Grade 1 teacher Janet Brown, who started grade R at Assumption Convent in Germiston when she was just four years old, walked out of the school for the last time on Friday, after having served as the school’s grade 1 teacher since 1992.
Brown, who has wonderful memories and endless stories about her time at the Johannesburg private school, told the Sunday Times: “Nobody should get old — we should all just be able to do our thing forever.”
Shortly after her bittersweet farewell, she handed over the keys to classroom 37, knowing that her replacement was “the absolute perfect woman for the job”.
Brown started Grade R in 1965 and matriculated from Assumption Convent as head girl in 1977. She always wanted to be a teacher and enrolled at the Johannesburg College of Education.
“My mom loved Assumption, and so she sent [my brother] Patrick and me there. My dad was in the building trade, and we moved often, as he would buy a house, renovate it, and then move us on to another one. But, no matter what, we always lived within walking distance of the school.”
Brown kept in contact with the school while she was studying, and after she graduated she received a call from the principal, who asked her to come back as a teacher, which she did in 1981. But after four years, she decided she needed a change, so she took up a post at St Catherine’s in Germiston, where she taught until 1991.
In that year, she attended a function at the church at which she had worshipped since childhood, and there she bumped into the Assumption Convent principal. He asked her if she knew of anyone who would be interested in teaching its grade 1 class. Brown just happened to be looking for a new challenge, went for the interview, and landed the job.
“I am a woman of faith and felt peace about the decision,” she said, describing the joy she felt when she took up the post as Assumption’s grade 1 teacher in 1992.
Brown, who generally doesn’t like change, stayed in that post — teaching grade 1 girls year after year — until this year, when she turned 63 and reached the standard age for retirement from teaching.
During that time, she married her husband Leon and had three children — Devlin, Tracey and Kyle — now all grown up with their own families.
In two weeks’ time, she, Leon, Devlin and Tracey and four of their five grandchildren will spend Christmas at their holiday home in Gqeberha before Janet and Leon move there permanently in 2024.
They will leave behind their Joburg home, which is filled with all the trinkets and gifts she has received from children over the years, such as “a macramé wall hanging featuring four painted tiles — unusual things like that”. She says: “I remember each one and who gave it to me.”
Brown recalls being an Assumption pupil in the days before TV, when the family would gather to listen to Squad Cars on the radio. She started at the school as a teacher when marbles, yo-yos and French skipping were popular games — and ended her career in a time of technology.
“I learnt so much teaching grade 1 over and over, getting better and better. Though I never saw a computer before I turned 21, I learnt fast in Covid-19 and taught online for two years. In the early days, many of the mothers didn’t work, but nowadays parents are busy and more demanding, and very focused on their children’s achievements. It’s all so different, but the [commitment to] top-quality education has never wavered.”
Anthea Weinerlein, the principal of Assumption Convent, whose two daughters were taught by Brown, described her as having an amazing reputation. She said she was a truly gifted educator who was “always present in a physically demanding job that always had her down at the level of her little children”.
“Mrs Brown is an institution and part of the DNA of the school. It’s always been a big thing to have your child in her grade 1 class, because that’s the best foundation you could ever wish for. It’s hard to say goodbye.”
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