Kloof High School has been instrumental in my life. My 3 siblings and I all attended Kloof High during the 80’s – the generation that spawned the best music ever and sometimes the worst fashion. It was whilst I was in matric that I realized that I loved school so much that I never wanted to leave and applied to Edgewood College to become a teacher.
I was adamant that I wanted to be an English teacher after Miss Gregory and Mr Manion had made the English novels we studied come alive for me.
I may have been a bit of a teachers’ pet – I always tried to help out where I could and was overjoyed when I was announced as a prefect at the end of grade 11 (standard 9). I was also captain of the girls’ hockey second team and really thought I had made it!
At Edgewood, I was told that I had to study Mathematics as my major in order to do English as my second major. Crap! Help! I only managed to do maths on standard grade in matric. But even then, I was determined to have an impact on other people like my teachers had on my life so I bit the bullet and jumped in with both feet.
Mr Labuschagne, Mr Burns, Mrs Walker, Miss Williams, Miss Ohrtmann, Mrs Paton, Miss Lambert, Mr Manion, Miss Gregory were all teachers who loved their pupils and inspired me to become a teacher just by loving what they did.
I met my husband at Edgewood and he got his first teaching post at Kloof High. (He moved up to Jo’burg very shortly thereafter however). I did one of my teaching practicals at KSP and then one at Kloof High.
I KNEW I was meant to be a high school teacher! I have taught in 6 schools in Kwa-Zulu Natal and in the Western Cape but in 2004 ended up back at Kloof High. It was a joy to come home! When I walked into the staffroom I could not believe how many teachers were still teaching at Kloof High 16 years after I matriculated – I must have counted more than 10 at least. That in itself told me what a happy staff Kloof High had. Slowly over the last 15 years that I have taught here most of them have retired and now in a way, I am considered an “old” teacher – part of the furniture – how did that happen???
But what can I say, Kloof High is in my blood!! The school’s motto – To Be The Best I Can Be – has always resonated with my husband and myself and we have actually used it with our own family, encouraging our 3 children to always give of their very best in everything they do. My kids are also now past pupils, having matriculated in 2015, 2017, and 2019. Wow, just writing that down is incredible for me! To think that this school not only shaped me as a person but was the same place that helped my kids to flourish and achieve and be the best version of themselves. I often tell new parents that for me as an educator, the one thing that shows if a school is worth looking at is if its own staff are happy to send their own children to the school. You would be amazed at how many of my colleagues’ children I have taught over the years as well.
I have seen many changes to Kloof High over the years, from new classrooms and a half Astro being added to a change in the uniform (from brown to blue). Teachers do indeed come and go but the stability of this staff, the job satisfaction we have here and the quality of our pupils is second to none. One school, one family is our catchphrase and it certainly has stood the test of time for me!!
