HeronBridge College
Mission to Xai-Xai in Mozambique
25 HeronBridge College students joined up with the
HeronBridge Community Church on their third annual
mission to Xai-Xai in Mozambique. They joined 9 adults
to spend 8 days giving of themselves to serve this
cmmmunity. The HeronBridge Community Church has formed a
good relationship with Youth for Christ (YfC) Mozambique
and has, in the past, assisted them with their work in
the local villages. YFC Mozambique has established a
number of village schools in the Early Childhood
Development sector. They raise the financial support for
the teachers, train the teachers in the use of a
curriculum and also arranges for nutritious meals for
the children on a daily basis.
The role of the
team is supporting this work. Last year the team built a
school and also distributed 10 “School in a Box” kits. A
box contains all a teacher would need resource-wise to
teach a group of 30 kids. This year the team again
interacted with these villages and provided 10 gross
motor activity bags. Each bag contains a range of
equipment which is used to develop gross motor skills
through play. The team played with the children and in
this way demonstrated to the teachers how the equipment
can be used, what the value is in the children’s
development. They then left those resources with the
teachers, along with documents that explain each
activity.
The team also held a 3 day soccer
clinic for 160 twelve to fourteen year olds in Xai-Xai.
They provided each youngster with a t-shirt and all the
60 balls, 120 cones and whistles taken up were left with
the YfC staff to continue conducting soccer clinics with
the hope of creating an informal league for this age
group.
Following are quotes from HeronBridge
College students pertaining to their experience up in
Xai-Xai:
Grade 11: “My heart was touched
numerous times and it lead me into questioning who I am.
The children in the villages really taught me
unconditional love. They did not care about my looks or
how I dressed, all they wanted were to be played with
and held. These children really understand what it is to
be selfless and they have taught me humility and shown
me how rich they are in some spheres of their lives. The
most touching for me was when I saw children offering
some of our group half of their biscuits. This really
moved as this was probably the first and last biscuit
they would have and yet they were willing to share it
with us! This really pushed me over the edge and made me
feel incomplete as a person. Strangely enough, as
this hole started to open I started to feel like God
wanted me to ‘talk’ with him more and more. In the
beginning I did not have the courage to talk to God as I
felt guilty for rejecting him but due to Ingo’s
devotions and everyone’s experiences I found that I
could go no longer without talking to God. I had to
confront Him. I am now a Christian and feel as
though God is walking next to me holding my hand. It is
the most amazing feeling I have ever had! Every morning
and evening when I pray I feel as though I am talking
directly to God. With every decision I make I feel as
though God is guiding me and all that I can do is pray
that I can help others like God has helped me.”
“At the risk of sounding terribly corny, there was so
much that I learnt about myself whilst in Mozambique. I
really appreciate everything much more. It truly was an
eye opener; many of the children are left to their own
devices. They have nothing. “
“It stood out for
me when we were told, “the people in the village are not
poor and different to how we are, but from their
perspective, they were normal and living good lives and
we were the different ones”
“This little girl
that didn’t know me put her trust in me and sat in my
lap. She came to me for love, she just wanted to be held
and given attention. This was only one of many
experiences but it warmed my heart. At first I was in
compete shocked, I was scared and I wanted to leave. I
didn’t understand why the little girl wanted to be with
me specifically and I didn’t know how to react. I think
I was afraid to open up to something so foreign to me. I
feel that the little girl was a message for me to open
my heart and give my all to whatever was thrown my way.”
“I was a very emotional trip in regards to the group as
a whole, where I found this year’s experience at Xai-Xai
reinforced how I felt and what I spiritually experienced
in the previous trip”
Grade 12: “It,
unexpectedly, became one of those trips where you come
back to your ‘normal’ life and wonder why it hasn’t
changed. I walked into Broadacres after a 14hr trip back
and was amazed at how self involved the people were. I
almost despaired for our society, until I remembered
that before this trip I was more like them than I’d like
to admit. Xai-Xai 2010 for me wasn’t only a trip where I
made new friends and strengthened old relationships,
connected with kids and saw how the people live. It
wasn’t a pretty holiday that will be forgotten in a
dusty scrapbook one day. It was a trip that shifted my
perspective and allowed God to reach into my life and
change it irrevocably.”

