Dear Kingsmead Community
Welcome back from half term and I hope that you found the time to rest and recoup from the busy beginning of the third term.
I was privileged to attend the Second Global Forum on Girls’ Education in Washington two weeks’ ago. I cannot wait to share some of the insights and learnings from this conference with the staff, girls and parents. The one thing that I am assured of – having been on school visits in Washington and having attended several breakaway discussions at the conference – is that our staff are amongst the best globally and that we are implementing initiatives in the school that are world-class. In fact, I think that some of our thinking, research and curriculum initiatives are ahead of what I saw in Washington.
It is always good to hear the new trends in girls’ education and to hear some inspiring speakers. Billie Jean King was the closing speaker of the conference and her story is certainly an interesting one. Other themes that were explored were:
- Leading girls into the future
- Innovating and designing
- STEAM – closing the gender gap
- Making the most of local and global partnerships
- Health and wellness
- Equity and inclusion
I enjoyed listening to Rachel Simmons who has launched her book – “Enough As She Is: How To Help Girls Move Beyond Impossible Standards of Success to Live Healthy, Happy and Fulfilling Lives.” I believe that much of what she said has relevance to our girls at Kingsmead and I would like to explore her book in greater detail with parents, girls and staff.
I will be sending a full report to the school community shortly.
Welcome to the following new staff members. I wish them both a long and happy association with the Kingsmead Community:
Ms Sibusisiwe Thembela – in the Senior School Library, Sibusisiwe comes to us with many years of media resource centre and library experience. She has worked in a number of progressive organizations, her most recent being the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls.
Mrs Alex Bouche – as the Director of Marketing. Alex brings with her a range of Marketing skills, having run her own company – Pink Peppercorn – for a number of years.
I wish our Grade 12 girls well as they begin their Preliminary Examinations and the rest of the school as they start in a little while.
I wish you all a happy half term.
Fond regards
Lisa Kaplan
Head: Kingsmead College
Arts News
MUSIC
Junior School ‘Singing Sistas’
Well done to our fabulous Grade 5-7 Choir girls who were absolutely brilliant at the annual Singing Sistas Girls Schools’ Choir evening earlier this term. Our girls performed confidently and enthusiastically and definitely stole the show. Well done girls.
Kingsmead & St David’s Combined Music Evening
On Monday the 11th June Kingsmead hosted St David’s for the annual Combined Music evening. This event never disappoints, the boys and girls had loads of fun performing for each other. Well done to all our musicians.
Music Evening at Jan Celliers
On Tuesday the 12th June our Junior School Orchestra performed at the annual Jan Celliers Music Evening. Our Junior School Orchestra is delightful to watch, always performing with enthusiasm and joy. Thank you to our parents for supporting our young musicians. See our Facebook page for videos of our Orchestra’s performance.
Choir Concert
On the 18th June, our Senior School Choir held a ‘Thank you concert’ to celebrate all the people who made it possible for our girls to go to Europe, be part of the World Games and look beautiful in their new outfits. An enormous and heartfelt thank you to everyone who contributed towards the fundraising efforts and supported our events. The girls enjoyed every moment, performing the full programme we have learned this year, to a most appreciative audience.
Choir World Games
It is finally here!
The biennial INTERKULTUR World Choir Games will, for the first time in its 30 years existence, take place on the African continent. The event aims to bring together amateur choirs from all over the world to sing, enjoy making music together and build cross-cultural relationships. The 10th World Choir Games involving 300 choirs and 16 000 participants from 62 countries is the biggest ever Choir Games organised outside Europe.
The Opening Ceremony took place last night, on Wednesday 4 July in a packed Sun Arena Auditorium in Pretoria. The thousands of South African participants enthusiastically joined together to sing Shosholoza and the National Anthem as the South African flag was raised. The event also included the world premiere of the new anthem, ‘One Voice’, as well as the official song of the 10th World Choir Games, ‘Singomanqoba’ by our own Dr Sibongile Khumalo.
It is such an incredible privilege to be part of the Olympics for Choirs, rubbing shoulders with some of the best choirs in our own country and from all corners of the world.
