.

Issue no. 5

18 March 2020

General News COVID 19 As we all find ourselves navigating these unprecedented times as part of a history making event, we have time to pause and reflect on what is important. If there is anything positive to come from an event such as this, it is that we have an opportunity to reconnect with our loved ones and those closest to us. I encourage you all to take this opportunity to spend time with your family. Please read the school communication that went out on Monday, 16 March on the d6 communicator and continue to monitor this platform as well as our school social media for further information and updates. At this stage, school is due to reopen on Tuesday, 14 April. The July and September holidays have been shortened to accommodate these extra days. In terms of school work, all girls in all grades have been given notes and work in all subjects. We ask that parents/guardians allow your daughters/wards to have a well-deserved holiday and then to ensure that they start working through the subject material, in all subjects, from 31 March. We wish all our learners, staff and their families a restful and well-deserved holiday. Stay safe, stay healthy and come back refreshed for Term 2. Please note that the Grade 12 reports have been handed out and the other grades will receive their reports on the first day back.

CONGRATULATIONS Shaina Pranjivan, in Grade 9, entered the NASA Scientist for a Day competition and chose Triton, for her essay topic. Learners had to select one of 3 moons given (Miranda, Triton or Charon) and motivate why NASA should send a robotic spacecraft to explore it further. “CONGRATULATIONS to SHAINA PRANJIVAN - The official winner of the South African limb of the NASA Scientist for a Day competition! On behalf of SGAC and NASA, we commend Shaina for her well-written, thought-provoking essay!” Dr Nadia Karrim National Point of Contact – South Africa Space Generation Advisory Council (SGAC)

Shaina Pranjivan

OPEN DAY Open Day was held on Saturday, 7 March. We had many families arriving throughout the morning, eager to find out more about Parktown; their feedback was very positive. A very big thank you to all staff, our fabulous RCL (star tour guides!) for conducting tours throughout the morning and to our sports, cultural and service girls, and our SGB and PA parents, for all their energetic performances and hard work. You all showcased our school as the place of excellence it is and we are proud of you all.

Dates to Diarise

Cultural News PUBLIC SPEAKING The public speaking club has had a busy, productive term! High Schools Public Speaking Festival Twenty learners participated in the HSPSF and the results were outstanding: Grade 12 Competitive Category (Vongai Mawoneke, Yusra Munir, Madiha Acoob): A Grade 12 Competitive Individual Category (Ammaarah Badsha): B+ Grade 12 (Tashline King, Gadija Essop, Reowagile Monnatlala, Tshegofatso Legote): B+ Grade 11 (Chiddimma Nwokedi, Munnira Katongole, Fadzai Matanhire, Tasneem Howlader): A Grade 10 (Lauren Lachman, Bianca Lachman, Atiyyah Ballim, Ilham Acoob): B Grade 9 (Malebo Nhlapho, Sebosarena Mello, Khumotsame Mojaki, Paballo Ramohlola): A Workshops Throughout Term 1, the advanced speakers ran workshops with the beginner and intermediate speakers on subjects like “How to choose a good topic”, “How to write a speech” and “How to present a speech effectively”. These workshops were very valuable and we ended the term with a showcase where they were able to put this knowledge into practice. Well done to all the up and coming speakers. We look forward to hearing you speak in next term’s Best Speaker Competition!

18/03 Term 1 ends 02/04 Parents’ Evening and Careers Afternoon POSTPONED 04/04 Fun Day and Smalls Stalls Market POSTPONED 10/04 Public Holiday (Good Friday) 13/04 Public Holiday (Family Day) 14/04 Term 2 starts (we will communicate if this changes) 14/04 SGB Meeting TO BE CONFIRMED 16/04 Grade 10 Geography Field Trip TO BE CONFIRMED 17/04 Blood Donation TO BE CONFIRMED 18/04 Matric Dance POSTPONED

From left: Vongai Mawoneke (Vice Captain) and Yusra Munir (Captain)

From left: Ammaarah Badsha and Madiha Acoob

VALENTINE’S PHOTO-THON

2020 Best Photographer Of The Day:

FATIMA ZAHRAA BHAM

1 x Chocolate Hamper

1 x lens cleaner

1 x Hour Photo Shoot with Ibi (as photographer)

1 x Hour Photo Shoot with Emil Wessels (observation)

Best Nature Photographer Of The Day

VEEDDEYA DHEDA

1 x Chocolate Hamper

1 x tripod

1 x Hour Photo Shoot with Ibi (as photographer)

Best Fairy Photographer Of The Day

1. FATIMA ZAHRAA BHAM

2. VEEDDEYA DHEDA

1 x Chocolate Hamper

1 x Cell Phone Clip On Lens

1 x Hour Photo Shoot with Ibi (as photographer)

Sport News Congratulations to Grace Osborn and Aniqa Oliver who have been selected for the Gauteng Baseball Team to compete at the NBC Tournament. Well done girls!

From left: Aniqa Oliver and Grace Osborn

Congratulations to the following girls who have been selected for the Gauteng Canoeing Team. This is fantastic ladies; keep paddling and working hard.

Congratulations to Alaia Shariff who participated in the Core league

Qualifier 1 at Eaton Farm on 2 February. She took part in 2 show jumps

and Equitation. Well done Alaia for placing 1st in Equitation.

