Dear Parents

It’s Book Week and we are exploring the joy, relevance and gift of reading at all levels! Our Grade 7 Library committee presented an outstanding introduction to Book Week at assembly yesterday. We view this week as a reminder of one of our habits “ Remaining Open to Continuous Learning”. The girls shared a valuable quote which I believe is worth reinforcement this week: “The illiterate of the 21^st Century are not those who cannot read and write but those who cannot learn, unlearn and relearn” (Alvin Toffler).

Please take note of our regular social media posts this week regarding reading and all the associated advantages and thoughts.

Staff News:

A special congratulations goes to Mrs Rhode who celebrated her graduation last week. She was awarded a BEdHons Degree in Educational Linguistics.

Regards

Kim Lowman – Head: Junior School

WEEK AHEAD:

Tuesday 8 May:

07:00- 16:00 Travelling Book Shop continues in the Joel Hall

Wednesday 9 May:

07:15 – 08:15 Grade 000-3 Reading breakfast with parents
Travelling Book Shop continues in the Joel Hall until 9am

Thursday 10 May:

Ascension Day
BOOK CHARACTER DRESS UP DAY- Any ideas for staff dress up would be appreciated.
Girls are required to bring at least one gently read book for BOOK DRIVE donation
09:00- 10:00 Grade 000 – 0 Hooked on Books

Friday 11 May

Flipped Classroom Grade 6 and 7.
School closed due to Book Fair set up

Saturday 12 May

Kingsmead Book Fair (Grade 6-12 compulsory school day)

I joined Kingsmead on the 2^nd May 2018 as the Junior School specialist assisting in the therapy support department. My primary responsibility is to support a learning environment where learning is nurtured in a guided, supportive, empathic and joyful manner to promote guidance and growth to allow the girls to strive to be happy and empowered individuals.

My experience in this field has included positions at Bellavista School, Head of Remedial Therapy, and as Head of Foundation Phase at Cedarwood School. I have obtained a Master’s in Education – specialised in Curriculum Development, did my Honours in Education Psychology and have a B.A in Child Psychology.

My learning philosophy is to enhance and motivate learning on a daily basis. This is achieved by the implementation of various strategies and techniques. I believe that in today’s environment key focus areas are critical thinking, adaptability, problem solving, effective communication, collaboration, and creativity. I believe it is important for students to acquire knowledge and be able to apply this in new and unfamiliar contexts. I believe working as a team is essential and therefore strive to promote engagement, relationship building and trust.

Helen Schreuder

Welcome back to all our parents to what promises to be another busy sporting term. My name is Sheillah Denenga and I will be heading the Junior School Sports Department. I am really excited to be back again in an all girls’ school environment. I have no doubt that the experience that I have gained over the years working in both co-ed and monastic schools will be of great value to Kingsmead.

One of the most significant responsibilities we have as schools and educators is to give our learners a strong foundation on which to build a full and active life. I believe that Sport and physical wellness is an important component of any child’s education. The physical value that it adds to the lives of the children cannot be disputed. However, more important to me is the life lessons and life skills that a good extra mural programme can instil. Life skills such as discipline, team work, overcoming adversity and failing forward are but a few examples that are gained from both individual and team sport participation and competition. Such activities provide a sense of belonging and have a positive influence on a child’s self-esteem. Encouraging participation in childhood establishes positive attitudes and behaviour towards physical activity and leading a healthy lifestyle.

Physical Education in the curriculum also has a vital role to play not only in talent identification but also in ensuring that there is an inclusive approach regardless of age, ability, disability, ethnicity or any other factor. A good physical education programme ensures gradual acquisition and application of age specific skills in a manner that will instil a love for the physical activity and promote a sustainable life-long passion for healthy living.

As Nelson Mandela succinctly put it “Sports has the power to change the world. It has the power to inspire, the power to unite in a way that little else does. It speaks to youth in a language they understand. Sports can create hope, where there was once only despair, it is more powerful than governments in breaking down racial barriers. It laughs in the face of all types of discrimination”

I look forward to meeting you at the side of the field and I trust your daughters will make many happy memories and life-long friends on the sporting field.

Sheillah Denenga

I joined Kingsmead as the Junior School Psychologist. I am an Educational Psychologist with a passion for social and emotional development as this enables us to better understand ourselves and others. Prior to joining Kingsmead, I worked as a psychologist for St Andrew’s School for Girls as well as Family Life Centre, where I gained extensive experience running skills development workshops and programmes. In my capacity as the Junior School psychologist I will be developing a social and emotional wellness programme for your girls, which I will facilitate during our Life Skills lessons. In addition, I will provide ad hoc and short term counselling for girls, parents and staff. Please feel welcome to pop into my office or give me a call.

Belinda Aspoas

ARTS AND MUSIC NEWS

THANK YOU!

Thank you to ALL our parents who supported the Kingsmead Music Festival on the 5^th of April. It was a wonderful celebration of our Choirs, Orchestras and Ensembles at Kingsmead. Well done to all our young musicians for exciting, energetic and enthusiastic performances!

Upcoming Events in May:

Wednesday 23 May: ‘Let the Children Sing’ Choir event at St John’s: Grade 3 Choir to attend
Tuesday 29 May: Choirs, Ensembles to perform at Park Care

(More details will be sent to the relevant parents.)

Extra-Curricular Schedule

The Extracurricular schedule remains the same as Term 1B – please see link below.