Keep an eye on the Kingsmead Facebook page and subscribe to our Kingsmead College Music Department YouTube channel and see videos of all our events.
The Grade 8-10 Choir members who attended the Opening Ceremony
The Beating of the drum and arrival of the Olympic flame in a calabash.
62 Flags on stage.
Elsabé Fourie
Director of Arts & Music
Sports News
DIVING
Congratulations to Olivia van Vollenhoven who has been selected to attend the Youth World diving Championships this month in Ukraine.
NETBALL
Congratulations to the Second team who placed second in there league and played at the District Play offs on Wed 20th June, the team had a great season and played good netball as a strong unit. A special mention to the First team who narrowly missed play offs by one goal and the under 15 A team who also had a good season and placed 3rd in there League.
We congratulate Sarah Minnie for being selected to play in the A Under 16 provincial team who will compete in July at Sun City.
Tracey Minnie
Netball Couch
HOCKEY
Kingsmead was one of the ten schools that participated in the Spar Hockey Challenge. Our 1st Team got through to the finals, where we managed to beat Beaulieu 1-0 and we were announced the Winners of the Spar Hockey Challenge. Well done team! We are proud of you
KARATE
Malaika Minyuku-Gutto qualified for the Karate SA Open Championships which took place in Durban from the 22-24 June.
Malaika is currently ranked #12 nationally for kumite, and she was awarded provincial colors at the GKF awards ceremony on Saturday 16 June. Well done Malaika! We are so proud of you.
BIATHLE
Isabella had been selected to represent the Gauteng girls under 15 team in the SA Biathle (run 800m / swim 100m / run 800m) Championships in Port Elizabeth on the 23rd of June.
Robert Pullen
Director of Sport
Academic News
ENGLISH
Best Speaker Competition 2018
The Best Speaker Competition took place on the 8th May 2018 in the Kingsmead Conference Room. What an evening of excellence it was. Unfortunately, due to unusually high demands on our senior girls academically and in the cultural and sporting spheres of the school, this particular event was closed to the Grade 8s, 9s and 10s.
Seventeen brave young women shared their personal voices and perspectives on a wide range of topics. Our adjudicator, Caitlyn Morris of the Speech and Drama College of South Africa, was astonished at the quality of delivery and the depth of content of all the speeches.
After comprehensive feedback, Ms Morris awarded the following prizes:
Best Junior Speaker (Grades 8 and 9) to Alexandra Liston
Most Promising Junior Speaker to Raddiyah Dadabhai
Best Senior Speaker (Grade 10) to Georgina Beart
Most Promising Senior Speaker to Kaya Borkowski
Congratulations to all the girls who participated so willingly and so well and to our Head of Public Speaking 2018, Thato Maboka, for her time and efforts as “Master of Ceremonies”.
The Young Readers’ Award 2018
In a world where pace is frenetic, demands are excessive and need for gratification immediate, it is critical that we create spaces for quiet. Thanks to Janine Lovatt, who introduced the YRA to Kingsmead in 2015, the Grade 10s this year were privileged, once again, to be granted almost a whole term to read anything from five to twenty books, carefully selected for the YRA. Girls were exposed to a variety of genres, such as: fantasy, dystopian, autobiography, graphic novel, thriller and crime fiction.
The aim of the Award is to encourage a love of reading. During the term, girls are expected to have discussions with their peers on the books they have read and debate the merits of various texts. In addition to reading and discussion, there are certain written tasks that are set for assessment.
The Prize Giving took place on the 5th June and we were all treated to a most powerful and humbling speech by one of the authors, Yewande Omotoso. We would like to thank Mrs Lovatt for donating a Trophy for this very special Project.
Yewande Omotoso, award winning author and guest speaker at YRA 2018
The following girls were awarded prizes:
The Janine Lovatt Trophy for The Best Overall YRA Portfolio – Alexia Lipchin
The Most Books Read (20 in total) – Emily van der Want
The Best Book Jacket – Lily Robinson
The Most Creative Book Jacket – Leyya Madhi
The Most Improved Readers – Gabriella da Naia, Christina Wides and Zaakira Thokan.
Congratulations to all our Grade 10s who all managed to read five books and to the many who read many more.
