Last Friday Elnor Primary School in Elsies River said goodbye to its principal, who has been promoted to circuit manager.
Mark Agulhas is credited with transforming the school from a struggling one in a gang-infested area to a beacon of hope for learners. Among other awards, Agulhas received the provincial Award for Excellence in Primary School Leadership in 2022.
Agulhas said he would miss the school. “Elnor Primary School has actually changed me into the person I am today. I became a better person and learnt to treat each person in a dignified manner regardless of their background or social standing. I will miss all the learners, for they gave me a reason to smile. The community accepts me and supports all fundraising activities. When I walked through the community, they would show the necessary respect. I love them as they remind me of my own family and the community of Lavender Hill, who raised me.”
“Today I can say ‘I am because of them.’”
Putting learners first
He said his focus had always been with the learners.
“The learners mean the world to me. I love them stacks, even the challenging ones. It took our school many years to be where we are today. The school has developed an ethos of curriculum delivery, hard work and discipline for the foundation. I will miss the extra classes, extra feeding sessions and the staff camaraderie.
“In 2017 the school achieved weak results in mathematics. Since then we are proud to say that we have improved our results by more than 30%. Whatever Elnor Primary School has taught me I will share with the 25 schools I support from now on. I’ll encourage principals to be more involved in their communities and to give to the less fortunate.
“We’ve come a long way, eight and a half years to be exact. The staff are a dedicated group of people. As a school we developed pride in our learners, our staff and even the parents. I was unable to see the school get an auditorium, hence I would want to see the school raise funds or find a donor to build a school hall. They must not grow weary of giving. The school community granted me the opportunity to give to others. One of the hallmarks of the school is to give. We feed during the week, during the holidays and for the past few months; we feed the community once a week.”
In his farewell speech he spoke of the difficult early years at the school. “My first three years will go down as some of the most turbulent in the history of my teaching career. The school was under curatorship, in debt, with low staff morale, literacy and numeracy headaches, challenges with learner discipline, infrastructural issues and many more. We thank God for carrying us through that period. Many visitors had something to give us, whether it was a box of papers, an office chair, a few lever-arch files, learners’ desks and chairs, my previous school giving us a few pairs of old shoes, jerseys and shirts. All and good, but receiving things all the time keeps one in bondage.
“Since 2020 our focus has changed. God sent in new staff members and new ground staff. God sent people to open our eyes. Duncan Isaacs, current acting principal, encouraged sales of unwanted goods, at the ‘Elnor price’. God sent Chrishane Verlaat to ignite fundraising activities. He sent… Henwood to start a feeding programme during lockdown, and we’re still feeding the community and learners in need. The department supplies food only for 250 learners. The staff buy the extra, so we can feed the well over 500 learners.
“God sent … Adams in to boost the curriculum of the Foundation Phase. More staff were added, including administration, grounds, feeding and other support.”
Giving back
“Since 2020 we have been a giving school,” Agulhas continued. “We started giving on Pi-Day, 15 March, to the seniors of this community; in fact, we still do. We started handing 200 food parcels out at a time, supplying up to 400 food containers per day at the end of the term. We take 100 food containers to different pockets of Elsies River, such as Chicago, The Range, Epping Forest and so on.”
Legacy
Verlaat, acting deputy principal, spoke on Agulhas’ legacy at the school, which opened in July 1959 as an Afrikaans-medium school, one that has had its ups and downs over the years. Agulhas was appointed in July 2017 and since then the school has experienced an up-swing, she said, in curriculum delivery, learner results, particularly in mathematics and home language and staffing.
