Dear Parents, Guardians, Staff and Students,
Welcome to the first newsletter of 2022. My wish for all of you is that this is going to be a happy, healthy year in which we strengthen our connections and work together to create a school of which we are proudly members and in which we build on our strong sense of community. We were privileged to host the new staff orientation on Friday before school started and welcomed the following staff members to the Senior School:
Michael Soutar – English Department
Catey Moholo – SeSotho teacher in the First Additional Languages Department
Tammy Stippel – Mathematics Department
Jane Elsworth – my Executive Assistant – please contact Jane on jelsworth@kingsmead.co.za.
We also congratulate the following staff members on their new roles:
Evani Naidoo has been appointed to the position of Central Admissions Officer and she will be dealing with any admissions across the schools. Please contact her on enaidoo@kingsmead.co.za with any queries about admission to Kingsmead.
Priscilla Nkwamba is now the Medical Centre Assistant.
Noluthando Mdhluli has stepped into the role of Director of Transformation, Diversity and Inclusion for the campus and she is a member of the Executive team. She will continue to work with students, staff and parents to move our TDI vision forward in the school.
Robyn Hillowitz has taken on the role of Head of the English Department from Term II when Suzanne Cambitzis leaves Kingsmead.
We wish them all a wonderful journey at Kingsmead.

Welcome to our 83 new Grade 8 students, as well as their parents and guardians. We are so looking forward to walking alongside you on this five-year journey.
In our opening Assembly, I urged students to create lollipop moments every single day. This is a reference from a talk given by Drew Dudley on everyday leadership. He urges us to think of a time when someone has come up to you to let you know that you do matter; that you have mattered or that you will matter.
He wants us to shine our light every day and to show leadership every day. As he says, “Leadership recognized is leadership created.”
Please see the link below should you wish to watch the video:
I have urged and challenged the students to be kind to one another every day. The past two years have certainly taught us that kindness is everything. I love the idea that at school, we are investing in people and relationships and that is why a purely online school system is not ideal. This year I would like us to bring balance to the digital and human connection. Our need to belong is a human emotion reflecting our desire to fit in with groups and to be accepted by their members, like in a school.
I wish you all a happy year ahead. One in which we can look back on our many achievements; on our sound relationships and on our many lollipop moments.
Fond regards,
Lisa Palmer
Executive Head: Kingsmead College
Grade 8 Orientation
We know that the transition into high school, for any teen, can be tough but when you have a nurturing school and caring teachers who guide you through every step, it becomes a lot easier. We have so much to be grateful for and we, as the Grade 8 Pastoral Team, have really enjoyed welcoming the new Grade 8s into the Senior School and spending valuable time with them. During the first week of school the new Grade 8s of 2022 got to experience the Grade 8 Orientation Tadpole Programme with many sessions which focused on making the transition into high school easy, stress-free and enjoyable.
Each Grade 8 was paired with a matric who would be their Grade 12 Buddy for the year. These Grade 12 Buddies are always on standby in case the Grade 8s have any questions, need direction to class or even just someone to talk to about how they’re feeling regarding Senior School. The Grade 8s are also allocated Grade 9 Friends who are there if they need advice from someone closer to their age and who have just recently experienced the transition into Senior School.
‘Awesome’, ‘exciting’, ‘fun’, ‘exhausting’ and ‘better than expected’. These are just some of the many words the Grade 8s used to describe their Lumela onsite camp. Camp began with an amazing drumming and boom-whacking session. The water games, war-cries and swimming were other highlights of the camp.
Feedback from Grade 8 students:
“My highlights were when our team won the war-cry and working together when we were trying to build the structure.” – Erin Gore.
“I enjoyed the different activities and meeting new people from all the grades. I feel happy and excited because I’m curious to see what I’m going to learn this year.” – Natasha Moyo.
“I got to know new people and talked to people I never thought I would talk to. Talking to people you don’t know at all is very challenging. I am a very shy person, at first I couldn’t even talk to anyone or make friends but Kingsmead is awesome and it ended wonderfully.” – Rolivhuwa Muvhango.
“I really enjoyed learning about the Growth Curriculum and all the modules. I loved swimming with my friends at the end of camp. I am very excited to start my academics and I can’t wait because it sounds very interesting.” – Mira Naidoo.
“It was very good learning about the school and being part of a House. The Lumela camp was fun and it was very nice bonding with everyone and getting to know them better.” – Carlé Combrink.
Sport round up
Diving
Congratulations to all the Kingsmead divers who participated in the South African Schools Diving Championships that was hosted in KZN in December 2021.



