FROM THE OFFICE

As we come to the end of another incredibly busy week, I have found myself reflecting on what school is truly about. Beyond academic achievement, sport and culture, it is the friendships we build, the connections we make and the sense of belonging we create that have the greatest impact. School should be a place where every learner feels safe to learn, to explore, to make mistakes and to find their purpose.

With our upcoming learner leadership elections, leadership has naturally been a defining theme throughout the week. We provide many opportunities for learners to develop their leadership skills, from serving as Class Representatives, CLE and BITS Representatives, to House Captains and, ultimately, Prefects. These roles help learners discover that leadership is built through service, responsibility and leading by example.

However, leadership is not defined by a badge or a title. It is reflected in our everyday choices, showing kindness, acting with integrity, encouraging others and taking pride in being part of our school community. One simple but important way we demonstrate this pride is by wearing our uniform correctly. Our uniform represents who we are, and wearing it correctly reflects both self-respect and respect for our College. We ask that our learners arrive at school each day in the correct uniform, worn with pride. 

Thank you to the many learners who represent Parklands College so well every day. Thank you for arriving on time, presenting yourselves neatly, being committed to your academics, showing respect and kindness to those around you - stepping up as leaders without needing a badge or a title. Keep choosing to lead through your actions. We are proud of you and you are making a difference.

CALENDARS

Important Dates & Highlights

(subject to change)

3 August Astronaut at Parklands College

7 August 40 Day Breakfast

15 August Derby Day

18 August Leadership Induction Ceremony

19 August Prelim Block Day

20 August Prelim Examination commence

21-23 August Prefect Camp

27 August Gr9 Subject Choice Evening

1 September Unicorn Awards

12 September Open Day

18 September Sport Awards

19 September Matric Dance

22 September STCL Awards and Honours & Leadership Awards

23 September Valedictory & Locking the Legacy

13 October Grade 12 NSC Exam Start

PARENT EDUCATOR MEETINGS

Thank you to all the parents who joined us for our Parent-Educator Meetings this week. Please do not hesitate to contact your child's Grade Head or subject teacher at any stage during the term should you have any questions or concerns. 

FEEDBACK

A STANDING OVATION - High School Musical 2  

What an extraordinary journey it has been! As the curtain falls on our spectacular production of High School Musical 2, we would like to express our sincere gratitude to everyone who played a part in making this unforgettable experience possible.

To our directors, choreographers, musical directors, technical crew, costume team and backstage crew, thank you for your creativity, passion and the countless hours of hard work that transformed an ambitious vision into an energetic, world-class production. 

To our Directors, Mrs Roth, Mr Roth and Mr Knaggs, thank you for your unwavering support and for making opportunities like this possible. Your commitment to providing exceptional experiences for our learners is sincerely appreciated.

To the many members of staff who stepped in wherever they were needed, often behind the scenes and out of the spotlight, thank you for your willingness to serve. Productions of this scale are only possible because so many people generously give of their time and talents.

To our families and friends, thank you for filling the venue with your enthusiasm, purchasing tickets and supporting our learners so wholeheartedly. Your encouragement means the world to them, and we simply could not do this without you.

Most importantly, to our remarkable cast and crew - more than a 180 learners strong - we are incredibly proud of every one of you. You brought High School Musical 2 to life in the most spectacular way. You embraced every rehearsal and every performance with enthusiasm and professionalism. What an incredible achievement!

Finally, we recognise two extraordinary leaders whose vision and dedication made this production possible: our director, Mr Wyngaard, and our co-director, Mrs O'Toole. Through their passion, creativity and countless hours of commitment, they reminded us of the enduring message at the heart of High School Musical: "We're All in This Together." 

Congratulations to every member of our High School Musical 2 family. It was a production we will remember for years to come.

SOUTH AFRICAN ENDURANCE SERIES INSPIRES PARKLANDS LEARNERS

This week, a visit from the Southern African Endurance Series (SAES) gave our learners an exciting glimpse into the world of motorsport.

The SAES team brought along both a race car and a superbike, creating plenty of excitement as learners had the opportunity to see these high-performance machines up close and learn more about endurance racing.

