Dear Kingsmead Community
We are nearing the end of a very successful term and I must thank everyone who has played a part in such a joyous and rewarding first term of the year.
There have been so many highlights this term – the Inter-High Swimming Gala; the Open Day; welcoming the new Grade 8s into the school and, surely a standout must be the production of “Sarafina” which was put on by the Senior School in March. It was a courageous and powerful production and it ranks as the best school play that I have seen. Well done to everyone who had a part to play – no matter how big or small. What a resounding success this was.
Transformation:
Thank you to all who have already completed the Transformation, inclusion and diversity surveys. The surveys have been open for 5 days and Mandate Molefi has sent us the following statistics:
Teachers 37
Students 188
Parents 254
Service Staff 7
The Alumni link only went live on Friday afternoon and we will update you with their responses next week.
Please remember that the links will be live until the 30th March. We will be reminding you to complete the surveys this week.
We are delighted that Mrs Jenny Venter was chosen as the Lead SA Hero of the month for March. Jenny is the Director of Service at Kingsmead and is a worthy recipient of this award as she has initiated many sustainable partnerships with various organizations and Kingsmead. Well done, Jenny, Kingsmead is very proud of your efforts!
Please follow the link below if you would like to read the article or listen to the interview.
http://www.leadsa.co.za/articles/294093/building-a-generation-of-active-citizens
Scholarships:
The announcement of the annual scholarships was made on Wednesday 28 March. Congratulations to the following girls who were awarded scholarships:
Julia Aspoas (Kingsmead Closed Academic Scholarship)
Amber Aspoas (Kingsmead Open Academic Scholarship)
Hannah Daniels (Kingsmead Closed Music Scholarship)
Anne-Marie Sutherland (Kingsmead Closed Sport Scholarship)
Jenna Penney (Kingsmead Open Sport Scholarship)
Kristin Brown (Kingsmead All-round Scholarship)
Kingsmead Discretionary Scholarship
Natalie Morris
Amy Dickinson
Lily Turvey
Olivia Kruger
Mia Oosthuizen-Speirs
I wish you all well over the Easter weekend. May you enjoy a wonderful break in April and return refreshed and energized for the winter term ahead.
Fond regards
Lisa Kaplan
Head: Kingsmead College
The Kingsmead Book Fair 2018
We will be hosting our seventh annual Book Fair on Saturday 12 May from 8h30 to 18h00.
This year the Kingsmead Book Fair is sponsored by Standard Bank – Wealth and Investment, 702, Porcupine Ridge and Timberland. Join us and enjoy good food and drink, interesting discussion, heated debate and in-depth dialogue with a host of dynamic authors, facilitators and 702 presenters. Immerse yourself in the day, which has the theme “The more you read, the more you know.”
This year’s line-up includes Jacques Pauw, Mark Heywood, Glynnis Breytenbach, Redi Thlabi, Gregg Hurwitz, Zinzi Clemmons, Claire Robertson, Mandla Langa, Ayobami Adebayo, Kate Furnivall, Kate Mosse, Pumla Dineo Gqola, and J’Something, among many others. Our young adult programme offers our girls, from grades 6-10, a variety of workshops from writing to slam poetry and other interactive discussions. There is the full children’s programme to keep the little ones entertained with storytelling, crafts and visits from some of their favourite book characters.
The programme has been published on www.kingsmead.co.za/bookfair/. Entry tickets are R70 for adults and children over 3, session tickets are R60 and both can be purchased through www.webtickets.co.za. We are also developing an event app which will have all the pertinent information. This can be downloaded for iOs and Android, from mid-April via http://myeventzone.eventapp.com.au/ with the event code KBF2018.
There is most definitely going to be something on offer for everyone, we look forward to welcoming you on the day.
Alex Bouche and The Kingsmead Book Fair Team 2018
Arts News
MAJOR PRODUCTION
This year’s Major Production, Sarafina! was a great success. Kingsmead College collaborated with Kings Edward VII School to put on a memorable performance. The show ran from 14-16 March, and we welcomed varied audiences that included Guild Cottage and Park Care. In order to make the piece fully relevant to a 2018 audience, Grade 12 pupil Rachel Maruatona wrote a series on monologues that were performed at the beginning of the play. These monologues dealt with topical issues that our students are facing in terms of race relations, identity and growing up in South Africa. Each character spoke about what it’s like to be young in 2018, and questioned where we are moving as a country. The rest of the performance was from the original play itself, written by Mbongeni Ngema. The decision to cut songs allowed for the performance to run at a manageable time for our audiences, and allowed for a slick production. All students involved worked at a high level and their hard work paid off. Led by student directors, Amukelani Mnisi and Amonge Sinxoto, they created a piece of theatre that engaged the audience and wowed all who joined us in the Lange Hall. Thank you to staff director Mrs Wilmot for guiding the process; Musical Directors Mrs Fourie, & Mrs Martin who assisted in musical rehearsals and with creating an original score for the play; Intern director Ms Phogole for her assistance, particularly with the dancers; Ms Wepener for designing and co-ordinating the painting of the play backdrop, and Mrs Jonker for her assistance therein. We are so proud of the students for putting on a brave and challenging piece of relevant South African Theatre.
