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They had a lot of fun, got to know each other
better and managed to make all the new-comers
feel part of the Parklands family.
Mizpah Youth Camp, the venue for the Grade
8 camp, is situated just outside Grabouw and is
surrounded by a pristine river, some refreshing
rock pools and wild rocky hills.
The camp started with a visit en-route to
Strand Waterworld and Putt Putt as well as
a beach-walk along the Strand. The group
stopped to play a number of team-building
exercises which included building sand
monsters, running fun races and shouting war
cries accompanied by much laughing and
giggling.
The learners were divided into tribes, each
giving themselves a creative name. The tribes
participated in a rotation of team-building
exercises managed by Lead 4 Life, our camp
facilitators.
New friendships have been forged, memories
were made, and midst copious fun and laughter,
the group grew closer together.
This year’s Grade 9 camp to Matroosberg
was filled with a plethora of adrenaline-fuelled
activities, which were designed to test them in
terms of their ingenuity and bravery!
The reality of climbing up a three-story
rock face, having to abseil off a five-story cliff
or tightrope or even walking high above the
forest floor on the high ropes can be incredibly
intimidating. However, our learners fought
through the challenges resulting in a screaming
success!
The camp ended with the highly amusing
(and competitive!) Potjiekos Competition
where a number of the learners appeared to
be culinary masters and would have done
Master Chef SA proud! All in all, the 2016 Grade
9 Camp to Matroosberg was a resounding
success!
After a short trip of just under two hours, the
Grade 10s arrived at the Bonamanzi Camp Site
where the camp instructors placed the learners
in colour-coded groups.
The varied activities, which included river
rafting, volleyball and other team-building
exercises such as the “nuclear waste” challenge
(where learners had to move a bucket of water
using only 4 pieces of rope) were enjoyed with
typical Parklands exuberance. A highlight of
the camp was the night hike where they were
informed about different constellations and
managed to see scorpions under UV light.
The food was great, the activities were fun
and they even had a small pool to cool off
in the scorching heat. The grade 10s had a
great time of bonding, making new friends and
experiencing many new adventures.
The Grade 11 camp at Lebanon Citrus,
Clanwilliam was fun-filled, with many
physically demanding activities, such as
hiking, paddling, tubing and mountain biking. It
tested their abilities to work in a team, to trust
and communicate with one another and to
persevere. It also tested their cooking skills!
Despite the intense heat, dry lips and battle
scars, they all agree that they had an incredible
experience in the Cederberg. Having shared
unforgettable memories, they left base camp not
only as a team but also as a family.
The final camp of their school careers
entailed the Grade 12s taking an 11 hour bus
trip over the border into Namibia to complete
a physical three-day canoeing trip in mid 40
degree temperatures, downstream, northwards
on the Orange River.
They were guided by Bundi Adventures, an
accredited river-rafting company with trained
and experienced river-guides. Their experiences
included negotiating exciting rapids, sleeping
along the river bank under the Richtersveldt
moon and under the brightest stars ever seen,
fishing for barbel in the dark, making new
friends and sharing it all with old ones during
a once-in-a-lifetime experience. They returned
to Cape Town eager to tell the story but sad to
leave the beauty of it all.
Contributors to this report: Mr Nock,
Mr Flanagan, Mr D Duffield, Mr Bredell,
Pascale Schoeman, Aza Mbovane, Kayla
George and Mr Lewis.
PARKLANDS TO LONDON
After having sent several representatives to
visit Parklands College in 2015, Apple invited us
to present at the 2016 Apple Leadership Summit
in London, from the 18th to the 23rd of January.
Lindsay Wesner presented our school’s story
in a Keynote in the ‘Best Practices’ segment of
the program and Lee-ann Steynberg, Richard
Knaggs and three of our learners, Luke Bowles,
Stephanus Cilliers and Sarika Naidoo presented
a workshop on Computational Thinking using
Robotics.
Many, many hours of preparation and
rehearsal went into perfecting the keynotes and
workshops. Over 1200 leaders in education,
decision-makers and government officials from
around the world attended the Apple event.
Lindsay presented to all of them and our ‘Think
like a Coder’ workshop attracted just over 300
delegates.
In Lindsay Wesner’s keynote she outlined
the Parklands vision and gave the audience
examples of innovative teaching and learning
that happens at the College such as our cross-
curricular projects, utility offerings and our
app development. She provided audiences
with insight into our progressive approach
to the professional development of our staff
and the culture of creativity and innovation
we consciously nurture at the College. Many
delegates commented on the high quality,
holistic approach, not only to the development
of our students, but also to the development
of our educators. It became evident from the
delegate’s reactions to our story, that we truly
are at the forefront of the implementation of
educational technology, not just in South Africa
but across the world.
The
‘Think like a Coder’
workshop, introduced
delegates to programming and computational
thinking as they were involved in the hands-on
programming of Lego EV3 robots to complete
the simulation task of saving Parkie the Penguin
from an oil slick in Table Bay. Our learners Luke,
Stephan
and Sarika,
confidently
and clearly
gave the
delegates
instructions
and
information
on the
working of the
robot hardware and the iPad programming
software before allowing them time to complete
the challenge set before them. They then
became facilitators of the learning process,
guiding delegates from all around the world.
The workshop was concluded with a discussion
of computational thinking skills and their
relevance and application across all areas of
the curriculum. Our students then shared how
they had applied these skills to win the project
prize in a recent robotics competition.
In the Summit app, attendees could leave
comments or messages. Here are just a few
of the many complimentary reactions to the
workshop.