Tutus upgrade school’s playground
IN AN early Christmas present for the children of Tygerberg Children’s Hospital School, the Desmond & Leah Tutu Legacy Foundation yesterday handed over a R40 000 upgrade of the school’s playground.
The colourful playground is now equipped with a trampoline, swings and a tree house. The once-bland walkways have been transformed into painted roads on which children can walk and ride bikes.
In November, the foundation hosted the Leah Tutu Unsung Heroes Award. Proceeds from an auction at this event were used to refurbish and paint the school’s play area, and to fund an additional donation of R15 000 to the Tygerberg Children’s Trust.
The hospital school serves as a bridging facility while the pupils are in hospital. It offers multi-grade and multi-language classes. The qualified teachers strive to keep the children up to scratch with their schoolwork as far as possible while they are in hospital.
During an average year, the school teaches between 1 300 and 1 400 pupils, and follows the national curriculum.
Principal Susan Potgieter said: “To be in hospital is never a good experience. We treat the children as learners and not as patients. The school is a known experience for them, and we speak the language they understand – not ‘hospital’ language. The school has grades from 1 to 12, and also accommodates high school learners with psychiatric disorders.
“We go to the wards, fetch them and bring them down to the school, where they have a normal school day. Here we don’t talk about their illnesses, we just treat them as normal children,” said Potgieter.
The Tutus are patrons of the Tygerberg Children’s Hospital. Over the past two years, the foundation has refurbished a play room and the dining area in the Kangaroo Mother’s Ward.
Legacy Foundation project manager Dean Jacobs said: “To be in hospital as a child is really not fun. So we tried to make the playground inviting and safe for them. We believe in spreading a little bit of joy wherever we can.”