For Parents
No app subscription. Just an SGB elected by you, a WhatsApp group that the class teacher actually reads, and a principal who keeps Wednesday afternoons open for coffee.
We asked five parents what they would tell another family thinking of bringing their child to Makgobi. We did not edit. The names have been changed for the children, not the parents.
My son Kabelo struggled with his English in Grade 2. Mrs. Motsepe phoned me one evening — not at a parent meeting, just a Tuesday — and we agreed I would read with him in Setswana for ten minutes a night. Three months later he was reading the cereal box at breakfast. I do not think a city school would have phoned.
Mrs. Dimakatso Mokoena
Parent of Kabelo, Grade 3
My twin daughters started Grade R last year. They were shy. Now they shout greetings at the gate before I have switched off the bakkie. Whatever Ms. van der Merwe is doing in that Grade R room is working.
Mr. Johannes Pretorius
Parent of Naledi & Boitumelo, Grade 1
My daughter Lerato has a hearing aid. I was worried. The teacher walked me round to her seat — second row, near the window — and explained how she had set things up. They thought about it before I asked.
Ms. Palesa Khumalo
Parent of Lerato, Grade 4
We are a farming family. Our son misses school the day we sell at the market. Mr. Marumo never made me feel small for that. He just emails me what was missed and asks if we can do half of it on Sunday.
Mr. Thulani Sibanda
Parent of Sipho, Grade 6
I am a granny raising my grandson. The school made sure his birth certificate was in order so he could get the no-fee status — that took weeks of phone calls on their side, not mine. He goes to school every day, full stomach, with people who know him.
Mrs. Magdeline Sebego
Grandmother & primary caregiver of Tumelo, Grade 5
A school that is run with parents, not for them — through small, regular, low-cost mechanisms that any working family can take part in.
Twice a term per class — once on a weekend, once on a weekday afternoon, so working parents can get to one of them. Plus individual catch-ups whenever a class teacher or a parent flags something.
A Saturday in March and one in November. Bring siblings. Walk through any classroom that is open. Watch a Grade 3 reading lesson. Eat a koeksister from the SGB stall. Ask anything.
A roster for the kitchen, the food garden, library duty, and minor maintenance. Three hours a term is enough. We post the sign-up sheet on the gate; aunties on the WhatsApp group claim slots first.
An elected body of seven parents who hold the budget, the building, and the principal’s admin accountable. Election every three years; meetings open to any parent who wants to attend.
One group per class, run by the class teacher. Weekly Friday note: what we did, what is coming, what to bring on Monday. Photos of the food garden harvest. Pickup notices when the bus is late.
Termly family reading evening, Heritage Day under the trees, the parent vs. Grade 7 soccer match, and the Reading Marathon weekend. Bring a chair. Bring a book. Bring your gogo.
“The best education is co‑raised — by school and family, on the same yard, in the same week.”