The thought of having to stay bored in bed all day was too much – it made school sound like a lot more fun.
The Vorster boys have kept their promise and attained a flawless attendance record, with the three brothers never having missed a single day of school since grade 1.
Three years ago, then grade 9 pupil Nicki Vorster – the youngest – promised The Herald there would be a follow-up story to a report published in 2015 on all three siblings’ perfect school attendance.
Older brothers Heine, 21, and Ruen, 19, achieved perfect attendance records in 2015 and 2017 respectively when they matriculated – and now Nicki, 18, has completed the circle.
Mom Ronel Vorster was beaming with pride at their Western Road residence as the brothers explained how they were not given many options to be absent from school.
“I always told them if they are too sick to go to school, they are too sick to play PlayStation or Xbox – they will be confined to their beds for the day. And that always got them out of bed,” Ronel said.
“The schools were in disbelief with the first two boys, asking for their absenteeism record to be verified.
“But by the time Nicki did it, they just accepted it.”
The trio prompted both Linkside High School and Kabega Park Primary to establish floating trophies and certificates to honour their 100% perfect attendance records.
Nicki said he intended to study naval communication in Simonstown after matric.
“Having never missed a class has helped immensely in terms of academic performance ... but for now, I am ready to finish with school, especially considering I have attended more of it than anyone else at my school,” Nicki quipped.
Heine, who is studying a BSc in computer science at Nelson Mandela University, said: “It is pretty awesome that we all were able to achieve the perfect attendance record and the school trophy only has our three names engraved on it.
“One of my primary school teachers actually bet me R500 that I couldn’t maintain the perfect record. And when I did, he honoured the bet.”