Mrs Dikeledi Sekopamotse, Principal of Platinum Village Primary School has won the award for Primary School Leadership in South Africa at the North West Department of Education’s National Teaching Awards. Mrs Sekopamotse was selected by judges for demonstrating Resilience in Pursuit of Excellence. She was one of multiple finalists selected from primary schools all over South Africa.

Says Mrs Sekopamotse, “When I joined Platinum Village Primary School in 2017 the school was very new, and all the educators were young teachers who had come straight from university. I had to lead by example, using the experience that I brought to Platinum Village Primary School. Our vision at the school is to transform our learners into 21st century learners. We focus on instilling all the skills of information and communication technologies (ICT) in our classrooms and teaching learners in a way that ensures they remember their lessons better than the old system of teaching. We believe in developing our learners holistically, and we are very proud that our school’s under 13 soccer team was the runner up in this year’s Royal Bafokeng and Impala sponsored Metshameko programme.”

In a letter to the CE of Impala Rustenburg, Mark Munroe, Mrs Sekopamotse credits Impala Rustenburg’s education team for the support provided to Platinum Village Primary School. She says, “In my presentation motivating the reasons why I am a resilient leader, a huge part of it was about the support we receive from Impala, and the mentors who come every week to help our young educators teaching methods. Impala is always there to help us whenever we have any maintenance challenges, and for anything we ask.”

Platinum Village Primary School was built by Impala in 2016 and continues to receive support through the company’s teacher mentor programme.  Says Munroe, “Impala is honoured to work alongside Mrs Sekopamotse and the teachers in our mine-community schools and to make a difference in the lives of children, helping them to realise their full potential. We are proud to play a part in Platinum Village Primary School’s journey through our educational support programme, and we wish Mrs Sekopamotse continued success.”

Mrs Sekopamotse concludes by saying, “Thank you to my Platinum Village family, my learners, parents, the Student Governing Body, my beautiful staff and to our partner, Impala Rustenburg. We would not have received this award if we didn’t have the support from Impala as our partner in education.”