Alaia Shariff

Congratulations to Daniella Monyepao who has been selected for the U15 A Southern Gauteng Action Netball Team to compete at the Inter Provincial Tournament. Well done Daniella; keep up the hard work. Congratulations to Daniella Monyepao, Ashleigh King and Melokuhle Zuma who made it through the first 2 rounds of Netball District trials competing against hundreds of other players from surrounding schools. Well done to Daniella and Ashleigh who have been selected for their respective age groups.

From left: Melokuhle Zuma, Daniella Monyepao and Ashleigh King

Tinyiko Mahwayi U16 Team

Nurain Saloojee U18 Team

Sherona Gower U18 Team

Alexis Rich (old girl) U23 Team

Congratulations to the following girls who were selected to represent the Gauteng Touch Rugby Association at the senior Inter Provincial Tournament played in Rondebosch in Cape Town from 13 – 15 March. Well done to Danica Lagerwey, Jasmine Hattingh, Taya Freitas, Ashleigh Brownbill, Faatima Vally, Rodha Oliver and Daniella Freitas.

DIVING The Diving season has come to an end with the Inter-High Diving Competition which took place on Wednesday, 4 March, at St Stithian’s Girls’ College. This competition brings together the top girls’

diving schools in Gauteng and, therefore, always proves to be a challenging day. Our divers have worked extremely hard this term to prepare and have come a very long way since the beginning of the term. Well done to all the divers and to the coaches, Mrs Disa Hammond and Miss Gillian Robertson. Many thanks must go to Miss Sekhwela for managing the diving this term. Since 2019 Inter-High has included a B-section which is a lot more relaxed than the A-section and allows more girls to have a chance to compete. The results from the Inter-High competition are below. Parktown placed 7th overall out of 9 schools, in the A Section and our B Team placed 4th out of 6 schools.

Parktown Diving Team Inter-High Diving Competition 2020 A - Section

Zoë Devine (U15 Section) 11th place out of 18 divers

Ashlyn Hayter (U15 Section) 13th place out of 18 divers

Cyd Paton-Levine (U16 Section) 6th place out of 17 divers

Daniella Freitas (U16 Section) 13th place out of 17 divers

Kamogelo Phele (U18 Section) 12th place out of 18 divers

Robyn Norval (U18 Section) 13th place out of 18 divers

Inter-High Diving Competition 2020 B - Section

Parktown B 4th place overall out of 6 schools

SWIMMING Our swimming season also ended with the Inter-High Premier Swimming Gala which took place on Thursday, 5 March, at Ellis Park Swimming Pool. The swimming team left school early in the morning to make sure they were prepared when they arrived and did not have a rushed warm-up. This year’s gala was hosted by Brescia House, and proved to be a lovely event. The Grade 8’s boarded a bus at 07:30, smartly dressed in full school uniform, with their bashers, and a hair raising list of war-cries, to give our swimming team full support. The Grade 8’s support and energy played a huge part in assisting our swimmers to do their best and we thank them for their energy and enthusiasm.

For the past few years we have bounced between the Premier League and the A-league Inter-High Swimming Gala. Because of the strong results in 2019, we were promoted to the Premier Gala. Our swimming team did an absolutely fantastic job and placed 8th overall. Each and every swimmer can be extremely proud of themselves. This is the first time we have stayed in the Premier league for two consecutive years for over 10 years. Our coach, Mr Terence Parkin and teacher-in-charge, Miss Whyte, have done an outstanding job of managing the season and preparing our girls for this event. Thanks must go to both of them for all their hard work and many early mornings.

SQUASH The Squash team has been unbeaten in the B-League this term. Well done to each and every player on their fantastic results. The team have placed at the top of the league and will play St Marys School in the play-offs between the Northern and Southern District Leagues. The intermediate group have grown a lot and their skills have improved tremendously. The next step will be to start some friendly matches for our intermediate players to start gaining some experience playing competitively. The beginner group has also done very well and are starting to hit the ball with confidence and energy. Our new coach, Ray Dlamini, has made a big impact with his energy and fun approach to coaching squash. We are very pleased to have him on-board as part of our Parktown coaching team and hope that this is the start of a long relationship. Thanks must also go to Mrs Patel who has managed the squash season.

TOUCH RUGBY Our Touch Rugby girls have been working very hard, but unfortunately most of their matches have been cancelled due to bad weather. Our girls were very lucky to have a special shadow ball session with Springbok Rugby Player, Gcobani Bobo. The players learnt so much in the short session they had with him. We are hoping to build a relationship with Mr Bobo and have these shadow ball sessions more regularly. Parktown will be hosting their own Touch Rugby tournament later in the year in an effort to have a more organised competitive event for our players and others from nearby schools. This will take place later in the year when Touch Rugby starts again.

Ngobani Bobo and his shadow ball team

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Parents’ Association News THANK YOU Thank you to all the parents and learners who helped on Open Day at the PA tuckshop. We displayed our passion with pride to our visitors. Thank you also to all the parents who volunteered at the Social. It was a long night but, it was a huge success. Sho Madjozi and Kabza de Small wowed our audience who really enjoyed their performance. A great night was had by all.

Please note: FUN DAY - 4 April 2020 had been POSTPONED

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School Shopping Centre, Malibongwe Drive, Fontainebleau, Randburg. Tel No. 011 792-5743.

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