Kingsmead Newsletter May 2023

Dear Kingsmead Community,

May has been a very busy month and it is hard to imagine that we have only been back for the second term for a few weeks.

What an amazing Book Fair we experienced last Saturday. The programme was diverse and there was something in it for everyone; the food vendors provided a supply of great coffee and wonderful eats. An event like this is months in the making and I would like to thank Alex Bouche and her wonderful team for nearly a year of planning to ensure that the event is such a success in every way possible. To have a literary event as one of the school’s signature events fits perfectly with all that Kingsmead embodies – from the reading to the service to the fierce debates and discussions, to gathering as a community.

The PTA, together with the Music Department has also been hard at work to plan and prepare for Kingstock – another wonderful event on our calendar. I was amazed that over 500 students took part, showing what an integral part music-making is in our school offering. Thank you to the community for supporting this annual event. It is truly remarkable to see how accomplished our musicians are from Grade 0 to Grade 12.

In Chapel we have been focusing on gratitude and I have loved the interaction with the students in telling me where they find gratitude every day. It may be worth having this discussion with your daughters when you find the appropriate time to do so.

My gratitude is for the Kingsmead community who are so supportive of the school and for the teams of staff and parents who work tirelessly to put the vision for the school into place.

Thank you and have a wonderful term ahead.

Fond regards,
Lisa Palmer
Executive Head

Academics

Business Studies Olympiad
There were 109 Grade 10, 11 and 12 Business Studies students who wrote the Proverto National High School Olympiad, in partnership with The University of Johannesburg, Department of Finance and Investment Management, on 10 May 2023.

The Proverto Olympiad provides an avenue for them to delve deeper into their interests. Participation in the Olympiad requires the students to have satisfactory knowledge of all the Business Studies topics and it provides opportunity to apply this knowledge to real-life business scenarios.

Our students found that the multiple-choice questions challenged them and allowed them to practise their problem-solving abilities. They enjoyed the process of learning and exploring beyond the regular school curriculum.

The final round of the Business Studies Proverto Olympiad will be held on 2 August 2023.

Liezel van Lith
Business Studies Department

Grade 12 Geography Rosebank Urban Outing
On 12 May, the Grade 12 Geography students went on a compelling adventure around the Rosebank area. At the end of term one, we learnt about urban renewal which covers how our cities develop over time. We were able to see historical buildings that have been around for years in contrast to modern skyscrapers that seem to appear with each day. We also learnt how the Standard Bank building that looks onto our school is a green building. This means that it is not just a building where people work in, but rather is a building that does a lot of positives for our environment. After what felt like being a tourist in my own city, I realised how much our cities evolve and why they are designed like this. Overall, this was a pleasurable treat to go out and stretch our legs from sitting all day in class, while gaining a better understanding and visualisation of what we learn out our textbooks. I am extremely appreciative that we do get to go on outings for classes and for the teachers that made sure we all got back to school safely, however I most appreciative for the Motherland pit stop that was had.

Emma Proudfoot, Grade 12 Student
Geography Department

Senior South African National Geography Olympiad
On Tuesday, 16 May, the Senior Geography cohort of 32 Grade 10 – 12 Geography students participated in the first round of the online Geography Olympiad.

The Olympiad consists of 40 multiple-choice questions set to sources on a range of current global geographical topics that places their senior phase curriculum in a global context. For the Grade 10’s it was the first time participating in the Olympiad and it proved to be a positive experience for them.

I found it very interesting. Enjoyed it thoroughly. Jana Mostert, Grade 10
I enjoyed the variety of questions and the varying levels of difficulty. Making it an all-round enjoyable experience. Amy Falcon, Grade 10
I found it interesting to learn about new topics and be introduced to new places and concepts. Sarah Kwant, Grade 12
It was good, I found it very interesting, but I did not know many of the answers for sure. Chloe Collins, Grade 12

The Geography Department is delighted to announce the Fatima-Zahraa Asvat in Grade 11 has been invited to the second round of the Olympiad to be held early in June.

