A note from Caroline Berry
Head of the OKA
What an exciting year this has been for us, taking over the OKA from Kirsten Legg. Kirsten gave five dedicated and passionate years to the OKA and nurtured it into a wonderful Old Girls Association.
We cannot thank Kirsten enough for what she has done for the school over the years and her wonderful knowledge and passion, and for staying on this year to help us find our feet. Thank you to our fabulous OKA committee and all the dedicated and selfless time you put into helping with our events.
As always, the year started off on a very busy note with us organising a wonderful ‘Night at the Oscars’. The girls and their parents/guardians came to the event dressed to the nines and walked down the red carpet with the paparazzi (Grade 10 students) taking their pictures.
Our Matric girls wore their beautiful dance dresses and greeted them on the red carpet with all the ceremony of Hollywood!
They danced the night away amongst the glitz and glamour, won beautiful prizes and it was a truly special evening for the girls to spend time with their parents.
I was asked by quite a few girls after the event if we could do this every year!
We then went onto organising our annual bridge drive which was once again a huge success and enjoyed by everyone. There were so many amazing prizes from our fabulous sponsors that we were even able to do spot prizes – great fun was had by all.
This event is always so well attended, and we extend a big thank you to Jody Bunkell from Clarins for having her ladies at the event handing out beautiful gift bags which added a lovely touch to the evening.
In September we had our annual Old Girls lunch which was an overwhelming success – attended by ladies celebrating their 10, 20, 30, 50- and 60-year reunions!
There was so much laughter, chatting, singing and even a bit of dancing as they enjoyed an afternoon catching up.
Samantha Smirin spoke about her book ‘A Life Interrupted’ which has been a success. It was wonderful to listen to her deeply personal experience and to hear her say that her foundations at Kingsmead had given her the courage to cope through some of her hard times.
We would love to have more teachers at our next Old Girls lunch as they were such a big part of our school years and would be amazing to spend a beautiful Saturday lunch hearing all their news.
The Old Girls Association handed out beautiful friendship bracelets to the Grade 12 leavers during the Matric final assembly. In my speech I told the students that it took me a good 10 years to come back to Kingsmead and another 20 years to wear the colour green!
What I was saying was that it does not matter when you return – Kingsmead is in your blood and you will no doubt always have a warm feeling when you come through those gates, no matter how many years have passed.
Lara and I have been back at Kingsmead with our girls for the last 10 and 8 years respectively and could not ask for a better, more nurturing school to be part of, from the teachers to the ground staff there is a beautiful energy and love that threads us all together.
We had the wonderful experience of meeting Eunice Doke, a founding pupil in 1934 and Head Girl in 1947. We walked around Kingsmead with her reminiscing about D.V. Thompson, she shared so many incredible memories with us, we certainly captured a piece of history. Miss Wilkinson did a wonderful interview with her. One of the questions I loved was, ‘If you could tell the girls one thing about being at Kingsmead what would it be, Eunice said, “Always respect your teachers and treat everyone with respect and loyalty, that is what Kingsmead is all about”
We have had a wonderful year updating our database with the help of Phillippa Grundlingh-Miles. She has done a phenomenal job and has connected with girls from all over the world using platforms such as Linked-In and Facebook.
Our hope is that through this updated information we will be able to meet and connect with so many more girls. We will be starting our Let’s Connect Breakfasts again as these were a huge success and so wonderful to see what all the old girls have done with their lives and their successful careers.
A very big thank you to Kim Lowman, Lisa Kaplan, the Marketing Department, Alex Bouche and Palesa Mpeke, as well as all the teachers, for your support and feedback when it comes to helping our Old Kingsmeadean Association.
2019 has been a hard year for many economically and has highlighted huge concerns for our beautiful country. We so look forward to 2020, a year filled with new hope and promise.
We thought these words from DV Thompson would help lead us into a positive and determined approach to the 2020 year ahead.
‘The world is torn with strife and conflict of thought and belief – economic, political and religious – it has a need, as never before, of thinking men and women, disciplined, controlled and sincere persons. I would like to feel that Kingsmead will send out considerate, disciplined, efficient women, but above all, women in some sense consecrated to the search after truth and happiness. Then indeed we need not fear that we can play our part in the world and play it worthily.” DV Thompson 1934.
Caroline Berry (Waddams) – Head: OKA
Lara Buttifant-Sewel – Deputy Head: OKA
Annual Speech Evening 2019
Lisa Kaplan’s Address
I recently attended my university residence’s 90th birthday celebration. It was a real trip down memory lane for me, but apart from evoking such strong memories of the most wonderful, if perhaps a tad irresponsible time in my life, I was also struck by how things change, yet just how much they stay the same. There was a real sense of sisterhood and community – even though some of the girls currently at the res were not even born when I was there, there is a thread that binds us and the commonality of all having lived in the same environment makes us a very strong community.
It is similar at Kingsmead. It is by being a member of this community that we are all inextricably bound together forever.
I was also interested to see that the passion for dealing with issues in the late 1980s against the apartheid regime was echoed in the extreme challenges that the girls at university are now facing with the fees must fall campaign earlier and more recently with the rape culture and the #AmInext campaign.
