Page 3 - Interactive brochure_Westbury sec

The school context where we find ourselves.

The school is situated in Westbury, a suburb of Johannesburg, South Africa. It is
in the province of Gauteng. According to (Wikipedia, n.d.) The suburb was
established in May 1918 by the Johannesburg Town Council as an area for black
residents and called it Newlands Location. The name was objected and during July
1919 its name was changed to Western Native Townships. It would undergo more
name changes during Apartheid when it was declaimed as a black township on 2
January 1963 and declared as the Western Coloured Township in July 1963 when
forced removals were used to move coloured residents from Doornfontein and
Pageview to this location. By 1967 it had its last name change when it became
Westbury. Westbury is the first-place black people could legally live in the City of
Johannesburg.

Many families
in this area
suffer material
deprivation.
Material
deprivation
can be defined
as the inability
to afford basic
resources and
services such
as adequate
food and
heating (K, 2014). Prominent gangs in the area - the Fast Guns and Varados - have
a significant influence on everyday life. Gangs provide opportunities and services to
people such as ‘loans, paying for funerals, providing food and other welfare. Party
politics and racial identity shaped accounts of the situation. Some residents
expressed the view that the government discriminates against, and has abandoned,
coloureds. Material deprivation generally has a negative effect on educational
achievement.

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