Bianca Rademacher
Geography Department

Children’s Theatre Module
Children’s Theatre is a Grade 9 module comprised of Dramatic Arts, Enrichment, Music, and Visual Art. In each lesson in the first term, students worked towards a final practical performance, where we had to put on a piece of children’s theatre base on a traditional African tale.
In Drama we learnt what makes up Children’s Theatre, and why and how it’s different to other styles of theatre. We got into the mind of a child and did exercises as to how children would realistically react to watching a piece of theatre, and how vital it is to know how to improvise within the storyline.
In Music we learnt what a leitmotif is and how to produce our own leitmotifs by remixing already existing songs through Music Production.
In Art we made all our props from recycled material and made masks that were to be worn during the performance. The props had to be oversized and still used in the performance – a fun and challenging task.

Lastly in Enrichment, we learnt about African stories, how they are structured, how to write our own and how to tell those stories compellingly.

All these put together gave us all the necessary tools to complete our final performance, being able to work independently and problem solving when we needed to.

I enjoyed this module because it put all the aspects of Music, production, Drama and the theory around that, together. This module is a creative’s dream space to be in. It was fun and challenging. By the end of it you will feel both exhaustion, relief and an extreme sense of pride that you put on a show successfully.

Mohale Mlobela
Grade 9 Student

The National Children’s Theatre performs The Tempest for our Grade 12s
Our Grade 12 students were privileged to watch a performance of their prescribed play, William Shakespeare’s The Tempest, by The National Children’s Theatre. The professional cast brought the play to life in Lange Hall and our students were requested to bring a magical item from home, which the actors used as props. After the 80-minute captivating performance, the Grade 12s were given the opportunity to ask the actors questions. Our students were undoubtedly enriched by having the opportunity to participate as well as seeing the transfer of Shakespeare’s words from a page to a stage

Arts & Music

KINGSTOCK!
The Music department was thrilled to be asked by the PTA to collaborate on this community event again this year. It was a wonderful opportunity for our musicians to be showcased and share the music we have had fun learning. Just over 500 students performed at this exciting event, featuring all our choirs, orchestras, bands and marimbas. Enormous thanks to the PTA for making this event possible, and for the countless hours of preparation and planning; the Grade 8 parents and students for the fun decorations, the staff, parents and students who kept order in the gym throughout the night, entertained little ones in the Joel hall, and worked at the many food and drinks stands. Thank you to the Kingsmead community for supporting the event and to our musicians for entertaining us all night.

MUSIC FESTIVALS
The 2nd term is always the most exciting for the Music Department. On 22-24 May we hosted our annual SENIOR SCHOOLS ENSEMBLE FESTIVAL which involved close to 600 students from 13 schools as well as the Youth Orchestra Company. The exciting programme included orchestral, film, Rock, Pop, Jazz and traditional music. It was as always a wonderful celebration of group music making, thoroughly enjoyed by the students and audience alike. Thank you to our music community for the support over these three evening and a special shout out to the PTA, parents, and students who assisted with food and refreshment sales.

We look forward to many more music events this term, including the Junior School African Music Evening with Pridwin on the 30th of May, the Senior School Choir Festival on 5 and 6 June, the Junior School Choir Festival on the 13th and 14th of June, individual music concerts in June and July, and the Junior Primary Choir and CCNF Invitational Choir festivals in July. Keep an eye on the calendar and app for details about these events.

Life can be tough, but music makes it less so. Life can be lonely, but music makes it less so. Life can be uncertain, but music makes it less so. Life can be filled with sadness, but music makes it less so. The importance of music to our lives simply cannot be overstated. ~ Vaughan Fleischfresser

PUBLIC SPEAKING & DEBATING
The last few months have been the most successful for our Debating Club at Kingsmead. From 7-9 April two Debating teams including Onthatile Sennelo, Elizabeth Hakizimana, Mwamini Bukanga and Hameeda Malik, participated in Jozi Rumble, one of the largest university Debating competitions on the continent. At university level, preparation time is significantly shorter, the motions far more challenging, and the style of British Parliamentary debating also new to our debaters. In addition, some debaters have ten+ years more experience, while in the preliminary rounds, there is no separation between novices and experienced debaters. Both of our teams went through to the novice semi-final. In British Parliamentary Debating, the adjudicators compete to ensure that the top adjudicators judge the best debates. Our adjudicator, Sumayya Forssman, started off the competition as a trainee adjudicator and progressed to adjudicate the novice final. We are super proud of all of our students who represented Kingsmead so admirably at this event.