When people are really members of a community, they feel a strong psychological connection to that group. They sacrifice part of their own identity to accept, embrace and then defend the group identity. It is also thus incumbent upon us to ensure that we are creating a sense of welcome and belonging and that we are continually scrutinizing our practices in order to do this.
Richard Millington states that “None of the technology released in the past five years has made us better at building communities. It’s made it easier to build communities, but it hasn’t made us better at building communities.”
I think of our WhatsApp groups that have given us ease of communication and easy access to information, but I am not sure if they are always a help or a hinderance.
Other campaigns emphasizing that we must do this together and as a community are the new #Imstaying Facebook page and the “Stronger Together” Boks Rugby World Cup Campaign. The Gates Foundation – in their latest Goalkeepers report of 2019 – focused this year on the challenge of fighting global inequality and they have used the taglines – “Together we can make an impact” and “progress is possible, but it will take all of us.” The inspirational Ndlovu Youth Choir has shown us just what working together can do.
Members of a community must share the same values. That is why we create things like mission and vision statements. This outlines why the community exists, what the community believes in and what the community intends to do. Our link with the PTA, the OKA, the Trust, the TDI Committee and other stakeholder bodies becomes important in helping to create a sense of community.
Communities support one another during the good times as well as the tough times.
As Nick Fury says to Captain America: “We have no idea what threats are out there. We can’t do this alone. We need you.”
Being a part of a community often means working towards a common goal. Collaboration is key to this process. Through much neuroscientific investigation, neuroscientists know the importance of collaboration as the “social brain” and social cognition are seen to be key in creating a sense of belonging.
I would be remiss if I did not reference the superb work that the academic staff are doing in the Junior and Senior Schools in their IBL programme and in the Growth Curriculum. They are trail blazers in this regard and many schools are now following our example and I believe that the face of teaching is going to be changing rapidly over the next few years.
It is essential in a civil society that we find productive ways to solve our problems together. That we work towards a common goal. Whether it is climate change, violence against women, transforming our environment or the immigration crisis, we can only address these complex problems if we work together.
Women have – from the earliest of days – believed in the power of the collective and of community. More and more we are looking towards women and young women, in particular, to step up and lead.
Women leaders like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez – newly sworn into the United States Congress. Doctor Judy Dlamini – the Chancellor of Wits University and Sahle-Work Zewde – the President of Ethiopia (to name but a few) are doing amazing work in leading their various fields. They are outspoken, humane, but are leading with courage.
For the first time women have the top jobs at the New York Stock Exchange and at Nasdaq, and four out of five of America’s biggest defense companies are run by women. We have a way to go in South Africa, but we are slowly changing the landscape in this regard.
It’s time for women to stop trying to cram themselves into outdated NASA spacesuits designed for males and to draw on their wisdom, without apology, in order to save our world.
I am a groupie of Jacinda Ardern – Prime Minister of New Zealand. I am intrigued by her leadership style and her humanity. I wish that more world leaders and young people would look to her as a role model. Although she sees everything she does – like being a world leader and new mum – as quite ordinary.
In a recent address, Ardern pointed out the following as being important to her leadership:
Staying human.
She described her reaction to the attack on the mosque in Christchurch as simply being human.
She has been described as being “open, honest and genuinely curious”.
She advocates for hope over fear.
“In a political environment you can either choose to capitalise on that fear, stoke it and politically benefit from it,” she said. “Or you can run a counter-narrative. You can talk about hope, you can talk about solutions to the problems.”
She encourages uniting and not dividing.
She spoke at length about her government’s recent “wellbeing budget”, which unveiled billions for mental health services, child poverty and family violence and she has embarked on the biggest structural change of the public service in 30 years with a focus on working collectively.
She recognizes that change takes time and that you need to take the people along with you when you change anything.
The world is finally starting to sit up and take notice of the young leaders like Greta Thunberg – our climate change warrior. She has urged leaders and others to step out of their comfort zones and to think differently as the planet is out of its comfort zone. She is 16 years old and what started as a one-person school strike, now includes millions of people throughout the world. She is on the autism spectrum and has Aspergers – which she also sees as a gift as it makes her neurodiverse and able to think differently. She knows what is right and she wants to do it – this is what is motivating her.
When I look at these women leaders and young warriors like Greta and our own 17-year-old Cape Town climate activist Ayakha Melithafa, I see hope.
These are the leaders of today who are taking charge of their own futures and not waiting for the future to make a change.
At this point, I would like to acknowledge and thank the many people who have played a role in the success of our own Kingsmead community this year: the members of the Council ably led by the Chair – Nhlanganiso Mkwanazi; the PTA under the superb guidance of Rizwana Bawa; the OKA – who continue to support the school so passionately – thank you to Caroline Berry and Lara Buttifant-Sewel; The Kingsmead Trust chaired by David Munro, the Staff at Kingsmead who continue to go the extra mile no matter what – academic, administrative and service staff – thank you for all that you do in your various areas. A special thanks to Evani Naidoo for continuing to be my right hand.
To the Whole School Executive team – Marissa di Terlizzi, Irene Ilsley, Ingrid Beekhuizen, Jenny Venter, Robbie Pullen, Elsabe Fourie, Alex Bouche, Derek Hird and my two deputies Saartjie Venter and Sharkeha Banwa. Thank you for the rigorous debates and discussions at our meetings and for the hours of extra work that you put in.
