Pinelands North bids farewell to principal

Pinelands North Primary School is saying farewell to its longest-serving principal, Ann Morton, who will retire at the end of the year.

Ms Morton, 65, of Sybrand Park, joined the school as its principal 27 years ago in 1997.

Prior to that, she had teaching stints at Boston Primary, Rustenburg Girls’ Junior School, Pinelands Primary and Wynberg Girls’ Junior School.

Her time at Pinelands North has given her, “tears, laughter, joy, support and comradeship”, she says, describing how she set out to change the school, making its staff body more diverse and welcoming pupils who had found acceptance at other schools difficult.

“Perhaps they could not hear properly, could not walk properly or could not learn in the same way that other pupils could learn,” she says.

Some staff left in those early days, fearing the changes heralded a possible lowering of standards, she says.

“My plan was originally to stay for five years to make a difference, though I loved being here so much that I did not go anywhere else,” she says.

When she started as principal, there were 428 pupils, and now the school has 510.

In 2022, the school was a runner-up in the World’s Best School Prize in the category of “overcoming adversity” (“Pinelands North finish as runners-up in global school competition,” Southern Suburbs Tatler, October 20).

Over the years, Ms Morton has visited New Zealand, Italy, the UK, Singapore, China, Hong Kong, Finland and the United Arab Emirates to learn about new teaching trends.

In an assessment last month, the School Evaluation Authority (SEA) rated her school “outstanding with full house”, says Ms Morton, noting that the school was assessed on elements such as pupil achievement; teaching and learning; behaviour and safety; leadership and management; parents, governance and community.

“We are rated out of four for each area, and most schools receive three out of four, and we received a perfect four out of four for each area.”

She adds: “This is a final tick for me. We had evaluations before, and we did well, though this is the best evaluation that we had.”

Ms Morton says confronting retirement has been hard. “I had to go to therapy to deal with the change, though if I had the choice, I would have stayed on.”

She nevertheless plans to finish a book documenting the school’s history dating back to when it opened in 1948 - it’s a project she has been working on for the past ten years.

Teacher Michele Visser, who has been at the school for 16 years, says Ms Morton will leave a lasting legacy. “She is an amazing leader and mentor, and we could approach her with any of our ideas,” she says.

Another teacher, Brandy Verheem, adds: “When I think of Pinelands North and I think of teaching here, I will always think of Ann’s presence, who promoted a strong ethos and diversity.”

The deputy principal, Shereen Stadler, will take over as principal from the beginning of next year.

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