Frances Wilmot
Dramatic Arts Teacher
ART
The Grade 12s, as part of their portfolio work, did a drawing based on the theme ‘every act of destruction is an act of creation and every act of creation is an act of destruction’. After much research and experimenting the girls came up with very varied interpretations of the theme. The work will be displayed in the Music reception until the end of the term.
Lynette Jonker
Head of Arts
EXCITING YEAR FOR OUR CHOIR
Choir Tour
Our Senior School Choir will be traveling to Austria and Italy from 18-29 April. As the tour group include a number of scholarship girls and families who need financial assistance, we have the following fundraising initiatives.
1.Choir Tour Raffle: Please purchase in the carpark before school or email kingsmeadmusic@gmail.com with your Name, Surname, Mobile number and email address, how many tickets you want to purchase with permission to charge the tickets to your school account.
2. Kingsmead Music festival on Thursday 5 April: this will be a wonderful showcase of all the Music in our department, including our Choirs, Orchestras and Marimba Ensembles. Bring the whole family and friends and help us raise enough funds to cover our tour costs.
Join us at 18h00 for sherry and soup. Concert starts at 18h30.
Tickets are available from Quicket:
https://www.quicket.co.za/events/41669-kingsmead-college-music-festival/#/
CHOIR WORLD GAMES
In July this year the Senior School Choir will be participating in the Choir World Games. This is an international event that attracts some of the best choirs in the world. The girls are working very hard to prepare for this once in a life time opportunity.
DEBATING
This has been a very exciting and busy term for the debating girls. The Senior Team has competed in 6 and our Juniors Team in 3 rounds thus far.
Senior Debating fixtures and results
Saturday 24 February (SNR Rounds 1,2, and 3 at Sacred Heart)
Saturday 17 March (SNR Rounds 4,5 and 6 at Saint Mary’s)
1.Round 1- Saint David’s vs Kingsmead (lost)
“This House would implement quotas for Oscar nominations”
2.Round 2- United Church School Vs Kingsmead (Won)
“This House would ban plea bargains”
3.Round 3- Saint Mary’s vs Kingsmead (Won)
“# Metoo campaign”
4.Round 4- Jeppe High School for Girls Vs Kingsmead (Lost)
“This House would criminalize any act that tarnished the image of national hero’s”
5.Round 5- Kingsmead Vs Saint Theresa’s (Won)
‘This House would restricted the showing of Inxeba”
6.Round 6- Kingsmead vs Sacred Heart (Closed round, still waiting for result)
“This House would remove the ability of military personnel to feel fear”
Junior Debating fixtures and results
Saturday 10 March (JNR Rounds 1,2, and 3 at Sacred Heart)
1.Round 1- Saint Mary’s Vs Kingsmead 1 (Won)
- Kingsmead 2 vs UCSA (Won)
“This House regrets the ANC’s decision to legalize Sex work”
2.Round 2- Roedean Vs Kingsmead 2 (Lost)
- Kingsmead 1 vs Saheti (Won)
“This House supports the High Court ruling banning parents from hitting their children.”
3.Round 3- Saint David’s vs Kingsmead 1 (Lost)
- Kingsmead 2 Vs Greenside (Won)
Well done to all our debaters and thank you for their commitment and enthusiasm!
Music Events:
- Well done to our Senior School Choir who did Kingsmead proud at the annual Singing Sistas Choir event at St Mary’s.
- Well done to our Junior School Orchestra and Marimba Ensembles who performed brilliantly on the 27 March at the Junior Music Festival.
Elsabé Fourie
Director of Arts & Music
Sports News
DIVING
At the recent CGA Championships, Kingsmead were well represented. Olivia van Vollenhoven and Sarah Benning finished 1st and 2nd respectively in the A section and both finished 1st in the 3m Synchro section. Megan Cleminson finished 4th in the B section and Caylin Aspoas finished 5th.
