General News
30 January, 2023
Sisters set for school
Holidays are almost at an end and there is the usual flurry in many households to have all in order for that first day at school. Horsham’s van Heerden household has the uniforms in order, the backpacks ready and the shoes polished. This year Jan...
Holidays are almost at an end and there is the usual flurry in many households to have all in order for that first day at school.
Horsham’s van Heerden household has the uniforms in order, the backpacks ready and the shoes polished.
This year Jana van Heerden, 12, will be in Year 7 at Holy Trinity Lutheran College, the start of her time in middle school, while twin sisters Renske and Madre, 7, will move into Year 3.
Jana is excited to finish with the college’s junior section and looking forward to having a range of teachers and classrooms.
The twins are excited about a new playground, renewing friendships and making new friends, and participating in fun activities planned by their teachers, including a Year 3 camp at Halls Gap.
The girls are the daughters of Andre and Madelein van Heerden.
Mr van Heerden, who has a construction management background, works for Millers Civil Contractors in Horsham while Mrs van Heerden has a civil engineering background and works for Horsham Rural City Council as a project manager.
Last year the family completed their four years in Australia after leaving their home country of South Africa and became Australian citizens.
They received their citizenship certificates at Horsham’s Australia Day citizenship ceremony last year.
“We don’t regret for a day the move from South Africa to Australia,” Mrs van Heerden said.
“There’s no looking back.”
Freedom of movement and a feeling of safety each day were prized assets gained by the change of country.
“Crime was rife where we lived, and because of this our movements were limited,” she said.
“We felt there would be far more opportunities for us and our children (in Australia).
"There wasn’t a future for us or our kids in our home country.”