Luxolo Day
On 12th October Luxolo Intermediate School celebrated its 28th birthday. The school opened the doors of its current buildings in Thembalesizwe in October 1983. It had been a long, hard road to the realization of this dream for the parents and teachers, with pupils previously having been housed in church halls and community centres in an attempt to educate them.
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The parents in the meantime had approached the municipality about establishing a building fund into which they contributed funds on a monthly basis with the aim of having a proper purpose-built school. The Department of Education eventually acknowledged the need, and the school building was completed in 1983, with Mr Tinta as the first principal.
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In 1991, current principal, Mr Jan Mathiale took over the running of the school, not only as principal, but also as teacher and secretary as well - a school secretary was only appointed by the Department of Education in 2008. The school now has a staff of 12 full-time teachers, and has classes from grade R to grade 9. The current enrolment of the school is at its highest ever, with 408 learners who range in age from four to seventeen. The children are taught in isiXhosa until grade 3, and thereafter in English. The home language for the majority (approximately 60%) of learners is Afrikaans.
On Luxolo Day the children were encouraged to come to school in their own choice of clothes, and two periods of the day were devoted to learning about and playing indigenous games, which were much enjoyed. The children also had the opportunity to have their faces painted in the distinctive Luxolo colours of yellow and black.
The teachers of Luxolo