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News Report by Jenna Martin
Nelson Mandela’s Freedom
Nelson was released in 1990 and was in jail for 27
years. Nelson Mandela was our president. If everyone
had a question to ask Mr Mandela it would be,‘Is it
hard to be a president?’ Everyone loves Nelson Man-
dela, because he stands up for the right things, even if
he knows he will get into big trouble. Everyone thinks
he is an awesome leader.
Nelson Mandela has four children. He has two girls
and two boys. For his 90th birthday, he celebrated
in Johannesburg. Mandela was seventy two years
old when he got out of prison. They eventually let
him go free and on the 11th of February 1990, both
black and white people were happy that apartheid
was coming to an end! Now people who were black,
white, coloured, Indian and everyone else could all
vote. Nelson Mandela was the first black president
of South Africa. Everyone watched as Nelson’s second
wife held his arm as he walked through the streets.
He is a true hero and everyone knows that. All he
had to do was show people that South Africa could be
the Rainbow Nation. He struggled but he did achieve
something great and he loved everyone he met. I love
Nelson Mandela and I know that everyone else in the
world loves him too.
GRADE FIVE
Newspaper Report by JustinWatling
Harvard University Burns Down
Harvard University burned down on Sunday, the 17
Febuary 2013. A massive explosion by the bakery
went off. Harvard went up in flames. There were no
lives lost at Harvard because they had gone on camp.
The only casualty was Kevin, the shop owner who
had died, not because of the fire but because of the
fright he had got.The students have now got to go to
another place to study, but the same teachers will still
be there.
A Lesson Learnt by Likhona Mbovane
I stood on the steps of the pyramid with great fear. I
thought to myself that this could change my life or it
could end it. It was time to slowly start breaking the
rock.Without a doubt, I made it. I crept over the ditch-
es with my heartbeat being the only sound.There were
millions of tunnels with hieroglyphics. I was unable to
read. My only companion was my burning lantern.
Suddenly, I noticed that I had came to a dead end.
I banged the wall with great disappointment.Then
the walls broke and revealed the tomb. I was so
astonished at what I’d done.The tomb was amazing.
I was so overjoyed that I didn’t care who it was.There
was amethyst, obsidian, onyx, sapphires and rubies.
This was truly the opportunity of a lifetime. Getting the
sarcophagus out was not easy. I needed to retrace my
steps to find my way out. I soon realised I was not that
kind of person. I don’t steal and I am certainly not
greedy. So instead, I didn’t take the coffin and sell it to
a museum. I left Egypt with humility.
Snoozing by Sandra Coetzee
A boy snoozed under a tree
Where all the bushes buzzed with bees
And where the gurgling river flowed into the sea
Then a greedy thief came to town
And snatched his bread as if it was
A valuable crown
And went under a tree to sit down
He took one big, monstrous bite
And spat it out as if he
Just saw a werewolf in the moonlight
The sleepy boy came running
Laughing his loopy, light headed head
Right off and said,“Listen dude, that bird’s food.
Die Haas en die Hond deur Adam Crafford
Dit was 'n bloedige warm dag so ek het vir water by
die watergat gaan soek. Ek is Fluffle die haas, en ek
het besluit om 'n kortpad te vat onder die bossie.Toe
hoor ek 'n geritsel in die blare so ek lê tjoepstil. Ek
skrik my yskoud toe ek die hond sien snuffel onder die
bos met sy
groot neus en sy Hills kos asem.Terwyl ek daar lê
besluit ek om vinnig weg te hardloop want ek het
geweet dat die hond sou my wou eet. Ek het links en
regs gehardloop omdat ek wou van die hond wegkom.
Ek het my huisie in die grond gesien en vinnig in-
gespring en groot verlig gevol. Ek was bly om van die
hond weg te kom.
GRADE SIX
The Lost Girl by Christina Haenggi
I woke up in a sweat. I thought I was dreaming but I
wasn’t…I heard the sirens for real.We were at war. I
could hear the fighter jets flying by, and the screeching
of a bomb on its way down. I ran outside in fear.All
that I heard were gunshots and screams and all of a
sudden… silence like there was no life in the town of
Katarina…nothing. I tried to think of what I could do.
But nothing came to my mind. 100m down the alley,
I saw a motionless body. Then I realized that I had to
run, run as far away as possible. I looked left and right
but did not know where to go. On both sides, I saw
smoke. And then it started again… the screaming.
