These kids were in their noppies when a police helicopter landed in their school yard yesterday.
Roosendal Primary School in Delft was also overrun by an ambulance and cop vans “rushing to the scene”, but their dramatic entrance had nothing to do with crime.
Instead, children were given a taste of future jobs they might pursue as the school hosted a career day.
Grade 7 pupils, preparing for “big school”, were to dress up for their future careers, as they met real-life firemen, cops, traffic officers, pilots and soldiers.
As the helicopter, piloted by Ingemar Groenewald, prepared to land on the sports ground, Captain Alania Barnard told pupils how they go about catching criminals: “We do exactly what the police do on the ground. We fight crime in the air.
“From murder to robberies, when a car gets hijacked, we use a tracker in the helicopter.
“We can also zoom into a registration number of a vehicle.”
Pointing to the searchlight at the bottom of the helicopter, she explains: “This can help us see far in the distance, it has the strength of a million candles.”
But as soon as chopper arrived, the cops were radioed to assist in a real car hijacking and took off.
They returned later, and the excited children were given an opportunity to touch the aircraft and ask questions.
John Laubscher, the Grade 7 Life Orientation teacher and co-ordinator of Career Day, told pupils to dream big.
“When you hear about Delft, you have a negative thought, but the future is bright. I want to ask you today to dream and to never stop dreaming.”
Delft Police Station Communications officer, Warrant Officer Brian Daniels, says they love showing kids that a career in the armed forces was exciting and worthwhile.
“From the police’s side, we want to show them the different choices they can make,” he says.
Pupil Darren Charles, 13, was dressed as an advocate and even carried a suitcase, his briefcase, as part of his role.
He says: “I want to be an advocate to help with serious cases normal lawyers cannot help with, that is why I want to go into that field.”
Willzane Coopers, 14, came as a cop, and wants to catch criminals.
“I want to help the community to get rid of gangsters and drugs and I think being a police officer will help,” he says.
Members of Metro police also carried out a demonstration with crowd control horses.