Back to school

by Mikhail Amod

So begins yet another year of work, studying, some fun, and more work. When the 4^th of December graced all of the hard working students across South Africa last year, 41 days seemed like an eternity in utopia. Absolute freedom and zero work. However it faded away so quickly I still think it’s the 26^th of December. How time flies.

Now we’re back. Last year we came, we saw and we conquered. Now we have to do it all over again. And they say in Grade 11 you do more work than a fit black man in America in the 19^th century. Suddenly instead of thinking what I’ll be doing this weekend I’m now thinking which university I should aim for. Parents suddenly go all Margret Thatcher-like and rain down on you with an iron fist. No going out, no TV for extended periods and no procrastinating. We just say “Okay I’ll stop all that tomorrow because I’m watching TV right now.” Later we ask them if we can go to Cavendish with friends.

This year we all say we are going to work hard. I should start by doing my homework. Coming back to school gives me great joy. I love everyone at school and find much comfort with engaging in conversation with them. And I love my teachers. Do I come across as a nerd? Maybe!

Anxiety, Tiny Grade Eights and Other School Related Things

Imrah Kamedien

School.

Did you just get that feeling? That panicky “school-friends-teachers-work-bleh” feeling that most of us have when packing our bags or walking through those sad, sad gates.

As I walked past all the new students, grade eights and those few random transfers, their faces reflected that first-day-of-school feeling. I felt pretty bad for laughing a little bit inside at how nervous they looked, but I couldn’t help but go “aww”, when seeing all those tiny grade eights begging their parents not to go yet. Is it just me, or are grade eights getting shorter?

I think the anxiety gets less and less each year, because I was actually slightly excited. Most of the grade elevens were, “One and three quarter years until high school is over, yay!” Grade eleven is that good “in between” year. Where you have all the excitement of school being nearly over, and less stress of final exams. Where you’re one year closer to your matric ball, and one year away from crying over the biology textbook that you’re trying to study. One year closer to leaving school, and a year away from having no actual responsibilities. That is what each year of school is to us- just, “one year closer to…”

School means the end of the holidays, fun and not getting up until noon- and the start of heavy bags, headaches and uniforms. School also means seeing your friends, your favourite teachers or that cute boy/girl that waved at you once.

School is place to reinvent yourself and make friends with people you never thought you would. It is a place to be yourself and to meet people who like the real you.

So, to the students who are actually reading this: good luck, you’ll need it to work “longer and harder.” Oh, and remember that you’re one year closer to achieving your goals and dreams, whether it’s frying nuggets at McDonald’s or landing on Mars.

(A side note: be cool, stay in school.)

Story

Jesse(grade 8)

Once we arrived at Ratanga Junction, my uncle Mark; my mother’s youngest brother, paid me ten rand to ride it with him and the rest of my family. As we got on, I anxiously waited for the ride to get to the top, expecting the heart-stopping drop and its screams to follow.

It was taking longer to drop than when I would see people riding it, but at that single moment when I wasn’t expecting it, it came. That close to 90 degrees drop which lead to multiple spirals and loops. In the middle of the first loop, I started opening my eyes, realising that it wasn’t as scary as I always thought it would be. I was smiling for the rest of the ride and surprisingly, I never screamed, once!

For that, I got an extra five rand. After that I wanted to go again but it was closing time so we had to leave. We were lucky because it was the last ride of the day. On our way walking to the car realised that my fear of it wasn’t because of the loops, but of the cave which is the entrance to the ride. In the sides of the cave were snakes blocked by (hopefully) a strong piece of glass.

I have a phobia of snakes so getting through there was the hardest part. This was the final time I did something I have promised myself never to do again. Riding the Cobra. A year later, I broke that promise by riding it again, and probably will continue to break that promise.

The Girl

By: Sagel Kundieko (Grade 8)

 

There I was doing the same thing I’ve been doing in two weeks. Running but getting nowhere. It was dark around me except in front of me and The Monster behind me.

The Monster looks like a centaur but it has wings. His job is to find The next Girl but he can only take the Her if She wants to go. He comes to Her every night and chases Her into The LIGHT. The girl is supposed to rule over the LIGHT City. You will wonder why I didn’t want to go. It’s because The She has to protect The LIGHT People from The DARK City. The DARK City stole the Thing of The LIGHT City, The Thing is the protection of the LIGHT People.

All The GIRLs never return once they meet the ruler of The DARK City. The People think that They are prisoners of The Dark Angel. The vision always comes at 10 o’clock that’s because I am The 10^th Girl. According to the principles of the LIGHT City, the 10^th Girl is supposed to defeat the Dark Angel. Being The Girl does not mean that you are not human anymore, but in The City you become a fairy.

The lady who told me all this, at school, is my guide, she told me that it was important for me to go and I did.This is my story on how I became The last and right Girl that saved light city.

My Reflection Can’t Look Me in the Eye

By Zainab

I have heard it all my life,

A voice calling a name I recognized as my own.

Sometimes it comes as a soft-bellied whisper.

Sometimes it holds an edge of urgency.

But it always says: Wake up my love.

