Grade 5 learners raise over R40 000 to save turtles
The swimming girls’ team from St Cyprian’s School with teacher Vicky Hyland. Picture: Supplied
Cape Town - A group of young girls from St Cyprian’s School raised more than R40 000 for the Turtle Conservation Centre.
Vicky Hyland, a Grade 5 teacher from St Cyprian’s School, said the idea came from one of their lessons from the class.
They recently had a project where they were required to answer two questions: What happens to plastic and why do oceans matter?
This led them to looking at animals whose environment was threatened and the turtles turned out to be one of them.
The swimming team believed that they could raise awareness by doing a Robben Island Relay crossing to attract sponsors to raise the money for turtles.
The idea came to life and the entire class supported the campaign. They each swam about 2km and the three teams rotated every 15 minutes.
“We set our target at R18 000 – it costs about R6 000 to rehabilitate one turtle. Each class wanted their own turtle. We have three Grade 5 classes,” said Hyland.
She said they raised more than R40 000, which is almost seven hatchling turtles.
“It was a real privilege swimming with these girls. They all exceeded their own expectations, they were amazing and I was proud of all of them,” added Hyland.
Anthea Jordaan said it was amazing to see learning come to fruition and how involved the girls were.
“No person is too small to make a difference,” she said.
A proud Jordaan was there to welcome them on the beach with the rest of the Grade 5 learners.
The parents could not believe what their daughters were capable of doing.
One of the parents said: “I had no tears, they were all incredible and were so committed to the cause.”