Today, the experience continues as a group of our learners head to Killarney International Raceway. This unique opportunity will allow them to experience the thrill of motorsport first-hand while exploring the wide range of career opportunities that make endurance racing possible. From engineering and mechanics to data analysis, marketing, event management and media, learners will gain valuable insight into the many professions that work together behind the scenes to keep the sport moving.

SAES INSPIRES THE NEXT GENERATION IN PARTNERSHIP WITH PARKLANDS COLLEGE

AUTHOR NANETTE VAN ROOYEN, Die 17de Veer - Grade 11

Grade 11 learners had the privilege of meeting Nanette van Rooyen, author of the prescribed novel Die 17de Veer. During her inspiring talk, she shared the stories and experiences that sparked her imagination, giving learners a fascinating glimpse into the creative process behind the novel. She also spoke about how she envisioned the different characters, bringing them to life in a way that deepened the learners' understanding and appreciation of the text. 

Nanette van Rooyen, die skrywer van die Graad 11-leerders se voorgeskrewe roman, Die 17de Veer, het ons besoek om met die Graad 11-leerders oor haar skryfproses te gesels. Sy het ook met groot entoesiasme 'n verskeidenheid vrae van die leerders beantwoord en interessante insigte oor die roman en haar inspirasie as skrywer gedeel.

The Book Box Bookstore offered books for sale during the author's visit. The initiative was well supported by learners and staff.

COOLEST PROJECTS INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION

Anna Herbert and Mea van der Merwe participated in the Coolest Projects Competition, an international competition that attracts thousands of entries. Competing in the hardware category, they created a working electric guitar using micro:bits. They received certificates for their entries, together with positive feedback from the judges.

GRADE 7 AFRIKAANS PROJECT

Our Grade 7 Afrikaans FAL learners have officially embarked on an exciting quarter-long project: creating and publishing an original Afrikaans children’s book for Grade 3 or 4 learners.

Learners are required to conduct literature research. This term, we have reimagined that requirement by giving it a real-world purpose. Instead of researching literature in isolation, learners will use their findings to create a book for an authentic audience.

This week, learners explored the fascinating world of fiction and non-fiction genres. They examined a wide variety of Afrikaans children’s books, identified the characteristics of different genres, and classified books accordingly. To ensure their books appeal to their target audience, they also investigated market research, discovering what younger learners enjoy reading most. Next week, learners will delve deeper into their chosen genres through research before creating digital posters to present their findings.

This is just the beginning of an exciting creative journey. We can’t wait to share the finished books with our Grade 3 and 4 learners later this term. Watch this space! 

TERTIARY STEM MENTHER MENTORSHIP PROGRAMMES

Congratulations to Arabella Fox, Shihan Huang and Jenna Simpson, who have all been selected to participate in the STEM MentHer Mentorship Programme. This valuable programme provides learners with opportunities to engage with mentors in STEM-related tertiary fields and to gain insight into future study and career pathways.

LEARNER LEADERSHIP

It was an incredible week for learner leadership. The week commenced with the first question-and-answer session, during which prefect applicants introduced themselves, spoke about their strengths and portfolio choices, and responded to a randomly selected question before an audience of learners and educators. The sessions ran from Monday to Wednesday in the Curie Hall.

On Friday, 24 July, the House Captain applicants presented their campaign videos to their respective Houses.

On Monday, 27 July, the prefect applicants attended interview sessions with members of the Senior Management Team.

Today, the prefect and House Captain applicants presented themselves to the College ahead of voting, which commences on Monday, 3 August. The 2026 prefect body also shared reflections on their leadership journey over the past year.

WHY NOT START THE DAY WITH A DOUGHNUT?

ESPORTS COUNTER-STRIKE

Our esports team put their strategic thinking, communication and teamwork to the test while competing in Counter-Strike. The fast-paced matches require learners to work closely as a team, make quick decisions and adapt their strategies in real time. It is wonderful to see their focus, determination and sportsmanship.

TRINITY COLLEGE LONDON ROYAL SCHOOLS OF MUSIC EXAMINATIONS

We are incredibly proud of the learners who participated in the Trinity College London and Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music examinations this past semester.

