Fairview Primary celebrates 50 years

Fairview Primary School in Grassy Park has been living up to its motto “Learn in order to serve” for half a century.

The school celebrated its 50th anniversary last Wednesday, February 19.

Staff organised a thanksgiving service with former teachers and principals and the circuit manager.

Principal Keith Meyer recalled his predecessors. The first principal was Gannon Volkwyn (1975 to 1979), followed by Suleiman Christian (1980 to 1993), Cedric Esterhuizen (1994 to 2009), Aubrey De Wet (2009 to 2018) and then Mr Meyer from 2019.

Mr Meyer officially took the helm after Aubrey De Wet’s death in 2021. “I was acting principal for two years before being officially appointed in 2021.”

After teaching at Fairview for 37 years, Mr Meyer had witnessed how the school excelled and how they overcame challenges.

Mr Meyer said among the school’s biggest accolades was being named the best sports school of the year by the United School Sport Association of South Africa in 2002 due to performances in the finals of the Love-Life Games held in Durban.

“We had teams representing dance, chess, and both boys and girls table-tennis teams. For a school in a disadvantaged community this was huge.

“In 2022, Fairview achieved phenomenal academic results in the Provincial Systemic Assessments. Grade 6’s achieved a 95.1% pass in Maths and over 80% in English. This was special. Our Grade 3’s normally achieve a pass rate of about 80% in Maths and English.”

Mr Meyer said another highlight was last year when Farah Thomas achieved Western Province and South African colours in girls soccer. Adam Domingo achieved Western Province and South African colours in boys’ under-13 table-tennis.

“And in last year as well academics, our Top 10 Grade 7 learners all achieved an overall average mark of above 82%,” said Mr Meyer.

Amid the great sporting achievements the school has been facing challenges such as not having a suitable soccer field. “It is a costly exercise to replace the sandy soil with fertile soil and to chemically treat our water so that it is suitable for grass and plants. The iron content in our water is too high. Ideally, an artificial turf will be easier to maintain. Our challenge is the money that is needed to prepare and lay such a field,” said Mr Meyer.

Despite the setbacks of a not having a good sporting turf, Fairview Primary had groomed many successful sportsmen as well as other professionals who attended that school which include JP Duminy – Cricket South Africa; Zain Davids – SA Sevens Rugby; Bevan Fransman – soccer; Darren Rodgers - SA Table Tennis; Reinhard Scholtz – Nature Conservationist (PhD) - settled in Canada; Lee-Anne Moses - entrepreneurship/ journalism/ digitisation of reading content; as well as Janine Cupido who excelled on the world stage as a singer,” said Mr Meyer.

Former Head of Department for English and Visual Art teacher, Grace Sinclair, retired after 34 years at Fairview in 2017. She said she worked with three past principals Mr Christian, Mr Esterhuizen and Mr De Wet.

Ms Sinclair said teaching at Fairview Primary was like working with an extended family with whom she shared the same vision and who worked towards the same goal.

Ms Sinclair said she loved seeing children enjoy themselves performing in school concerts. She also remembered the fun she had supporting 1000 children on a Surf walk from Muizenberg to Strandfontein Pavilion and she was proud to have rallied the Grade 7s to take part in the Cape Town International Kite Festival, in Sandvlei in 2003. “The children made seven or eight kites and we came first in that festival. We decided to have our own mini kite festival the following week at school.”

Ms Sinclair had groomed many generations and she said she believed in teaching the child in a holistic way.

Despite the children coming from different types of backgrounds whether it’s from a disadvantaged background or not, “was not a problem because they all blended in so beautifully at Fairview,” said Ms Sinclair.

Ms Sinclair remembered teaching Riaad Moosa, comedian and doctor who used to “perform magic tricks,” she smiled.