I mentioned previously that my grandson's school had been sold to developers late last year and the plan was to move into another school close by. It turned out the only reason that school was available was because of continuous cable theft happening every other week. Instead of combatting the crime the school was deemed unfit leaving the school without any property.
Here he is in the local newspaper showing off his diploma whilst others show their certificates. He was one of a few who earned a diploma for the provincial eisteddfod.
Basically since the beginning of this year the school has been using temporary shared schooling options which is not ideal. The school has purchased two buildings which they will be converted into class rooms, but the deeds of sale have still not been processed due to the Johannesburg administrative office having it's systems backed up. This has been ongoing since February and both buildings will not accept early occupation so the entire school is on hold.
My grandson has missed about 6 weeks of schooling this year which is not great and has been staying up to date with online classes. He does need more than this however and the school opened up in their third premises this morning. This new temporary site does look more promising and they have mentioned this will be the site for the remainder of the year.
Up till now they have been using properties that were less than ideal even though this is for only around 11 children. last year the school had 32 children and now they are on 11 having lost 21 since the beginning of this year. This is a special needs school with the teachers being specialist doctors in their various fields and why we have chosen to stick with them even though not ideal. For a child that has special requirements changing teachers may not necessarily be the right answer and the thought is he has progressed so quickly they know what they are doing and would be best to stick with them through this process.
What has amazed myself is how gullible the owners of the school are and should have researched before selling the school in the first place. There had to be a good reason for why the school they were moving to was empty and this should have been a major red flag. They have not only let themselves down, but all the kids they were helping as this would have been a major upheaval for many who did not understand why the sudden changes.
My grandson is lucky compared to the majority of other kids as he does not necessarily require special needs and is more on the remedial side with poor eyesight. Lucky he is intelligent and they regard him being a year ahead of where he should be for his age and we do not want to waste that year so schooling needs to progress at the pace he has been accustomed to. At these young ages the kids need stability and the moving around will have most on edge.
My grandsons birthday is later this month and he will be inviting his entire class or what is left of them to a birthday party. He has insisted we invite them all which is a nice thing and shows what a kind person he is. This is not how the others think as he has only been to 3 other birthday parties with his school friends. For some this will be their first ever birthday party due to their various special needs.
