Work 01 · Visual Arts
Sunrise over Bodibe
Watercolour study from the school yard, painted across three afternoons. "Mrs. Sebogodi told me to look at the colour where the sun isn't." (Lerato's words, in our newsletter.)
A small campus, a busy week.
Our buildings are nothing fancy — brick walls, corrugated roofs, an open courtyard where the morning assembly happens. What follows is what actually fills those rooms during a week at Makgwe.
Twelve rooms, used hard.
A facilities tour, in twelve photographs. Some of these spaces were built in the 1980s; some were repurposed last year by parents on a Saturday. They all earn their keep.
Foundation Phase classroom
Twenty-eight desks, thick chalk, charts in Setswana and English on every wall.
Reading corner
A converted classroom with around 4,200 donated books and four bean-bag chairs.
Music room
One marimba, ten djembe, a battered upright piano. Loud on Wednesdays.
Art room
In the old admin annex; afternoon light is the best in the school.
Natural Sciences room
Six benches, eight donated microscopes, a working tap. Plenty.
School hall
Doubles as an assembly venue, exam hall, drama stage and Heritage Day dining room.
Sports ground
Hard-packed earth, two goalposts, the longest 100 m sprint in Bodibe.
NSNP food hall
Lunch for 425 served in two shifts. Four community caterers, hot meal every day.
Quiet room
Mats for Grade R nap time and a rotating Setswana audio-story shelf.
Counsellor's office
Open on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Self-referral drop-box outside the door.
Edible garden
200 m². Morogo, spinach, tomatoes, dinawa cowpeas. Watered by Grade 4.
Courtyard & trees
Two old camel-thorn acacias, three benches, every break-time congregation point.
Our facilities are inspected termly by the SGB and annually by the District Office. Maintenance is shared between the Department's allocation under our Section 21 status and parent volunteer work-days held twice a year.
Eight Mornings That Make a Year
Heritage Day, sports day, the Grade 7 farewell, the Wednesday assembly that turned into a sing-along — the rituals that hold our calendar together.
Heritage Day Celebration
Seshweshwe, makarapa, izibongo praise poetry — the village comes inside the gate
Inter-House Athletics
Four houses, two finish lines, a lot of grandmothers
Reading Week
Story-tellers from the village under the camel-thorn trees
Grade 6 Field Trip
A working dairy outside Itsoseng, in season
Marimba Club Showcase
End of term, in the school hall, parents standing
Parent Open Day
Quarterly. SGB, principal, every classroom open
Grade 7 Farewell
November. Ten-year-olds becoming high-schoolers
Teachers' Day
Hand-made cards, one slightly burnt cake
Ten Things They Made.
Every term, our staff choose ten learner pieces — not the most polished, but the ones that show the most thinking. These are from Term 3 and 4 of 2024.
Work 02 · Calligraphy
"Bothata ke Karabo"
A Setswana proverb — "the problem is the answer" — hand-lettered in iron-gall ink on a recycled exam pad cover. Now framed in the staff room.
Work 03 · Craft
Beaded keyring set
Eighteen keyrings made in Heritage Craft Week, sold at the school gate to fund the Grade 4 trip. Karabo learned the pattern from her aunt, then taught it to her class.
Work 04 · Creative Writing
"The bus that knew my name"
A 380-word short story about a school bus that turned out to be lonely. Submitted to the FunDza Young Writers' competition, longlisted in 2024.
Work 05 · English Speech
"Why my grandmother is right"
A four-minute persuasive speech on intergenerational climate wisdom, performed at the District schools competition (third place, 2024).
Work 06 · Robotics
JoJo tank water alarm
A Scratch project that uses a borrowed micro:bit to buzz the staff room when our garden's water tank reaches halfway. Has stopped two would-be dry days.
Work 07 · Drawing
Portrait of Mma Sibongile
Pencil-on-paper portrait of his grandmother, drawn from a wedding photograph. Placed first in the class portrait challenge — and now, also, in his living room.
Work 08 · STEAM
Bottle weather station
Rain gauge from a 2 L Coke bottle, anemometer from drinking straws and pins. Records sit in a Google Sheet our Geography teacher reads on Monday mornings.
Work 09 · Textiles
Recycled pencil case
Sewn from offcuts donated by a local seamstress, with hand-stitched edges. Twenty-three of these are now in use across the Foundation Phase classrooms.
Work 10 · Picture Book
"The hen who counted clouds"
A class-made picture book in Setswana and English, painted on cardboard pages, bound with shoelaces. Now circulating through the Bodibe Public Library.
What Our Learners Have Won.
An honest accounting of district and provincial recognitions over the last three school years. We celebrate the prizes, but more carefully, the children who didn't expect to win them.
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District-level recognitions across drama, athletics and academic competitions since 2022.
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Subject-competition placements at provincial or national level (Olympiads, FunDza, Sasol).
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Of Grade 7 leavers placed in their first-choice public high school in 2024.
2024 · Drama
Ngaka Modiri Molema District Drama Festival — 2nd
Grade 6 troupe · Lead: Mr. S. Tlou
2024 · Mathematics
SA Maths Olympiad Round 2 — Bronze
Grade 7B · Tebogo Mokoena
2023 · Athletics
NW Provincial Cross-Country — 4th, U13 Girls
Grade 7A · Karabo Sebogodi
2024 · Writing
FunDza Young Writers — Longlisted
Grade 6A · Liyana Modise