Magazine 2020

149 2020 | Edition No. 23 | “Peer support has taught me a lot about myself and other people. It has taught me that you are never alone, even if you think you are. Thanks to Peer Support I have learnt how to listen to some- one when they are talking about their feelings and the situation they are in. It has helped me discover my passion for helping people and played a crucial role in my decision to become a psychologist. Peer Support provides a network of people to speak to, such as myself and other students and teachers. It is important to reach out to someone who you can trust if you are feeling down.” - Ryan Baines NEW LEARNER MEETINGS New learners are invited to attend a meeting with the school counsel- lor to introduce them to the services on offer at the school and make sure that their transition to school life is a smooth one. BLOOD DONATION CLINICS In conjunction with the Western Province Blood Transfusion Service, the Secondary Faculty hosts quarterly blood donation clinics. At the clinics, learners, parents and others from the local community are in- vited to come and donate blood. The College has a dedicated group of learners who are called Peer Promoters, who help with administra- tion and ensure smooth running of the clinic on the day. Thank you to Amber Taylor, Anika van derWalt, Jana Grobbelaar, Litha Xaba, Tara Goliath, Tayla van Wyk, Bianca Botha and Laura Maclagan for making the blood clinics such a great success and for serving our school so selflessly in this very worthy cause. INTRODUCTION OF “HELPME” EMAIL ADDRESS We are excited to announce that we now have an online sys- tem where learners can reach out to the school counsellors by emailing “helpme@parklands.co.za” . We have already had a great response using this platform and we are so glad that the learners now have a new online platform that they can use to reach out and ask for support of any kind. DAILY MOTIVATION FOR LEARNERS The Counselling Department is continuously looking for ways to improve the social and emotional wellbeing of the learners. One platform, on which we do that, is providing a motivational quote or thought for the day as well as relevant articles or video clips which we share with them via the learner morning announcements on a daily basis.