You are walking asleep.

There’s no safety in that!

The Call by Oriah Mountain Dreamer

 

Why is it that we so frequently try to re-invent the person we are, but so infrequently want to be the person we have become? We allow ourselves to be defined by the clothes we wear, the cars we drive and the friends we keep. It is a juggling act that most of us can manage, even master, but sooner or later we are confronted by a real, personal question: Who am I and what have I become?

 

We dress, think, live, behave and even react a certain way with the sole purpose of fitting in. Unbeknownst to us, we have surrendered our lives to imitating trends, looks, likes and behavior. We are relentlessly bombarded by mainstream media, the master puppeteers, tugging at invisible strings and manipulating our every move.

 

We are no longer the keeper of our own souls, our inner being. Our downfall, partly because of an inherent basic human need to belong to a tribe as there is safety in number.

 

What ever happened to just being confident about your own distinct gifts and dreams and believing in not just who you are, but also what you are and where you are? What ever happened to just allowing your special traits to flourish and to become the person you were meant to be?

 

I knew a girl once. Her name was Zainab and we used to be the best of friends. She completed my sentences, knew all my joys and all my fears. We loved the some things, were intrigued by similar wonders and cried and felt sad for the same reasons. Somehow, I have managed to lose that friend. We drifted apart and I’m too scared to try to find her. I am still fearful of what I might find. Would she approve of who I have become? Would I be content with whom she is?

It is a daunting prospect to focus our judgmental eye on our inner sense of self. It takes a tremendous amount of courage to examine one’s persona, to unravel those complexities that make us unique. The thought alone scares us, but it is all right to be afraid. It’s what makes us human. We are frail and vulnerable at times and it’s okay to feel like that. It is, however, essential that we do take that first step to self-realisation.

 

So when you have some time available, when you are all twittered, facebooked and whatsapped out, look your reflection in the eye and ask yourself these questions: Who do my friends perceive me to be? Am I happy with their perception? Am I truly content to be me?

 

My hope on this quest is that I find that girl I once lost and when we reacquaint and rekindle our neglected friendship, she will look me in the eye and smile appreciatively. Only then, will I be truly content with me, myself and I.

Creation of the Universe – A Bedtime Story

By Layla Hildebrand, 2013

Firenza, Luna and Aurora were sisters. They were nothing more than dots on the blank canvas we call ‘space’. In their lonely surroundings of nothingness, they glowed in bright colours. This was the everyday life of three heavenly bodies with nothing but each other’s company, until one day, they felt the need for a change.

They wanted to make something of the never-ending space. Luna and Aurora wanted friends, peace, light and happiness. The three sisters were capable of anything, but for Firenza, power wasn’t enough; she wanted control.

Firenza used her powers to create a magical throne, which she planned to use to attack her sisters. Her envy of her sisters’ powers overwhelmed her and brought nothing but misery to the lives of her sisters. Firenza’s greed overwhelmed her to the point where she was completely uncontrollable, and was no longer aware of her sinful ways.

Luna and Aurora tried their best to console her, but failed in doing so. They then decided that Firenza had to be killed. The two sisters then killed Firenza by casting the Spell of Death over her sleeping body.

As Firenza died, her body gave off a radiant light that still glows today, and is known as our sun. Aurora and Luna felt something they had never experienced before: guilt. The three heavenly bodies that lived side by side for millions of millennia now became two.

There is a crack in everything; that’s how the light gets in. the two sisters realised that their sin was this crack, and that they would find real redemption by turning guilt into good.

This is when Aurora and Luna strived to create good of their guilt. They used Firenza’s light to create new life, while creating peace, friendship and happiness, as they had wished at first.

Aurora found redemption by becoming the earth, and giving life to humans, plants and animals in return for taking the life of her sister. Realising the big mistake she made, she allowed humans to make mistakes as well, to feel redemption and relief. Every night from then on, she watched the humans, plants and animals grow and adapt, and awake to new challenges every day. She created the plants and animals so that they could not live without each other, just as the earth could not survive without Firenza’s light.

Man, those Maddening Mock!

Almost all of the Grade 12’s have at some point during the last two weeks or so, been confronted with this dreaded line of questioning, “So how were they?” and while the question seems harmless enough, I use the word ‘confronted’ without uncertainty because that is how it feels to hear it – like you are trapped into repeatedly reliving the entire nightmare and pretending it was all sound and merry. It’s especially awkward when the specific teacher subject teacher ask this of you.

The first instinct is to reassure everyone that they were not too bad at all, that you actually enjoyed quite a few questions and that you have so much confidence in your abilities that you couldn’t expect anything less than an A+. Of course, another more fun instinct is to frighten the juniors to no end,make them fear all that is grade 12 and respect you much more for surviving and coming out alive! Personally though, i tried to sound positive when answering this, but in such a way so that when the results come out…not so positive, I can simply reply, ” I never said it was easy, i said it was straightforward.”

