Quarter 2 Newsletter 2022

9 Our young readers can be forgiven for feeling just a tiny bit breathless after what has been a non-stop book adventure. We had a wonderful time dressing up and celebrating World Book Day with the vibrant Hooked on Books actors, who introduced an enticing selection of new favourites to the different age groups. We welcomed the inspiring Refiloe Moahloli who challenged us to care for ourselves and each other with kindness. Riaan Manser arrived next and stretched our imaginations with exhilarating anecdotes from his bicycle trip around our continent, covering 36 500 km and 34 countries. We enjoyed a festive book sale and had our purchases signed by the authors. Next was Africa Day and we dressed up again, and what better book to celebrate with than Riaan Manser’s African Adventure. It contains so many interesting facts and QR codes that open up a world of photographs and videos of his trip. It is such fun to see our continent through his eyes! Elmer Day is a great favourite with both staff and learners. This year we especially thought of author David McKee, who passed away recently in April. However, the powerful message of the colourful Elmer will stay with us forever. World Environment Day and World Oceans Day ensured that we paused to contemplate our environmental footprint and responsibility for all the endangered animals on our planet. We also introduced the authors who specifically write to inform and raise awareness for the plight of endangered animals. CULTURE Our dancers, artists, musicians and drama learners have been very busy preparing, performing, recording and uploading all their contributions for the various Eisteddfods this quarter. We have entered 155 items in the Western Cape Virtual Eisteddfod for music, art and drama and we eagerly await our results. The Ballet and Stagebranch Dance Eisteddfod took place in April and May at the Sea Point Civic Centre. The Eisteddfod was a wonderful and enriching experience for our dancers as they were able to perform in front of an audience after two years of being filmed and entries submitted online. We had over seventy dancers across the three faculties that participated in either solos or group items. We accumulated three Merits, seventeen Honour awards and twelve Diplomas. We are very proud of the hard work, commitment and achievements of all of our dancers. LIBRARY The Preparatory Faculty is incredibly proud of Kyla-Jade Thomas who was the overall winner of the 9 Years Set Modern Straight Category. We are extremely sad to bid farewell to our ballet educator, Alida Tromp, who is moving to Canada, but we know that her legacy of dedication, precision and commitment will continue to thrive in her dancers. In Design Society this quarter, the Junior Preparatory learners were engaged in experimental play with various art materials. For their first project, the learners drew a hen and coloured it in two different types of pastel, namely chalk and oil pastel. They were encouraged to blend their pastel colours according to the different techniques used to apply chalk and oil pastel respectively. The group shared amongst each other the wonder and excitement of their individual experimental colour combinations, which was lovely to see. They also investigated paper and the construction and building possibilities thereof. Using different cutting and folding techniques they designed imaginative paper mobiles where they needed to consider how to balance their mobile by adding equally weighted elements. The Senior Preparatory Design learners created gorgeous iPad bags by designing their own unique designs and painting them with fabric paint. They looked at colours and their effects on each other as well as learned how to mix specific shades of paint. They created recycled beads from scratch with paper, glue and varnish. Some learners wanted to make earrings and chains and others wanted to add them with a keyring to the iPad bags. They ended the quarter by making polymer clay beads as an extension to the recycled beads project, which were baked, cured and then assembled. The Senior Preparatory Drama Society members have been focussing on enhancing their improvisation skills. They have created scenes around various themes and portrayed a variety of characters. This has taught them vital dramatic skills including using body language effectively and applying modulation to their dialogue. The Junior Preparatory Drama Society members have been focussing on improving their presentation skills: learning to direct themselves towards the audience and using their voices loudly and clearly. They have experimented with different styles of acting: using music, stories, poems and phrases as inspiration for their group role-play. Our musicians have continued to thrive, achieving outstanding results in the Trinity Practical and Theory examinations. We look forward to many more Trinity entries next quarter. This quarter, we introduced the Nuvo set of Woodwind instruments to our Junior Preparatory learners. These instruments are designed to bridge the gap and make the learning of Flute and Saxophone more accessible to younger learners. We also bid farewell to Mrs Judy du Plessis who moved to New Zealand and welcomed Ms Christelle Rosant to our department as a Piano and Woodwind specialist. The Culture department continues to be a space where learners can express themselves creatively in many forms and we look forward to continuing to nurture our young performers and artists. ROBOTICS The Robotics labs have been abuzz with lots of exciting projects this quarter. The Grade 1’s and Grade 2’s have designed and built solutions to various problems as well as explored various coding concepts using the Scratch Jr. app. In Grade 3 the learners worked in pairs to build robots to help them in everyday life. These projects included a grass cutter, delivery vehicle as well as a robot that could pick up their toys for them and put them away. The Grade 4 learners continued to explore the new Lego Spike Prime sets and built a base robot that can line follow. Line following is an important concept which is used in both air and water navigation and is now being used by self-driving cars, which the learners were very excited to find out about. In Grade 5 the learners explored the recent KZN floods and its devastating effects. The learners then worked in teams to develop robots that would be able to assist in rescue efforts, humanitarian relief and the building of new homes. Their ideas were impressive and led to critical thinking and collaboration. Grade 6 learners continued to build on their Swift coding skills by using Keynote to