys at the independent school at which I work, although at Baobab School it was louder and rougher.
There was evidence of collaboration between the principal, teachers, and support staff. The foundation phase teachers informed me of meetings scheduled in the afternoons which took place a couple of times a week during the period I was at the school for interviews and observations. Also, teachers had meetings with heads of departments or the school based support team (SBST) concerning any learners who concerned them. I did not attend these meetings.
The school grounds were kept clean. Learners were assigned particular days on which to collect refuse around the school instilling in them a sense of responsibility for the care of their school.
The school grounds had three levels. The first housed the main school buildings, namely the front court-yard, the principal’s office, and reception, the hall and various upstairs classrooms housing the higher grades, and downstairs classrooms for lower grades. This appeared to be the original school structure. The second level had smaller classroom structures which had been added on at a later stage and were made of pre-cast concrete panels. The final level was the playground consisting of a fenced-in area of flattened bare ground with some patches of grass.
The physical infrastructure of the school was functional but run down, and in need of a coat of paint and repairs to uneven and broken surfaces. Toilets and hand basins were in working order.
There was only one ramp provided for physically disabled persons at the entrance to the school.
The movement of a physically disabled person around the school would be difficult across the three levels, with only steps from one level to the other. There were no other facilities for physically disabled learners, though I was informed that there were no learners with physical disabilities needing a wheelchair at that time.
The upper level classrooms I observed for Grade 1 and Grade 3 were old, but had sufficient space for desks and chairs for 36 learners. The lower level classrooms were very small having little room to walk freely around chairs and desks. The teacher and learners had to climb over bags or were unable to walk through to the back of the classroom when learners were seated.
The Grade 2 classroom I observed was one such classroom.
The three foundation phase classrooms had sufficient desks, chairs, cupboards, and shelves for teacher and learners. There was a black board and numerous educational resources, such as posters, charts, abacuses, and books, but the furniture and resources were old and tired-looking.
The only visible new resources were the small corner libraries.
I was informed by the foundation phase teachers that the libraries were donated by a local, non- profit organisation which had rolled out the libraries over the past three years to Grades 1, 2 and 3 classrooms. They consisted of two shelves of a selection of English, IsiXhosa, and Afrikaans books appropriate for the grade. The books were beautifully illustrated and were covered with protective plastic covers. A small colourful carpet and some bright cushions had also been donated by the organisation for the library corner in each classroom, as illustrated in Figures 4.1 and 4.2 below.
Figure 4.1: Classroom library Figure 4.2: Library book
In the Grade 3 classroom, I observed that the black board had a line of cupboards underneath it making it difficult for the teacher, Mrs Snyman (pseudonym), to reach the board. She stood on a chair to write on the board which could be hazardous. During one of her lessons she resorted to an A3 sheet of paper stuck onto the one side of the board rather than having to climb on the chair.