Quarter 2 Newsletter June 2019

3 in South Africa to do so! You are welcome to follow them on Twitter/ Instagram at @streambyproteam CULTURE The Autumn quarter has been all about Cats as we forge towards the opening night on the 18th July. All members, of the department, are involved with the staging of this eagerly awaited production, which will showcase the talents of the learners and educators in a visual feast. It is an extraordinary undertaking and unlike anything ever seen at the College before. You are urged to buy your tickets before they sell out. Drama The FET Drama learners had the opportunity to see the original cast of Woza Albert! with Percy Mtwa and Mbongeni Ngema at the Baxter Theatre. The Grade 9 Creative Arts Drama learners enjoyed a trip to the Baxter theatre to see Magnet Theatre’s Every Year Every Day I am Walking. The learners expressed their appreciation of the power of live performance which made an impact emotionally. Music The entire Quarter 2 epitomised how it started, “Music celebrated and enjoyed amongst Friends”. The Bon Amis Picnic on the pristine lawns of Boschendal was very successful with the Parklands College Jazz Band joining four other high school bands. The crowd enjoyed the afternoon of dancing and singing. The Meander Big Band, a visiting Dutch school band, entertained our learners by performing a diverse repertoire ranging from Jazz standards and Pop - a Medley of South African tunes. We were completely blown away by their energy and their talents – a wonderful showcase. The Senior Marimba Band’s performance at the Annual Marimba Festival making us exceptionally proud with their energetic performing their own composition, Nyumba, which translated from Swahili means “ Home”. The much-anticipated music collaboration with the Preparatory Faculty for the Majors and Minors concert boasted our Instrumental Ensembles, 3 Marimba Bands and Choir performing and inspiring our musicians of tomorrow. This continues to be a calendar highlight for our musicians and parents alike; whilst an incredible display of talent was heard at our two FET Subject Music Concert evenings. Parklands Music Department hosted a Vocal Workshop by well-travelled tenor, Mr Xolane Marman for our vocal department and choir. This was a new initiative and theory classes have been introduced to learners currently enrolled in the extramural programme to facilitate their practical lessons. This has been very successful and we look forward to the first Theory ABRSM exam in October. The Sound Department under the guidance of Mr Philander (also our trumpet teacher) has been involved in many exciting projects. A new instagram page has been created where all of these wonderful projects will be posted. Our Creative Arts Music classes have focused on song production this quarter and have created and composed some SAMA-Quality tunes. Our Music Department experienced tremendous growth in all instrument offerings week, the learners were challenged to memorise the digits of PI. At the Science and Mathematics assembly the finalists were called to the stage to show off their skills. Peter impressed the school with an incredible feet: he recited over 470 digits without making a mistake! World Individual Debating and Public Speaking Championships Parklands College had three representatives in the South African team who travelled to Toronto, Canada in April to compete in four different categories at the WIDPAC: prepared speaking, impromptu speaking, debating and interpretative reading. Special congratulations to Nthato Bonga Vilakazi who made it into the final rounds for his persuasive speaking. Out of 160 competitors from all over the world, the learners’ overall rankings were as follows: Abigail Tshiamala placed 36yh, Nthato Vilakazi placed 45th and Jace Baines placed 70th. Amber Taylor Budding young entrepreneur, Amber Taylor, was invited to address learners from school around Cape Town as SA Teen Entrepreneur’s ‘Awaken the Giant” event this quarter. “We loved Amber’s energy and passion for her businesses, and how the skills and disciplines which she has acquired from running both her businesses successfully, have benefitted her in her academics as well. We wish her every success on her exciting journey and know he will be hugely successful”< said Lydia Zingoni, the founder and director of SA Teen Entrepreneur. Project18 Blake Pittaway has over the past few month collected and delivered tons of animal food to animal shelters. His efforts have inspired others to fundraise and support this wonderful initiative. This is how it all started: “Three months before my 18th birthday I was still not quite sure what I wanted to do to celebrate this day with my family and friends. I did not want to have a party neither celebrate the typical way people do when stepping into adulthood. I decided that I would instead use the money gained from presents to support local charities in the Melkbosstrand area. This sparked the beginning of my drive to collect animal food donations for Fallen Angels.” Isabella Fourie Congratulations to Isabella, whowasawarded a Ballet scholarship from the American Academy of Ballet to attend the Summer School of Exellence in New York, from 23 – 29 June 2019. Isabella will be attending classes with many other aspiring young dancers from 16 different countries. The distinguished faculty of teachers are selected from Paris, the Netherlands, USA, Russia, France, Canada and Israel. Lessons will include Ballet Technique, Pointe work, Pas de deux , Neo-classical and Repertoire training and will span over 8 hours a day. ROBOTICS Today’s children are tomorrow’s scientists. Parklands College’s FIRST Lego League (FLL) Robotics team, StellarBots, set off to the international open FLL competition in Uruguay in May, where they met with other like-minded youngsters who were solving real-world problems. After months of preparation, which included a number of outreach projects in the community, they were excited to present their project at this event. The StellarBots had an extremely successful trip in Uruguay. The three day competition had them competing in the Robot Game, showing off their team core values and presenting their modular, radiation resistant, hydroponic crop growth system to various judges and teams from throughout the world. We are most proud of our team winning First Place for Project Presentation at the FLL Plan Ceibal International Open in Montevideo, Uruguay for their interplanetary hydroponic crop growing system. This award recognizes a team that effectively communicates the problem they have identified and their proposed solution to both the judges and other potential supporters. Technovation Technovation offers girls around the world the opportunity to learn the skills they need to emerge as tech entrepreneurs and leaders. Girls are invited to identify a problem in their community, and then they are challenged to solve it. Girls work in teams to build a mobile app and develop a business plan to launch that app, supported by mentors and guided by the Technovation curriculum. Proteam is our team at Parklands College entered into Technovation. The team members are Juhi Sewchurran, Christine Greig and Jana Grobbelaar. Their mentors are Ms Rachel Manyathi, Ms Carike Cass and Mr Marcel Erasmus. On Friday, 12 April Proteam went to demo their app called STREAM to Generations School in Hout Bay and it was very well received. The great news is that Technovation made it through to the semi-finals – the only senior team