PCS Senior Prep Eco Club!

Here at Pretoria Chinese School we care about with environment and strive towards recycling. We also try to eliminate at least some of the plastic from reaching the landmines, as that is something that will not decompose and is likely to leech pollutants into the the soil. We have started the ECO Brick initiative and together with College we are attempting to complete at least a 100 Eco Bricks by the end of this year. It requires an empty 2l plastic bottle, about 450 grams of clean plastic such as old shopping bags and some good-spirited manpower to fill these bottles till they are fully stuffed and feel completely hard. These Eco bricks are then donated to the non profit organisations that use it as building material. Every little bit of plastic helps the Earth and counts towards something constructive! 

"Extra Co-Curriculum activities that should be added at Pretoria Chinese School" by Tyler Ho-Tong and Khanyisa Motsepe Gr 7

In Pretoria Chinese school we do a lot of academics and sports because they are very important to our school.

·         From 7:30 in the morning to 16:00 we are at school.

·         5 days a week we are at school more than we are at home so it is important that we accommodate everyone.

·         From 14:15 – 16:00 we do sport’s, cultures and support classes.

·         There are some sports and cultures I would like to add for the school at senior preparatory which is from grade 4-7.

·         We want to accommodate everyone because not everyone does the same things that others do.

·         We don’t need to go and compete with other schools for the sports and cultural but we can simply have them to everyone to enjoy and have fun.

·      Doing extra activities after school is such an important thing in our daily lives such as sport’s, cultural and support classes.

·         The sports that we have currently for winter is:

• Netball
• Hockey
• Soccer

·         In summer there are a lot of cool sports like swimming and tennis.

·         Sports is very important to participate in because not only do you get exercise but you also learn new things like working as a team, learning to play a new sport, making new friends and you learn discipline.

Basketball:

·         We should add a basketball team for boys and girls for senior preparatory.

·         Every lunch break there are boys and some girls playing basketball.

·         I Tyler Ho-Tong actually play basketball; I practice every Saturday either at Pretoria Chinese school or at my house where I have a basketball hoop.

·         My grandfather played for the Chinese community and my dad has carried on the legacy of playing basketball for the Chinese community, that Is what I do.

·         Every Easter weekend, there are provinces which are part of the Chinese community play basketball come together and compete.

·         I’ve been playing basketball since I was 7-8 years old.

·         I love basketball it is one of my passions that I really love and want to share. We don’t need to play matches but the children would love.

Cultural:

·         Cultural activities are also very important.

·         They are like newspaper club, choir, Chinese dancing, drama club, eco club, Chinese drumming and readers are leaders and much more.

School Orchestra:

·         I want to add an orchestra to our school because a lot of the children in our school play instruments and it would be great to near them altogether not only that but a lot of the kids don’t play sports or do any cultural because they focus on learning their instrument. I personally think it would be a great idea They don’t have to compete but they can do it for themselves and for fun.

Art classes:

·      We do have art classes during the day as a subject but a lot of kids at our school like Khanyisa A lot of the kids have a great talent. It would be great for us to have an art class; this is for fun and for kids who want to learn more about art and for those who need help with art.

Support classes:

Support classes are to help children who struggle with certain subjects.

·    We have a lot of support classes like Chinese, math, English, Afrikaans and Zulu.

Message to all the teachers:

·      The teachers at Pretoria Chinese school are amazing and they teach us to their best of ability. We couldn’t ask for better teachers like them. We are blessed to have them as coaches and teachers!

"When one door closes, another one opens", by Tyler Ho-Tong

On the 31 May 2019 our grade 6-7 English teacher left and it was very sad to see her go. She is such an amazing and great English and Life Orientation teacher, we can’t replace someone like her.

She left because she got a wonderful job opportunity as an English teacher at Southdown’s College which is closer to home from grade 10-11, I already know that the students will love her as much as we do.

However, we did get a new English and Life Orientation teacher which we are very grateful for, but she is only here until we can find a permanent teacher. She is great and very kind towards us. She is a great blessing to our school.

On Thursday the day before she left 29 May 2019, the two Grade 7 classes came together and we were able to throw a successful farewell party for Miss Welch. 

Thanks to all the students who bought snacks and made it a blast for miss Welch and us!

Miss Welch's classroom was always full of good vibes and she made it a class that all kids want to learn in.