Kim Lowman – I have so enjoyed another year of working closely with you in a professional capacity and as a friend. We have continued to make enormous strides in so many areas this year.
To the Class of 2019 – 5 years ago we welcomed you into the Senior School. I well-remember some of you in your somewhat awkward interviews with your parents surreptitiously nudging you under the table to ensure that you told me about your guitar or tennis prowess. During the past 5 years we have watched you become strong young ladies and we have marveled at your gifts and talents. We thank your parents who have made this journey possible – it is indeed the greatest gift they could have given you.
My hope is that the Kingsmead community will remain with you no matter what. That you will remember the life lessons and the values that have been instilled in you. I hope that when you return to reunions and birthday celebrations that you will feel that same sense of belonging and sisterhood that I did at my res reunion. You might not think so now, but some of your teachers would have had a profound effect on you and you will only come to realise in years to come.
You have contributed greatly to the school and you have made an impact on us.
We are certainly proud of who and what you have become, and we wish you well as you go on to fulfil your hopes, dreams and aspirations. You have much to offer the world, especially within the larger context of the divisions and conflicts that are being played out to sometimes disastrous consequences. Take the courage that we have instilled and use it – do not be fearful rather be courageous. L R Knost says:
“Do not be dismayed
By the brokenness
Of the world.
All things break.
And all things
Can be mended.
Not with time, as they say,
But with intention.
Do go. Love intentionally,
Extravagantly,
Unconditionally.
The broken world waits
In darkness for the light
That is within you.”
Thank you to our Head Girls of 2019 – Tuana, Eryn and Laura – you have led the school with integrity, care consideration and respect. I have so enjoyed working closely with you this year.
And, finally, I end with lyrics from “Rise Up” by Andra Day which epitomize this group:
“We gonna walk it out
And move mountains
And I’ll rise up
I’ll rise like the day
I’ll rise up
I’ll rise unafraid
I’ll rise up
And I’ll do it a thousand times again
All we need is hope
And for that we have each other.”
Lisa Kaplan
Executive Head: Kingsmead College
The Head Girl’s Speech 2019
A while ago, I sat down with G Wilks to pick her brain about Kingsmead’s history of Speech Evening. Together with our extraordinary mathematical addition skills, we worked out that 19 head girls have addressed the school and given their version of the 5 years that they’ve filled at this academic institution where knowledge is power.
In order to give an accurate recollection of the 2019 Matrics’ version of high school, I did some research and stumbled upon an extremely relevant analogy. That of a Rubik’s cube. It’s like any old cube, with 6 faces, but the aim is to try to solve it by returning each face to have only one colour. Each colour represents a different focus in our lives: the yellow represents family. The blue represents friendships. The red represents your emotions and hormones (that’s always a tough one to solve at an all-girl academic institution). The orange represents your academics and/or extra-curricular achievements. The white represents your social life and the green represents your courage levels.
At the beginning of our high school journey, the colours are generally mixed. Yellow (being family) is at the bottom of the cube because your family is the foundation and base of your life. The face that represents family is always solved because family is always constant, no matter how jumbled the rest of your life may be. Blue (being friendships) and white (being social life) go hand-in hand and are kind of solved, but we know that we are going to meet some incredible people here and form new friendships and form new ones after that, so we must keep working on it. Red represents hormones, I don’t think those ever get solved, so let’s not even try! Orange (being academic and extra-curricular achievements) has only just begun. Coming into high school for the first time, our green courage levels are quite low and jumbled.
Ms Khumalo, you aren’t the only one to have summited one of the highest mountains on the planet. After an 8-year climb of primary school and finally reaching the peak, we were knocked back down only to start a more advanced climb once again. By the time Grade 8 is almost over, we’ve made a bit of progress and we’ve managed to solve a bit of our Rubik’s cube, but we still have a long way to go.
Grade 9 arrives and the privilege of saying that the only reason we were late to class is because we were lost was stripped away from us. We finally felt like we were in the loop, finding our feet, searching within and any other cliché associated with coming of age. New cliques were formed, the academic standard was understood, yes, our hormones are still up and down, but our courage levels have increased, so overall, we managed so solve a bit more of our Rubik’s cube.
In Grade 10, Kingfisher was a monumental evening and Babanango was an iconic camp. With academic subjects being prioritised because of subject choices, and our social lives booming, we were able to solve one more step of the Rubik’s cube.
Grade 11 hits us. The Matric class of 2018 did a phenomenal job of leading the school and intimidated us by setting the bar so high, and so in response, we poisoned them by feeding them peanuts at the matric dance. With this audacity, our courage levels skyrocketed, and we solved a bit more of our cube, to ensure that our last move in high school is simple.
And here we are, our final year. We’ve had a few rodent cases, with the communal study rat still roaming the academic institution where knowledge is power, as well as study number 2’s hamster theft court case. Mr Pullen now knows all the hockey girl’s secrets, having overheard our game of never have I ever, and the netball team have absolutely no banter because they take their sport seriously and win. But if you played your cards right in the previous 4 years, your final step in solving your cube is simple. All you must do is turn those few sides… and you’ve finally solved your Rubik’s cube.
So now it’s time to say goodbye to high school and say hello to university.
