Literature 2022 Regionals: Twisted Reality
Throughout literature, heroes and heroines are often portrayed as handsome or pretty, gracious, and sometimes gentle or brave characters. Antagonists, who may or may not be human, are often portrayed as the opposite: angry, unhappy, and vengeful. Is there another side to the story?  Your team is to choose three antagonists from three different genres (select one genre from each column in Table A) who join together to share their side of the story based on a misconception of their personality, characteristics and motives in the text. Each character must present their story in the same chosen format (e.g. poem, song, persuasive text).  

A huge mazaltov to our Grade 9 team – Leah Rodenacker, Halo Gibson, Ariella Landau, Ben Levinson and Amit Melnik – who won the High School TROPHY for their excellent work on the ‘Language Literature’ challenge.

Social Sciences 2022 Regionals: Circles of Time
Since the beginning of time, humans have gathered in circles for communication, celebration, safety and cultural practice. In these circles, people have been able to reinforce and enhance the cultural richness, teach their young, prepare food together,  seek wisdom from mentors and to establish rules and laws. The remains/evidence of a historic circle has recently been discovered. Your team has been given the task of finding out more about the circle. What was the circle made of? Where was it found? Who used it? What was its significance and why should it be preserved? What do you see as the impact of this circle on present and future societies? 

Mazaltov to our two Grade 8 teams who made us very proud with their excellent ‘Social Sciences’ solutions. Neo Hermus, Erin Hastings, Noah Helman, Saskia Gofman, Shani Sachs and Sienna Berridge were commended for their presentation while Charlee Levitt, Jami Levy, Hannah Bendel, Jessica Carrol, Lily Zetler and Gabriella Querido won the TROPHY for the best High School ‘Social Sciences’ challenge. 

The Arts 2022 Regional: Who are You?
A mystery person has been delivered to the police station. This person has no memory of who they are or where they have come from and is unable to speak. The person’s arms are elaborately painted using body paint, they are wearing an interesting piece of jewellery and are dressed in a fabric that appears to be representative of a culture. Your team will use the clues (body painting, jewellery, clothing) to identify who this person is, where they have come from and the secret message that is hidden within their adornments. 

Well done to our Grade 7 team who chose the difficult ‘Arts’ challenge –  Liora Shochot, Josie Goldberg, Zoe Sternberg, Ally Nathan, Billie Gootkin, Ava Palmer and Ariel Zetler, ably assisted by Eva Urdang in their preparations. This team earned an excellent HONOURS award.

STEM 2022 Regional: Gold Rush
The discovery and the use of gold have excited and intrigued people for many thousands of years. Gold can be found in various forms, including nuggets.  Your team of super explorers has found a 300-gram nugget.  You are to create a moving platform that displays the nugget to the public from a variety of angles. Using ICT, your team must incorporate an explanation of the STEM processes used in the design of your moving platform.  Gold has been very valuable throughout history, your team is also to include a brief scientific explanation as to the value and importance of gold throughout the ages.
Scientific Understandings: Explain why gold has been exceptionally valuable and very useful throughout history, including some modern-day uses. and explain why the nugget is on public display.
Use of Technology: Give a thorough explanation, using your ICT multimedia device, of the design process used in the construction of the platform. The multimedia presentation should run for no longer than 90  seconds, and be incorporated into your presentation.  

Two of our teams accepted the tricky ‘Stem’ challenge with the juniors – Hosea Cole, Ben Kann, Seth Berrill, Joseph Schwartz and Kai Wijnberg – presenting a fascinating solution which won them an HONOURS award, while the Grade 9 team consisting of Ben Lazarus, Connor Amsdorf, Daniel Geva, Finn Raposa de Barbosa and Lia Sachs were very deservedly awarded the TROPHY for the best ‘Stem’ challenge presentation. 

Mazeltov to our two Grade 9 teams for being awarded the High School ‘Spirit’ TROPHY.

WELL DONE to everyone and also to our team facilitators – Ms Steyn, Mr Helfrich, Mr Kadar, Ms Fortuine, Mr Falconer and Mrs de Klerk – and to the many teachers who assisted as judges – Mr Blumenthal, Mr Vorster, Mrs Tredoux, Mrs Giliam, Mrs de Wet, Mrs Varkel, Mr Fletcher and Ms Oosthuizen.