They have achieved wonderful results through their dedication, perseverance and countless hours of practice, and they should be proud of this accomplishment.

We are still awaiting the results of several additional candidates, but today we would like to recognise and congratulate the following learners. 

• Mila Zozo has achieved a Merit in her Grade 2 Piano

• Ka Wai Hou has achieved a Merit in his Grade 3 Piano

• Nokukhanya Khumalo achieved her Grade 4 Piano

• Kaitlyn De Beer achieved her Grade 6 Piano

• Yihan Dai achieved a Merit in her Grade 7 Piano

GRADE 8 FOOD TECHNOLOGY

This week, our Grade 8 Food Technology learners visited Checkers during their lessons to conduct research for their biscuit project. They examined how biscuits were displayed, grouped and packaged.

They also recorded relevant information from the shelves for each product, including its weight, price and cost per 100 g. This information will be used in their next lesson, when they will continue their research by tasting a variety of biscuits and recording their findings.

ACCOUNTING IN THE WINTER SUN

Our Grade 12 Accounting learners recently took their learning outdoors, making the most of the warm winter sunshine while working collaboratively on their budgeting assignment.

The relaxed outdoor setting provided learners with an opportunity to discuss ideas, apply their accounting knowledge and support one another as they worked through the budgeting process. It was wonderful to see them engaged, focused and making productive use of both the sunshine and their time together.

Learning does not always have to take place within the four walls of a classroom!

VISITORS FROM JUNIPERO SERRA HIGH SCHOOL

We are delighted to welcome Luca Mejia-Young and Joey Ankumah Abe Ankumah from Junipero Serra High School in California, one of our Creative Solutions partner schools, to Cape Town. We look forward to sharing more about their visit next week.

ASTRONAUT VISITS PARKLANDS COLLEGE

ASSESSMENT CALENDARS

Please visit the Academic Links section to view the Assessment Calendars.

TIMETABLES

Please use the links below to access the various timetables.

GRADE 12 AFRIKAANS PRELIM EXAM REVISION WORKSHOPS SCHEDULE

GRADE 12 FINAL NSC EXAMINATIONS 2026

Access the Official Timetable

Learners and parents can download the official DBE 2026 NSC Final Examination Timetable using the link below:

2026 DBE NSC Final Examination Timetable

The timetable has been published by the Department of Basic Education and contains all examination dates, session times and subjects for the October/November 2026 examination period.

Grade 12 Timeline

In addition to the official DBE timetable, all Grade 12 learners have been provided with a Grade 12 Timeline for the remainder of the academic year. This document highlights key dates and milestones, including examination-related deadlines, revision opportunities, practical assessments, matric events and other important school commitments.

Learners are encouraged to keep both the DBE timetable and the Grade 12 Timeline readily accessible and to use them when planning their academic, personal and extracurricular commitments for the remainder of the year.

ENGLISH DEPARTMENT

SUBSTANCE ABUSE AWARENESS WORKSHOP - GRADE 7 AND GRADE 8

MUSIC 

DANCE

Please find the link below to enrol for Secondary Dance 2026.

Dance Enrolment Link

The link includes the full timetable and all the relevant programme information. Whether you’re passionate about dance or keen to try something new, we would love to have you join us.

Don’t miss out! Sign up and be part of the energy!

DANCE WEBSITE

Parklands College Dance Website

TERTIARY STUDIES

Public tertiary institution application dates for the Class of 2026

Winter Sport Captains 

Chess: Lunje Mlaza

Cross-Country: Steffan Hillebrand

Hockey (Girls)

U14B Thandiwe Radebe

U14A Lexi Torlutter

U16B Amy Muller

U16A Keira Chirnside

U19A Hannah van Zyl

Hockey (Boys)

U14B

U14A Haydn Naidoo

U16A Sabelo Ntuli

U19A Jarryd Hunt

Soccer (Girls)

U19A Dristhi Ramkelawan

Soccer (Boys)

U16A Ayden Sudoi

U19A Cameron Makuzeni

Netball

U13B Mihlali Mdudu

U13A Nia Morule

U14B Hope Diango

U14A Lea de Sousa

U15B Nokukanya Khumalo

U15A Kayle Fundira

U16A Zara Gilder

U17A Michelle Chifamba

U19B Tyra Gaetsewe

U19A Dominique Yuill

Rugby

U13A Karis Nyabadza

U14A Kaiden Segal

U15A Jared Jacobs

U16A Ethan Wüst

U19A Mischan Francis

Learner Achievements

We always love to hear about our learners’ external sporting achievements. Please email a short description, together with three high-quality photographs of at least 1 MB each, to External Sport News.  