Miss Minnie, the entire grade’s mother, I can’t thank you enough for always making time for me, even when you’re in the middle of marking biology PATs. I know your constant emotional support and priority in putting our needs first will resonate with the entire grade.
To Eryn and Laura, you two have been incredible deputy head girls. Laura, your organisational skills and punctuality is the reason that Eryn and I remember our weekly meetings where many of our worries are temporarily forgotten over knitting. Eryn, thank you for your dedication in everything you do for this school: from expanding the girls’ minds on relevant issues every week, having implemented Beyond The Syllabus (BTS), to the dedication you have to the weekly meetings which was expressed when you cried the first and only time you missed one. You two have been amazing pillars of encouragement and self-esteem for me.
To Mrs Kaplan, my mentor, thank you for making me feel good about myself when I’m not always on the ball. It makes me feel better to know that we’re on the same page sometimes and we’ll both be having a late night catching up on items we should probably already know. Just knowing that I would be welcomed into your office with open arms, to talk about personal issues or just to have a quick catch up on how I don’t know what I’m supposed to be doing, is an attitude one doesn’t hear often about their headmistress. Thank you.
Thank you to the biology teachers for projecting the video of live child birth to the entire grade and thank you to Mr Allen for the live commentary. Thank you to sister for the endless supply of Panados. Mrs Venter, thank you for continuously letting me push your buttons.
So Matrics, yes tables turn, bridges burn, you live and learn, but often it’s the journey that teaches you about yourdestination. It’s our final push and I feel lucky to have spent my 5-year climb with such an incredible group of young women, but don’t forget we never stop climbing. Street poet and philosopher, Kanye West, once said “Our work is never over.” I wish you all the very best from the bottom of my heart in your future ambitions. I’m not sure the world is ready for the class of 2019.
Tuana Güler
Head Girl 2019
Arts and Music
2019 was a successful, busy and fun year for Arts and Music at Kingsmead. The aim of the Arts & Music department is to provide a space for every Kingsmead girl to find a place where they belong; a safe space to develop their skills, express themselves, feel part of a group and have a moment on stage.
In the Junior school, instrumental programmes during music classes include violin for all Grade 2s, flute for Grade 3s and JSax and Brass for Grade 4 and 5s. We have also introduced a brand new apple product, Specdrums, which enables every girl in class to make music at the click of a button. Our many Marimba bands, Choirs, Ensembles, Bands and Orchestras provide ample chances for girls to get involved and regularly perform alongside their peers and other schools. We performed at a range of events; in the Junior school, these include Singing Sistas Choir festival, Kingsmead Orchestra Festival, Kingsmead & St David’s Combined Music Evening, Magic of Music, The Sound of Children Choir Evening, St Mary’s Ensemble Festival and the Kingsmead Music Celebration which showcased all our Kingsmead Music groups.
In the Senior school, performances include the annual Four-schools Inter-schools’ Orchestra Festival. 15thannual Kingsmead Orchestra & Ensemble Festival, St David’s and Kingsmead Combined Music evening, Singing Sistas’ Choir festival, St Stithians Choir evening, Choral Celebration Foundation Network concert, Saheti ‘Music and Mezedes’ Evening, International Marimba and Steelpan Festival and Competition, Kingsmead Marimba Fun day, Choir is Alive Inter-schools’ Choir Festival, OKA lunch, St Peter’s Cultural festival, Cornwall Hill Orchestra Festival and Speech Night.
The drama department staged the play ‘The Trojan Women’ as the major production for the year. The girls showed incredible depth and maturity in their interpretation of this challenging work. The acting was superb and reflected the hard work of the cast and crew in producing this relevant piece. Only a few weeks after the major production, the girls produced yet another work of an exceptionally high standard The V-Day Campaign, a shortened, updated and localised version of the multi-award-winning play The Vagina Monologues. The cast and directors received rave reviews from both the adjudicators and audience for their courageous work. V-Day Campaign was staged at school for our own community with three guest performers, Rosie Motene, Pamela Power and Tapuwa Moore. In the third term, the drama girls produced one-act plays which reflected their passion and commitment to the Dramatic Arts.
The Inter-schools’ Dance Festival was an exciting new addition to the Arts and Music calendar. The Traditional dance group has gone from strength to strength this year, using every opportunity to perform for both the Junior and Senior Schools and exploring a range of different traditional African dance styles during the course of the year.
Inter-house Arts is always a wonderful collaboration between all the Arts and sees the whole school coming together in the most magical way. This year it was, as always, the most spectacular event. Each house produced colourful and interesting, cleverly interwoven productions, exploring the stories of Dr Seuss.
The busy musical year ends on a high note with the annual Carol service.
Elsabé Fourie
Director of Arts and Music
Sports
Junior School
2019 has been a busy but exciting year for all our young enthusiastic sport persons. As always we hit the ground running and this year was no different. Our summer season saw Kingsmead participate in various galas including the Valentine’s night gala at St Stithians as well as the prestigious summer splash. The season was concluded with our annual inter-house gala which saw Barons placed 3rd; Knights in 2nd and Thanes taking the trophy. Knights’ spirit was outstanding and palpable and they deservedly walked away with the spirit trophy.
