Broadacres Academy celebrated entering an exciting new phase in the school’s history with a special groundbreaking-themed event and open day on 19 May.
The school, situated on Syringa Avenue in the Broadacres area, is quickly approaching the start date for the construction of a full preparatory school which will be completed by 2020.
To celebrate breaking ground on the project, Broadacres Academy hosted an open day and ceremony for the community. The day welcomed families with picnic baskets and had construction-themed activities for children to enjoy.
“We have a number stalls with different activities,” explained Debbie de Coning of the school.
“At one stall children can plant their own little plants in wooden pots, at another, they can decorate their wooden pots, at a third, they are challenged to build a Da Vinci bridge [a self-supporting bridge originally conceived by Leonardo Da Vinci] and lots more. Each child also gets a hard hat and reflective vest in honour of the theme, which they get to take home at no charge.”
In between the fun and games, co-owners Dylan Cavanagh and André de Coning addressed the crowd and cut the ribbon as part of the groundbreaking ceremony.
The development had been made possible due to the support of Skye Education, an organisation that invests in and develops private schools throughout South Africa.
“We decided to partner with Broadacres Academy because it essentially follows the best-researched approaches for equipping kids to thrive in a 21st-century context,” explained Matt Maré, one of Skye Education’s co-founders who was also present on the day. “We see the school doing just that, so we’ve come on board with our design and development expertise.”
Sune Raubenheimer, the principal architect and head of design and development for the planned expansion, says the plans line up with Broadacre’s concept of a contemporary farm school.
“The focus will be on learning spaces, not just on classrooms,” she said. “Each class will have an outside area so that children can learn through activities. The learning experiences will be very tactile.”
According to Raubenheimer, construction on Phase 1 will begin on 7 June.
After the ceremony, guests got to dig into four construction-themed chocolate cakes, which were specially made for the event, and enjoyed the rest of the fun until around midday.
Details: Broadacres Academy www.broadacres.com
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