Dear Parents

HAPPY BIRTHDAY PARKLANDS COLLEGE 

On 11 March 1980, Lorraine Roth opened the doors of Christopher Robin Pre-Primary School to the residents of Cape Town’s Atlantic Seaboard. Her experience in the field of early education brought about a well supported and respected establishment, which offered care and early learning to young children, aged from six months to six years. 

By 1994 many families had moved to the new suburbs of Cape Town and parents wanted Christopher Robin to be more accessible to their new homes. 

The search for a suitable location in one of the developing areas took three years. 

The construction of Parklands College began in 1998, when Christopher Robin Pre-Primary School relocated to Parklands and subsequently to Sandown, bringing to the West Coast an educational institution of excellence.  

The school was built in phases to accommodate growth in learner numbers, and to establish the Junior and Senior Preparatory Faculties in Parklands, and the Secondary Faculty in the new suburb of Sandown. 

The College is presently the largest landowner in Parklands and Sandown with approximately 25 hectares of land shared between the campuses.   Apart from learning spaces, a large portion of land has been dedicated to recreation and sporting activities. This provides a balance between the academic, cultural and sporting arenas. 

Our principals and teachers are committed and dedicated specialists in their fields. They share our passion for education and value our vision and mission, thus creating a sense of trust between the learners, parents, educators and the College.

We believe that the best way to prepare our learners for their future is to provide a professional school environment with authentic learning opportunities, allowing them to learn by doing and innovating, to make their own decisions, and work together towards solving real world problems that impact a larger community. Reaching outwards, growing minds and building futures.

1998

2025

Parent Survey Feedback 

In April this year, our Quality Assurance Team conducted an assessment of the College through a Parent Survey.

The survey covered teaching and learning, the school environment, and sporting and cultural activities, which received very positive feedback across all campuses. We also received positive results for academics, leadership, educators, communication, and the overall school environment. The vast majority of parents reported their children are happy and well-treated at school.  We are proud that Parklands College and Christopher Robin Pre-Primary provide an authentic and progressive learning environment where learners thrive.

Based on this valuable feedback, where applicable, improvement plans are in place. A sincere thank you to all the parents who participated in the survey. Your input is crucial in helping us maintain an exceptional learning environment for our learners.

The Quality Assurance Team

Congratulations to the Hendricks Family

We are thrilled to share the joyful news of the arrival of a beautiful baby boy! Congratulations to the Hendricks family on the birth of their son, Ariez, born on 14 July.

Wishing your family abundant love, health, and happiness as you welcome this precious new addition to your lives. 

Welcome to the world, little Ariez! 🎉 👶💙

A Peak Into Our Week 

Tiny Tots 

This week in our class was full of joyful moments and exciting discoveries, We explored sensory play using different objects and toy figurines, which helped support the students fine motor development and encouraged curious, hands-on learning. The little ones especially loved out stamp painting activity using toilet rolls, where we introduced primary colours blue,red and yellow. With bright hands and busy hands this simple but meaningful activity helped build early colour recognition skils. It was a heartwarming week learning through play, and your little ones continue to amaze us with their growing confidence and creativity. 

Tots 1 

This week in the Crackerjack group, everything has been bursting with colour as we explored our exciting theme: Colours! The children have been discovering how colours brighten our world and learning all about primary and secondary colours through fun, hands-on activities.

In Teacher Chloé’s class, the little artists became colour scientists as they created their very own colour wheels. Starting with the primary colours – red, blue, and yellow.

Meanwhile, Teacher Erin’s class had a rainbow of fun with a balloon painting activity. Instead of paintbrushes, the children dipped balloons into bright paints and dabbed across the paper to create beautiful, bouncy rainbows. This playful technique not only made unique artwork but also strengthened those little hands and motor skills.

The classrooms were filled with giggles, colour splashes, and plenty of excitement as our Crackerjacks learned that the world is more fun when you add a splash of creativity. We can’t wait to see what next week brings!

Grade 000 

Our Grade 000s have settled right back in after the winter holidays and returned full of excitement, ready to learn and play. It was heartwarming to see how delighted they were to be reunited with their friends—such a lovely reflection of their growing social and emotional skills.

We’ve been exploring the wonders of the four seasons and gardens. Our beautiful school gardens provide the perfect setting to observe how nature changes throughout the year. On our nature walk through The Hundred Acre Wood and along the driveway gardens, we collected leaves, sticks, bits of bark, and all sorts of interesting natural treasures. These special finds became our art tools! Instead of using paintbrushes, we created beautiful artwork using what we’d gathered, sparking so much joy, creativity, and imagination in the process.

