Magazine 2020

115 2020 | Edition No. 23 | We started off the year with a Grade 7 and 8 Orientation Evening, where a guest speaker addressed the parents about preparing for examinations. This was fol- lowed by the Grade 7 Orientation Day and the Grade 7 Parents Evening, as well as a Grade 11 and Grade 12 Information evening, which were all great successes. Everyone was definitely well informed after these events. Throughout the first term, we were also lucky enough to have a guest speaker from SI UK who spoke to the learners about studying abroad. The students also competed in Olympiads in various subjects where many excelled and continued onto further rounds. In the second quarter we initiated the Peer Tutoring programme, where students across the grades had the opportunity to ask for help from their peers. With Cov- id-19, this initiative was then adapted to become completely online and students could meet up via Google Meets. This was positively received by the learners as seen in the following quotes: On Monday I had the pleasure and opportunity to do my first Peer Tutor Session online. I really enjoyed it. It was awesome to tutor using technology and being able to share knowledge of a sub- ject that I really love!We managed to do a lot of work and I am looking forward to the next session! - Jemma Stearns, Grade 8 Peer Tutor This week I had the opportunity to peer tutor a student online.Although it was a completely new experience for both of us, it was really fun and interesting. By using different platforms, we managed to communicate information easily and collaboratively. - Jana Grobbelaar, Grade 11 Peer Tutor Finally, we hosted an online subject choice evening for the Grade 10 class of 2021 to prepare them for what will be in store in the FET phase. We can truly say that this was a year of learning and developing academic all- rounders. From exploring and collabo- rating in our new Innovation Centre at the beginning of the year, to learning new skills of engaging competently in remote learning during the Covid pandemic, the learners and educators have embraced the Parklands Mind with pride and have excelled beyond expectations. Keagan Strydom and Zarah LInssen Academic Prefects Bianca and I would like to thank you for voting us into this position. We have re- ally enjoyed working together and work- ing with the various clubs and societies throughout this very challenging year. The coronavirus has had an immense impact on the school year and subsequently many of the clubs and societies haven’t had the chance to facilitate what they had planned for the year. With that being said, we are very proud of the chairpersons and liaison teachers who have remained committed as all of the clubs have remained active. This year Animation focused on the fun- damentals of animation such as Character Design, Script Creation, Storyboarding, Stop Motion Animation and the creation of Animatics. Learners created their own original stories and documented them in storyboard format. These storyboards can later be animated and coupled with recorded audio. The Chemistry Club experimented with new ways to create plastics out of organic and environmentally friendly materials. They created many samples of biode- gradable plastics made up of starch, glu- cose and vinegar. They continued to do research on their own regarding physics or chemistry experiments they found in- teresting during the lockdown and Covid restrictions. The Culinary Club satisfied the taste buds of the young GET chefs, alternating with sweet and savoury dishes while develop- ing their culinary skills. During Lockdown, they had virtual lessons where the learn- ers used their families as tasters and guin- ea pigs. MobileApp Development teaches learners about coding and provides an environment for students to develop applications that solve real world problems and challeng- es, Keagan Strydom, our Academic Pre- fect, managed to complete 4 applications namely: Mini-cricket, Chaos, AttendMe and ScanMe!Well done, Keagan. In February the Robotics club team par- ticipated in the First Tech scrimmage and later participated in the National FIRST tech challenge where they won 2 awards. During the lockdown, they had online vir- tual Robotics lessons where they created their robots using Lego digital Designer. These were later exported to the virtual robotics toolkit where they were able to program and run them on a simulated WRO competition environment. The Creative Club continued inventing, learning and broadening their creative ho- rizons through the opportunity to explore academics clubs& societies