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18 November 2024 Media Release: Garden Route Clean Fires Campaign prize handover ceremony at Oakhill Primary School, Knysna 

Media Release: Garden Route Clean Fires Campaign prize handover ceremony at Oakhill Primary School, Knysna 

18 November 2024

On Friday, 15 November 2024, the Air Quality Management Unit of the Garden Route District Municipality (GRDM) presented the 2024 Garden Route Clean Fires Campaign prize to the winning school, Oakhill Primary School in Knysna. The Executive Mayor of GRDM, Andrew Stroebel, and Councillor Jobieth Hoogbaard, GRDM Portfolio Chairperson for Community Services, joined Dr. Johan Schoeman for the handover ceremony.

uring a brief assembly session at the school, Mayor Stroebel explained, “Nine years ago, GRDM launched a special air quality awareness campaign to improve community well-being and environmental health. The initial focus was on guiding Oudtshoorn communities on ‘Clean Fires,’ but the initiative expanded to George, and over the past six years, GRDM has provided curriculum-aligned ‘Clean Air’ information packs to Grade 3 classes throughout the district,” he said.

In 2024, the Clean Air Project engaged 78 schools, involving 186 Grade 3 Teachers and 5,639 learners in areas from as far as Klipdrift and Nolls Halte, through George, Sedgefield, Knysna, Touwsranten and Karatara to Plettenberg Bay and surrounding areas. This marks a significant increase in scope, compared to the previous years and reflects the district’s ongoing commitment to broadening the impact of environmental education.

Mayor Stroebel further explained that by targeting Grade 3 learners makes sense because the theme of ‘Clean Air’ already forms part of the grade curriculum for Environmental Studies. Also, the best way to ensure a better, safer, and healthier environment in the not-too-distant future, is to create positive awareness in young minds now. The project offers extensive support for teachers through online information sessions and a self-study training course, which concludes with the awarding of 5 *CPTD points and a certificate of completion. *CPTD – Continuing Professional Teacher Development.

“As a special incentive to encourage a constructive approach to environmental education and effective use of the provided information and resources, the 2024 project included a competition with a grand prize of R10,000. Today, we are here to present this award to Oakhill Primary School. Your school demonstrated the highest level of engagement and innovative use of the resources. The criteria for winning included attendance at the online sessions, completion of the self-study course, and proof of creative implementation in classrooms, and your school, led by Mr. James Cross, stood out above the rest. We hope the funds will benefit the school. Congratulations on winning the prize money, and good luck with the exams. Enjoy your festive season!”Cllr Stroebel concluded.

Lastly, Mayor Stroebel extended a word of gratitute to Mr Dreyer Lötter MD: SATeacher e-Learning (Pty) Ltd for the excellent working relationship and innovation over the past years to make this project a success. He also thanked him for donating the R10 000 prize money.

Featured Image Caption: On the picture from left to right: Mr Dreyer Lotter from SA Teacher e-learning, Dr Johann Schoeman – GRDM Manager District Air Quality Control, Andrew Stroebel – GRDM Executive Mayor, Mr James Cross – Head of the Prep School, Cllr Jobieth Hoogbaard – Portfolio Chairperson of Community Services, Ms Caroline Cross – Grade 3 Teacher and Mr Howarth – Principal of the school.

-End-