A rainy day offered the perfect opportunity for the Piglets and Tiggers to join forces in our block room. Together, they explored our wonderful collection of oversized LEGO blocks—perfect for building life-sized structures! Some children worked together to build tall towers, while others joined Teacher Abigail to construct a cosy little house.

This type of imaginative construction play is a wonderful example of whole child development in action. While stacking, balancing, and building, children strengthen their physical development through fine and gross motor skills. As they plan and collaborate, they nurture their cognitive and language development, learning to solve problems, negotiate, and share ideas. Working as a team fosters social and emotional development, encouraging kindness, cooperation, and confidence. And through storytelling and imaginative play, their creativity blossoms too.

It’s always a joy to see learning and play come together in such a meaningful way!

Honey Bee's House

The past week was a whirlwind of discovery and hands-on learning for our Honey Bees. Through engaging, play-based activities, students explored the fascinating world of the four seasons, with a special focus on spring. They honed their pre-writing skills by tearing and squishing paper, which they then used to create beautiful, textured spring-themed artwork.

Their curiosity extended to the world of STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics) during an exciting trip to STEAM PARK with teacher Nikki. The children were challenged to build tall, sturdy towers, fostering their problem-solving and collaboration skills. The week concluded with a delightful culinary lesson from Chef Kerry, where students learned about the sequential steps of a recipe while baking delicious custard powder cookies.

Pooh Bear's House 

What an exciting week it's been in the Pooh Bears class! Outdoors, the children zoomed around the driveway on our big motorbikes—racing, balancing, and building their coordination skills with huge smiles and plenty of energy. Indoors, we’ve sprung into our Seasons theme by starting a beautiful spring tree art project. The children sponge painted paper plates in vibrant green, then carefully threaded wool through small holes to create a 3D leafy effect—an excellent way to strengthen fine motor skills. We can’t wait to add the blossoms at the end of the week!

Kanga's House

This week was a scent-sational adventure as we explored the amazing world of smell! We squished and shaped scented playdough, sniffed our way through a garden scavenger hunt, and matched smells with their starting sounds while counting along the way—helping us strengthen both our language and math skills. Our creativity bloomed as we painted with deliciously scented paints and sprinkled jelly and spice powders to make our art smell as good as it looked. We also learned how our noses help us identify and connect with the world around us, using our brains to recognize familiar scents. The week ended on a sweet note with our friends sharing their favorite smells during show and tell—what a wonderfully nose-tastic week! 👃🎨🌿 We’re all sniffing with excitement to find out which sense we’ll explore next—bring it on! 👀👂👅✋

Owl's House

On Tuesday, the Owls had a fun and energetic Ball Skills lesson where they practiced jumping, crawling, throwing, and catching balls. The children loved moving their bodies in different ways, building their coordination and confidence through active play. As part of our Five Senses theme, we also explored the sense of smell by painting with scented paints. Using orange essence, lemon essence, and vanilla essence, the classroom was filled with delightful aromas as the children created beautiful artworks. It was a joyful day of learning through movement and sensory exploration!

Thank You, Hot Chocolate and S'mores

Our hearts were truly warmed by the amazing generosity shown by our parents and little learners during our recent tinned food collection drive. As a small token of our gratitude, we felt it only fitting to treat our little ones to something special - a comforting cup of hot chocolate and a gooey, delicious s’more!

Thank you to Chef Kerry and Rita for preparing these wonderful treats. The joy on the children’s faces said it all!

We are so proud to be part of a community that teaches kindness, compassion, and the joy of giving from such a young age. Well done, everyone!

Parent Information 

Health

Immunisation is one of the most effective ways to protect children from serious diseases. By following the recommended schedule, you help build your child’s immunity early on, keeping them safe and helping to prevent the spread of illness in your community. If you have questions, be sure to check the FAQ section on the poster or speak to your healthcare provider.

LIBRARY ADVENTURE 

South African children are uniquely blessed to grow up, wrapped in the richness of sound of many spoken languages around them.  This wonderful book is the result of a collaboration between a group of ten authors from various backgrounds, and features a positive affirmation in every South African language. Every affirmation encourages self confidence and self worth, a sense of pride in personal heritage and respect for diversity. What a meaningful investment in the future of our children, while protecting our cultural heritage.  Beautifully illustrated by Sanelisiwe Singaphi, it is a treasure! Thank you to Jordan and the Kritzinger family for this thoughtful donation. 

