Lavender Hill Secondary School gets a library after decades of struggle
Archbishop Thabo Makgoba and Vice Chancellor Brian O'Connell to speak
Equal Education Campaign for School Libraries continues
Equal Education (EE), with Principal Mr Faseeg Manie, invite you
to the opening of a new school library at Lavender Hill Senior
Secondary School in Retreat, Cape Town. The ceremony will be held
at the school at 14:15 on Wednesday 14 July 2010. See below for
directions.
Key speakers will be Archbishop Thabo Makgoba, head of the
Anglican Church of Southern Africa, and Prof Brian O'Connell, Vice
Chancellor of the University of the Western Cape. Representatives
of the Western Cape Education Department will also be present.
An update will also be given on the year-long Campaign for
School Libraries that Equal Education has conducted. Certain key
breakthroughs and difficulties will be explained.
Only 8% of the public schools in South Africa have functional
school libraries. Major studies, conducted both locally and abroad,
have shown that the provision of functional school libraries can
improve average learner outcomes by between 10 and 25%.
Since its founding in 2008, EE has been striving for quality and
equality in the South African education system. Since early 2009,
the organization's staff and members – primarily made up of
learners, teachers and parents – have been involved in a national
"Campaign for School Libraries" under the slogan: 1 School, 1
Library, 1 Librarian.
On 1 March of this year, EE officially opened a new department
at 20 Roeland Street, Cape Town: The Bookery – Home of the Equal
Education Book Drive. The Bookery is a depot where books suitable
for either primary or secondary school learners can be donated;
books that are up-to-date and in good condition. In partnership
with government and each recipient school, all of these donations
are sorted, covered, labeled and catalogued using the latest
computer software.
Each library established by The Bookery contains a minimum of
three books per learner per school, and caters for the needs and
interests of its readership through a comprehensive selection of
fiction, non-fiction and reference works. To ensure sustainability,
each school has an existing library space and a member of staff
committed to fulfilling the role of a librarian.
With 1100 learners, Lavender Hill Senior Secondary will be
receiving over 3300 books, which include a variety of the latest
Oxford Dictionaries for South African languages; the memoirs and
biographies of icons ranging from Nelson Mandela to Anne Frank; a
selection of new encyclopedic works on science, evolution, sport
and history; and more than 1500 novels enjoyed by high school
learners the world over.
DIRECTIONS
The school is located on Grindal Avenue, Lavender Hill, Retreat,
Cape Town. Please RSVP to Richard Conyngham at
rich@equaleducation.org.za or on 021 461 4189.
Follow the link for a map of the area surrounding the school.
Directions from the city to Lavender Hill Secondary:
From Eastern Boulevard take the N2 towards the airport. Take the
3rd off-ramp for the M5 South/Black River Parkway (The road loops
around over the highway before leading you to the M5 South).
Continue on the M5/Prince George Drive for 15km.
Not long after the Nando's, turn left into Hek Street and then
left again into Grindal Avenue.
The school will be on your right.
Heading North on the M5 from Muizenberg
The last major road that you will cross before Grindal is Military
Rd. Once you have crossed Military Rd, drive for 1km before turning
right into Hek Street.
Turn left into Grindal Avenue.
The school will be on your right. There is a parking lot as you
enter the school.
Issued by:
Equal Education
Tel: 072 267 8489
E-mail: brad@equaleducation.org.za