College Best Speaker Competition

Teagan O'Gorman |

Joanne
Tomlinson |
On the evenings of Wednesday 2nd and Thursday 3rd June, the College ran
its Internal Best Speaker Competition. The best speakers
in each Grade, from Grade 8 to Grade 11, went through
two rounds of adjudication before making it through to
the Junior and Senior Finals Evenings. Everyone who
participated spoke beautifully and our congratulations
go out to all of them. The Juniors wrote and
presented speeches on the topic of an abstract noun.
Students spoke on inspiration, death, family,
friendship, heroism and more, showing intelligence,
maturity and a lovely combination of entertainment and
enlightenment. The results were as follows: |
Grade 8 2nd runner-up: Michael
Daubermann 1st runner-up: Jemma Muller Winner:
Natasha Lewis Grade 9 2nd
runners-up: Harriet Bentley and Taylor Evans 1st
runner-up: Ofentse Moduka Winner: Teagan O’Gorman
Overall Junior Best Speaker:
Teagan O’Gorman The Seniors were given the
challenge of finding a quote from a well-known person in
the form of a question. The speakers put a lot of
thought into their speeches and the standard was
extremely high. The Grade 10 and Grade 11 speakers wrote
and presented excellent speeches that impressed, amused
and provoked much thought. The results are as follows:
Grade 10 1st runners-up: Farai
Mubaiwa and Thabile Myeza Winner: Melissa Veale
Grade 11 2nd runner-up: Caroline
Peel 1st runner-up: Jarryd Webber Winner: Joanne
Tomlinson
Overall Senior Best Speaker: Joanne
Tomlinson
Eskom Science Expo
HeronBridge College entered the Eskom Science Expo
the first time this year. The following students are
congratulated on being selected to represent the College
at the Regional Eskom Science Expo on Saturday 31st
July:
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| Darien Edwards |
Farai Mubaiwa |
Harriet Bentley |
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| Jamie-Lee Goosen |
Megan Rigby |
Megan Taylor |
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 and Miriam Muller (15)t.JPG) |
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| Melissa Pullen |
Wynand Brummer and Miriam Muller |
Warrick Gower |
Grade 10: Darien Edwards –
Cranium Cool Warrick Gower – Magnetic suspension
Farai Mubaiwa & Jonathan Buchan - Effective microbes
Santana Land & Melissa Pullen – Hubbly bubbly Miriam
Müller & Wynand Brümmer – Bottled water
Grade 9: Mischa Boddenberg-Lift energy
Jamie-Lee Goosen-Ground breaking discoveries Harriet
Bentley & Jodie Porter-The ‘F’ word (FAT) Megan
Rigby-Measuring glycemic levels Letrisha Mouton &
Megan Taylor –Animal tracking system
All the
students who made an effort with their colourful,
informative, inspiring displays are thanked and
commended for their hard work.
Sterkfontein Caves and Maropeng

On Thursday 29th April 2010 50 Grade 11 students,
accompanied by Mr Muddiman , Mrs Powell and Mrs Letord
began a journey that would see them descending 60 m
underground , and being blown away by the vortex.
This was an educational tour to Sterkfontein Caves and
Maropeng. The students needed to learn a number of
different aspects and what better way than to present
them with visual learning of topics, such as World
Heritage site, the Ramsar convention, stalactites and
stalagmites and then biologically, the uncovering of
skeleton remains which have ancient DNA. The
highlight or in fact highlights, of the trip were
different for each student but the stories of the
happening of the Caves intrigued the Grade 11’s
for example the exploration of the underground
lake especially because the guides had an awesome way of
explaining the different stories . At Maropeng the
Vortex had everyone screaming and tumbling but most
enjoyed the lazy trip along the waterway going back in
time. The Grade 11 appreciated how much time and thought
had been put into the displays that were interactive and
educational.
Swimming 2009 – 2010
After months of
training, early morning practices, relay change overs
and sit-ups, the HeronBridge College Swimming Team swam
at the Interhigh Gala on 2 March at Ellis Park.
We had an awesome gala, coming second to Maragon.
Our swimmers swam extremely well and many made it
through to the Prestige Gala. Those swimmers who
excelled at Interhigh were: Front row (l-r):
Ronsia
Swart(2nd), Erin Warren-Hansen(2nd), Danielle Martin(1st
and 2nd) Middle row (l-r): Nikita Davis(2nd),
Marianna Marini(1st and 2nd), Danielle Courtney(2nd),
Tamlyn Stevens(2nd), Jade Moult (1st). Back row
(l-r): Wesley Marshall(2nd), Jason Rodgers(2nd), Dominic Peterkin(1st),
Mischa Boddenberg(2nd)Absent: Cameron Peel(2nd)

Our Prestige Swimmers did us proud. The results
were as follows: Gold Medal – Marianna Marini –
U15 50m Backstroke Silver Medal – Wesley Marshall –
U17 50m Freestyle Bronze Medal – Danielle Martin –
U14 50m Backstroke and Freestyle
U15 Freestyle relay – Danielle Martin, Marianna Marini,
Jason Rodgers and
Mischa Boddenberg Overall, we had an awesome
season and we have gone from strength to strength!
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