Netball

The U13 netball team played an excellent match against Woodbridge Primary, winning 27–2.

Swimming

Benjamin Fourie (Grade 7) competed at the Western Cape Short Course Championships from 16 to 19 July 2026.

He competed in 12 individual events and achieved a personal best in each one, with impressive improvements on his seed times.

Highlights included:

• 200m Breaststroke: Improving from 3:21.82 to 3:10.57 and dropping 11.25 seconds. This was the 2nd-largest improvement in his age group. Position 15 of 32. 

• 200m Individual Medley: Improving from 3:06.27 to 2:54.35 and dropping 11.92 seconds. This was the 5th-largest improvement in his age group. Position 35 of 48.

• 400m Freestyle: Improving from 5:48.65 to 5:29.74 and dropping an incredible 18.91 seconds. This was the 7th-largest improvement in his age group. Position 29 of 34.

• 100m Butterfly: Improving from 1:28.16 to 1:21.28 and dropping 6.88 seconds. This was the 5th-largest improvement in his age group. Position 20 of 24.

It was an outstanding championship for Benjamin, who achieved 12 personal bests across 12 events.

Sports Department 

Girls' hockey: Rebecca Walker (rwalker@parklands.co.za)

Girls' netball: Jolene Tadema (jtadema@parklands.co.za)

Chess, cross country, and boys' soccer: Marc Viljoen (mviljoen@parklands.co.za)

Rugby and girls' soccer: Darin Viljoen (dviljoen@parklands.co.za)

Head of Cricket and Boys' hockey: Gary Gilder (ggilder@parklands.co.za)

Head of Sport: Darryn Hunt (dhunt@parklands.co.za)

Winter Sport Timetable 2026

Please remember to subscribe to our Secondary sports calendar using this link:  Secondary Sports Calendar

Common Sense Media for Parents: https://www.commonsense.org/?lid=1e2e3bq5qp2f

The Parent Edit

By Jill Murphy, Common Sense Media 

Edition #20 | July 10, 2026

Should We Skip to the Good Part?

Observe a kid watching a video or listening to a song lately, and you may notice they are not exactly settling in for the full experience—they are looking for the part.

That blissful find can be a few different things: a dramatic scene, a jump scare, a plot twist, or a line everyone quoted. Even the 15 seconds of a song that's familiar because it's been trending on TikTok for three weeks.

Now it's tempting to file this under a short attention span and move on. But it might be something a little more specific: a discomfort with the buildup before the emotional high point.

Anticipation can feel strange in the body. There's a little pit in your stomach, a kind of excited anxiety that makes you want to know what happens right now. Adults have had more practice sitting in that feeling, but kids still have to learn that waiting is part of the experience (especially when every button on the screen offers a way around the discomfort).

Story structure exists for a reason. A joke needs the setup. A twist needs the parts that lead up to it. A song usually has more to offer than the clip that made it famous. When kids skip straight to the emotional peak over and over, they may be unintentionally learning that the middle is optional.

It's worth asking yourself: What are we all rushing toward? Kids didn't invent this either. Of course, adults do it too. We skip intros, skim articles, and watch only highlights. Kids just have better tools and fewer years of practice sitting through the slow part.

What this can look like at home:

• A kid says a full movie is "too long" but will watch the same clips of the movie's climax on repeat.

• TikToks or podcasts are played with double speed as the default.

• Music is discovered entirely through 15-second clips, never the full song.

What to say: 

I would skip the lecture about attention span. Try asking what they like about getting to the good part faster. It's often less about being bored and more about wanting to feel something without risking the boring part not paying off.

