Certain individuals act like Simon Cowell when assessing learners from Van Kervel School. Cowell is the blunt controversial competition judge of Britain's Got Talent, who is known for often making cynical pre-performance judgments based on physical appearances. A visit to the building, panel beating, spray painting and electrical sections of the school will remove the Simon Cowell smirk in a flash. These are excellent acts that very few can follow. There are jewels at the school.
Van Kervel School caters for learners with special educational needs. The learners mostly include those who are intellectually challenged and have difficulty in academic and abstract learning styles. Often they experience barriers in reading, writing and numeracy. They do not benefit from the academically-orientated education in mainstream schools because of the tempo, work overload and pressures of mainstream education
When Barries Barnard, the maintenance teacher, joined Van Kervel in 2008 he said, "I was distressed to hear that learners from the other high schools in town sing 'Ons is dom maar ons werk hard. Wat ons leer vergeet ons weer'. (We are stupid but we work hard. What we learn we forget again.) when the Van Kervel learners climb on the bus."
Barnard added that the learners' peers destroy their self-confidence. "This can negate all the hard work of my fellow teachers."
In 2010 he made a conscious decision not be part of the negativity. "I was determined not to fall into the groove."
By chance my friend Michael Lourens, today the national tug-of-war u.23 coach, came to settle in George. "Together we hatched a plan to revive the Van Kervel tug-of-war squad and make it a winning team. We called in the boys and told them we wanted a group of boys that were raring to go and would give their all for the cause. Tongue in cheek we even said that we would go to the world championships irrespective of where it took place."
In 2011 the u.18 boys 560kg team beat Oakdale, a previous world champion team. That year, on a tour to Switzerland, the team came 11th out of 54 teams at the Germany, England, Netherlands, Switzerland and Belgium (GENSB) International Youth Tug-of-War tournament.
The following year, the success spurred the u.18 girls 480kg team, under the guidance of Barnard's wife Anita, to win gold at the South African Championship held in Malmesbury.
Two boys and two girls have received national recognition and, after a break of 20 years, Van Kervel School is winning medals again.
An official who works with Seta learnership learners says that Van Kervel learners try very hard to adapt and have the necessary social skills to make a positive contribution to the fortunes of the company. To quote the owner of a panel beating shop in the Garden Route, "Please find me the diamonds from Van Kervel."
If employers are looking for workers that mean something, come and visit Van Kervel, The 'X-Factor' auditions are held there every day.
The Van Kervel School tug-of-war team in action on the tour of Switzerland in 2011.
ARTICLE: MYRON RABINOWITZ, GEORGE HERALD JOURNALIST
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