In This Issue

Falcon Weekly News

Week 9  Third Term 2006

Flamboyants blossom after the jacarandas.
"An Oasis of Splendour"

Design and Technology Projects
Boys display their coursework projects

Form 2 Adventure Course
New initiatives introduced.

House Suppers - Maintaining the Tradition

Leavers Dinner - 2006
A dinner with a difference
 

An Oasis of Excellence - An Oasis of Splendour
Falcon College is not only an Oasis of Excellence but it is also an Oasis of Splendour in the otherwise dry sun-baked Matabeleland scrubland.

Here is the view looking down the avenue of opportunity on a typical hot and dry October day......

 The imposing purple of the jacarandas is now fading to give way to the bright scarlet blossoms of the flamboyants. To add to this scenic beauty are the bougainvilleas. The avenue of opportunity is lined with different species of trees but mainly jacarandas and flamboyants..

Right: A close look at one of the flamboyants. The color is really vivid for this time of the year.

Design & Technology - Projects

During the past year (two years in the case of A Level students) pupils in the Design and Technology Department have been involved in coursework which has recently been finalized in preparation for moderation by UK Cambridge examiners. Topics varied from an Aid to assist Dyslectic pupils to a Spray Race for cattle. An exhibition of some of the work was recently held at the Design and Technology Centre. Below is a selection of some of the work

A proud young designer.....
Mark Bristow in his Tree Hide.

A teaching aid for pre-school children by Gregory Gavazzi

Duncan Rawstorne's prototype of a cattle spray race.

Keith Riley proving that his self-standing hammock really works.

Demonstration model of a four-stroke petrol engine mock-up designed by Tinashe Madondo.

Daniel Coulson project involves a design for an irrigation canal water level monitor - a mock up of his project is shown on the right.

Mock up of a Hand/Eye co-ordination device for lawns and for dyslectic pupils - Jason Graham.

Dougall Carruther' s liquid fertilizer metering unit for gardens.

Form 2 Adventure Course 2006
With some variations on previous years this Form 2 Adventure Course went well. Two new initiative tests were incorporated including one on Mbonisa Weir. The final raft race was modified in an effort to improve the quality of raft built.  As always, orienteering featured some characters getting seriously lost and others flying around the courses.  On the second night out some rain fell but not enough to disrupt the pairs of boys sleeping out without fire or light.
 

Dish cooking is one of the activities of the Adventure Course

Rafting proved a popular activity.  The final raft race was modified this year.

 Other activities included, first aid, life-saving, climbing, bush cooking and 'survivor'\ like tasks.  The log race, a tough event for the boys, was won by Hervey.

Overall, George Grey were the most organized and consistent group and were the winners.

 House Suppers 2006 - Part of the Falcon Tradition
Friday 3 November was the day for the traditional House Suppers at the College. On this occasion, students from each house, their housemasters, tutors, assistant tutors, invited parents and invited guests meet as a family to have supper in the house and bid farewell to the leavers, most of whom will have been at Falcon for 6 years.  This provides each house with the opportunity to reflect on the challenges they faced during the year, their achievements and perhaps their failures. In brief skits the stayers summarise, in a very humorous way, the way the prefects conducted themselves in the house during the year. The housemaster, tutor and staff attached to the houses are not spared but are cartooned - in good faith and just for the fun of it.  It is an emotional occasion for the leavers as it is here that they are given the last opportunity to say farewell to their fellow housemates and tell their experiences.
 

Leavers Dinner 2006 - A Dinner with a Difference
AGGIZW   TASTERIA

This year's annual Leavers Diner was, indeed, a dinner with a difference. The decor was different and had a Greek theme; the menu was 'exotic' also with a Greek theme and the guest speaker offered each diner a 50-cent coin.

For the third year running parents of the leavers were invited to the dinner and many were present.

In a cosy and well-decorated Todd Hall, tables were laid out in star formation to remind all the diners who had gathered there of our motto "Sic Itur Ad Astra"....reaching for the stars.

The decor had a Greek theme.   Very few of the guests were aware that the inscription AGGIZW   TASTERIA on this wall decor is Greek for "Reach for the Stars"

Left:  Tables were laid out neatly in a star formation with the high table at the centre of the 'star'. 
An innovation from Greek astronomy?

The guest speaker at the dinner was Rob Aldridge, an English teacher from Petra High School, Bulawayo.  An eloquent speaker, he is heavily involved in debating.

Guest Speaker Mr. Rob Aldridge delivering his address at the annual Leavers Dinner.  "What ever happened to the 50-cent piece?" was his opening question.

The audience must have had some nostalgic feeling when he reminded them of how much you could buy or do with a 50 cent piece. The fate of the 50 cent piece carried an important message for the leavers.

In his address the guest speaker urged the leavers to accept the reality that leaving Falcon College was a necessary change for them.  "Not only are change and growth part of life, but they are the very essence of it", he said.  Education does not end when students leave Falcon. "You might be leaving Falcon with a prefect's tie, national colours, or a host of accolades.  But far from your education being over, it has only just began"

He ended his address to the leavers on the 50 cent-piece theme, "take the 50 cent and put it into your wallet and whatever happens, whether it be tomorrow, or next year, no matter where life takes you, let that 50 cents piece remind you that through everything you can always take your little piece of change away with you".

Right: Some of the guests at the leavers dinner enjoying tasty 'Greek' dishes.

Work on new Computer Centre
Significant progress is being made at the new Computer and Information Technology Centre. The entire floor has been cemented and the brickwork is now well above knee-height.Trunking and conduits for electrical power and network cabling is now in place.

Right: This is the view of the new Computer Centre construction site from the upstairs of the library.  Door frames are now in place as the brickwork is now past knee height.

The double-storey building should be completed by the end of the first term next year.

Work at Gymnasium Stalled - Victim of the times
Work at the new gymnasium site has stalled and has now fallen behind schedule. This is a direct result of the crippling shortage of steel currently being experienced in Ziumbabwe. The silver lining to this black cloud is that the contractors will be importing the much-needed steel reinforcements from South Africa.  Hopefully work will resume soon..