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April 2010
Report on the three main projects of this
Trust:
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Sunrise Preschool
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Capricorn Primary School
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Community Library
Plus:
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Replication of Primary School in Hout Bay
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Outreach Teaching Program (Capreach)
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Other projects initiated or facilitated
by this Trust in Vrygrond
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Upskilling of existing Trustees
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Trust organization
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Financial
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Conclusion.
Download the remainder of this report (89KB) by clicking
here.
April 2009
VRYGROND ANNUAL REPORT on 15 March 2009
This report covers the Trust's three projects (Library,
Sunrise Preschool and Capricorn Primary School) and also
includes reports on other projects which are being established
in Vrygrond on land owned by the Trust. It covers the
period from January 2008 to March 2009.
Download
the remainder of this report (110KB) by clicking here.
1 August 2008
REPORT ON CAPRICORN PRIMARY SCHOOL, VRYGROND, 1 August 2008
From Jonathan Schrire.
SUMMARY: The momentum with which
Capricorn Primary School opened in January this year has been
maintained. In the space of only two terms it has been
recognised by the Dept of Education, as well as by outside
educators, as an educational model, in which superb teaching
methods are being used to address classic problems of poverty
and deprivation in education.
Download the remainder of this report (350KB) by clicking here.
20 March 2008
END OF OUR FIRST TERM
The first term ended on 20th March. After the children had gone
home, a
luncheon was held for all the staff. For the Principal Ridwan
and me it was a
time for reflection as much as for celebration. In June last
year teenagers
were doing drugs on the field where now stands a school which is
giving
educational hope to generations of Vrygrond children. It has
been a small
miracle the way Capricorn Primary has established itself and
settled down.
In only its first term, the school is already establishing a
reputation as a place
where exciting educational initiatives are taking place.
Download the remainder of the End of 1st term report (205KB) by
clicking here.
16 January 2008:
The opening day went wonderfully.
All the parents and their kids were in the Hall and the
principal made a very good speech. In essence he said that this
new school would restore the dignity of the children of Vrygrond.
He said that among them are many who have the potential to
become doctors, lawyers, engineers, leaders, and this school
would enable them to reach that potential.
I then briefly introduced all the members of the Trust who were
there, as well as Ronny & Loretta Harris, donors who had flown
out from London for the opening Loretta was crying with emotion
from the moment she walked into the school, -used up all my
tissues!
Download the remainder of the Opening update in pdf format
(820KB) by clicking here.
20 November 2007:
OPENING:
South African schools open for the first term of the new school
year on 16th January 2008. So on the morning of the 16th
January, - two months from now, - several hundred Vrygrond
children will gather in the new school Hall and be shepherded
off by their teachers to their new classrooms...
Download the remainder of the November update in pdf format
(101KB) by clicking here.
27 September 2007:
The contractor’s sign board was recently blown over by the
wind. The thick tubular steel legs, planted in concrete, were
bent at right angles by the force of the wind. So when there
were emergency site meetings about the fixings needed for the
roofs of the school, I bore this in mind.
 
Apparently engineers rate areas for wind, and Vrygrond has a
higher than average rating. The classic Cape Town wind, the
South Easter, rolls in across the expanses of False Bay and the
first landfall is Vrygrond, on the edge of False Bay. So the
level of roof fixings specified by our Engineer took these
factors into account.
Builders, as always, regard the requirements of engineers with
some annoyance: - nobody had ever seen such fixings before; even
the specialist supplying the prefab roof panels had never fixed
them so securely; doing it this way would require demolishing
half the walls. In the end an hour long meeting resulted in a
solution satisfactory to everybody. The roofs of the classrooms
will withstand the strongest South Easter.
The steel structure of the hall started two days ago, The huge
crane got stuck in the sand on site and it took half a day to
get it out. “Par for the course” philosophically muttered Mike
Rust, Senior Project Manager of Group 5. Once it got to work
however the crane erected the steel quickly. The Hall is going
to be by far the most impressive building in Vrygrond. Even as a
steel skeleton, it towers above the low-rise elevation of the
school classrooms.
 
I rely on the architects and contractors to drive the building
forward. I attend the site meetings but am largely incompetent
to give any input in a room full of professionals. I listen with
pleasure as they sort out technical stuff. They assure me that
the building is on schedule.
The Education Department has allocated a registration number for
the school, which means it is now in their system and they can
allocate resources to it. I am concentrating on the staffing of
the school, as well as encouraging Vrygrond parents to put their
children’s names down.