We appointed a new head coach for diving, Marco van der Sluys whose credentials will undoubtedly raise our Diving profile. The girls have warmed up to him and have learnt much in the short time he has been at Kingsmead and we look forward to watching him grow in his new role. The girls went on to participate in inter-primary competition. We managed a 1st place in the grade 4 category.
Emmanuel Tennis Academy joined the school as our tennis provider. They have brought with them a new energy on the courts for the players. Tennis skills were introduced through our integrated day for the Grade 0-2 and the girls have found it most enjoyable. Unfortunately, inclement weather saw the cancellations of many matches. The girls were fortunate to take part in the St Stithians junior schools Easter festival. They took part in mixed doubles which saw them pair up with the boys schools. To conclude the season, the sports department hosted a parents and daughters tennis morning. This was enjoyed by many and will no doubt become an annual event.
Water polo has had an exceptional year. The teams participated in various tournaments and festivals. We were once again invited to take part in the St Stithians water polo in which we played against schools from other provinces and countries. The players went on to attend Gauteng trials and I am pleased to note that 5 and 2 players were selected to represent the u13 and u12 Gauteng teams respectively.
The winter term kept our girls busy with netball and hockey. The girls took part in the St Stithians festival where the u12 team remained unbeaten. The U13 team was not so fortunate, but a valuable experience all round. To end the season the parents were invited to a parents and daughters netball morning which saw a couple of contact infringements from our enthusiastic fathers. Unfortunately, the hockey season was short this year. However, the players did manage to play their friendly fixtures and the grade 6 and 7 teams took part in the annual St Mary’s DSG festival. Jessica Stevens made it to the very final round of Gauteng netball trials for the first time at Kingsmead College. She would also be selected to represent Southern Gauteng in Hockey. Sange Sibya made it to the last round of Hockey district trials. The season ended with inter-house matches enjoyed by all.
The athletes participated in various meetings throughout the season. The lack of adequate facilities continues to be an Achilles heel for the girls. They however persevered and were placed 6th at the inter-primary at St Stithians. The season culminated in our inaugural evening inter-house meeting at Johannesburg College of Education. Knights were the victors on the day followed closely by Thanes and Barons respectively.
Finally; our equestrian team participated in the SANESA Equestrian School shows. They would no doubt be the team of the year if that category existed. With less riders than many of the other schools, they managed to bring home the inter-schools trophy. Six of the riders were chosen to participate in the nationals with three of those riders placing. A special mention must be made to Jade Anderson who was selected to ride for South African at the African games held in Mauritius. This is a fine achievement indeed.
I would like to thank the parents, coaches, staff, support staff and last, but not least, the girls. Without the contribution of each and every one of you, we would have no results nor progress to show. Next year we will embark on our first Senior Prep sports tour to KwaZulu Natal. We hope that this will become an annual event for our girls.
Sheillah Muchauraya
Jnr School Head of Sports
Jnr School head of Transformation, Diversity and Inclusion.
Senior School
Athletics
The team had a slow start but really performed well towards the end of the season. We competed in five school events before the main Inter-High. The Inter High Athletics meeting was hosted at Boksburg stadium, with eight schools competing. Kingsmead were narrowly beaten and finished in fifth place overall.
A special mention must go to Helen Cockeran for being unbeaten in her 800m and 1500m races this season. She also went on to break the Under 14 800m record and represented Gauteng.
Thanks must go to Saartjie Venter, Robert Pullen, Bassi Dibetswe and Bianca Meyer for their hard work and dedication throughout the season.Well done to all the girls for putting in an impressive and consistent effort.
Palesa Malebane
Head of Athletics
Diving
The diving team has increased in numbers this year. The team competed in weekly competitions as a build-up to the inter-high event.
At the annual inter-high diving competition, Kingsmead finished third overall. Notable results were:
Georgina Spalding – 4th and Katherine Jones 6th in the u15 age group.
Olivia van Vollenhoven – 1st and Sarah Benning – 3rd in the open age group.
Sarah Benning competed in Amsterdam this year and Olivia Van Vollenhoven competed in Germany and Norway. Both girls have gained valuable experience and achieved good results.
Olivia van Vollenhoven
Head of Diving
Equestrian
Our Equestrian girls participated in the South African National Equestrian Schools Association Competition throughout the year. The team finished fourth in our category in the overall Johannesburg school’s standings. Placement in classes over four sets of SANESA identifies qualifying riders for regionals. Eight of our girls were chosen to represent Central Gauteng at regionals, which were held in August. Of those girls, five were chosen to represent Gauteng at Nationals, which is the last and most prestigious show of the year.
As each member of the team trains at a different yard and we ride as individuals, we do not get to spend as much time with each other as the other sports offered at Kingsmead. However, this year we tried to support one another more than in previous years by watching each others’ rounds at shows. Just that little bit of extra support goes a long way and personally I felt I learned a lot more about each rider and their horses.I am immensely proud to have been given the opportunity to captain such an amazing team of girls and their horses. To be a rider takes an enormous amount of courage, responsibility and purpose, which are all important values of Kingsmead.
Ashley Pretorius
Head of Equestrian
Hockey
At the beginning of the year, the first team began training hard for the multiple festivals, tournaments and weekly league matches that take place throughout the season. We started the season off on a strong and positive note. We were dedicated and gelled well within our teams. We won many of our matches and achieved our set goals for the season. I can honestly say that our hockey at Kingsmead has been successful this year.
