‘I had to work twice as hard, but I did it’

When Torah Academy matriculant Tali Snaid began high school, she wasn’t sure she would get through matric because of learning difficulties. But with sheer determination and a whole lot of hard work, she passed with flying colours.

Snaid’s difficulties were picked up in Grade R at Yeshiva Primary School, when her teacher contacted her parents.

“I went for multiple assessments,” she said. “I was in speech and occupational therapy [OT]. And after many assessments, we realised that I needed to go to a remedial school. So, I went to Crossroads in Grade 1.”

She was at Crossroads for seven years up until Grade 7, where she spent a lot of time in speech therapy and OT, giving her the extra help she needed.

When deciding where to go for high school, Torah Academy was recommended to her parents because it was a smaller school with smaller classes so the teachers could be more focused on helping her.

“At the time, it seemed outrageous,” she said. “My family has never been a Torah Academy family or anything like that.”

However, after a day at the school, Snaid decided it was the best place for her to flourish.

“When I started at Torah Academy, it was difficult,” she said. “It was a big jump to mainstream schooling. We worked the system so that if we were doing science or biology exams, I would be able to do them open book because we knew there were subjects I was never going to be able to take in Grade 10. The school made it as doable as possible, and it gave me the confidence to be able to work towards doing matric.

“It was often difficult for me because it was a lot of work,” she said. “Whatever others needed to do to study, I needed to work twice as hard. At one point, I had to tell myself that no-one was going to make this possible unless I did.”

She would often look at her friends and see how hard they were working and how much motivation they had. It demotivated her because she thought she could never find the time to work twice as hard as her peers.

But with the support of her school, teachers, and tutors, she was able to get the help she needed.

Snaid often had to take classes outside of school due to the limited options of Torah Academy. She studied tourism at King David Linksfield, drama at St John’s College, and a Consumer Studies teacher was brought in to teach at Torah Academy.

“Since I did so many subjects out of school, I had a lot of free lessons. That was helpful. It gave me access to the teachers who were fulltime there. They were able to help me practice maths or English and when the school day was over, I did the subjects that were out of school.”

Matric taught Snaid that she could do anything she set her mind to. “I saw that anything was possible. I got extra courage when girls come up to me and told me that they didn’t think they could do matric but they knew they could do it from seeing me.”

Snaid isn’t sure where she will study this year, but knows she has a passion for teaching or social work, and will work towards it.