Magazine 2020

148 | Edition No. 23 | 2020 CELEBRATING DIVERSITY TALK On Friday, 7 August, the Grade 8 and 9 learners attended a talk called Celebrating Diversity. The talk was presented by a past learner, Aya Fouad, and aimed to encourage learners to celebrate both their unique- ness as well as their differences, in relation to others. The importance of treating others with kindness and respect was highlighted and learn- ers were encouraged to apply the golden rule to their interactions with others:“treat others as you would like to be treated.” SVEN RUYGROK On Monday, 9 March we were greatly privileged to host Sven Ruygrok who plays Rambo in the Spud films, at our school. The aim of the talk was to empower young people and give them a sense of self-confidence and an understanding of their own value. The talk specifically targeted those who are being bullied and those who are currently (or potentially could be) bullies. Our learners absolutely loved Sven’s talk and the engaging way in which the content was delivered. The talk was lighthearted and fun and Sven did a great job of personalising the talk to include topics relevant to our particular technological environment. JUNIOR CITY COUNCIL We are very proud of Savvas Hadjidakis who has been elected to serve on the Junior City Council (JCC). The JCC is an initiative run by the City of Cape Town which aims to expose high school students to the workings of the City Council. It is a non-political programme that aims to foster a sense of civic responsibility among the youth. Savvas, we wish you all the best as you com- mit the next two years to develop skills that will allow you to bring about much needed change in our school and the wider community. The Peer Support Chairperson, Georgia Bowles, along with fellow Peer Support learner, Ryan Baines, also used the opportunity to promote the Peer Support group. “Peer support is a powerful weapon for posi- tive change, identity building and transforming lives, because as you all know, we are stronger together, and people start to heal the moment they are heard. Thank you very much, Mr Ramesy, for sharing your personal experience and for the insightful presenta- tion on very concerning current trends. I am confident that thanks to you, our students will have gained the knowledge, growth and motivation to address their own digital practices” . - Georgia Bowles PEER SUPPORT There have been many exciting developments in Peer Support this year. To make it easier for learners to contact the Peer supporters, the Peer support servic- es have now been made available online and learners can email peersupport@parklands.co.za to reach out to any of the Peer Supporters. At the start of the year, the Peer Supporters at- tended the Grade 7 Buddy Picnic where they were paired with learners who were new to the College. The Peer Supporters offered general support and helped the learners settle into life in high school. We have also started a project whereby we have quarterly campaigns that raise awareness about topics of interest. For the first quarter, the theme was ‘Kindness is key’ and the project aimed to raise awareness about the importance of thinking before we say or do something. It is important that we interact with one another with kindness and respect. The peer support team encourages inclusivity and to be mindful about the things we say to others.“Kindness is a gift that everyone can afford to give.” - Jana Grobbelaar