12
The event focuses on deploying, integrat-
ing, and using Google Apps in Education, as
well as other Google Tools to promote student
learning from Grades R-12 and higher educa-
tion. The programme featured Google Certified
Teachers, Google Apps for Education Certi-
fied Trainers, practising administrators, solution
providers, Google engineers, representatives from
the Google education teams and local teachers
who are Google enthusiasts. 360 delegates from
all over the country, including educators, school
leaders, government officials and IT administrators,
attended and the feedback was overwhelmingly
positive. A surprising, but real statistic, is that the the
event will reach over 1 million South African learners
due to the representation at the Summit. We are proud
to have been involved in an event that has made such
a marked impact on the learners in our country.
This year, we also started our initiative to develop
relevant educational applications for the South African
Education market. The first product of this initiative
has been an iPad App called Iso2Ortho, which is
now available on the iTunes store. Parklands College
educator and Head of the Engineering Graphics and
Design (EGD) Department, Thanersen Pillay, together
with Digisoft, co-developed this App to assist learners
with visualizing the surfaces of 3D objects. The concept
is also known as isometric to orthographic conver-
sion, and is used in the mechanical and architectural
industries. Learners need to be skilled in the drawing
of orthographic views of their ideas in order to materi-
ally realize their ideas. This is another first for a South
African School.
Mr Peters (English Department) was nominated
earlier this year to represent Parklands College for an
exciting initiative set up by one of the world’s leading
educational websites, ‘TED-Ed’. The project was aimed
at revamping current academic subject areas. Mr
Peters’ script titled, ‘What Shakespeare Can Teach You
About Getting a Date’, was written with the purpose of
getting people captivated with Shakespearean works
again, and to realize just how relevant they still are to
people today despite being written between the 16th
and 17th Centuries. Mr Peters’ script was accepted and
has been converted into an animation which is avail-
able on the the official TED-Ed website. He has also
been asked to write further scripts for this cutting-edge
web-based company.
We recently had four WCED officials visit us to dis-
cuss our e-learning strategy and our Apple One2One
project. Osman Sadeck, Deputy Chief Education Spe-
cialist of e-Learning was instructed by Penny Vinjevold,
Superintendent-General of the Western Cape Educa-
tion Department (WCED) and Head of Education in the
province to come and see us. He has been tasked with
a tablet rollout to approximately one million learners in
Western Cape schools in January 2015. This meeting
was followed up by a visit from Mr Brian Schreuder,
Deputy Director-General of Education Planning and
Development for the Western Cape Government, and
Mrs Marcia Harker, Deputy Director-General for the
Western Cape Government. We hope to provide them
with some insights for their project from the success of
our Apple One2One project.
We have branded our film and sound recording
2013… A Year of International
Class at Parklands College!
Whoever said that thirteen was an un-
lucky number really got it wrong. For Parklands
College, 2013 has been a year of ICT excellence
and outstanding achievement. I am truly amazed
at what my team and this institution have managed to
accomplish in a single year, as I am sure you will also be
once you have read this report.
On 8 April 2013, our Preparatory School officially became a
true Apple 1:1 school. This means that every preparatory learner
has access to an iPad for the entire school day. This has created much
excitement as educators are no longer reliant on shared mobile iPads
in fixed time slots. They are now used whenever appropriate. The iPad
has revolutionised teaching and learning in the classroom and we are
proud to be at the forefront of this in South Africa. Schools from all
over the country continue to request visits and assistance from us with
their 1:1 projects.
Michele Coulomb, the most senior Apple Executive in Apple EMEIA,
visited the College in July to see what the potential for Apple tech-
nology in education holds by observing a model Apple Lighthouse
school. He was very impressed, and recognition by Apple of Parklands
College as an Apple Distinguished School, and inclusion in the Inter-
national Apple Schools Education Profiles site, is imminent.
We have also become the hub for almost all Apple events and Ap-
ple International speakers in South Africa. Abdul Chohan from ESSA
Academy, Frasier Speirs from Cedars School of Excellence, which is
known as the first school in the world to roll out the Apple iPad on a
1:1 basis, and Sam Glicksman, who is an iPad in Education Interna-
tional Speaker, have all addressed educators from all over the Western
Cape at our school.
Six preparatory learners represented Parklands College in the na-
tional round of the World Robotics Olympiad. To qualify for this round
of the competition, they had to place in the top ten teams nationally
during the regional round of the competition. After a gruelling day in
the National finals, our teams placed fourth and sixth overall. This is
an outstanding achievement for only our second year of taking part in
this Olympiad.
The Computer Programming Olympiad is one of the oldest and
largest events of its kind in the world. This year there were 4 747 en-
tries for the First Round. Out of those 4 747 only fifteen made it to the
finals. Jonathan Alp, a Grade 11 learner at Parklands College, was
ranked in the Top 15 of the national Computer Programming Olym-
piad and competed in the Computer Programming Olympiad finals,
where he placed as a runner-up to the medal positions. Our Grade 6
and 7 learners have since been invited by the Olympiad to take part
in the online Beaver Challenge, which is an international competition
in Computational Thinking on 11 and 12 November. This competition
is currently offered in 20 countries and we are sure that our Parklands
learners will do well.
On 26th and 27 September, Parklands College hosted the first
Google Education Summit in Africa, in partnership with the EdTech-
Team and SchoolNET. These Google summits are held all over the
world and consist of a high intensity two day event led by the Ed Tech
team from the USA.
