Dear Kingsmead Community,
Thank you to our community for your patience this week while we have grappled with the changes we have had to make to the timetable and to the calendar. Further information and clarity will be communicated to you in the next day or two.
We are still reeling with the shock that the news of Alma van der Merwe’s death has brought us. I am acutely aware of the trauma and the tragedy that the virus has wrought on our community. In her recent Junior School newsletter, Mrs Kim Lowman writes the following and I thank her for this beautiful message:
“Although many of us are feeling a sense of loss, isolation and fear, we have learnt that, as a community, we are able to overcome much of this and regain our strength when we move forward with hope and grace. Hope provides us with comfort that this too shall pass – we will rise once again. Faith is important as we trust and believe that our loved ones will be okay. Faith gives us a sense of safety. We are, also however called to action. And action takes courage, hope and faith. To do that we need compassion for ourselves and for others; we need to help where we can, when we can; we need to role model for our girls the true meaning of grit and the true importance of maintaining perspective during times of hardship. Let us teach our daughters the power of perspective and prioritisation. We need to prioritise physical, social and emotional safety right now. A happy, healthy child is a child who will gain more from their lessons than an anxious, tired child.”
I wish you well as you navigate the complexity of these times. Please stay safe and healthy.
Lisa Palmer
Executive Head
Arts News
Over the last year and a bit we have learned to adapt and be flexible, more than ever before. So with the 3rd wave, we have had to change some of our plans again. Please see below our new plans for the rest of the term:
• Major Production Film: ‘Between Two Worlds’ has been postponed to 2022.
• The Inter-schools Dance Festival planned for August, is postponed until further notice.
• The Junior & Senior Schools Ensemble & Choir Festivals have been postponed to September/October.
• All Music Concerts will be online this term:
Wednesday 7 July: Grade 1 -3
Wednesday 14 July: Grade 4 & 5
Wednesday 21 July: Grade 6 & 7
Monday 2 August: Senior School
Wednesday 4 August: Junior & Senior Voice Concert
It’s CONCERT TIME!
All our Music concerts will be online this term. What a wonderful opportunity to share our concerts with family who live far away! Follow the guidelines below:
- Record the performance (with accompaniment if not a pianist) video and audio.
- Performers must wear their school uniform.
- Make sure the performer is the focus of the video with no distractions in the background.
- Send it to efourie@kingsmead.co.za on WeTransfer no later than the Monday before the concert.
- Concerts will be posted on the Kingsmead Arts & Music YouTube channel
- Details of the concert will be shared on the App and in the newsletters.
MAGIC OF MUSIC
The importance of music education was recently featured in The SA Schools Collection Magazine Click here to read the article on the significant impact and advantages of music education.
Elsabé Fourie
Director of Arts & Music
Sports News
We would like to congratulate Isabella Cockeran and Helen Cockeran for their outstanding achievements. Isabella placed 4th in the girls 0/19 event (1600m run / 200m swim / 1600m run) and Helen 8th in the girls 0/17 event (1200m run / 200m swim / 1200m run) at the Gauteng Biathle Championships. Both have been selected to represent Gauteng at the SA Biathle Championships in Somerset-West on Saturday the 10th of July 2021. We wish them all the best for their championships.
Helen Cockeran Isabella Cockeran
NETBALL
We are delighted to inform you that Emma Spronk has been selected to represent Central Gauteng Action Netball (C.G.A.N.) in the Under 15 team at the 2021 junior league inter-provincial tournament (IPT) to be held in Hillfox, Johannesburg from 12th to 16th July 2021.
Emma Spronk
POLO
Kennedy Davis will be attending the South African School girls horse polo trials. She will attend a tournament which is held down in Natal and then a clinic for 3 days. If she is chosen they will travel to Zambia to play in August.
