March 2022.

Ceres Secondary School learners and teachers are delighted to have a new dedicated kitchen, which was handed over to the school last month, 15 February 2022. With this fully equipped kitchen, the school can now provide learners with two nutritional meals per day in a safer and more efficient way, helping learners perform better academically and generally enjoy their schooling more.

School Principal, Mrs Wilrozet Strauss expressed her gratitude for the new kitchen, which was funded through Perdekraal East Wind Farm’s socio-economic development programme. The kitchen provides better and more secure working conditions for the kitchen staff. “This kitchen has already brought our learners and teachers so much joy. Since the new kitchen handover, we have seen a significant improvement in our learner’s demeanour, the motivation of our kitchen staff, and the school at large. The staff can cook in a safer space and the equipment is more conducive to preparing quality food. Overall it is a more pleasant and comfortable working environment, and the learners can enjoy nutritionally balanced meals,” she said.

Whilst funding has been provided by the local wind farm, the project is implemented in partnership with Breadline Africa, a NGO that is impacting learning environments in a similar way, across the country. Furthermore, this project has been supported by the Western Cape Education Department, which ensured that the kitchen is equipped with essential items.

Previously, the kitchen staff operated from the school hall without any equipment to prepare cooked meals for the learners. With the funding of this prefab kitchen, as well as the essential kitchen items provided by the Western Cape Education Department, the kitchen staff can now operate in safer and healthier working conditions to prepare nutritious meals, benefiting 567 learners at the school.

“It gives us great pride to have been able to help Ceres Secondary School, as it belongs to quintile four (no fee-paying school) and is solely funded by the local government. Children in this area typically come from disadvantaged backgrounds and may arrive at school without food, making it difficult for them to concentrate on their work and learn. So, we, together with Breadline Africa, decided to step in and assist the school by providing a school kitchen which will assist in relieving hunger and improve learning,” concluded Jo-Anne Brown, Economic Development Manager at Perdekraal East Wind Farm.

Note:
This project forms part of Perdekraal East Wind Farm’s ongoing Asset Based Community Development Programme, which has a keen focus on mobilising communities.

South Africa divided all public schools into five quintile rankings. Quintiles one to three schools were “no fee paying” schools and quintiles four to five schools were “fee paying” schools.