Here are a few highlights from a very busy and meaningful February at Kingsmead College:
We were thrilled to start our new partnership with Isipho Primary School in Soweto. From the 1st of February the Senior School girls assisted with extra Maths lessons and we hope to grow this partnership beyond Mathematics. The Isipho students are eager and committed – 58 students arrived for 3 hours of extra lessons on a Saturday!
We are delighted to announce that the following students have been selected into the National Water Polo training squads. Congratulations! We are so proud of you.
Kim Sheridan (U19 SA Training Squad)
Kate Galloway (U17 SA Training Squad)
Caitlin Stott (U16 SA Training Squad)
Alison Gace (U15 SA Training Squad)
On the 3rd of February, the Grade 7 students shared their leadership motto with the Junior School:
“Sisters with courage, stand together in green.”
They have chosen as their core values for this year:
1 – A sense of belonging – a sisterhood
2 – Positive influence
3 – Determination
Each student was placed in a committee and captains of the various areas announced. We wish you well in your leadership positions Grade 7s!
The Grade 2s had a wonderful picnic to celebrate learning the sound “ch”. All delicious things that begin with the sound picture “ch” were brought along to eat.
Congratulations to our Alumni Victoria Napier for being a part of the Yivani Mbali Foundation and putting together such a stylish and wonderful evening for their Charity Ball. We would like to commend her on such outstanding work that she has done.
Literacy is not a luxury, it’s a right and responsibility. On Wednesday 5 February, Kingsmead Junior School celebrated World Read Aloud Day. We joined the Nal’ibali pledge of trying to reach the target of reading aloud to more than 2 million children on this day. #MYWRAD2020.
Late last year we had the incredible privilege of meeting Eunice van den Aardweg (nee Doke), a founding pupil of Kingsmead College 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.
On the 13th of February, we launched the Grade 10 French poetry syllabus with the beautiful poem Déjeuner du Matin by Jacques Prévert at Pâtisserie Paul in Melrose. Our students had to order their traditional breakfast in French and they enjoyed delicious fares such as pain au chocolat, pain perdu, croque-monsieur and chocolat chaud.
St David’s Marist Inanda came to serenade our Senior School students on Valentine’s Day. It was great to have them here!
Thank you to the Kingsmead community for generously donating shoes for Footloose Friday. 1 472 pairs of shoes were donated, they have been packed and will be distributed to Isipho Primary School, Sunshine Association, Fight with Insight, Rays of Hope, Hotel Hope, Dlala Nje, Kids Haven and Rata Social Services in Sebokeng.
On the 21st of February, eleven of the Kingsmead College students bravely spoke at St John’s College, of their personal experiences of gender-based violence. We are so proud of the courage shown by our students and St John’s College students for engaging in the dialogue.
We love it when Kingsmead Old Girls come back to visit. On the 26th of February, we had the pleasure of taking Jen Bedford-Shaw (nee Boa) class of 1985 and her aunt, Barbara Eastwood (nee Boa) class of 1959, on a tour of the school to see what has changed and what has stayed the same since they matriculated.