De Villiers Graaff Primary School (Villiersdorp)

Bra, De Villiers Graaff Primary in Villiersdorp. Villiersdorp. The place where the biggest news of the week is when someone's bakkie breaks down outside the Spar. This school wrote its own description like a form you fill in at Home Affairs, completely dead behind the eyes, no personality, just facts. "It serves 339 learners and employs 19 educators." That is it. That is the whole vision. No values, no mission, no "we nurture young minds." Nothing. Just vibes and a CAPS curriculum and presumably some wind. Nineteen educators for 339 kids works out to almost 18 learners per teacher, which is actually not terrible, but in Villiersdorp that one teacher is probably also the groundsman, the tuck shop aunty, and the guy who fixes the photocopier with a flathead screwdriver and prayer. And listen, no boarding facilities means these kids go home every day, which in Villiersdorp means there is genuinely nowhere else to be anyway. Where are you running to, the dam? The other side of the dam? The school is named after De Villiers Graaff, which is a very serious and important name for a school that described itself with the energy of a rental agreement. Somewhere out there, De Villiers Graaff is looking down going, "I had a whole political career and this is what carries my name forward." Overall verdict: A school that does exactly what it says on the tin, which is admirable, even if the tin has no label and was found at the back of a cupboard in Villiersdorp.