Bronwen Roberts
English Teacher
LIFE SCIENCES
The Grade 11 Life Sciences girls had the opportunity to visit Maropeng and the Sterkfontein Caves to learn about the history of life on Earth and important fossil discoveries and excavations at the Cradle of Humankind. At Maropeng, the girls were given an insightful tour, being guided through the Tumulus building and the underground museum. Highlights of the tour included a visit to the exhibit on the recently discovered Homo naledi, a boat ride which simulates the formation of the Earth, and learning about how Hominids have evolved over time. At Sterkfontein, the girls ventured almost 70 meters down into the caves where the tour guide explained the formation of caves, including how stalagmites and stalactites take millions of years to form a complete pillar. They got to see where the recently excavated Little Foot was discovered and learnt that it took almost 20 years to remove this near-complete Hominid fossil from the surrounding rock. This was an enriching tour which went beyond the realms of the classroom and was most applicable to the Life Sciences syllabus.
Angela Norman-Smith
Life Sciences Teacher
Service News
MANDELA DAY
NIGHT ON THE GARTH
On 21 June, Senior School girls spend a Night on the Garth to raise awareness and empathy for the homeless. Only a sleeping bag and cardboard box were allowed and a basic meal of soup and bread was served. The girls made 135 scarves that will be donated on Mandela Day.
GRADE 11 SERVICE EXCURSION
On Thursday 21 June, a few Grade 11s visited Itemba soup kitchen. The blankets collected from the Grade 12 blanket drive was donated to Itemba and the Grade 11s assisted with serving soup. After that, they spent some time at El Shammah Home for Abandoned Babies and were involved in cleaning, feeding and spending time with the children.
INVITATION TO VENDORS FOR GOODWILL DAY 2018
Kingsmead College’s annual Goodwill Day is a day of giving back to the various charities we support. This day will not only be a fundraising event for our charities, but will include various activities that will benefit these charities. We will also celebrate Kingsmead College’s 85th birthday. The day will start at 08h00 and end at 13h30 on Saturday 6 October.
The programme will be filled with a variety of fun activities for the whole family. We will begin with a Fun Walk at 08h00, and refreshments (including breakfast) will be available from 07h30. There will be a Tea Garden, a Games area and a range of beautiful homemade goods and delicious food for sale.
All proceeds will be given to the charities who will be represented on the day.
All the craft stalls and food vendors will be situated around the Games area and the layout will be done to ensure equal support for all the vendors. Stalls can be reserved at a cost of R400.
Please note that only craft stalls with handmade goods will be allowed and photos of products will be requested. We reserve the right to determine vendor allocation and placement according to our campus layout and event requirements, in order to give all vendors the best opportunity we can for maximum sales. We do limit the number of vendors for similar items, and we reserve the right to determine which vendors will be accepted.
Please contact us if you would like to book a stall. The booking form, payment details and more information will be then be forwarded to you.
Craft stalls: Maureen Ellis maureen52ellis@gmail.com 0829013437
Food stalls: Thato Makae tmakae@kingsmead.co.za 0117317315
We look forward to hosting you at Goodwill Day 2018.
Jenny Venter
Director of Service
The President’s Award
Congratulations to the following girls who completed an Adventurous Journey in the Drakensberg over midterm:
Ammaarah Wadee
Malaika Minyuku-Gutto
Anjali Naidoo
Husna Maswanganyi
Michal Sage
Priya Maistry
Nicola Gace
Chantel Maina
Thank you to Mindscape Adventures for hosting us.
Jenny Venter
The President’s Award Leader
Medical News
GRADE 12 PEER PROMOTER FAREWELL
We bid farewell to three dedicated young woman who served as Peer Promoters at Kingsmead College.
Chantel Maina, Shani Leaf and Zanele Mpofu served for two years and one term. Their initiative, enthusiasm and dedication as Peer Promoters convinced numerous Kingsmead girls and staff to gather enough courage to donate blood and save lives.
They have grown in various aspects during their term ranging from organising, planning ,implementing and working together as a group. Working with people developed character traits such as nurturing, patience, counselling, educating and empathy .
Well done girls you will be missed.
Monica Loubser
Kingsmead Medical Centre Sister