ONE of the top academic institutions in the country Westridge Primary School demonstrated their commitment to excel in both education and sport after they officially opened a state-of the art multipurpose sports pavilion on Tuesday last week.
The event was attended by the leadership of the school as well as the board of trustees, parents and other stakeholders.
Speaking at the official opening of the new sports pavilion at the primary school campus in Harare, Westridge Schools board chairman Subhash Patel described the new facility as a new chapter for the largely Hindu Westridge Community.
“I feel immensely proud of our Westridge community, this amazing sports pavilion represents a new chapter in Westridge because it demonstrates that a small, committed, loyal community can still deliver remarkable things. I would like to extend my warmest congratulations to everyone involved in the construction of this pavilion,” Patel said.
“It is very good value addition to the school because it enhances the learning experience for our students in terms of academics and sport. This has been in the works for the last 10 years.
“We are a small community and this small community has managed to establish a primary school and a secondary school where we provide wonderful education. If you look at the facilities, the classrooms are very good and this was a loose end we needed to tie up so that we can give a whole package to our students,” he said.\
Established in 1993, Westridge has become one of the top schools in Zimbabwe in terms of academics and lately, sport.
The school has won a number of competitions in different sport codes over the years and the new sports pavilion, which comprises some lecture rooms, sports office and an innovation center can only help improve sport development going forward.
Sports director Cliff Kaseke is confident that the new facility will enhance the ability and performance of the student in sport at the school.
“In terms of the holistic approach it enhances the overall ability and performance of our students and I think that it’s got a lecture room, which we will use for physical education and for analysis of our afternoon sporting activities. It’s a facility that we feel it can maximise on as a department.
“We are not a big school, but we try to develop the few students that we have in the best possible way so that they can reach maximum potential. The development of young athletes from this school has been very good. We have age group national and provincial representation across most sporting codes such as soccer, cricket, hockey, swimming and gymnastics among others.
“There have been huge strides and this will further enhance what we can achieve as a department. I have to recognise the department that I work with, coaches Umali and Liberty Mutowoni, who have also been instrumental,” he said.
Kaseke added that the sports pavilion will enhance the relationship between the parent body and the school because the parents are now able to come in and watch their kids in sport events in a free and comfortable environment, from the balcony under all weather conditions.
School head Thakor Kanjee said the vision for sport was for the institution to be able to compete with other top sporting schools in the country.
“When I joined this institution 17 years ago, I joined as a sports director and my brief was to develop the school as a sporting center capable of competing with some of the top schools traditionally regarded as sport powerhouses. I am happy that we have managed to achieve that and this sports pavilion reflects how serious we are in creating a complete student in terms of education and sport as well as other relevant skills,” he said.
