Helping young girls unlock their potential
The High School for Girls Potchefstroom opened their doors 119 years ago and they are dedicated to nurturing the potential of their students. Known for their strong academic culture and prestigious boarding facilities, they strive to create an environment where learners can thrive and live by the four pillars of their school, which are pride, respect, integrity, diligence and empathy.
Journey to success
Behind the school's success is an outstanding team of educators who are invested in providing learners with quality education and teaching. However, the educators don't just care about teaching academics and sports culture, they go the extra mile to guide and support the young girls to build their confidence, help them become leaders and shape them into becoming the women that they aspire to be. The school truly cares about helping its young achieve their dreams and fulfil their purpose in the world.
A hurdle along the way
The educators do everything in their power to ensure that school operations run smoothly - but they have had their challenges. One of the biggest problems that the school experienced was loadshedding because when it occurs it doesn't only disrupt the school day, it disrupts the hostel as well. The High School for Girls Potchefstroom also serves as a marking centre in June and December every year, and that requires the school to operate for 12 uninterrupted hours a day, for 3 weeks. So, not having a reliable supply of electricity had a significant negative impact on the school.
In 2020 however the school installed a generator in the hopes of alleviating the problem, but due to the frequency of the outages it became costly for the school to continue with this method. According to the school, they would spend close to R1 million annually on fuel for the generator and this excluded maintenance costs. With time it was clear that these costs were far more than they could handle.
Light at the end of the tunnel
The school realised that they needed a better solution, and that's when they turned to FNB for help. FNB offered them financing for a solar power installation that became a game changer for the school. The High School for Girls Potchefstroom needed an option that was environmentally friendly and one that would save them money - and the solar power solution did just that. Since installing solar power, they have saved between R1.2 to R1.4 million, which will assist significantly in developing and improving facilities at the school.
The school states they chose FNB because they've been a part of their journey for decades and they've always been impressed with their customer service, reliability and dedication to building a strong relationship with them.
What's next?
The school aims to sustain its level of excellence in academics and sports and are in the process of building additional classrooms to accommodate new learners. Moving forward, the school is confident in its partnership with FNB and the instalment of solar power to alleviate the stress of loadshedding and the negative impacts it had on the learners and staff. The school states they are privileged to have support from a trusted and large organisation like FNB and they are looking forward to what the future holds for their partnership together.
Visit the High School for Girls Potchefstroom website https://potchgirlshigh.co.za/
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