Selborne Primary School (East London)

Selborne Primary in Berea, East London. Berea. Not Berea the nice suburb you are thinking of, Berea East London, which is a whole different conversation. But okay, let us not be rude, the Eastern Cape has produced some legends. It has also produced some potholes, but we move. 822 kids and 58 teachers. That ratio of 14.2 to 1 sounds manageable until you remember this is a public school in the Eastern Cape, where "manageable" means the teacher is present, the chalk is present, and that is already a miracle. Fourteen kids per teacher sounds fine on paper but we all know one of those teachers is the admin lady who only comes in on Thursdays and another one is the principal who has not seen a classroom since 2009. Co-educational, public, primary school. Nothing fancy, no Latin motto on a crest, no "holistic excellence in a nurturing Christian environment" nonsense. Just kids, teachers, and presumably a tuck shop that sells Simba chips and Fizzers and runs out of everything by second break. Honestly? Respectable. No frills, no R50 000 a year fees, just show up and learn something. Overall verdict: Selborne Primary is not trying to impress anyone and that is actually kind of refreshing, it is the boerewors roll of East London schools, nothing glamorous but it does the job and nobody leaves hungry.