On Thursday, the court heard arguments from the parents of two boys who were pupils at Pridwin Preparatory School but who were expelled following repeated incidents of what the school considered bad behaviour on the sports field by the boys’ father.
Clause 9.3 states that “the school has the right to cancel the contract at any time, for any reason provided that it gives you a full notice, in writing, of its decision to terminate the contract”. In response, the school contends that because the boys no longer attend Pridwin Preparatory, the case is moot.
The boys, then aged seven and 11, were expelled from the school following outbursts by their father from the sidelines of tennis and cricket matches.the headmaster stated that first incident occurred in October 2015 when the father, during the under-9 tennis trials, obscenely accused an intern in charge of the matches of “incompetence and damaging the children’s enthusiasm” leaving her traumatised and in tears. On a separate occasion, he referred to the school’s cricket coach as “useless”.
Back in 2016, the parents had approached the South Gauteng High Court to stop the school from expelling their children and to declare the school’s decision to be unconstitutional, unlawful and invalid. The application was dismissed and the parents were ordered to remove their kids from the school at the end of the 2017 academic year “until such time to comply with all of their obligations in terms of the Parent Contract”.