Oranjemund Online

Well another end of an era, after 30 years of teaching at OPS, Mrs Van Schoor (nee' Groenewald) Retired today.

An emotional final assembly, whereby she entered the school hall from the back to a slow clap from the pupils, with the clapping pace picking up as she headed to the stage....

Wish her and Stokkies a great retirement down in the Cape!

:emot112_2:   yougogirl

Mike, could you kindly post a pick of Mrs van Schoor?  Trying to remember but my memory is tooo foggy...

I will try and find one.... Remember in our day, she was Mrs.Groenewald...(I think)

I remeber Annelie , taking me under her wing when i was going through a rough time  at about  age 19 ... even loaning me her yellow VW beetle to  drive to  Windhoek to sort out a mess  caused by an unmentionable in my life ...

Dunja, here is a photo of OPS staff members 2006.
Mrs van Schoor is sitting in front with the blue tracksuit on,Mrs JAmes is on the end, Mrs Brand is the 3rd one in the front row and Mrs Watt (we know her as either Ms Strang or Mrs Josephs).  Just above Mrs James is Mrs Muller and just above her is Mrs Lintveldt.  Mrs Frylinck is at the beginning of the 3rd row.  Mrs Holland is right at the back on the end.  I dont think there is anyone else from way back when, oh by the way, I'm the 2nd one in the 2nd row (orange top).  I hope that you could follow.....

Thanks Susan, unfortunately she does not look familiar but did recognise a few faces.

Gosh, I remember Miss Strang. She was my teacher in Standard 1. I remember how she would pinch our ears when she felt that we'd done something wrong. But she didn't just pinch them, she would dig her names into the flesh ...!

Sheeesh when I think back what teachers did to us....  Does this still happen today?  Are the teachers of today still doing this type of thing?

Cannot say I would be happy if my son came home from school telling me a teacher pulls or pinches his ears!

My parents weren't happy to see the mark I still had on my ear and my mom rushed to school to face her about it. I agree that there should be a limit to how teachers discipline kids. But then again, kids need discipline and the wackings we got by Mr Bergh (he had a ruler named tranedraal or something like that) and Mr Koch (a leather strap) never killed us and we respected our elders. Nowadays, even a parent has no right to spank their child.

Mr Bergh, knew how to Klap.... he had it down to a fine art, smack bang between your shoulder blades...when you least expected it.......

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Mr Steyn was our "Ruler" teacher, used to smack us over the top of our legs.

Mr Dickinson ... taught woodwork as well ,, so his favourite  was a nice smoothly planed piece of wood ..
I laugh thinking back to an incident with Mrs O'Brien .. she would sometimes  tell us  to just take a few minutes out  if we were looking inattentive .. ie we  were to put  our heads  down on the desk and just be silent ( I think a welcome break for her as well as she would sit sedately  eyes closed yes we peeked ) anyhow Dianne Young was seated behind me and she mischieviously gave a kick on the rear , totally unexpected I yelped ,, well peace and quiet  broken  .. Mrs O'B headed for me  peed  off  at me breaking the silence , grabbed one of those triangular rulers  and wacked me on the  top of  the hand with disastrous  consequences ( sharp edge )  cos a vein on the  hand obviously ruptured and almost immediately popped up into a lump .. the sigth of that was enough to make me feel sick went pale as sheet ,, she  too at this oversight of moment of  anger .. I then capitalised on this  .. " look .. see what you did to me  now you in trouble !!  "  really played it out .. she apologised  put a  cold compress on it  and bandaged it tight ... apology accepted .. no further word mentioned and yes the  lump subsided  pretty soon ,, but yes  the hand was eina for a few days ..

Mrs Williams (Afr) use to pinch in your shoulder, painful... there were also a few other teachers who would throw board dusters at you, not nice.....

A topical Poll has been added to the top of this post!

I  still believe that a controlled   corporal punishment  works .. not  at times the uncontrolled  shyt  of some of the damaged souls  that we had as teachers ,,  I  mention one at  Hugenote High .. Mr Lamprecht ... he had issues  and  a tendency toward paedophilia ... I stood up to him and yes  had a price to pay ... but yes  good intent  works .. consider the anarchy in schools at present ..  FOLKS   ITS A DOUBLE EDGED  SWORD ..  so difficult to say whats right or wrong ,, all I have to say is I  was not damaged by  anything that transpired .. It only made me  stronger .. and who i am today  ...

Agree 100% with Sandy and had the same experience.  Had one "Mr Burger" in Springbok - a$$... with this little person complex, never had any power, so took it out on us kids.  I was punished (until blood flowed) because I READ through my Biology before making notes  - just because I didn't have a pen in my hand, so according to him I was sleeping!  This is the only teacher from my past I would like to squash like a bug if I ever get to see him again.  Then another teacher - sent me to office for corporal punishment because I under-scored in a test - I had 76%, and according to him I'm an under-achiever, I was supposed to get more than 80%.