Academic
Bastion Primary School is a parallel medium primary school with just over 1 830 learners from Grade R to Grade 7. There are five Grade R classes and seven classes per grade in Grades 1 to 7, with two being English Home Language in each grade. Bastion is one of the largest primary schools in the Western Cape, with 114 dedicated staff members. These include a principal, two deputy principals, 75 educators, 6 secretarial staff, 1 social worker, 21 assistants and 11 ground and maintenance staff. The assistant educators are there to support the educators and learners and help to develop the personal interaction in class. The school has extensive grounds with 6 netball/tennis courts, 3 rugby fields and a newly acquired Astroturf. When standing on the fields and grounds, one has a magnificent view of Table Mountain and the area between Bastion and the mountain.
On the academic front, Bastion offers three languages to all Grade 1 to 7 learners. These are English, Afrikaans and isiXhosa as a third additional language. Bastion also covers all the required subjects, namely Languages, Mathematics and Life Skills for Grades 1 to 3, and Languages, Natural Sciences and Technology, Social Sciences, Mathematics, and Life Skills for Grades 4 to 6, with the addition of Technology, Creative Arts, and Economic and Management Sciences for Grade 7. We have also included Computer Skills as we have two computer rooms, which allows the school the opportunity to have formed part of the pilot project for Robotics since 2021.
Bastion is a school of excellence where the learners come first and the happiness of the learners and staff is of the utmost importance. To achieve this goal, the school has empowered not only the senior staff but has also developed smaller hubs in the school that are run by the Grade Heads and Department Heads. They have been given the initiative to run their sections with freedom and with only minimum guidance from the senior staff. This has allowed various areas of the school to develop and become renowned across the country. One of these societies is our Drama Club.
To help implement the academic plan, the Governing Body has improved the class infrastructure with interactive whiteboards, overhead data projectors and they have also supplied all educators with personal laptops. The Senior Staff and Governing Body have also focused on resources by promoting staff happiness and well-being. This has definitely helped to keep the staff motivated during these difficult times. Even though the school still uses physical textbooks, the classes are source-based which helps to develop an interactive academic environment. Didactic lessons are also offered after school for learners who struggle with English, Afrikaans and Mathematics. This helps to develop the learners and helps to prepare them for their future grades. Another plus point to Bastion is that learners can freely interact with the prepared PowerPoint presentations of the educators and the world brought into the classroom by the wi-fi network, but the most defining reason for Bastion’s academic success has been the very low educator rotation as the staff operates as a dedicated family, serving the needs not only of the learners, but also that of the broader community.
Bastion is also very strong in sport and cultural activities. The school offers various extra-mural activities: rugby, netball, hockey, cricket, chess, tennis, archery, individual music lessons, athletics, cross country, drama club, orators, as well as a junior and senior choir. With this selection of activities, Bastion doesn’t only focus on academics, but also tries to develop the learner as holistically as possible. The learners are also developed as leaders and have the opportunity to serve as class captains during all their years in Bastion and as prefects in their Grade 7 year.
Bastion’s staff therefore strives to make Bastion a school of excellence where the whole learner is developed and prepared, not only academically and physically for the demands of life, but also emotionally. Bastion’s senior staff also believe that happy educators will develop happy learners and ultimately, happy parents.