Helderberg School's Learners Help Paint More Hope Onto Class Walls

Photo Credit: Paint Sir Lowry’s Pass Village

Learners themselves picked up paintbrushes to help create murals about kindness and standing up to bullying.

Helderberg, South Africa (02 September 2026) – Hope and Light School in the Helderberg now sports two walls filled with colourful murals and messages of kindness and opportunity.

Paint Sir Lowry’s Pass Village is a community organisation on a mission to transform the village into a vibrant, proud and colourful community space through murals and street art.

The initiative trains underprivileged and displaced children and adults who show creative talent, teaching them design skills that can open doors for their futures. At the same time, participants become active members of their community, transforming the streets around them with paintbrushes in hand.

Photo Credit: Paint Sir Lowry’s Pass Village

Recently, the team visited the local no-fee school, which educates around 400 disadvantaged children from informal settlements in the area, from Grade R through to high school.

Working alongside the school’s Grade 6 class, the group added colour and character to the walls of the Grade R and Grade 1 blocks. But these murals are about more than adding a pop of colour. Each one carries a meaningful message, with some depicting the school’s values and others taking a stand against bullying.

“Hope and Light school all done…” the group shared. “Lovely collaboration between the grade 6’s and the team to produce 2 very long walls in the Grade R and one blacks depicting and spelling the values of the school. Thanks too to the grade 6 learners who helped us with ideas and the painting of the anti bullying murals.”

The project was made possible with funding from the City of Cape Town and private funders who continue to support the group’s mission to beautify and uplift the village and its surrounding communities.

“Street art traditionally has been a platform for the voiceless, and we are hoping to empower the entire SLPV to bring their messages to the forefront.” says the SLPV in a fundraising campaign it has created to aid in its mission.

If you’d like to support the group’s painting projects while also backing local initiatives, including a learning centre and soup kitchen, follow this link.