Tonight's to-do:
Pick something short to watch together. Then agree to watch it at regular playback speed with no skipping. Afterward, ask what part they would have skipped and whether anything surprised them.

Worth exploring:
→ What is the attention economy?

How Stressed Is Your Kid, Really?

If summer has drifted somewhere you didn't plan for—later nights, more scrolling, a kid who seems glued to their phone in a way that's starting to feel a little off—now is a good time to recalibrate before the back-to-school rush makes everything harder.

The Digital Stress Test from Aura Parents and Common Sense Media is a great place to start. Take the quiz yourself, then ask your kid to complete the kids' version.

If you took it back in June, try it again—you might be surprised by what's shifted. The results are a conversation starter, not a verdict, and mid-July is exactly the right moment to have it.

My Fail Is Your Lesson

Here's mine from this week: I keep letting my kid's screen time limit slide.

But it's not because I changed my mind. I set the limit, and I really do mean it. Things change if I'm on a work call or trying to finish something with a deadline looming. Someone asks for 15 more minutes, and the truth is that saying no costs me something too.

So I say yes, and afterward I forget to go back and change it. Now I've tried to make this into a noble parenting lesson for myself, but the honest answer is pretty boring: I give in because it's easier at the moment. Holding the line takes energy I don't always have.

The thing that has helped is taking my memory out of the equation. On iPhone, Screen Time can repeat App Limits and Downtime automatically, so the reset does not depend on me remembering to be the boundary every night.

I am also trying to say the exception out loud: "Fifteen more minutes today because I need it, not because the rule changed."

(That sentence is mostly for my kid and a little bit for me.)

One More Thing

Next time the fast-forward button looks tempting, for you or your kid, just take a moment to notice the impulse. Sometimes it tells you just as much about why one thing feels too slow to sit through as why the next part feels so urgent.

— Jill

General

PARENT BUSINESS DIRECTORY

College parents are able to list their businesses in our Parent Business Directory for free – www.parklands.co.za/parent-business-directory/.

Should you be interested in marketing your business to over 1000 families, email: marketing@parklands.co.za to get started.

All listings will be subject to the College’s final approval.

This week's feature business is...

IMPORTANT REMINDERS FOR PARENTS

College Crest and Logos

The College Crest and logos are registered trademarks and may not be used without permission from the Head of Marketing: cdevos@parklands.co.za 

Access to Campus

Please note that for security reasons, no parents or visitors are allowed past the Admin building during the week without reporting to reception.  We have instructed our learners and staff to ask anyone without a Visitor's Badge to report to reception.

No Dogs Allowed

Please note that the College does not allow animals, especially dogs, on campus, except in the following cases:

• Officially registered guide or support dogs (with the necessary harness).

• Pets owned by personnel residing on campus for security purposes.

Lost Cellphones

Almost on a daily basis, we are asked to assist with finding lost cellphones.  It has become an impossible task and we simply cannot expect staff to actively look for misplaced cellphones.  We provide adequate facilities for the learners to lock their devices away.

If a learner misplaces or loses their cellphone, parents are required to report the missing device to the local police station.

Learners need to complete a report about the missing device at the reception of the ICT desk in the event that it is handed in.

AirPods

We do not look for missing AirPods.  Learners have been told that they should rather not bring AirPods to school, as they get lost easily.

2026 DATES

Summer Quarter:  20 Jan - 26 March

Autumn Quarter:  8 April - 24 June

Winter Quarter:  22 July - 23 September

Spring Quarter:  14 October - 4 December

Proposed 2027 Dates for Learners

Summer Quarter: 19 Jan 2027 -  18 March 2027

Autumn Quarter: 7 April 2027 -  23 June 2027

Winter Quarter: 21 July 2027 - 22 Sept 2027

Spring Quarter: 6 Oct 2027 - 3 Dec 2027

SOCIAL MEDIA 

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MEMOS FROM OTHER FACULTIES

PP: https://ppblog.parklands.co.za

JP: https://jpblog.parklands.co.za

SP: https://spblog.parklands.co.za