We have a Headmaster, Ridwan Samodien, who is leaving a
well–established Primary School because he says he wants the
challenge of being involved in establishing a school from
scratch. With his contacts, and those of colleagues in the Dept
of Education, we need to build up a team of staff.
The school needs to be open for the beginning of the 2008
academic year, - 16th January 2008. There is going to be a lot
of work to be done between now and then!
7 August 2007:
It has become apparent that remedial teaching will be a a
core element of the educational activities and this will need a
purpose-built room. So we made a decision to add to add an extra
classroom to serve as a place dedicated for remedial teaching.
So there will be 13 classrooms now plus the media-computer room.
Of course this will add another R120,000 or so to the building
costs but it needs to be done. I have a slightly sick
feeling that this project will be no different from virtually
every other building project, - ie the final costs will be more
than the initial estimates. I see it in various ways: - the
municipal costs for electrical connection are in fact R80,000
instead of the R30,000 that the Quantity Surveyor budgeted. We
are constantly tempted to add extra features, - cabling for
computers, security lights outside the school. Each a small
amount in itself, but they add up. Dennis has asked the Quantity
Surveyors to do a current cost estimate to see where we are now.
The walls are now over head height and the contractors say that
they are on schedule.
Dennis Fabian was recently featured in a business journal and
was quoted as saying that of all the projects he is now working
on (which include things like a hotel for Sol Kerzner!) the
Vrygrond School was the project that was closest to his heart.
The fact that he turns up at the piddly site meetings for our
school further confirms that he means this. He is in both the
above photos.
17 July 2007:
Foundations have been laid and the brickwork base is being built. Vrygrond residents are being employed on site.
The slabs for the floors of the classrooms will be laid in the
next week.
The contractor’s large sign-board has been erected with a
spelling mistake (“contactors”). Next to it, the small hand
painted sign of the local Vrygrond Security Company appears to
be correctly written. This augurs well for the possibility of
employing teachers’ assistants from the local community!
2 July 2007 – Employment issues:
Ever since the fence went up and the contractors populated the
site with Containers and other equipment, there have been men
from Vrygrond hanging around outside the fence, looking for
work. The estimate for unemployment in Vrygrond is commonly
given at around 60%, although no formal survey has been done. So
there are many people desperate for a chance to earn a day’s
wages as labourers.
Giving employment to the local community is not only sensible,
it is also an important “political“ gesture. If you read the
History of Vrygrond elsewhere on this site, you will know that
there has been a long thread of opposition from a small group of
malcontents, led by Jeremiah Thile, who try to wreck any project
which they do not control. Failing to use local labour is
something which they might well try to exploit to whip up
discontent.
Of course the problem is that there are far more work-seekers
than there will be jobs available. Vrygrond is not a place where
people rejoice in the good fortune of others, and those who do
not get work will be resentful of those who do.
It would be a nightmare for the contractors to make these
employment decisions. So I have appointed Freddy Jacobs and
James Booi as Community Liaison Officials. It is their job to
organise those who want work and impose some sort of selection
process. We are doing this in our Trust offices, 500 metres away
from the site. It is a big job, fraught with possibility of
tension and dispute. But the community must sort it out.
I have asked for the contractors to pay them each a salary of
R1,500 (£105) per month. Our Trustees do not receive any pay for
their work as Trustees, but if Freddy and James did not fill
these positions, we would have to hire others to do so. It would
not be reasonable for them to undertake this potentially
difficult job without some recompense.
Freddy has been on the Trust for 10 years, and is well known in
Vrygrond as a community leader. James Booi was until 2 years ago
the strongest lieutenant of Jeremiah Thile, who then “changed
sides” and is now very committed to the Trust. Freddy is
Coloured and James Xhosa, which is an important balance, since
they need to address issues of fairness in selecting labourers
from each of these two main groups in Vrygrond.
Breaking ground 7th June 2007:
Site work on the proposed Primary School in Vrygrond began
without any fanfare, on Thursday 7th June 2007. James Booi
phoned me to say that a large bulldozer was there, levelling the
site. By the time I got there the next afternoon, it had done
its job and gone! So Freddy Jacobs, James Booi and myself took a
couple of hurried photos on the site as the Cape winter rains
came down.
On site 8 June 2007. Jonathan & James
The first job was to erect a fence around the site. Theft is a
major problem in Vrygrond, often fuelled by youngsters looking
for money to buy the latest drug “tik” (crystal
methamphetamine). While even they could not get away with an
entire bulldozer, I would not put it past them, given enough
time, to dismantle it and cart off the pieces! The barbed wire
fence was erected in the week after the site had been levelled.
In addition, the contractors Group 5 have hired a permanent
security guard on site.
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