Kennedy Davis
Academic News
FRENCH NEWS
This term, 42 Grade 10 and Grade 11 students worked extremely hard to be prepared to tackle the challenging DELF examinations. The Diplômes d’Etudes en Langue Française are official qualifications awarded by the French Ministry of Education to certify the competency – speaking, understanding, listening, writing – of candidates from outside France in the French language.
These certificates are valid for life and correspond to the levels of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages.
It definitely takes courage and dedication to write these examinations. We are very proud of our amazing students.
French Ambassador, Aurélien Lechevallier and the Alliance Française of Johannesburg donated teaching materials and sponsored the set book for our Grades 11 and 12 students. Mille mercis to them for their generosity.
Joelle Harding
Senior School French Teacher
SANGO Olympiad
The 2021 South African National Geography Olympiad (SANGO) took place on the 18th of May 2021. SANGO is a member of ASTEMI (Association of Science Technology Engineering Mathematics and Innovation), part of SAASTA ( South African Agency for Science and Technology Advancement). In 2021 SANGO had a record 149 schools and 2575 learners register for the online competition.
Kingsmead College entered 29 candidates from Grade 10 – 12. While the Olympiad is ongoing, the top 25 candidates that qualify for Round 2 have been announced. We are proud of Aadila Babamia who has been included in this top 25 ranking in her Grade 11 year!
Service News
ISIPHO PARTNERSHIP
Kingsmead College is proud to partner with Isipho Primary School in Soweto and our partnership has developed and grown despite the pandemic. This year we have shared Easter eggs, Kingsmead roses, library books and stationery packs with them. As the Grade 7 community engagement partner, each Grade 7 at Isipho received a letter from a Grade 7 at Kingsmead. We stand with Isipho during these trying and challenging times!
MANDELA DAY 18 JULY
Mandela Day is a global call to action to give 67 minutes to impact your community and the world at large. Celebrated on the day of Nelson Mandela’s birthday and commemorating the 67 years that he has fought for social justice; we want to heed the call to make a difference.
Due to the pandemic, we are shifting the focus from giving 67 minutes of your time, to donating 6 or 7 items to our community engagement partner, Hotel Hope.
Hotel Hope is a non-profit organisation working in the child welfare space. They focus on orphaned and abandoned children, but have a holistic approach. Hotel Hope runs various projects focusing on assisting and equipping parents, a pregnant mothers in crisis program, counselling centres as well as charity shops to fund the children’s home and counselling programmes.
Donate 6 or 7 items to Hotel Hope for Mandela Day:
1 Vaseline
2 AVENT baby bottles and teats (all sizes)
3 Baby wipes
4 NAN infant milk formula 1/2
5 70% Alcohol Sanitiser
6 Surgical gloves
7 Machine washing powder
Donations can be dropped off at Kingsmead College from Monday 5 July until Friday 16 July.
Thank you for making a difference by giving 6 or 7 items as a substitute for your 67 minutes for Mandela Day this year!
Jenny Venter
Director of Service
Medical News
BLOOD DRIVE
Kingsmead hosted the second blood drive of the year on 10 June 2021. We were so pleased to see the number of staff and students who came together in the midst of a global pandemic to selflessly donate blood to the SANBS. The blood drive was organised by Takalani Ramukosi
Our aim as Peer Promoters was to encourage our pupils and staff to donate blood in this time of uncertainty. We had 38 people who came through to the blood drive on the day with 28 confirmed donors and 8 deferrals. This was a great achievement, especially because we couldn’t accommodate our regular parent donors. All donors were given a tuckshop voucher for a coffee/ hot chocolate and an option of Skittles or a KitKat.
We are all very grateful to everyone who took part in the blood drive, which helped save many lives in a time of need. We would love to encourage you to take part in the next blood drive in the third term on 9 October 2021 and we will do our annual raffle then.
Our Peer Promoters are: Takalani Ramukosi, Kate Dixon, Tayyeba Peer, Aliza Peer, Scarlett Muirhead, Saskia Oosterlee and Sylvia Clegg.
Monica Loubser
Kingsmead Professional Nurse