Imbasa Primary School emerged as the biggest winners during the south district leg of the Eisteddfod choral contest, held at Sinethemba High School, in Philippi, on Saturday May 13.
The Nyanga-based primary school walked away with at least three trophies – for the number one spot in the English category, a second place in Afrikaans and a third place in IsiXhosa. They will now be competing at the provincial level, on Friday June 2, in Delft.
Ecstatic principal, Vuyelwa Nduduzela, said the school used to perform well in music and athletics. She said they planned to revive that spirit, with pupils having surprised everyone with their performance.
Ms Nduduzela said they encouraged their pupils to be involved in extra-mural activities and that the aim was to expose their pupils to different life experiences.
She added that they had prepared well for the competition, with pupils sometimes even attending rehearsals over the weekend and during school holidays.
Ms Nduduzela called on parents to support their children in their activities.
“Being part of any activity helps with cognitive thinking and improves the pupils’ IQ levels and boost their self-esteem. Not everyone will be an academic, so we need to provide a platform for the pupils to showcase their God-given talent.
“We want to see some of these pupils becoming professional musicians and actors representing their own communities,” she said.
“We hope that when they reach high school, they will keep being involved in music and not stop because they have left our school.”
Ms Nduduzela said bad behaviour was their biggest challenge at the school and teachers had to implement effective strategies to address this problem.
She said now the pupils have started preparing for the provincial competition which would be the biggest test for them.
Grade 7 pupil Oyama Tshingana said while she was over the moon, she had believed they would win because they were all dedicated and had a winning attitude.