The truth, for at least me, is that the Mock Exams were quite tough. Not tough to the point of being impossible, but tough enough to surprise us a little. There was nothing new(except maybe the reading, which was absolutely awesome and got me minority of the marks), it was hardly any different from the mid-year exam, some were maybe at a slightly higher standard, because of the constant pressure, the reality of the label ‘Mock Finals and the sudden time constrain we all found ourselves in, they seemed unending, draining and extremely challenging.

Mocks were suppose to reflect how well we will do in the Finals(which is roughly in a month!) and in many cases for various people and various subjects, the outcome wasn’t all that promising. This did not discourage anyone though but it rather motivated us to work harder for our last exams. I feel like, after being so mentally worn out, I’m suddenly full of energy and enthusiasm to continue studying until all I can talk and think about is about equations and concepts and calculations and curriculum paper! As you can see, Mocks can also leave you slightly out of it, so much so that studying suddenly becomes exhilarating.

The best part about them though, was the time flexibility. It was the most wonderful feeling to only have to arrive at school at 2pm, but on the other hand, not so great when you realize to wake up early anyway, simply to study. Or the disapproving looks you’d get from adults who thought you were bunking, on the way to school. The horrible aspect was learning to juggle two exams in one day. But as this is something that will likely happen in the Finals again. I’ve made peace with it by admitting it was for the best. I think the real challenge here wasn’t the work content or the papers, but really, just learning to stretch ourselves in terms of working harder and dealing with pressure.

So while Mocks turned out to be quite awful and exasperating, they did effectively prepare us for the real ordeal. I think many people will realize their mistakes and rusty areas now and will work hard to rectify them in order to achieve their desired results. And so, the long anticipated answers to the popular question of the week would be, “They’ve been a little difficult on the whole. But they definitely  failed in mocking us! We’re more prepared and ready, so bring it on those Finals.”

Portia Lujabe

LET’S MOCK EXAMS

A reflection

Mock – to poke fun at, pretend or simulate. Despite what its title might suggest, ‘Mock Exams’ is no laughing matter, especially to Claremont High’s first Matrics – Founding Class of 2013. It is the Preliminary Examinations, the last one set internally, and the final preparation before the ever feared Finals.

It was kicked off with English Paper 1, to many a rather comfortable start to ‘ease in’ the exams. This theme was quickly knocked out by the following exam: ACCOUNTING. For those of you who flinched when you read that, don’t worry, your pain is shared by many. After this obstacle, the time-table makers seemed to have no mercy. Afrikaans/Xhosa; PHYSICS; MATH!!! Bam, Bam, Bam!!! Day in and day out brutal examination was thrown at us, forcing our overworked minds to both cope somehow and spew out results; or panic and crumble under the pressure. It was seemingly the end of days. Or was it?

The Matrics…ahh, the Matrics. They, from the get go, had a plan to combat this HOD imposed death-exams. They, what they though was very cleverly, turned the senior science lab into what resembled a “chill room”. Couches, poofs, even table tennis!!! A relaxing place to chill with friends (matrics only, of course) before an exam or after one. They (we) started coming early to school on days we had an afternoon exam, just to chill. It was the perfect plan, that is, until Mrs Moyce Found out.

“THAT ROOM IS SUPPOSED TO BE FOR STUDYING!!!” “You can’t afford to…” You get the idea? That and something to do with a warrior being serious at war. To be fair, she was largely right. We should have been more focused at this time. Responsibilities and all. That being said, the awesome chill room was taken away, not to mention being in Mrs Moyce’s bad books (nasty place to be). Luckily, there were only a few exams to go. Including the dreaded Life Orientation exam. Yes, that was sarcasm.

From an academic point of view, Claremont High’s first set of Mock Exams was, as a whole, a success. The few indicators received thus far have shown averages have gone up, the most recognised of these being an excellent improvement in Physical Science Average ( ON target with our 3 year plan!!! THANK YOU DR. BRIZZLE!!!). Even if there were a few setbacks here and there, the mock exams were a great opportunity for us to get our mindsets in gear for the road ahead.

Paraphrasing a teacher’s words, the time for ‘play play’ is over. At a time of war, a soldier has to be in war mode, meaning all shots on target (soughta what Mrs Moyce said).

Claremont, Westerford, pretty much the whole Western Cape has their eyes on the founding class. No pressure guys!

With 15 school days to go, let’s put BEAST MODE on and get ready to, for the last time, to mock some exams.

by Mogamat Dayaan Salie

Move while we’re young

This is an animated video created by Grade 10 learners, Zainab Adjiet and Yasmeen Edross. This was for Life Science film project. Who said Life Science was boring?

Capturing Claremont High

Yet another term at CHS!

This term we would like, you, CHS learners to tell us what you think about being at CHS.

What do you think of when you think about school?

What do you like most about CHS?

What does it mean for you to be at CHS?

If you can you answer these questions

• Write a poem

          OR

• Draw an image

          OR

• Write an article

          OR

• Take a picture.

This is an opportunity for you to get creative and think about your experience at CHS.

We will consider submissions weekly until the end of the term. Each week we will consider the best poem/picture/article and overall winners (from each category) will be selected at the end of the term. Each week’s winning submission will be published on this blog.

Here’s to capturing memories at CHS!