Phoenix Cup is a New World School Debating Competition to which Kingsmead entered a team this year. The team included Carla Fuhri, Grace Gilfillan, Leeyah Ismail, and Nubia Nelson, who performed spectacularly and ended second in the competition!

Our debaters are also currently participating in the SACEE Debating League and we wish them well for these competitive events.

Congratulations to our debating team including Shihaam Bux, Liyana Patel, Zahra Mayet, Ariana Akoodie and Hanaan Kana who took part in the final preliminary round of the SACEE Debating Championship on Saturday 27 May. This team ranked fourth in the competition, winning five of the six prelim rounds. Consequently, they progressed straight to the quarterfinals which will be later in the term. A truly fantastic achievement!

Public Speaking has shown fantastic growth this year and we were delighted to receive the rankings of the annual Public Speaking festival in which we competed in the 1st term. In 2022 Kingsmead was ranked 37th out of 92 schools while, this year Kingsmead, is ranked 6th! Congratulations to our public speakers for this exceptional achievement!

CONGRATULATIONS!
On 7 May, Paula Anderson danced in the Youth Russian Ballet Company’s production of Sleeping Beauty at the Lyric Theatre at Gold Reef City, where she was a soloist. Paula is also preparing for her visit to Bulgaria where she was chosen to take part in the Russian Ballet Masters Summer incentive for three weeks.

Congratulations to Inés Bregman, who has been selected to perform in the Rand Symphony Orchestra’s annual Rising Star Youth Concert. The concert is on Sunday 11 June at 15h00 at Trinityhouse School in Randpark Ridge. We are super proud of Inés and wish her well for this exciting event! A variety of soloists will be featured with the orchestra, including the piano, violin, cello, flute bassoon, xylophone and voice. Should you want to attend, tickets are available from Quicket or at the door for R180 (Adults) R160 (Seniors & Students) R120 for children under 12.

A MAGICAL EVENING AT FEDA
Spells, incantations, curses and hexes. Kingsmead College’s adaption of Arthur Miller’s The Crucible transported the audience into the world of witchcraft in an all-girls’ school in the Eastern Cape and the sinister distortion of power dynamics in an environment all too familiar to us in our performance at this year’s Festival of Excellence in Dramatic Arts (FEDA).

Based on our Grade 11 performance in October 2022, the cast and crew reassembled, with a few extra members, and began rehearsals in the last week of the April holidays. With only 3 weeks of rehearsals, we quickly slipped into the rhythm of nightly rehearsals lead by Leah Falcon as the director and supported by assistant directors Andza Mbelengwa and Beau Laurie. The cast and crew grew close over this time, which was vital to our performance energy and intense focus on ‘the big night’. This bond heightened the experience of the distortion of power and menacing confidence which lay as an integral theme of our one-act play.

Kingsmead performed on the second evening of the three-week festival, captivating the audience as the first school on the night. From the beginning with the eerie lighting and music, until the end of the subverted story about the intricate power dynamics of all-girls schools, the audience and adjudicators were rivetted. The adjudicators made special mentioned of Hannah Daniels’s gripping performance as the autocratic leader of the student-formed justice system in Salem Secondary Boarding School. With the concluding statement by the panel being “Amazing! I salute you.”

Our cast and crew put in an outstanding effort and gave of their time and themselves through the process and we are exceptionally proud of each of them. We extend our heartfelt thanks to Ms Mnguni and Mrs Wilmot for their unwavering support, as well as the Kirsten Harris and Ryan Dittman for their support and encouragement in the development of our play. Sincere thanks to the support of the staff, parents and friends on the night, including our superb headmistress Ms Palmer who has shown unwavering support for the Drama Department this year.

