Blackburn Primary School moves to new premises in Cornubia
In March this year, the Blackburn Primary School was moved from a building located on Tongaat Hulett's sugar cane agricultural estate of Blackburn to new premises in Cornubia, north of Umhlanga Ridge in KwaZulu-Natal.
Grade 2 educator, Kwanele Nombekana, assists Busi Ndebela in one of the new classrooms.
Funded by the Department of Education, the school's relocation would allow easier access for the large numbers of children living there.
"Cornubia is KwaZulu-Natal's largest mixed use, mixed income, integrated human settlement that ultimately will provide 15,000 housing units for indigent beneficiaries," said eThekwini mayor, James Nxumalo.
"It is important for the children living there to have an accessible primary school. The role of the municipality's Human Settlements Unit is to ensure that we achieve a sustainable human settlement by facilitating the school and other amenities. The core objective is ensuring that a complete and liveable environment is created within which a range of economic and social opportunities are integrated with the provision of housing," he said.
New teachers
The new prefab structure housing Blackburn Primary School currently accommodates 270 learners from Grade R to Grade 6 and has seven teachers. By next year, all 24 classrooms are expected to be filled by between 500 and 600 learners and new teachers will be appointed to cater for the higher numbers.
"The move to the new school took place midway through the school year and many of the children living in Cornubia had already enrolled at schools in Phoenix and Waterloo, but we are expecting them to move here next year as it is much closer and more convenient for them," said Kevin Sevlall, headmaster of Blackburn Primary School.
Cornubia is a joint venture partnership between the government and Tongaat Hulett. The move of the school ties in with Tongaat Hulett Development's and eThekwini Business Support Unit's Socio-economic Sustainability and Innovation Programme, which aims to uplift and empower all the communities living in and around their developments in an organised manner.
Bongani Gumede, corporate director of Tongaat Hulett Developments, said that the old school facilities and agriculture estate in Blackburn were being converted into a mixed incubator providing a training facility to facilitate various social development and economic participation programmes.
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