The game has grown and improved tremendously at Kingsmead and, along with that, a culture of pride and inspiration to achieve has become familiar. Playing in nationwide tournaments such as the St. Mary’s Investec Hockey Festival has also played a role in empowering and supporting aspiring, young hockey players at a school-girl level such as ourselves. Some highlights of the season were the Under 16s winning the Spar Challenge and Naledi Mbokane, Gabriella Staples, Mia Spiers, Kate Galloway and Sinead Erasmus made District and Provincial Hockey teams in their respective age-groups. This was an astounding achievement on their part.
I encourage the hockey players to keep doing their best and to support their fellow teammates in order to attain their objectives. Although Kingsmead is small in size, there is endless potential. All we need to do is take advantage of it and we can achieve great results.
Grace Dickson
Head of Hockey
Netball
In the past few years netball at Kingsmead has grown from strength to strength and 2019 has been one of our most successful seasons. The First Team played in the Best of the West Festival, the St Andrews Netball Tournament, the Inter-Schools Sports Festival held at St Anne’s and the Redhill Youth Festival. The players dominated at the Best of the West Festival and at ISSF, we placed sixth out of 32 schools at the St Andrews Netball Tournament, and came first at the Redhill Youth Tournament. The First Team successfully made it to playoffs and our Second Team just missed playoffs by goal average.
Every single team from Grade 8 right through to Grade 12 has trained exceptionally hard from the beginning of the year and has played with passion and determination. Their love of the game is evident in their many incredible successes.
Every team has their coaches, teammates and supporters to thank for their achievements but a huge thank you goes to Ms Minnie, Mrs Lovatt and Coach Basi for investing so much time and effort into practices to help us grow into the best sportswomen we can be.
My position as Head of Netball for 2019 was an incredible honour and after several breath-taking years in the First Team, it is with great sorrow that I leave. I have no doubt that Netball at Kingsmead will continue to prosper and the players will continue to build and grow this amazing sport.
Ntsoaki Masinga
Head of Netball
Squash
2019 has been another spectacular and successful year for the Kingsmead squash team. The girls had their eye on the ball at all times and played their best in every match. We are extremely proud of Katelyn Wijtenburg who made the Under 19 A Provincial Team this year and she also played in many tournaments. I will really miss the camaraderie and commitment of all the squash girls as well as the “racquet” they made on the bus rides to and from the matches. I have no doubt that the Kingsmead squash team will grow from strength to strength in the years to come.
Naseeha Jhavary
Head of Squash
Swimming
The 2019 swimming season was definitely a memorable one! No matter the challenge, each member of the Kingsmead College swimming team rose to the occasion to ensure successful results. It has definitely been a privilege to lead such a driven and enthusiastic group of girls. Having watched the swimming team grow and develop over the past five years, I can confidently say that we have developed into a strong team that will always challenge the competition around us.
The season was filled with chilly early morning training, constant determination to improve our times and team bonding. The team embraced the competitive spirit of the school and often exceeded expectations.
This year we went from strength to strength each week during our swimming galas, which was in preparation for the highlight of our swimming season; the Inter-High Gala. At Inter-High each one of the girls dived into the pool and gave it their all as they faced their opposition. I was so proud to see such fierce competition in the pool.
A big thank you to Ms Hanekom and Mr Pullen who were there to support each individual and to ensure we reached our full potential. Without their guidance and support, our team would not have been as successful as we have been this season.
Lastly, congratulations to the committed members of the swimming team. The constant support and comradery evident within our little family definitely ensured that we grew closer, stronger and faster. The 2020 swimming season will definitely be one to watch.
Aleksandra Marek
Head of Swimming
Tennis
Tennis offers the perfect blend of individual and team benefits as you can play alone, but you always have your team on the side-lines to support you, no matter the outcome. School is about more than simply academic certificates, and I know that anybody who has played tennis throughout their time at Kingsmead can advocate for it being one of the most fulfilling activities we have on offer.
The enthusiasm we had for tennis this year was impressive to say the least, I don’t think we’ve ever seen so many Grade 8s in one place before. The extra commitment led to the creation of an E and F team, which is new for Kingsmead and very exciting. We participated in multiple festivals this year, placing 14th out of 25 schools in inter-high A and 13th out of 24 schools in inter-high B. The A and B teams have been promoted to the A1 league, which has introduced more difficult opponents, but we enjoy a challenge. We are also very proud of our C and D teams who have been doing very well in the B1 league.
Our top four players took part in the Inter Schools Sports Festival this year at St Anne’s, which is a tournament at which we play doubles against schools from both Johannesburg and KwaZulu Natal. We played well and made use of most of the doubles techniques we learned this year at early morning practices. In between games we were able to support Kingsmead’s First team hockey and netball matches, which was a lot of fun.
One of the most memorable tennis experiences every year is the tournament at Sun City, which takes place over five days and involves schools from all over the country. Along with improving our level of tennis, it brings girls from different teams much closer together and allows us to make friends with a variety of people we otherwise may never have met. The social aspect contributes to the overall experience and results in the personal growth of all the girls involved and a greater commitment to the sport.