ROWING
Kristin Eddison competed at the SA Rowing Championship and received a Silver medal in her doubles and Bronze medal in the Quad race.
EQUESTRIAN
SANESA Qualifier 1 and 2
Our Team for this year is Abigail McBean, Annabelle Dennison. Ashley Pretorius, Christina Wides, Ella Hunt, Emma Gouws, Hannah Buttifant-Sewel, Leigh-Ann Herselman, Mia Byrne, Mia Oliver, Olivia Hide and Sarah Warren. Our Team Captain is Lauren Courtenay
On the 11 and 12 of February and March of this year, our Kingsmead College Equestrian Team competed at the SANESA Qualifier 1 and 2 at Eaton Farm.
Our team of 13 Girls are going from strength to strength. In Qualifier 1, the team accumulated 25 placings amongst themselves and in Qualifier 2, where half of the show cancelled due to rain the team still accumulated 16 placings
Our results are as follows for Qualifier 1 across all levels of the different disciplines were:
Abigail McBean: 4th and 6th in Prix Caprilli
Annabelle Dennison: 9th in Dressage
Ashley Pretorius: 2nd and 5th in Dressage and a 7th in Performance Riding
Ella Hunt: 4th in Working Rider and 10th in Dressage
Emma Gouws: 5th and 9th in Show Jumping, 6th in Equitation and a 10th in Dressage
Hannah Buttifant- Sewel: 5th in Performance Riding
Lauren Courtney: 2nd in Show Jumping and 11th in Dressage
Leigh-Ann Herselman: 5th in Show Jumping
Mia Byrne: 6th in Show Jumping and 6th in Prix Caprilli
Mia Oliver: 10th in Equitation
Olivia Hide: Two 1st in Dressage
Sarah Warren; 1st in In Hand Utility, 7th and 11th in Dressage and 8th in Performance Riding
Our results are as follows for Qualifier 2 across all levels of the different disciplines were:
Ashley Pretorius: 2nd in Dressage and 5thin Performance Riding
Ella Hunt: 4th in Working Rider and 9th in Dressage
Emma Gouws: 3rd in Dressage, 6th in Performance Riding and 5th in Eventing
Hannah Buttifant- Sewel: 7th in Performance Riding and 8th in Dressage
Leigh-Ann Herselman: 2nd and 6th in Dressage
Mia Byrne: 5th in Handy Hunter
Olivia Hide: 1st and 2nd in Dressage
Sarah Warren: 4th in In Hand Utility and 8th in Performance Riding
KARATE
We are pleased to announce that both Malaika Minyuku-Gotto and her sister Nuru qualified at Gauteng Karate Trials this year. Nuru won silver for kata in her age division, while Malaika won bronze for kumite in her age division. This puts both girls in line to achieve provincial colours this year and to compete for national trials.
NETBALL
At the recent District trials, 3 of our girls were selected into the top 28, Jessica Shepherd, Nina Stockenstroom and Alex Marek with Sarah Minnie making it to the top 14.
SWIMMING
Ruby Vos qualified to attend the National Open Water Championships in the 3km event.
ATHLETICS
Isabella Cockeran won the Central Gauteng u/13 girls biathlon championships and placed second in the inter-provincial championship held in Pretoria.
Robert Pullen
Director of Sport
Academic News
NATURAL SCIENCE
STEAM
Mineze Grobler from Think Ahead introduced STEAM to our Grade 8 girls on Project Day. This was coordinated by the Natural Science Department. It was an amazing session where the girls were thought to think out of the box and empathize and ideate and come up with solutions to solve problems.
Sharekha Banwa
Head of Science
Sphero Coding
In Natural Sciences this month, the Grade 9’s were given the opportunity to code a Sphero, a circular robot that can be programmed and controlled by using an App on an iPad or smartphone. After drawing a diagram of the digestive system, we then used the robot to represent the journey of food through the body from ingestion to egestion. The task enabled us to visualise the process and gain a deeper understanding of the subject content, while involving clear elements of problem-solving.
Coding is becoming a widely utilised and necessary tool, and the task resulted in many of the girls having a more in-depth idea of what it is, how it works and its nuances. The activity was fun, interactive and innovative, taking an interesting and dynamic approach to this section of the curriculum.
Raeesah Jadwat
Grade 9 Student
IEB THINKING SKILLS
In October 2017, the Grade 10s wrote the national IEB Thinking Skills Examination. The assessment tests students’ ability to think critically and use logic to solve challenging problems.
