Bigger picture thinking at Constantia Primary

Constantia is a suburb of Cape Town usually associated with the wealthy and elite. But in the heart of this community stands Constantia Primary School – a disadvantaged school, run by people who, with the little resources they have available, try every day to make a difference in the lives of their students.

In the last 18 months, Constantia Primary has been hard at work to improve its students’ quality of education and quality of life. In collaboration with PSG Asset Management, whose head office is located only two kilometres from the school, Constantia Primary has been upgrading their facilities and creating safer spaces for the learners. 

“Although we serve clients internationally, our company is based in this community so we felt it was only right to be giving back locally,” says Paul Bosman, a fund manager at PSG Asset Management who has been spearheading the campaign with the school. 

Upgrades have included fixing leaky roofs, renovating the school hall, painting classrooms, replacing old asbestos gutters, erecting fences, posting new school signage and even donating school clothing through an office book drive that was held in anticipation of the last winter. 

“We tried to focus our efforts on a variety of factors, from the smallest upgrades to sizeable investments – all of which make up the bigger picture for Constantia Primary,” Paul adds.

Keeping it local 

“Corporates owe a lot to their local communities, and while a lot of South African firms undertake corporate social investment initiatives throughout the year, few focus their efforts so specifically on their local communities,” Paul continues. “We decided to get staff involved, on the front lines, painting the school and collecting clothing to keep the learners warm.” 

In addition, PSG Asset Management has sponsored the employment of a physical education teacher at the school and, in collaboration with Sporting Chance, a Cape Town based non-profit for the advancement of sport in less fortunate communities, hosted a sports day at the school at the end of September. Students were kitted out in tracksuits and sporting gear and participated in several different events. 

“The day was a massive success,” Paul says. “We’re hoping to make this a fixture of the school year calendar and to add even more opportunities like this to allow students to shine.” 

Going forward PSG Asset Management intends to focus on assisting the school in improving the literacy of early grade pupils.