EXTRA-CURRICULAR SCHEDULE

SPORTS NEWS

A warm welcome back to all our parents and budding sport enthusiasts. We have hit the ground running this term with matches and training sessions already underway on our 1^st day back at school. Winter term tends to be an intense but fun filled term and we encourage our girls to ensure that they are taking their vitamins to keep the flu away and to ensure they are warmly dressed after practices and matches. It also becomes important to ensure that with assistance from their coaches that they warm up correctly before their sessions to avoid any injuries.

Book fair

As we will be setting up and hosting our annual Book Fair this weekend (Friday 11^TH May – Friday 12 May) there will be no sport practices nor fixtures.

School fixtures

This is just a reminder to our players and parents that a decision was taken by the Junior Schools heads of sport and reviewed by the Heads of school that fixtures would take place on Friday afternoons and Saturday mornings. To this end I would like to please plead with our parental body to support the sports department in ensuring the following:

Players to stay until the end of the fixture, no early departures please as this negatively impacts our team dynamics and our aim to instil spirit and patriotism in our school
Players to please book their private coaching and other extra murals after the fixtures. School sport must take priority over non-school sport. This also includes extra lessons or lessons not offered by the school.
Parents to please avoid booking play dates and birthday parties on these days.

Please contact me at least 48 hours via email on sdenenga@kingsmead.co.za in the event that you may need to excuse your daughter. This will give the coaches the opportunity to replace a player if needs be.

RESULTS

Netball:

Our players took part in festivals at various venues this week. The grade 3 to 5 teams played against St Katharines and APPS and the Grade 6 and 7 girls played against APPS. It was exciting to see the enthusiasm from our grade 3 cohort. We managed to field 5 teams of which we won most of our matches. Those we lost we did so narrowly. Thank you to our parents who came out to support

Below are a summary of the Netball results

Grade 4A: Kingsmead 5 APPS 2 / Kingsmead 11 St Katharines 1
Grade 4B: Kingsmead 5 APPS 2 / Kingsmead 4 St Katharines 1
Grade 4C: Kingsmead 3 APPS 2 / Kingsmead 3 St Katharines 0
Grade 4D: Kingsmead 4 APPS 1 / Kingsmead 3 St Katharines 0
Grade 4E: Kingsmead 2 APPS 2
Grade 4F: Kingsmead 4 APPS 5
Grade 5A: Kingsmead 5 APPS 2 / Kingsmead 11 St Katharines 1
Grade 5B: Kingsmead 14 APPS 3 / Kingsmead 9 St Katharines 3
Grade 5C: Kingsmead 1 APPS 0 / Kingsmead 1 St Katharines 1
Grade 5D: Kingsmead 0 APPS 2 / Kingsmead 2 St Katharines 0
Grade 6A: Kingsmead 5 APPS 6
Grade 6B: Kingsmead 6 APPS 5
Grade 6C: Kingsmead 10 APPS 5
Grade 6D: Kingsmead 7 APPS 1
Grade 7A: Kingsmead 13 APPS 4
Grade 7B: Kingsmead 22 APPS 3
Grade 7C: Kingsmead 5 APPS 6
Grade 7D: Kingsmead 3 APPS 1

On Saturday 5th May we competed in the C/D Netball Festival. All the players played extremely well, played 4/5 matches each and enjoyed a lovely fun morning of hard Netball. This was a great opportunity for the players to prepare them for the upcoming matches and also for the coaches to finalize their teams.

Well done to all the players and thank you for excellent behaviour on and off the courts.

UPCOMING WEEK

17th May: (Match of 23rd March rescheduled)

Grade 3 & 4: Venue: St Marys
Grade 5, 6 & 7: Venue: St Andrews

Transport: Buses will leave from Cecil Road Gate at 13h15 and will return to Kingsmead at approximately 17h00, depending on the traffic.

18th May:

Grade 3: Venue: Kingsmead
Grade 4 & 5: Venue: Brescia
Grade 6 & 7: Venue: St Peters

Transport: Buses will leave from Cecil Road Gate at 13h15 and will return to Kingsmead at approximately 17h00, depending on the traffic.

19th May:

Grade 5, 6 & 7: Holy Rosary Annual A/B Festival
Venue: Holy Rosary
Time: 07h30 to 12h30
Transport: OWN TRANSPORT

Equestrian:

Important Dates:

Johannesburg District 2018 Core League QUALIFIER DATES:

* Q3: 19th and 20th May

* Q4: 16th and 17th June

Gauteng Finals:

* Primary Schools: 28th and 29th July

Nationals:

* Primary Schools: During October, dates to be confirmed.

For any information regarding Equestrian contact Ms Feroza Motara. Email: feroza@tangerineds.co.za

Water polo:

We would like to congratulate the following girls who were selected for the Gauteng Winter Training Squads. This is a great achievement and we wish them well. The final squads will be chosen end of August.

U13:

Hannah Daniels
Amy Dickinson
Gabriella Dodd
Alison Gace
Gillian Henning
Natalie Morris
Scarlett Muirhead
Anne-Marie Sutherland
Lilian Turvey

U12:

Julia Aspoas
Jessica Black
Amelia Brown
Kate Chapman
Olivia Cooke
Emma Keast
Kagano Khoncha
Dihana Punjabi
Emma Spronk
Jessica Stevens

Our Connection: Issue 14 2018