The following girls have received awards from the IEB for the Thinking Skills Exam:
Ranked in the top 1% of learners for Grade 10 for the Critical Thinking section– Emma Buchel, Adriana Grünwald, Ileana Pal, Raffaela Clegg, Tuana Güler, Emelia Jessop, Bianca Nagin, Asheley Pretorius
Ranked in the top 1% of learners for Grade 10 for the Problem Solving section- Alexandra Whittaker, Ileana Pal
Ranked in the top 1% of learners for Grade 10 Overall- Alexandra Whittaker, Ileana Pal
These results are remarkable considering the rigour of the examination and the large pool of students who take part in the assessment nationally. We commend their wonderful achievements.
Bronwyn Bocher
Head of Critical Thinking, Research & Enrichment
PUBLIC SPEAKING
The annual Term 1 Public Speaking competition, which is run under the auspices of the Speech and Drama College of South Africa, has come to an end for 2018.
Special congratulations to all our public speakers who participated in this competition. These girls and their coaches are in, many ways, unsung heroes who: research their topics; train, sometimes on weekends, and then attend events which often end late at night.
It has been a pleasure to work with the girls this year and I thank each one of them and their coaches: Mrs Roberts, Ms Pienaar, Ms Wepener, Mrs Lovatt and Mr Cruickshanks for their commitment and dedication to this very important activity.
Below are the names of the speakers who participated after the publication of the February newsletter, followed by the table of results:
Grade 12 Trophy Team
Husnaa Bux (Chair)
Thato Maboka
Chantel Maina
Grade 11 Prepared Team
Rachel McKay (Chair)
Aaliya Ismail
Husnah Maswanganyi
Sophia Sacranie
Grade 9 Teams
Arya Naidoo (Chair)
Alex Liston
Nina Stockenstrom
Ammaarah Wadee
Malaika Minyuku- Gutta (Chair)
Sabeeha Banwa
Anjali Naidoo
Satara Koolen
Results:
TEAM | CATEGORY | DATE | SYMBOL |
GRADE 8 1 | OPEN PREPARED | 21 February | B+ (HIGHEST SYMBOL ON THE NIGHT) |
GRADE 8 2 | OPEN PREPARED | 21 February | B+ (HIGHEST SYMBOL ON THE NIGHT) |
GRADE 9 1 | OPEN PREPARED | 27 February | B+ |
GRADE 9 2 | OPEN PREPARED | 27 February | A |
GRADE 10 1 | OPEN PREPARED | 13 February | A (HIGHEST SYMBOL ON THE NIGHT) |
GRADE 10 2 | OPEN PREPARED | 13 February | A (HIGHEST SYMBOL ON THE NIGHT) |
GRADE 11 1 | IMPROMPTU COMPETITIVE | 15 February | A |
GRADE 11 2 | OPEN PREPARED | 08 March | A+ (HIGHEST SYMBOL ON THE NIGHT) |
TROPHY TEAM | TROPHY COMPETITIVE | 07 March | A+ (HIGHEST SYMBOL ON THE NIGHT) |
INDIVIDUAL SPEAKER | INDIVIDUAL COMPETITIVE | 19 February | A |
In Term 2 we will focus on internal Kingsmead Public Speaking activities and events.
Suzanne Cambitzis
Head of English
THE GRADE 10 YOUNG READER’S AWARD PROJECT
The annual Grade Ten English project, the Young Reader’s Award Book Project, was launched on the 2nd of March 2018 and concludes after the April holidays. This project serves to motivate the Grade Ten girls to read a minimum of five books, all of which focus on our English theme: Identity. The YRA encourages us to select books from a wide range of different genres and to immerse ourselves in the literature.
After reading the books, we are required to engage with our peers, who have read the same books and discuss elements of each book such as: style, characters and personal opinions. We have several tasks to complete, such as a transactional piece and a creative piece, which involves designing our own book covers. The Young Reader’s Award culminates in a prize giving, where the readers who have read all twenty books are recognised, and others are acknowledged for achieving in the various categories.
Ultimately, the Young Reader’s Award Book Project, exposes us to a range of different books, inspires meaningful conversations and a passion for reading.
Georgina Beart
Grade 10 Student
Service News
DIGNITY DREAMS DANCE MARATHON 10 APRIL
Kingsmead College supports many charities and the Senior School has one main fundraising event per term. Our major fundraiser this term is the annual Dance Marathon in support of Dignity Dreams, which will be held on Tuesday 10 April from 18:00 to 20:00 in the Lange Hall.
