Kathy Waddington

Two budding United Kingdom scientists — one a diminutive pre-teen, the other just a year older — captivated international delegates at the seventh Botanic Gardens Conservation International (BGCI) conference in Durban recently.

Weston Agricultural College, a boys’ school in the KwaZulu-Natal Midlands originally built as a remount depot for the second Anglo Boer War, has unveiled a monument to animals that died during wartime.

Rippon Primary School in Sydenham, Durban, turns 40 this year. Also celebrating is Jenny Adams who chalks up 40 years of teaching — all at "her" school. She took her first steps up the career ladder when the school first opened its doors. Now she is the principal, with the added distinctions of having been the first woman so appointed and, after 11 years, the longest serving.

In the little town of Zastron in the southeastern corner of the Free State, abutting Lesotho in the shadow of Aasvoëlberg, is a conservation area that buzzes with the sound of children’s voices in the best classroom of all — the wild outdoors.