McTaggartskamp
(RK) Primary
On their way to Upington, 9 September 1931, bishop
Fages, together with Father Puysalon as driver, came
across a troubled truck. The Truck-driver had no petrol.
As they stopped to help the man to get the petrol
from the vehicle to the truck, bishop Fages started
a conversation with the driver of the truck, Mnr Broude.
Mnr Broude told the story to him of his big farm with
plenty of workers. The Bishop then asked him if he'll
agree to put up a school on his farm for the children.
Mnr Broude agreed and the Bishop bought some cheap
land from him and built a school.
In
November 1931 the bishop came to see the land. He then
saw that there's a lot of people in that specific area,
that is on the Upington - Keimoes road. It took him
(bishop) 4 years to make the planning and to finish
it.
This
new commission were named the St. Peter Klaver Commission.
The first School-church were praised on 14 July 1935
and the school started a day after. The first building
were build with reeds. The first head of the school
was Mnr Samuel February, 'a teacher originally from
the Eastern-Cape Province. Him and his wife Kathleen
February (also a teacher), both helped with raising
and spreading of the Word. Their hard work quickly paid
of, because in 1939 they were able to built additional
classrooms. Numbers multiply and in 1945 another classroom
were built and new teachers were employed. In 1950 the
fifth classroom were built.
Mr
Samuel February together with his willing colleagues
built a modern school with a very distinctive catholic
character. He was head of the school for almost 30 years
and under his lead many pupils rose to above.
In
the earlier 70's he resigned and were followed by Mnr
Heyns as head master. The schools numbers multiplied
so quickly, that in1980 there were more
than 300 pupils with 12 teachers.
These
numbers went down as the years followed and factors
like urbanisation and birth control played a big role.
Today there are 215 pupils with 7 teachers
The
school strive to give quality education to all learners.