And the jets flying past. Now all that I could think of
was to escape. I did not care where I was going, I just
ran. I kept close to the walls to prevent being a target.
I heard someone crying,“Allah, akbar!”. Tears were
streaming down my face but I kept running.
I reached the outskirts of town. Anxiously I looked
back and realized that I had left my mother and
seven brothers behind. I started to hyperventilate, my
mother was alone and my father was shot two weeks
ago. I fell on my knees and started to sob. I told myself
if I wanted to survive, I had to get up and continue
running, towards the hills in the distance. I cannot tell
for how long I ran for when I heard the sounds of a
huge truck behind me, and the voices of soldiers…
The Machine by JohanWalden
It was a dark, stormy day as Luke Little rode to his
best friend, John Scolder’s house on his old, rusty
bike. One could only just hear the noise of clanking
machinery coming from the old, dusty house over the
sound of rain, rattling on the roofs of houses and the
loud boom of the thunder. Luke and John were both
sixteen and both were orphans but they were old
enough to live on their own now.The end of the world
was near! It had been on the news just last week.
They said that a star was hurtling towards Earth and
would hit our planet in only one month. They said that
escape rockets were being built at the NASA base.
Well… the two boys were clever enough to know
that it would be a big risk to climb into a rocket full
of the world’s murderers and crooks! That’s why they
decided to think of another plan…they decided to
build their own rocket, but they had to keep it a secret
or else the house would be swamped with well known,
uncaptured thugs, trying to make sure that they
wouldn’t get caught at the gates near the launch pads.
Luke made a sharp right, almost fell off his bike and
parked next to the wall. “Come on in, Luke!” shouted
John who had obviously seen Luke come.
Luke climbed off his bike and pushed open the old,
squeaky door.
“Hey, how are you doing?” asked John. “Err…I’m do-
ing okay, I guess,” replied Luke.“How about you?”
“Pretty busy, actually,” said John without turning
around. “Oh…er, you haven’t told anyone yet, right?”
asked John hastily. “Duh! Of course not!” exclaimed
Luke with a laugh.
One of John’s machines suddenly started beeping
loudly. “Hey, what’s that noise?” Luke asked.
“Oh, that, it’s my scanner machine that I built last year.
It’s picked up data from the star. Let’s have a look,”
said John. John punched in the code on the keys of
his machine so quickly that you could hardly see his
fingers. The machine had a key pad resting on the ta-
ble and a big metal box just behind it. The metal box
had a small, black screen with bright, green typing on
it. On top of the box there was an antenna and a few
switches. The smile on John’s face quickly disappeared
as he stared …
Ice by Megan Deghaye
It was icy cold. The sky was gloomy and snow was
flying everywhere. I could barely catch a glimpse of
anything, not even my mother. She was nowhere to
be seen. Was she gone? My arms and legs were going
numb. I saw flashing images in my head and then
everything went dark.
A couple of years had passed. Mother had still not
returned from where she had disappeared to. Losing
her in that snowstorm… that was the worst day I
had ever experienced. I don’t like talking about it. I
lay in bed every night thinking of her. Dad tells me
stories of how Mom isn’t gone, but has just travelled
to the ends of the earth to show how far her love for
me goes. He thinks that just because I’m young, I’ll
believe him. By now I realized that his story is just
a pleasant way of saying that she’s gone. Forever. I
didn’t want to accept it though.
It was getting late. Dad had eventually fallen asleep
in his office, like usual. The house was as noiseless
as ever. The night sky was pitch black. The only
sign of light I could spot was the shimmering moon
surrounded by the everlasting number of stars. I lay
in my bed imagining all the possibilities of where mom
was, what had happened to her and if she was alright.
I stopped for a moment and paused. I couldn’t bear
the thought of her not being okay. I had to. I just had
to go and find Mom! The clock struck twelve and an
idea popped into my mind. Now was the perfect time.
I crept slowly and soundlessly through the elongated
corridor. As I opened the door, I felt a draft, like some-
one was watching over me secretly. As I ventured
forward, a trail of footsteps followed behind me. It felt
like hours had passed, maybe even days. The sky be-
gan to get lighter. Morning had arrived. I was freez-
ing and had no source of food or water with me to
take away my feeling of starvation. I guess you could
say that the only way I pushed through was having
the thought of finding Mom in my head. That kept
me going. I was exhausted. After a while, something
occurred to me…I was lost.