The overall tennis experience this year has been very enjoyable and we’re very proud of everything we’ve achieved. I know tennis at Kingsmead will continue to grow and improve in the years to come.
Raffaela Clegg
Head of Tennis
Water Polo
Well done to every player, our coach and all our supporters, on another busy but successful year. Notable results this year included the First team and the Under 15A team placing 5th in the A league. The First team was placed 7th at the Reef Cup Tournament earlier this year and the U14s and U15s were placed 12th in the Shaun Fuchs Tournament, where they developed hugely as a young team. The First team also finished 7th in the St Anne’s tournament in September.
Once again, girls have excelled individually and made provincial teams in every age group. A total of 23 girls have made the final squads for Gauteng Schools water polo. A great amount of effort and dedication goes into this achievement and I would like to say a huge congratulations to all of you.
I would like to say a huge thank you to our coaches who never stop believing in us. The energy you show from 6AM to 6PM every day is incredible. You constantly nudge us out of our comfort zones. So thank you for helping us achieve what we have this year.
It has been a privilege to lead this amazing group of girls. I am excited to return in the future as I know, with the young talent we have through all grades and the committed coaches we have, there is so much yet to come for Kingsmead water polo.
Emma Davis
Head of Water Polo
Kingsmead 2019/2020 Leaders
2019 Leaders: Eryn La Fleur (Deputy Head Girl), Laura Hudson (Deputy Head Girl) ,Tuana Güler (Head Girl), Lisa Kaplan, 2020 Leaders: Georgina Beart (Head Girl), Meghna Batohi (Deputy Head Girl) and Gabrielle Gainer (Deputy Head Girl)
Service and Goodwill Day
Service 2019
Whole school approach 2019
In 2019 the Service Department adopted a whole school approach in order to have more cohesion between the Junior and Senior Schools. Lauren Myburgh was appointed as Head of Service in the Junior School. Each grade in the Junior School has been carefully partnered with an age-appropriate organisation that they visited and supported throughout the year. Through these partnerships, the Junior School girls were exposed to organisations within our community and had the opportunity to give of their time. Our girls have returned from their excursions with a broader perspective and an appreciation for how privileged they are. We have seen the girls live out the value of Service: give without expecting reward.
Grade 1: St. Vincent School for the Deaf
Grade 2: Bunny Hop Haven
Grade 3: Park Care
Grade 4: Fight with Insight
Grade 5: The Sunshine Association
Grade 6: JAM
Grade 7: The Society for Animals in Distress
Sandwiches for Service
On a weekly basis we continue to make sandwiches for the Rosebank Soup Kitchen and Fight with Insight.
Rays of Hope Reading Buddies
On a monthly basis we host reading buddies from Rays of Hope. This remains a most special day for our girls as well as our buddies where we get to build a circle of friendship through playing and learning together at our beautiful school.
Community Hours
Our very successful partnership with Community Hours continue and Senior School girls are using this platform to find volunteering opportunities and log community service hours. The result of this partnership is extensive volunteering across our city and beyond.
Grade 8 Orientation
The Grade 8s were introduced to some of the organisations we support during the Orientation programme. The Hop-on Hop-Off Service tour included a visit to Park Care, Dlala Nje and Fight with Insight. A visit to AHSA creches in Soweto was also part of the orientation programme.
Wellness Week
The Senior School girls were involved in various service activities during Wellness Week at the start and end of the year. Activities included a boxing session with Fight with Insight, making Bunnies for Bravery, picking up litter in Oxford Road and a workshop on child protection from Courage.
Service excursions
Grades 6 to 12 have the opportunity to join regular service excursions to various organisations, including The Bunny Hop Haven, Dlala Nje, Park Care, Impilo, Itemba Soup Kitchen and Fight with Insight.
Partnership with St Vincent School for the Deaf
Kingsmead College supported Olympic medalist and athlete Terence Parkin in his 1120km cycling, swimming, running and canoeing journey from St Vincent School for the Deaf and were there to see him off on his journey. The funds raised will be used for learn to swim and water safety programmes for deaf and disabled children as well as CPR/first aid training to staff and older learners at schools for the deaf.
Money raised at the Senior School Dance Marathon enabled Kingsmead College to donate Dignity Dreams sanitary packs to all Grade 4-12 girls at St Vincent School for the Deaf. Sharon Gordon, CEO of Dignity Dreams addressed the girls at St Vincent School for the Deaf on sexual and menstrual health when the gifts were delivered.
Supporting CHOC on Valentine’s Day
The Kingsmead community shared the love on Valentine’s Day by supporting CHOC. Valentine’s gifts consisted of CHOC merchandise and were available to purchase at Kingsmead College. CHOC is the only organisation in South Africa that provides comprehensive countrywide support for children with cancer, life-threatening blood disorders and their families. All CHOC’s services are offered free of charge.