Leah Falcon
Grade 12 Head of Dramatic Arts and Director of The Crucible

Made in Africa
Exploring the Music Industry: A Grade 9 Experience of the Production Process
On Friday 19 May the Grade 9s were given a glimpse of the Music industry in South Africa. We were shown what amazing things you can do with just your computer and a microphone. In our previous lessons we had to search through a file filled with samples of music to incorporate into our songs which we will be writing and producing in class. Our teacher, 808RSA took it upon himself to take a sample from the same file as us and show us exactly what you can do. He created an Afro beat and wrote very simple lyrics. He then presented the song to the whole grade. 808 got his good friend and talented rapper, Breeze Zulu Bass King, to come and rap a verse on the song he had produced. The experience was phenomenal. 808RSA taught us about the finer points of studio etiquette. For example, you have to be dead silent when recording so you can only hear the vocalist and not the background noise. He taught us how to use the equipment like where the mike is supposed to stand, and what a pop filter is. He also showed us the step-by-step process of producing a song. After the demonstration, we listened to how Breeze’s verse and 808RSA’s track blended together. It sounded amazing! At the final stages, I was privileged enough to be one of the two students to sing backing vocals on the song. It was a memorable experience I really felt like a true musician for the day.

Melokuhle Zungu
Grade 9 student

Sports

Hockey
Southern Gauteng Provincial Representation
Neo Mkwanazi – u14A
Laila Fowler – u14C
Charlie Dalling – u16A
Nozipho Magondo – u16B
Nina Evans – u18B
Maduri Padayatchi – u18B
Lesedi Magondo – u18D

Aquatic Tour 2023
We had the raffle draw for the 2 amazing prizes.
The first prize which was for 2 people for 2 nights and Thorny Bush Private Game lodge, valued at R54 00.00 and was won by Risha Hari in grade 8.

Second prize was an Apple I watch valued at R10 000.00 and was won by Morgan Bands in grade 10.

Polo pool renovation
The renovations to the polo pool are well under way and are expected to be completed in August 2023.

Equestrian
At our qualifier 3 the following riders achieved some great results

Hannah Cooke
1st in Level 1 Performance Riding
1st in Level 1 Dressage A
1st in Level 1 Dressage B
1st in Level 3 Handy Hunter
3rd in Level 3 Prix Caprilli
6th in Level 1 Showjumping 2

Mila Hozack
1st in Level 1 Handy Hunter
1st in Level 2 Showjumping 1
1st in Level 2 Showjumping 2
Ist in Level 4 Equitation

Sarah Florence
1st in Level 2 Dressage A
1st in Level 2 Dressage B

Squash
Our top 6 players competed in the Top Schools Tournament and achieved the following results.
V Northcliff Won
V St Stithians Lost
V Roedean Won
V St Marys Lost

Our team finished 3rd was made up of the following players..
Emma Shannon
Leah Falcon
Megan Taylor
Amy Falcon
Milli Seekins
Cara Nicholson

Service

For reporting purposes we measure Service in hours. In Term 1 we logged 3 982 hours of Service – 165 days of Service. How though do we measure the impact? The impact on our lives and on the lives of those we get to volunteer with? In smiles? In memories? Though story telling? We hope that our photos and short stories will give you an insight into Kingsmead Service over the last two months.

Thank you for your generosity and donations for the Share what you Can drive. A massive amount of groceries was donated as part of Our Share what you Can collection. The groceries were packed and shared between: Kids Haven; Rays of Hope; Dlala Nje; Fight with Insight; The Sunshine Association for people with disabilities; Lefika La Phodiso; Childline; Little Stars and Moseka Day Care. Added to the delivery were math’s books donated by out math’s department.

In addition to the delivery of groceries, we created Easter gifts – our Kingsmead Bunnies with a tag – Somebunny loves you – and Easter Eggs. These were delivered to Kids Haven; Rays of Hope; CHOC and the Charlotte Maxeke Hospital. We visited the children at the Charlotte Maxeke Hospital and in addition to the Easter gifts we also gifted the children with Activity Packs and the parents with Care Packs.

