WATCH: Rand Park Primary School celebrates 50th birthday with cake, a superhero and a transformer

What better way to celebrate your birthday than to have a visit from a superhero and a transformer?

Rand Park Primary School marked 50 years with some dancing with Spider-Man and Bumblebee, speeches, a scrumptious cake, and finally a picnic with parents on the field, on June 15.

A drone flew over as 1 250 learners sitting in a giant ’50’ shape, gasped and cheered as first Spider-Man made his entrance, swinging from the rugby posts and landing in a dustbin, and then an enormous Bumblebee marched down the field, pausing to strike poses.

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Ian Freemantle, who was the school’s first deputy principal in 1973, and worked there until ’78, also paid a visit after so many years away.

“The rugby field used to be a soccer field in my day,” he said. “I am also told there are 12 new classrooms and I look forward to seeing them later. The community has always been supportive and it is good to see the school is run with such passion.”

He, along with parent and organising committee member Desre Niehoudht, thanked current principal Nic Pienaar for leading well.

In his speech, Pienaar discussed the history of the school, starting with its early life in prefab structures in Northcliff in 1973 and having three headmasters in that first year. In those humble beginnings, Freemantle and the fourth headmaster, Howard Harrison, bought a lawnmower for the school with a promise to pay it back when they could. The pair went on to make the school successful.

“The man trusted them and said they could pay for the lawnmower when the school has money. There were nice people in those days,” Pienaar said. “Learners came and went but like with every new school, the numbers increased and increased and very soon the school was too small and appeared in the newspaper for overcrowding. The Transvaal Education Department arrived shortly afterwards to investigate the situation and to try and alleviate the overcrowding problem.”

This led to construction of brick-and-mortar buildings. “The school very quickly became known for its excellence; two positions became vacant and 400 teachers applied. Mr Harrison said the staff never let him down then and I can echo that.”

He concluded the school has always strived to provide good quality education at an affordable rate, and its Latin motto non-scholae sed vitae, meaning ‘without education there is no life’, holds true.

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