Quarter 2 Newsletter 2021

2 ADOBE PHOTOSHOP CERTIFICATIONS Congratulations to Katlego Ngobeni Bonan(Benny) Zhu Camryn Abrahamson Darushen Pillay Who have successfully completed their internationally recognised Adobe® Certified Associate (ACA), Visual Communication using Adobe Photoshop certifications. Adobe® Photoshop® is the industry-standard image editing software, used worldwide by professional as well as amateur photographers and designers who want to perfect their digital images by going beyond what is captured by the camera. With the Visual Communication using Adobe® Photoshop® certification exam, learners can prove themselves by being tested and certified in the Photoshop® skills that employers in particular are looking for. Our learners certainly proved their competence by all scoring above 93%. Our Head Girl, Christine Greig, continues to make us proud. After serving as Interact President last year, she was invited by incoming Rotary International President, Shekhar Mehta, to be part of the RI Interact Advisory Committee. What made this appointment even more significant was that she was the only member representing Africa. Her hard work and incredible dedication was rewarded this year when she was presented with Rotary International’s Highest Award, named after Rotary’s founder, Paul Harris. In the words of Rotarian Fran Slabber, from the Blouberg Rotary Club: “Christine has stood out with maturity, humility and compassion beyond her years. I present to you Paul Harris Fellow, Christine Greig.” As a volunteer at the Two Oceans Aquarium, Nieka had the amazing opportunity to assist in taking two turtles, Litchi and Pan, to have CT scans at Winelands Radiology at Vergelegen Mediclinic. Nieka’s love for the ocean and ocean life keeps inspiring her to make a positive contribution. Over the past quarter, Morgan has been part of the filming of the new season of Raised by Wolves. She is playing the role of “Vrille”, a fully humanoid android custom built to look and behave as the real Vrille did. Vrille is rebellious, impulsive, dark - and has an affection for rabbits and other small animals. We can’t wait to see Morgan in this role. SECONDARY FACULTY GRADES 7 - 12 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . From the Principal’s Office Sylvia Steyn As the days start getting longer, we look forward to filling them with lots of exciting and memorable events, but we can only do that if everyone is healthy and feeling safe. We implore our Parklands family members to take all precautions and heed to the calls from President Ramaphosa to strictly maintain all Covid-19 protocols. Well done to all our learners who worked hard during the mid-year examinations and achieved the results they wanted. As we have said on numerous occasions, these exams serve as a barometer of where you are at the moment. Use the results to set your goals and to plan the rest of the year. Sadly, we have to bid farewell to Ms Ntasdu, Mr Flanagan and Ms Marillier at the end of this quarter. All three of them are leaving behind a positive legacy and we thank them for their commitment and dedication to the College. Among other things, we are grateful to Ms Ntsadu for establishing and growing the isiXhosa Department, to Mr Flanagan for establishing and growing the Parklands Jazz Band and to Ms Marillier for her drive in the Green Solutions Club. We wish them well as they embark on their new endeavours. The Autumn Quarter presented us with many highs and lows. We were sad that our winter sports teams didn’t all get the opportunity to play a match, but we are in full support of all initiatives to keep everyone safe. We do however encourage our learners to work on their fitness during the holiday. Exercise forms a very important part of maintaining good mental health. One of the big highlights of the year has been the collaboration in the Arts Department to produce the music video, “Kind”, with the blessing of Mango Groove. We are so proud of our team and the feedback they received from John Leyden: ‘’Kind’’ is a song that is very personal and important to Claire and I, so it meant so much to us to see your exquisite rendition of it: The wonderful associations you created, the celebration, the positivity, the pathos, and those very powerful emotions we are all going through right now, as South Africans, but also as inhabitants of this whole planet right now. Thank you to our educators for working hard to keep our learners up to date with the syllabus. We are aware how blessed we are to be able to run our academic programme at the highest level. We wish everyone a peaceful holiday and trust that you will return refreshed. LEARNER NEWS Christine Greig Nieka Ireland Morgan Santo Secondary Principals in Pink