During the April holidays a massive clean out of storerooms was done. The furniture for donation filled the Lange Hall and two rows of staff parking bays. It took three days to sort the furniture and a full day for two truck to deliver all of the furniture donated. In total 8 four ton truck load were donated and the following organisations benefitted: The Children’s Memorial Institute; Lefika La Phodiso; The Johannesburg School for Autism; Boipelo; Thusanani Children’s Foundation; Philile; African Children’s Feeding Scheme; Snowballs; Love Reaching Communities Church (for a little school in Mozambique); Fight with Insight; Rooihuiskraal Sunday School Initiative; and Kids Haven.

On Monday 15 May our Service Directory on the Kingsmead App went live. The goal is to ensure that the students always have a choice of Service opportunities literally at the fingertips. We launched with 20 shared opportunities and early in June all Service opportunities at Kingsmead will be added.

Our Service Saturday was spent at the Johannesburg Wildlife Veterinary Hospital. The Johannesburg Wildlife Vet is the only dedicated wildlife veterinary hospital in Johannesburg, their aim is to improve the quality of treatment, survival and success rate of rehabilitation of small to medium sized indigenous South African wildlife. Dr Karin Lourens spent the morning with us introducing us to the various wildlife currently in their care – caracals, genets, bat -eared foxes, rock hyrax, barn owls and tortoises. Dr K explained how the animals had come to be in their care – some confiscated from illegal breeders, some injured and rescued by their Animal Ambulance, some brought in by community members. The goal is to ultimately reintroduce all of the animals into their natural habitats.

Herpetologist – Grant, introduced us to the reptiles – Toby the Nile Monitor, snakes – small, large and huge, and the chameleons. We are so grateful to Dr K and Grant who taught us so much and enabled us to learn and get a far better understanding of what we can do to stop illegal trade, and assist the wildlife that is all around us.
We will continue to collect gently used towels and other items from Johannesburg Wildlife Vet’s wish list. Please do check out their socials, follow them and the incredible stories of the animals that are healed.

We were delighted to have Emily Mabasa as our guest speaker for our Service Assembly. Emily lives with cerebral palsy, her hope is to show the world that her disability does not define her. People stare and make remarks which make her feel uncomfortable, but she strives to do extraordinary things to demonstrate that her disability is not a limitation. Emily has achieved her Gold President’s Award. Despite her disability, Emily insisted on no special treatment for her Gold Residential Project, when her one crutch broke she completed the hike on her hands and knees. Emily is extraordinary and truly inspired us to live with passion, purpose, without limitation and to never, ever give up.

Congratulations to all of our students who have been awarded their President’s Awards. Each level of The President’s Award required participants in Skills, Service, Physical Activity, and an Adventurous Journey. The following students have achieved their Awards:
Bronze: Zoey Anderson; Olivia Barnes; Morgan Bunkell; Amy Falcon
Sarah Florence; Amelia Laburn; Banothile Makhunga; Thiya Naidoo; Kate Porter; Haaniya Sarang and Sophia Yiallouris
Silver: Sophia Eckholdt; Lyonne Marnewick and Aimee Motani
Gold: Leah Falcon and Mitali Lalla

Thank you for the incredible donation of books for our book drive to celebrate Book Fair. We received hundreds of books – children’s, adult’s, fiction, non fiction – a wonderful collection. On Thursday 1 June we will be packing the books, the following Service Partners will be receiving books: Rainbows and Smiles – for children’s oncology wards at: Charlotte Maxeke; Chris Hani Baragwanath; Steve Biko and George Mukhari Hospitals; the Neuro Paediatric Ward at Charlotte Maxeke Hospital; Kids Haven and Hotel Hope.

Our Winter Warmer Collection takes place from 12 – 22 June – we will be collecting, scarves, soup and Meal in a Bag – all Winter Warmer items will be distributed before Mid Term break.

Thank you to you all for being #CourageouslyKind