Magazine 2019

62 Our Interact Club continued making a difference in the lives of others by various projects and visitations, among others being involved with a reading project at Vaatjie Primary School. They also managed to donate R5000 to the Reach for a Dream Foundation after the successful Slipper Day. In June our junior Robotics team, Stellarbots, travelled to Uruguay from where they returned with the Presentation Trophy they won for their original song to introduce their core values. A group of learners departed on the World Challenge expedition to Nepal just before the start of the mid-year holiday where they assisted in a village by building a road, gardening and completing odd jobs. During the holiday the dedicated cast and crew worked very hard in preparation for CATS, the Musical. Parklands College joined forces with St John’s in Johannesburg to send a South African team to the InternationalYoung Physicists Tournament in Hong Kong where they did us proud. The leaves on the tree are hiding from us! Hiding from us, hiding from us! The leaves on the tree are hiding from us, All winter long! TheWinter Quarter always marks the beginning of the end for the matrics and they celebrated this by dressing up for their fun week leading up to the stylish Matric Ball at the Mount Nelson Hotel. And finally it was time for CATS! What an incredible showcase of talent at the College. Audiences were blown away by the singing, dancing and acting of our learners, not to mention the set and the special effects. Our creative team under the professional guidance of Ms Dodders did us proud indeed. August is our Awareness month, when everyone gets involved in the Outreach Projects coordinated by Interact. We had already seen the big hearts of our learners in the Mandela Day Project and that fact was confirmed in the generous donations during the month of August. August is also the time for Derby. This year we travelled to Reddam Durbanville where we enjoyed a weekend of competition and collaboration in great spirit. The matrics celebrated their 40 days with a special breakfast, we hosted our third blood clinic for the year and the Grade 11s attended their leadership camp, preparing them for taking over the reigns from the matrics next quarter. The voting for learner leadership positions was preceded by an assembly where the candidates could present themselves and question and answer sessions where the school could listen to each candidate’s ideas about the role they need to play. At the start of the holiday, the cricket team travelled to Knysna for the annual Oakdale Cricket Tournament, which served as good preparation for their planned tour to India next year. The leaves on the tree are starting to grow Starting to grow, starting to grow! The leaves on the tree are starting to grow, All spring long! The Spring Quarter starts with some of our most prestigious events, namely the Sport, Technology, Service and Culture Awards, the Leadership and Honours Awards and Valedictory. Once again we felt nothing but enormous pride in witnessing our learners’ achievements and the response to that by their peers. While we are always sad bidding the matrics farewell, it is very exciting to see the new leaders coming into their own. The various end-of-year Art Exhibitions lived up to expectations, as did the Prestige Music Concert, where we had the last chance to see our talented matrics performing.The Grade 10s dressed up for their formal dance and enjoyed a lovely evening dining and dancing in an exquisite venue. The new prefect body spent a weekend in Bettie’s Bay, discussing and planning their term of office, and returned full of energy and enthusiasm for the year ahead. The newly elected House Captains got the opportunity to introduce their themes for the upcoming year at the Big Brag just before the final examinations commenced. Another cycle completed. Parklands College Sandown is a busy place, a place where everyone can find something they love. It truly is a place for all seasons.