End 2011 Report

A magnificent first term took off with a bang! Amazing opportunities, the preparation for exams and the immensely difficult decision of subject choice was what the third term started off with. I was prepared and had my mind focussed for whatever lied ahead or so I thought.

Before the third term report starts however an encouraging event took place that was very liberal and eye opening to all who partook. Now tree planting isn’t only meant to get your hands dirty but also meant to help nature and the community the trees are planted in as they bear fruit and oxygen!

So when the amazing Natasha and her great crew challenged us to an amazing experience planting trees in a primary school environment it could have only meant good. A group of scholars embarked on this journey and were very touched as we helped the kids make their school a better place. The magical look of joy on the faces of community member and the bonds and conversations we shared were truly to be remembered! Thank you donors and Natasha for the opportunity we love being given chances like these and hope to see more of them in the future.

The beginning of the term was welcoming with me being elected as my class representative! The responsibilities of the first term seemed to excite me and were one of many challenges. To represent my class was a great honour however and so as humbly as possible I accepted the job. At first there were many meetings and fetching of notices but when I got used to it I began to enjoy it. The meetings were mainly about how to improve our school and there were thankfully not many complaints in that department.

So the duties of the first term came quickly and so did the tests. These tests flooded in and were very difficult in some aspects and very easy in the rest. And as our third term mark is made up of projects as well there was a heaped plate that needed clearing. So after writing a lot of tests we grade nines began receiving many test and project marks.

And so the test marks flew in their drones some stinging and some just passing by. And as they began smiles began to appear on my face sadly though there were also some gloomy looks. My personal achievement this term was to achieve my personal best. Unfortunately I did not reach my full potential and so am quite displeased with myself.

The academic success I wanted was not what I achieved and was cut short in a few aspects. I felt that I decreased were I should have excelled. The effort I seemed to put in was just not cutting it again this term. In many of the tests I wrote I felt that I could have done better. However my personal anguish came from a subject that I thrive to do well in, Maths!

This term a very religious event had occurred in my faith. As you know donors I am Muslim and so as it was the holy month of Ramadan I fasted. In the period of time however I also helped out with many of the MSA (Muslim students association) events attending various talks and events.

I became a green representative this term as well. My basic job is meeting for cleaning up of rivers, the school; inform the class of the GSI’s (Green student’s initiative) events such as movies on fraking and other damaging practices that occur in nature. The group of people I meet with truly feel strongly about the environment and have helped me understand what the earth means and how much we need to take care of it. It would really be amazing if the Kay Mason Foundation could be helped to give us more paths of helping the underprivileged and help people.

The main focus was exams however. Amongst sport and other activities at school and in the community there was one huge wall that I needed to start picking away at. The wall of exams! And so with studying as my sledge hammer I began to hit, then smash and finally clobber at that wall. Mr Le Roux, our principal, Bracing us on the exams, we were unstoppable.

To begin with I was nervous as I prepared but once I started to get the jest of things I slowly but shortly, strangely enough began to enjoy the fact of working ahead!

That was my brief on school and now on to the more physical aspect of my life. SPORT! The u15 team third term rugby got off to a bang with plenty of hard work in our practises which thankfully paid off in our games. We were successfully undefeated the whole season winning all our games. We were very proud and won tem of the term for our outstanding performance and the brilliant job of our coaches and team mates!

So as you know donor I love my soccer. So I went for trials to a soccer academy. Thankfully I made it in and this was during the holidays. The soccer academy s called stars of Africa and are a magnificent academy. They are linked to Bolton Wonderers in England and various other professional clubs in South Africa.

So donor this is my third term report and with your contrition and my effort hopefully oneday we can help change this world for the better!

Yours sincerely

Yaseen Omar

Mid- 2011 Grade 9:

It has been a very difficult first term for me in Grade Nine. In fact I could sum it up into one profound word “confusing”. As I entered Grade Nine with my focus cap on and mind prepared for learning I was overwhelmed by the strangest feeling. I felt like no matter what I did or how hard I worked there would always be something wrong with me. That would be a little taste of how I, Yaseen Omar, felt galloping into the first term. But enough about me lets jump right into it. I had taken on many new challenges and joining a soccer club was one of them. The soccer club I joined is called Queens Park Rangers. I enjoy playing for them and work really hard at my soccer and have now joined a soccer academy too. 