Footloose Friday
According to a longstanding tradition, our annual Footloose Friday was hosted in March 2019. The community donated nearly 2000 pairs of gently worn shoes for the following beneficiaries:
St Vincent School for the Deaf
Fight with Insight
Guild Cottage
Park Care
Sunshine Association
Kids Haven
Paediatric Burns Unit at Baragwanath Hospital
Impilo
Rosebank Shelter
Uitkoms
Rays of Hope
Senior School Dance Marathon
Congratulations to the Senior School girls who raised R103 500 for A21 and Dignity Dreams. The Senior School girls showed that they are true advocates and campaigners for gender equality by supporting A21 (who actively works to abolish modern day slavery and human trafficking) and Dignity Dreams (who brings dignity to girls by providing them with washable and reusable sanitary products). R42500 was raised for A21 and R61 000 was raised for Dignity Dreams.
Share What You Can
During the Easter Share What You Can collection, 9942 Easter eggs were donated to ASHA crèches in Soweto and 578 tins of food were donated to Pediatric Care Africa for their Mozambique Relief Project.
Donate a Lock of Hair
Kingsmead College hosted three successful Donate a Lock of Hair events in collaboration with A Few Grey Hairs in 2019. The donated hair is used to make wigs for woman and children who have lost their hair. Donors can track their hair donation through the app, Hairs with Love.
Winter Warmer
The Kingsmead community donated warm goods and food during the Winter Warmer collection during the winter of 2019. Beneficiaries were Rays of Hope, Impilo, Itemba Soup Kitchen, Sunshine Centre Association, Park Care and Fight with Insight.
Night on the Garth
On Thursday 13 June, Senior School girls slept outside on the Garth to raise awareness for homelessness. The evening was spent making sandwiches and scarves and various recycling activities.
Make and Donate a Sleeping Bag on Mandela Day
Kingsmead College, in collaboration with Community Hours, hosted a Make-and-Donate-a-Sleeping-Bag event on Mandela Day, 18 July 2019. Kingsmead College students, staff and volunteers from the community made 167 sleeping bags from newspaper and recycled plastic. A handmade scarf was placed in every sleeping bag. These scarves were made by the Kingsmead College Senior School students during a sleep out event they had to raise awareness for homelessness. The sleeping bags and scarves will be distributed to the homeless in the inner city by Dollar and a Dream.
Goodwill Day 2019
“Goodwill means being willing to do everything in one’s power to bring good to other people, not only to those we love most and know best.” DV Thompson
Goodwill Day was a wonderful day of celebrating our community engagement partners and the school’s birthday. The day started with a Walk in Colour proudly sponsored by Nedbank and the rest of the programme was jam packed with exciting activities for the entire family. The PTA hosted a lovely brunch garden where parents could enjoy the World Cup rugby and music.
With the entrance fee of gently worn clothes, the Kingsmead community donated 1.3 tons of clothing to Clothes To Good.
Visitors from Fight with Insight, Rays of Hope and Guild Cottage enjoyed complimentary meals, received sponsored wristbands for the activities on the day and participated in marimba workshops.
Thank you to everyone who supported our community partners by donating hair for A Few Grey Hairs, feeding bunnies from The Bunny Hop Haven, boxing with Fight with Insight, supporting the SANBS blood drive and enjoying the Courage arts exhibition. Other organisations that were represented on the day included Park Care, JAM, The Society for Animals in Distress, Dignity Dreams, Mina Foundation and Community Hours.
The Senior School girls played an active part in Goodwill Day, with each grade taking responsibility for various activities. These activities included carnival games, a haunted house, stalls, a tea garden and hosting partner organisations and visitors on the day. All funds raised are donated to our community engagement partners.
Read and Rise at Kingsmead Book Fair 2019
The annual Kingsmead Book Fair was held on 25 May 2019. The rich and diverse programme included more than 140 authors participating in over 50 sessions throughout the day in an adult, young adult and children’s programme. The theme for this year was ‘Read and Rise’, a fitting theme for an event that coincided with Africa Day.
The event would not have been possible without the support of our incredible sponsors, namely 702, Porcupine Ridge, Timberland, and Standard Bank Wealth and Investment, we are hugely grateful for their commitment to the Book Fair.
One of the aims of the Kingsmead Book Fair’s Outreach programme is to offer entrance and session tickets to various organisations and reading groups that otherwise might not have had the means to attend. Some of the beneficiaries of the programme this year included St Vincent’s School for the Deaf, Bukho Bami, the Sizanani Mentorship Programme, Rays of Hope and the Alexandra Education Committee.
In addition to literary appetites being satiated there was lots on offer in terms of food and drink stalls as well as the Exclusive Books pop-up store where you were able to buy all the visiting authors’ books and have them signed. The feedback received has been overwhelmingly positive, making it clear that the day was a resounding success.
Visit our website for some interviews with visitors and a video with the highlights of the day.
http://kingsmead.co.za/bookfair/our-favourite-things-2019/
http://kingsmead.co.za/bookfair/our-favourite-things-2019/
http://kingsmead.co.za/bookfair/gallery-2/kingsmead-book-fair-2019/
Alex Bouche
Director of Marketing
News
Sarah Ward graduated in 2008 and she’s now working in Cambridge at a robotics company (CMR Surgical). She recently did a podcast aimed at school girls who are interested in STEM subjects and thought it might be interesting for some of the girls at Kingsmead. The podcast can be accessed at: https://eduvate.biz/episode-34-cmr-surgical/
Dear Kingsmead alumni,
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Kingsmead College and the OKA wish you and your family a safe, blessed and happy festive season.