This message isn’t just to speak about how Miss Welch is leaving but it is also to say that when a door closes, another one opens, so don’t give up on a dream no matter how small or big it might actually be. Be in control of your life and remember to never take things for granted who knows your whole life could change tomorrow.

"My Cousin's Party" by Onthatile Sebeya

The other Saturday i went to a party - it was my cousin's Birthday and she turned 10. We got her flowers as a gift and ate too many sweets there. We played 'Stuck in a Mud' and 'Flush the Toilet'. I also saw her friends, and there was this woman who took my cousin's phone, cause we were playing on it too much. We got it back when she started packing. Afterwards we had to also leave and walk to our friend's house, but it was not that far. It was an all girl's party and we all had a lot of fun!

"The Guardians" Chapter 10, by Nina Olivier, Gemma Penning, Andrea White

“Training?” I said yawning.

“Yes. Now, please hurry, you're already late,” Elanour said, I finally opened my eyes properly and saw Elanour. She was dressed in her casual clothes, with a beautiful crown on her head.

“There are clothes on your bed. “and with that she left my room and closed the door behind her. 

I got up and like Elanour said there were clothes on my bed and with it some sort of granola bar. I got dressed and I went to the door and opened it and there standing outside was Cryselium! 

“I thought the princess would leave you here. Sometimes I think all that swimming leaves her head a little water clogged,” she said, and while she lead me through the palace, I learnt a few more things: Cryselium's mom was declared an outcast, which automatically made Cryselium an outcast. So basically Cryselium hates Elanour. She stopped outside a huge wooden door and pushed it open and walked inside, while walking like magic armour started going around her.

“ So, lets start,” I said kind of exited to begin.

“I’m not training you..... He is....”

To be continued….

"The Guardians" Chapter 9, by Nina Olivier, Gemma Penning, Andrea White

...

“So… what did it mean, you known that scripture in the book,” I said, on my fourth helping of these deviled eggs, but they were blue and pink.

“It is the first clue,” Elanour said wiping her mouth with a handkerchief with her initials E.R. embroidered on it.

“Our mothers left a ‘scavenger hunt’ for us,” Cryselim said. “If we find all the clues we will apparently find ‘the key’ and defeat Velisity”

“We can’t without it,” Elanour said looking a little annoyed at Cryselims tone on certain words.

“We should get to bed, “and before I knew it, I was being guided back to my room. The door closed and on my bed was a pair of red pajamas. I put them on and climbed into bed, hoping to wake up in my old bed next to Juliet yelling at me for something or another. But no such luck, I woke up to the voice of Elanour.

“ Wake up, its time for training.”

To be continued…

The Mythology series, By Jordan Beckwith

Chapter 1 

"The beginning" 

Our story starts on top of mount Kragdor, a traitorous place full of dark knights and no good. The hero, Edmund Clark, soon to claim the land of Hyroth is challenged for the best position in the guard. Let me throw you back of how Edmund came to be.

He started off as a young tradesman of the land Hyroth. Wishing to get out of the position he was in was a cruel, torturous thing with barely any pay and sometimes no pay at all. He was dreaming to be anything but a tradesman. He had no home and no food but he was skilled with weapons of any type, like swords, knives, bows and rifles.

He eventually gained enough courage to apply for a spot to be the guard, but the task man said he didn’t have what it took to be a knight. He immediately said: “I challenge you to a duel! And if I win, I get a spot on the guard and you will leave the city… but if you win I’ll leave the city and never come back..!”

There were guards behind him and they heard of the challenge. Edmund said that if he steps down to a 'peasant' then what will the people say!? 

He grinned at the Task man and said: “I accept your challenge!”

…..To Be Continued!

'My Horses' by Andrea White

I stay on a farm and we have four horses. Every weekend we have to groom them and I get to ride my black stallion. His name is Brock and he is the same age as me - turning eleven! He is pretty tall now but we had him since he was 6 month old. Every evening we go to the stables to give him and the rest of the horses a cookie. He even knows how to say please - he scrapes the floor with his hoof. He has a very gentle nature, but even our dogs are gentle and protective of us. He normally just grazes during the day, but when we let the horses out of the paddock, they all race to get to the grass. When they run, their manes blow in the wind, and it looks like a dream come true. Every Christmas we buy them rein deer horns, and my mom and my brother ride the other horses. We are very lucky to have the horses we do, I love them very much and they love us too!