SOMERSET WEST – “What is happening?”
That is the question most residents in the Helderberg were left with after hooting sounds emerged from different neighbourhoods at the weekend.
The Grade 7 class of De Hoop Primary School took part in a motor parade in a bid to claim back the 2020 academic year.
Antonie Botes, father of the girl who took the lead in the initiative, explains: “The motor parade took place last Saturday (6 June) in different neighbourhoods.”
This is after the school principal Wynand Cillié, challenged the Grade 7s to think of positive ways in which the school would remember them. According to Botes, Cillié wanted to do away with the negativity around the reopening of schools after nearly two months. “My daughter, Emeri, initiated the idea for the parade and let the principal know,” Botes relates.
After Emeri relayed the idea to the principal, who did not hesitate to approve it, the young girl, along with her peers, proceeded to liaise with parents in charge of the different neighbourhoods.
The school’s D6 Communicator also played a pivotal role in relaying the message to other learners. “Through the communicator, we were able pass the message on to the other learners. Those in the lower grades were encouraged to be a part of the motor parade by designing colourful posters that would cheer on their seniors.”
Specific routes were taken through each neighbourhood. “Some cars were decorated with balloons and hooted through the neighbourhoods on Saturday,” Botes shares.
The motor parade was also to showcase the school’s readiness to function under the new and different circumstances, Botha adds. It also aimed to motivate those who still have to return to school.
“I have no doubt that the motor parade has improved the atmosphere across the whole school. The festivities which took place over the weekend were also inspired by the school’s 50th anniversary,” Botes concluded,
