For 40 years, Imperial Primary School has thrived and lived up to its motto “school of excellence” despite sitting on the border of two known gang territories.
The secret, according to the school’s long-serving teachers, lies not in resources or location, but in dedication and a shared belief that every child deserves excellence, regardless of their circumstances.
And most importantly: faith.
Faith as foundation
“Imperial always acknowledges God first. When we have assemblies, we pray first, the Muslims and the Christians, and even when we have a staff briefing in the mornings, each teacher gets a chance to give a motivational speech or devotion,” said Beverley Riley, a teacher at the school who has been there for 26 years.
Riley began her career as a Grade R teacher with no primary school experience or qualifications.
She had been recruited from a nearby crèche by former principal Colin Baron, who was the school’s longest-serving principal with 37 years at the school. Baron recognised her potential.
“He saw potential and he put me in Grade R. And then after that, he asked me if I could take up the challenge to teach Grade 1. And I said, ‘yes, sir’. I knew nothing about Grade 1, but I took up the challenge. And from there on, he motivated me to go and study.”
Riley would later go on to win the education department’s teacher of the year award in 1990. She now teaches Grade 3 at the school.
A legacy of nurturning talent
Baron’s quiet nurturing of potential became part of his legacy. Acting principal Adelah Avontuur, who took over the school’s reins upon Baron’s retirement in 2023, said he had encouraged several other teachers at the school to study further.
Her history with Baron extended further than any of her colleagues since he was her high school science teacher before he became her peer.
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“He taught Afrikaans and science at Manenberg,” she said. “That was in 1980.”
Many years later she and Baron would start together as teachers at Imperial in 1988, and even later they would go on to lead the school together as principal and deputy principal.
Building bonds amidst challenges
Fellow long-serving teachers Gloudine Groep, Jennifer Rustin and Randall Norman agree about Baron’s impact.
Rustin said the nurturing culture Baron instilled created a bond between the teachers and the learners.
“The bond that we formed with the community and the learners, it’s just phenomenal, really, because we can always depend on our parents,” she said.
This bond persists despite the challenges of many learners going home to fractured households, absent parents and needing to navigate gang territories.
The Grade 6 teacher, who started at the school when she was “very young” in 1987, declares that she would not trade her experience at Imperial for anything.
A pattern of loyalty
The newest long-serving member of the school, Norman, also joined the school as a novice teacher, with only three months of substitute teaching under his belt, but never left. “I came as a substitute teacher in 1994 for someone that was off sick for a month,” he said. “And 31 years later, I am still here.”
Norman attributes much of the school’s success to Baron’s leadership approach.
“I think a lot of the success of the school was built on the vision of the principal, Mr Baron, and his ability to tap into the strengths of the teachers. So this school has been built on the shoulders of the teachers.”
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The achievements that Norman refers to include the school’s consistent sporting and academic success. Avontuur adds that elite high schools all over the city come every year to Imperial to recruit Grade 7s.
The high number of pupils that have gone on to become doctors, scientists and elite sportspeople has also made the school “in demand”, Avontuur says. This popularity results in hundreds of Grade R applications being rejected due to applicants not having siblings at the school or being out of its feeder areas.
Groep, a Grade 5 teacher who started at the school in 1989, exemplifies this dedication. “I was 21 when I started and now I am in my 60th year,” she said.
Curiously, several of the youngest teachers to join the school are former pupils, proving the school is an attractive place to be.
This year, Imperial Primary, which is situated in Beacon Valley, celebrates its 40th anniversary.