Dignity Dreams is a Non-Government Organisation which focuses on assisting South Africa’s young girls and women meet their personal hygiene requirements by providing feminine, washable and reusable sanity wear which can be used for up to five years. Dignity Dreams has also given previously unemployed women the opportunity to run their own businesses by training them to sew its products. The overarching goal of Dignity Dreams is to disseminate information about menstrual health and to ensure that every underprivileged girl in South Africa receives a Dignity Dreams pack so that they are able to attend school.
Our goal is for every Kingsmead pupil to raise donations to the value of R200 in order to sponsor one Dignity Dream sanitary pack. There are fantastic prizes for the girls who collect the most donations. There will be refreshments on sale at the Dance Marathon from which all proceeds will go towards the Kingsmead Social Services Fund.
Johannesburg Junior Council
The Johannesburg Junior Council (JJC) is a non-profit, non-governmental organisation that consists of 72 young, brilliant and inspired leaders in grade 11, coming from 36 different schools around Johannesburg. There are six committees [Sports and Recreation, Council Well-being, Arts and Culture, Advocacy, Outreach and Environment], addressing their respective aspects in the community.
Congratulations to our Johannesburg Junior Council members Eryn La Fleur and Yusairah Mayet who have been elected to the management team of the council. We wish them all the best for their term of office.
Eryn La Fleur – Head of Arts and Culture
Yusairah Mayet – Deputy Head of Advocacy
Jenny Venter
Director of Service
The President’s Award
FANIE BOTHA TRAIL
The first day of hiking started down a really steep and slippery mountain – only to climb it back up again. We walked for 23 kilometers and arrived at camp just before sunset. With a start like this, it could only get easier. The second day we hiked for 16 kilometers and were excited to see the huts at the bottom of the hill, only to realize that we would be wet wiping and bush squatting as there were no showers and only long drop toilets.
The third hiking day was a breeze compared to the first two. We went on a four hour adventure, creating our own hiking path and walking wherever the sounds of the river would take us and then turning around and heading on to the next hut. We were joined by our very own ‘Jock of the Bushveld’ as a Jack Russel hiked the last 6 kilometers with us. Once we arrived at the last night’s hut, we took the bus down to Mac Mac pools for a relaxed time of swimming and cheering Joseph as he paddled away for the first time. What a great way to end a demanding hike – cooling off at a waterfall surrounded by the laughter and cheers from your peers.
Although being a tough hike, we enjoyed the natural scenery of many splendid waterfalls and learned some new skills (like creating gourmet Alfredo pasta with a packet of two minute noodles). We completed a total of 57 kilometers and will be using lots of Deep Heat to walk up the Maths Department stairs.
Tanya Swartz
Grade 11 Student
Medical News
BREADTAGS AND BOTTLETOPS FOR WHEELCHAIRS
Wheelchair Recipient
Kelsey Cloete is in Grade 10 and her younger sister, Courtney is in Grade 6 in the Junior School. Their granny, Vera Orchard, was diagnosed with a brain tumor at the end of August 2017. She was admitted to hospital so that a biopsy of the tumor could be taken to determine if the tumor was benign or malignant. The biopsy determined that the tumor was cancerous and that their granny had the most aggressive of all the brain tumors. Her life expectancy was 6 – 12 months without treatment and 12-18 months with treatment. My mom had specified prior to the biopsy that if the tumor was malignant that she did not want chemotherapy. As a result of the biopsy my mom sustained a major bleed on the brain. This resulted in an emergency craniotomy been performed to drain the blood from the brain and to remove the blood clots. My mom underwent two surgeries that lasted more than eight hours in less than 24 hours. She was left in a critical condition. She was given many units of blood after the surgery as she had lost a lot of blood.
Due to my mom’s limited mobility, she required a lot of equipment to assist her at home. One item that she desperately required was a wheelchair. On behalf of Kingsmead and all the bottle tops and bread tags that have been collected by the girls, my mom was the most recent recipient of the wheelchair that has been donated by the school. It has been a great blessing in her life and she enjoys having the opportunity to be taken for walks in the garden, and to sit outside and enjoy the view from their balcony. Every bottle top and bread tag that is collected can help someone in need so from the bottom of our heart’s we say a HUGE THANK YOU!
Keep up the excellent work and keep on collecting bottle tops and bread tags – every one collected is one step closer to making a significant difference to someone in need and that difference is made by you!
Mrs Cloete
Kingsmead College Parent