Anna Eyles participated in the 15 years Elite event and placed 2nd.
Kirsten Botha participated in the 15 years Novice event and came in 1st place. She is now the Novice SA Schools champion in her age group.
Kathrine Jones participated in the 16 years Elite event and finished in 3rd place.
Water polo
All the Provincial teams got to participate in December in Cape Town and our Kingsmead students were represented across all the age groups.
We have been very excited that our water polo, swimming, tennis, diving and squash fixtures have commenced, and these sports are preparing for Inter High’s and festivals.
We recently participated in the Annual St Mary’s Summer Splash. The students compete in 3 aquatics sports, namely swimming, diving and water polo. A combined Junior and Senior School team competed in the diving and swimming sections.
Our diving team ended 4th overall, the water polo finished 5th as an u16 team and the swimming team placed 6 out of 9 schools.
Inter-house Gala
On Friday the 14th of January the school was lucky enough to be able to have the first inter-house gala in two years. It had been a rainy week, but the sun came out from behind the clouds and the sky was blue. From the very start of the day you could feel the buzz of energy and palpable excitement coming from both the students and the staff alike. It was an incredible feeling to see the spirit shown by all three houses after not having many inter-house events for such a long time. Blurs of yellow minions, blue maleficents and red pirates came together with drums and shakers. Water polo, swimming and diving was cheered on with awe and spirit!
The gala was a great way to start the year as it enabled the students in different grades to get to know one another and work together to achieve a common goal. It was so refreshing to experience some normality after two years of unpredictability. The matrics got to jump in the pool as a grade, a school tradition, which made a great start to the year. Well done to everyone who took part and thank you to those involved in the organisation of the gala. It certainly was a memorable start to the term!
Lara Gush, Ruby Vos and Alice Behr
Heads of Houses
The results of the inter-house aquatics were as follows:
Diving
Novice Section
U15 winner – Charlee Davis from Timlin
U16 Winner – Robyn Dickinson from Timlin
Opens Winner – Ariella Fenster from Timlin
Elite Section
U15 Winner – Lilla Eyles from Baker
U16 Winner – Nina Evans from Baker
Opens Winner – Katherine Jones from Kruger
Overall Points
- Baker
- Timlin
- Kruger
Waterpolo – Overall points
- Baker
- Timlin
- Kruger
Swimming
Junior Victrix Ludorum – Sienna Fry, Elena Rovelli, Francesca Druce
Senior Victrix Ludorum – Caitlin Stott, Nina Evans
Spirit Trophy – Baker
Overall points
- Timlin
- Baker
- Kruger
Arts and Music
Welcome back to all our parents and students. The Arts & Music department hope to bring joy to the Kingsmead community this year. We look forward to connecting with our parents and students through the Arts.
CONGRATULATIONS!
Well done to our students who achieved the most fantastic results in music examinations at the end of last year.
Nina Fourie – 88% for Grade 2 Flute
Mira Naidoo – 86% for Grade 4 Music Theory
Ava Naidoo – 100% for Grade 2 Theory
Jessica Robinson – 90% for Grade 8 Piano

Nina Fourie

Mira Naidoo

Ava Naidoo

Jessica Robinson
Rockschool Examinations
Grade 1:

Julia Sequeira

Emma Gray

Milli Seekins
And congratulations to Leonor Rodrigues!
Grade 2:
Meagan Stewart, Ariana Boyd, Elana Rolls, Amy-Louise Labuschagne, Neo Mkwanazi, Jordyn Knowles, Isabella Lux (not all pictured).




Grade 3:
Sumayya Forssman, Victoria Kahwa, Annabelle Smith, Caitlin Pon, Sophia Pearse (not all pictured).




Grade 4:
Emma Proudfoot, Morgan Bunkell, Thuli Martin, Mbali Ndlela, Sylvie Clegg.





Grade 5:
Keitumetse Makhanya

Grade 6:
Julia Aspoas

Grade 7:
Mikayla Alfonso

DRAMA
We are thrilled that Drama has been included in Grades 4-7 curriculum this year in addition to the Intokozo programme, which has been running successfully in Grade 1-3 over the last few years. The Mkwanazi Theatre provides a brilliant space for extra-curricular Drama from Grade 1-8 and Drama as part of the curriculum from Grade 8-12. We are so lucky to have this professional space for our young and older students.
SENIOR SCHOOL MAJOR PRODUCTION
We are pleased to announce that our Major Production for 2022 is William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Performances will be on the 10th to the 12th March in the Lange Hall. Save the dates!
DEBATING & PUBLIC SPEAKING
We have had fantastic interest in both Public Speaking and Debating and look forward to a fruitful year in these activities. After half term we will expand the Debating and Public Speaking programme to include Grade 6 and 7 students.
DANCE
This term JOZIDANCE had the opportunity to be introduced to the school for the 1st time since they started at Kingsmead in 2020. We are thrilled to have these fantastic coaches teach at Kingsmead and hope to see more of our students join. We are planning some showcase opportunities and giving our students platforms to compete in external events this year.
Traditional dance is a wonderful way for our students to explore Tshwana, isiZulu and Afro-fusion dance styles. We also look forward to hosting the Kingsmead Inter-schools Dance festival in the 2nd term. JOZIDANCE designed comfortable, good quality dance gear at affordable prices. The order form link is available on the app.
MUSIC
In the week of the 7th of February we would love for our music teachers and parents to get to know each other. Please join us for a ZOOM CONNECT on Tuesday 8 February at 18h00. Make a time with your daughter’s music teacher to meet in person, on zoom or facetime. We want to form a partnership with our parents and achieve success together.
Save the date: Tuesday 8 February at 18h00
Please see the summary of dates of upcoming events in the Arts & Music folder on the App.
The Arts & Music department, wishes you a happy and fulfilling year ahead!
Elsabé Fourie
Director of Arts & Music
efourie@kingsmead.co.za

Drama Department
Over the weekend of 22-23 January, we were privileged enough to present four professional performances of the IEB Dramatic Arts set work, Born Naked. Our Mkwanazi Theatre welcomed Drama students from Roedean School (SA), St Dunstan’s College, De La Salle Holy Cross College, Sacred Heart College, Curro Heuwelkruin, Dominican Convent and St Andrew’s School for Girls, as well as our own Grade 10-12s. The audiences enjoyed and delighted in the fabulous dance numbers, lip syncing and costumes of the flamboyant drag characters, and found the serious issues raised about the South African LGBTQI+ community enthralling and thought-provoking.
It was a wonderful weekend of live performance – which feels like an alien occurrence after almost two years!