Northlands Primary School in Durban North show off their daisies
Image: Supplied
The school run is always chaotic. Parents grabbing bags from the boot, kids trying to remember if they packed their PE kit, and impatient drivers.
Drawing inspiration from a Cape Town artist, a Durban North school wanted to make school runs a bit more cheerful.
Speaking to IOL, Northlands Primary School's Caroline Hockly said she saw the artwork on Cape Town-based Heather Moore's social media page and wanted to do something similar.
Candice Sparks seen during the painting process
Image: Supplied
"As fate would have it, one of our neighbouring schools, Northlands Girls High School, suffered a mountain of vitriolic abuse about how badly their traffic affects the surrounding roads in Durban North.
"Northlands Girls High is one of several primary and high schools in close vicinity to each other in Durban North. They include smaller nursery schools and small private schools. Still, the larger ones include Danville Girls, Our Lady of Fatima, Northwood Boys High, Chelsea Preparatory, Virginia Preparatory, Glenashley JP and SP, and La Lucia Primary School. All are in very close proximity to each other, and all are based in the heart of a residential suburb. Traffic in the mornings and in the afternoons is very busy over drop off and collection. The school tries their best to manage it and does ask parents to be considerate, but often to no avail," she said.
Hockly said the decision to paint the 35 daisies, a task undertaken by Head of Visual Art at Northlands Primary School, Debora Holshausen, Head of Performing Arts, Candice Sparks, and two of the school's general assistants, was to bring awareness to a problem faced by many schools and remind everyone that the learners' safety is a priority.
"Daisies make people happy, they really do. So this was an opportunity to make people smile and to slow down," she said.
She added that the school has received positive reactions.
IOL