2025 Dates 

Please note that there has been a slight change to the 2025 dates indicated in blue below:

Provisional dates for 2025

Summer Quarter: 20 January – 28 March
Autumn Quarter: 08 April- 25 June
*Mid-term break: 29 April – 2 May
Winter Quarter: 22 July – 23 Sept
Spring Quarter: 14 October – 05 December

Winter Quarter Information

Important Dates - Winter Quarter

2 August: Happy Birthday Jo 

8 August: Happy Birthday Asange 

8 August:              Grade R Cake Sale

9 August: Public Holiday: National Women’s Day

12 August Music Tree: Grade 0000- Transport

13 August Music Tree: Grade 000 - Transport

Happy Birthday Shannon 

14 August Music Tree: Grade 00 - Ocean & Beach

15 August: Happy Birthday Mavis 

16 August: Happy Birthday Busi 

1 September: SPCA Dress-up Day @R20 donation in celebration of Spring Day

5 September: Grade 00 Cake Sale

9 September: Happy Birthday Kim 

12 September: Reports sent to parents 

13 September: Open Day

13 September: Happy Birthday Ntombi 

15 September: Happy birthday Zodwa 

15 - 22 September: Report Feedback Meetings Grade 0000 - R 

16 September: Special Person’s Day Grade 000 11:00-12:00 (Tea and Coffee for Adults in Foyer) 

17 September: Special Person’s Day Grade 00 11:00-12:00 (Tea and Coffee for Adults in Foyer)

18 September: Special Person’s Day Grade R 11:00-12:00 (Tea and Coffee for Adults in Foyer) 

19 September: Grade 000 and Crackerjacks Cake Sale 

      Special Person’s Day Crackerjacks 10:30 - 11:30 (Tea and Coffee for Adults in Foyer) 

22 September:  Happy Birthday Lungi 

23 September: Gilly Southwood: SA Heritage Day Storytelling and dress-up

23 September Last day of the quarter 

24 September:  Public Holiday: Heritage Day  

Winter Quarter Extra Mural Sign-Up Form 

Our extra mural programme is now up and running!

Thank you to everyone who submitted their choices. Extra murals officially started this week, and we’re so excited to see the children enjoying their activities.

Extra Mural information

Cake Sales – A Monthly Treat!

Each grade has the opportunity to contribute to their grade cake sale, and there is much excitement as the children eagerly look forward to their little monthly treat. 

We request that items such as cupcakes, popcorn, crisps, muffins, etc. be sent to the class on their allocated cake sale date. We also recommend that your child spend no more than R2 at the cake sale to save some appetite for lunch! You are welcome to send the term’s money in advance (i.e. 3 x R2 coins, with a total of R24 for the year per child) or send in the R2 on cake sale days in a sealed envelope/packet. Please ensure that items donated for cake sales do not contain nuts and that no sweets are sent in. We love healthy goodies, especially popcorn! 

Winter Quarter

8 August: Grade R                                                                                             

5 September: Grade 00                                                                                

19 September: Grade 000 and Crackerjacks 

Parents who want to assist with their child's class/grade cake sale are welcome to notify their child’s teacher. Please arrive no earlier than 09h45 to help set up the items.

Music Tree 

We’re excited to welcome Music Tree back this August! This interactive puppet show combines songs, rhymes, stories, musical instruments, and imaginative play to create a fun and educational experience for our little ones.

Each grade group will enjoy a themed session:

• 12 August – Grade 0000: Transport

• 13 August – Grade 000: Transport

• 14 August – Grade 00: Ocean & Beach

The Music Tree show is always a highlight—packed with excitement, movement, and lots of opportunities for children to sing, engage, and explore sound through storytelling.

A fee of R65 will be billed to your account.

OUTREACH 

Happy 40th Birthday, Teacher Jo! 

Tomorrow we celebrate a very special milestone - Teacher Jo’s 40th birthday!

Teacher Jo, your kindness, creativity, and passion light up every classroom you step into. As you celebrate this beautiful chapter, we want to wish you a year ahead filled with joy, laughter, good health, and all the things that make your heart happy.

Conclusion

Wishing all our families a restful and happy weekend!