Not even an hour into the first term and the work had begun pilling up. My Monday schedule locked as tight as a pit bulls jaw. We were handed our community service passports, time table and sport sheet. Just in case you don’t remember our passports dictate to us junior students the duty to watch three first team sport games, bring bread for a friend at Westerford’s sister school Inhlanganiso once on Tuesdays for five consecutive weeks and go to three cultural events held by different cultural societies at Westerford High School.

The second day was less eventful with homework piles mounting and my first cricket practice with our very stout although funny cricket coach Mister Dibbleby who also happens to teach history to Grade 9 F which is my class. The letter of the class doesn’t determine your intelligence. My class mates and I were introduced to our teachers and some flickering and some dull but all strict. Our maths teacher however Mrs Hobson was the most friendly and welcomed us into her class warmly for math exercises. My opinion seemed to change after that.

My art homework seemed to munch away at my time and gave me very little weekend time. The drawings turned out good but things took a bit of a turn when it came to the theory. I did not prepare myself well enough and was suffering. I will be honest with you, puberty is a whole new ball game. But once I learn more about it I’m sure I will get it.

In Afrikaans the reader we were given was Eenkantkind. This book was very tragic and made me understand a lot and remember a lot as well. The book was about Jana Olivier, an ugly duckling with a lot of sadness in her heart aggravated by her abusive step father Bruce yet soothed by a grandmotherly figure Ouma Ella.

I read a few books throughout the term, some on the Holocaust patching up my knowledge for history and some pleasure reading like Secret Seven and Artemis Fowl which I thoroughly enjoyed. The books I most enjoy reading are action and reality based books. I also read a few Time Magazines which my mother occasionally brings home from work which I love reading when I can. Mrs Hobson also introduced us to Friday tests which I topped every week.

As time passed what I really begun to enjoy however was collecting coins and there are such vast varieties of odd South African coins wondering around in shops.      

The third day of my schooling career in grade nine was however very eventful introducing the school to our diverse range of cultural events and sport. But after the first week began a strong flow of tests, orals and work. I found our work load difficult to cope with and there is no excuse for my terrible marks. I tried to grasp the gist of things but it was not good enough. I felt that with the opening few test marks I received I was not working hard enough. I set to it to then work harder and so I did but still not enough.

While my academics were wobbling my sport stood firm. We won our cricket games well won and soccer was going as amazing as ever. My discipline was improving. I soon became the opening bowler and batsman of my team and the captain of my soccer team. My report marks were dwindling. I was stressed and angry for some reason. I was screaming inside and felt like I had no one to reach out to.

My teachers were good and very strict. I was pleased with the environment. I had met many new people and friends. My life inside and outside was calming down.

And just like that the first term was over. And like a dark cloud over my head loomed my marks. They saddened me and left me wondering what I had done wrong. And so as one term ended another had begun. 

Studying was all that was on my mind when it came to the second term, then rugby and soccer. My work ethic increased and I began to pull in good marks in class tests and other assignments. Our rugby season also got off to an enthusiastic start with Westerford playing Camps Bay High School and me meeting my fellow ex-scholars’. The game was tight but eventually we were victorious and the game was excellently played by both sides. Our season carried on straight through exams and was competitive and difficult. We were unbeaten however.

My mind was focused and after weeks of studying I had thought that I was prepared for exams. After each paper my confidence grew and was beginning to feel relaxed. The exams flew by and seemed to be all in all very easy. The focus and preparation was not enough however and I let myself down.

After the exams we returned to our normal school days and the term carried on not as eventful as I had hoped.

One very exciting thing happened to me though. One Friday afternoon I was asked to join the squash team as they were a player short. I did so willingly and worked very hard winning all three of my sets. My opponent was very good and put up a tough fight and was a very good sports man.

 And so the second term ended. I would like to work harder and strive to be better in whatever I undertake. I have promised myself and will try to wave the Kay Mason Flag higher in the terms to come.

Yours sincerely

Yaseen Omar