The newly retired Helenvale Primary principal spent his entire 36-year career at the school in one of Gqeberha’s toughest precincts.
This is just one of the many remarkable highlights of Patrick Palmer’s career, which began in 1988 after he graduated from Dower College and Vista University.
The 58-year-old’s first post at Helenvale Primary was not far from his own stamping grounds in Salsoneville and Bethelsdorp and, as he recalled on Thursday, he remembers it well.
“I had turned 21 on the Sunday and started working on the Monday, January 1 1988,” he said.
“I was employed to teach grades six and seven geography, history and Afrikaans.
“From that time on there were many highlights and challenges, but I never had any desire to teach anywhere else.
“I felt it was my calling to be there and if I had to do it all over again I would go back to the same school. It has been a fantastic journey.”
Palmer said one of the highlights dated back to 2002 when he started the school’s Christian group, Die Wenners Klub, which is still active.
“We used to go on annual two- to three-day excursions to places like Jeffreys Bay, Loerie and Elandsrivier.
“Another highlight from 1992 was the Garden Route tour we organised for our kids and pupils from two other nearby schools.
“We went to Mossel Bay and other spots and stayed at various government accommodation facilities.
“The aim was just to get the kids out of Helenvale and it was a great success.”
He said the biggest challenge during his time at Helenvale Primary had been dealing with the violence and gangsterism which racked the Helenvale community, and inevitably impinged on the behaviour of the pupils.
“I realised that the best solution was education, that the better we could educate our kids, the more it would reduce the likelihood they were just going to end up as statistics.
“We measured our success in this regard by how many of our learners completed matric and it was always a hurdle, often related to the problem of funding, when some did not.”
He said his vision for how this and other problems in low-quintile schools should be tackled started with collaboration.
“All these schools in a particular area need to sit down together with the government and stakeholders like parents, business, law enforcement, health and psychosocial representatives who help to assess the learners’ cognitive abilities.
“A school cannot deal with the big problems by itself.
“We need to establish an accredited skills development programme and the government needs to help fund the training of the facilitators who will run these programmes.
“In support of this programme, teachers would as early as possible identify kids who are not academic for whatever reason, including the problems of foetal alcohol syndrome, and who will benefit from a skills development programme.
“The government has always emphasised the need for ‘inclusive’ education, but it is very difficult to include learners of very different levels of capability in a single lesson, and this new way of doing things would address that problem.”
He said parent participation was also vital.
Helenvale Primary was already working with the White Door Centre organisation to improve this aspect.
The Helenvale Primary Facebook page was filled with fond farewells from present and past pupils, as well as parents, after a photo of him spending the last day in his office on January 31 was posted.
“We'll miss you ... Respect ...
“What a humble person. I never ever saw or heard him speak down on anyone.
“He must enjoy his retirement, but I know we will still see him a lot in Helenvale.”
Palmer, who was also Helenvale Primary’s soccer coach, was promoted in 2013 to a head of department, in charge of grades four to six, and to principal in 2018.
He is married to Celestine and has two children — Hewan, who is in the solar panel business, and Daena, who is on the last stretch of studying law.
He said his passion for education had stemmed from his conviction that it was his calling.
“I held it very dear because it was an opportunity to mould young people. So I took it very seriously.
“I gave the best years of my life to Helenvale Primary, but I have no regrets.
“I’m really sad to go, but I’m a bit battle-weary now and it is time to pass the baton to someone younger.”
The Herald
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