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“we guide them to become the very best version of themselves.”

Neil's journey from unhappy pupil to university student

Gershom Aitchison: Hi, I'm Gershom Aitchison, Headmaster of Education Incorporated. One of my favorite stories is about Neil, a grade eight pupil who came to us from a private school in the area. Neil was very unhappy at his school. The family had chosen the school because it was a good private school which offered the sports that Neil was particularly talented in. A term into the new year, things weren't going well. There were tears in the car on the way to school and a general apathy towards everything. Most disturbingly, Neil wasn't even interested in his sports anymore. I remember clearly in the first parent interview his mom saying, Neil reaching fifty percent for all his subjects is good enough for me, and I'll be over the moon. I don't expect much more, I just want him to be happy. At the awards evening at the end of Neil's first year at Edu Inc, his mom and I were chatting about his progress and how well he had done. She was almost in tears when she relayed this story to me. As a family, they had gone to their eldest daughter's university graduation near the end of the first term. During the ceremony, Neil leaned over to his mom and whispered, that's never going to be me, mom. I will never get into university. A part of her heart broke that evening. She was sharing the story because a couple of weeks before our awards evening, in the car on the way home, Neil had casually remarked that he was thinking of studying a BSc at a university after he matriculated. He also wanted to explore occupational therapy or physiotherapy as a career option. His mom, Bitterlippen, replied, that's great news. Neil has consistently achieved a B average and occasionally an A average since his grade nine year at Edu Inc. He finished matric with us in 2017 and achieved honors for his sports by representing provincially for three consecutive years. He was also one of our prefects and has influenced the lives of many of his Edu Inc peers in a meaningful way. He was currently studying at a top South African university.

“and then I came to Edu Inc and Miss Day sat me down and was like you can go back a grade and you're gonna do well or you're gonna struggle through but either way you're gonna make it and after that I was like well I'll go back a grade went back a grade and well now I I do very well you could say top of the class”