Dear Kingsmead Community,
One of the most significant and special things about school is the opportunity to celebrate at the end of each year through certain rites of passage and also to prepare for a new beginning at the start of each new year.
It is hard to believe that we started this year in masks. We were committed to the goal to rebuild our community and bring back together all the parts of our puzzle. It is a privilege to close this year knowing how much we have achieved.
During these final weeks of 2022 at Kingsmead, we have welcomed our new families at the various orientation events, assigning them to classes and buddies. It has been heart-warming to see how welcoming our students and community have been when meeting their new ‘sisters’.
We also now prepare to say farewell to our Grade 7 class of 2022. I have been so incredibly proud of this group of children who have left their legacy for the younger girls to follow. We celebrate with a final assembly and a special dinner planned by our Grade 6 parent body at the close of term. We are so grateful for this.
Our Grade 3 girls will also have the opportunity to receive closure on their foundation phase schooling as they prepare to enter the next phase of their learning in the Senior Primary.
All of these events add significant value to the Kingsmead experience. As our daughters achieve certain milestones in life, so do they develop their identity and purpose within our community.
Please refer to the live calendar for the following important events coming up as we prepare to conclude our year:
Senior Primary Student-Led Conferences
Junior Primary Parent Connects
PTA Christmas Market
Junior Primary Celebration Assembly
Grade 4-6 Celebration Assembly
Grade 7 Celebration Assembly
Grade 7 Dinner
Carol Service
I look forward to meeting with you all and celebrating all that we have achieved together in 2022.
Car Park Safety
I would like to bring to your attention the increasing number of incidents reported in our school car parks. It is critical that our school is a place of safety for all our children, staff and parents at all times.
Once you enter the school premises, please be aware of the number of children crossing the road as well as the entering and exiting of cars from their parking bays. There have been reports of parents who are driving too fast; driving while texting; driving into one way entrances as well as cutting in front of cars trying to move through the car parks.
Please be reminded that this is a school and the adults are the role models. Please drive carefully and with respect for each other at all times. It is important to be alert at all pedestrian crossings.
At Kingsmead we expect that all members of our community treat one another with respect and kindness. We are a considerate and compassionate community who seek to provide a safe school for our students, staff and parents.
We request your support in this matter please.
With Love and Courage always,
Kim Lowman
The positive and negative effects of video games
A dreaded word for some parents, but I ask you keep an open mind while reading this. In a recent article on Techno Sapiens website, Jaqueline Nesi, PhD writes about both the positive and negative impacts of gaming on our children’s lives.
Recently research was published with the following findings:
- Gaming can increase working memory and response inhibition
- Gaming can increase spatial cognition and perception
- Gaming is a form of exercise for the brain
This is not the only research that points to positive impacts of gaming. There have been hundreds of studies done over two decades that all come to the same conclusion; gaming does not impact negatively on children’s mental health. Of course, there is a flip side to this, dependent on certain psychological and situational conditions, which is addressed a bit later on.
Why do our children love gaming so much? There a few reasons:
- It is an outlet for them from the stresses of school and sometimes home life
- It is a place they can play and interact with their friends without having to be physically present in the same space
- Those who do not like physical sport or who do not excel at it, have a chance to show their skills in a different way by participating in Esports.
- It is time spent doing something they thoroughly enjoy.
One also needs to look at the possible negatives. When does gaming become more of problem, rather than a help or benefit. It is important to first note that we need to be careful in labelling children, gaming addicts. Gaming Disorder has recently been acknowledged as a mental illness and there are very specific criteria that need to be met before someone can be diagnosed as suffering from Gaming Disorder. It is also important to note that a psychologist or psychiatrist would need to make this diagnosis.
Gaming can be a potential problem for your child if you notice the following signs:
- Spending more and more time gaming
- Sacrificing academics for gaming
- Sacrificing sleep for gaming
- Less and less in person interaction, no longer interested in play dates with friends
- Mood and behaviour change
- Lying about gaming
- Unable to control when they play and unable to stop when needed
- Continuation of gaming despite negative consequences
What can you do if you are concerned about your child’s gaming?
- Screen time settings
- Time restrictions on gaming consols at home
- Limit the number of games they have on their devices
- Talk to them openly and honestly about what games they are playing, who they are playing with and why do they love it so much.
- Take time to know what else is happening in their life, often times, other conditions such as depression, bullying, increase in stress or expectations can lead to children increasing their gaming to escape from their feelings.
If there is still no light at the end of tunnel, it may be a good idea to seek help from a psychologist, who will navigate these concerns with you and your child.
Roxy Harman-Leak
Junior Ed Tech and Media Specialist
Arts & Music
Month of performances!
The end of a term is always an exciting one, celebrating our learning and successes at our various performance opportunities. Well done to all our music students who performed in the school concerts and assemblies over the last few weeks. It was so wonderful to see the growth and development of our musicians over the course of the term and year.
Thank you to the music parents for encouraging your daughters to practise at home and for investing in their education. Playing an instrument is a lifelong gift. A huge shout out to our music teachers for their love, passion, and care for their students. Special thanks to the class teachers and management members who supported our concerts. We look forward to our last concert for the year – the Voice Concert on Tuesday, 29 November at 18h00 as well as the two exciting Days of the Arts on 28 and 29 November. The schedule for these two days is available on the App in the Arts & Music folder.
‘Music isn’t extra. Music isn’t additional. Music isn’t discretionary. Music isn’t an add on, and music isn’t disposable. Music Education is core. It’s fundamental. It’s necessary. It’s an irreplaceable component of a holistic and meaningful education. That’s what music is.’ Vaughan Fleischfresser, Music Educator and Keynote speaker.
Congratulations!
Well done to Safiya Vally who achieved 85% for the Trinity Grade 5 Violin examination. Arizona Lotter performed a violin solo at a recent Creative Arts Festival where she achieved 95%. Congratulations Safiya and Arizona!
Contemporary and Ballet Awards
Last weekend some of our Kingsmead Jozidance students took part in a dance competition at the Roodepoort Theatre. Well done to all our dancers who did spectacularly at this event!
The Grade 1 Ballet quartet ‘Air’ included Mishka Duncan-Chundra, Oagile Matseba, Oratile Matlala, Ziyan Salie. The Grade 2s, Rebecca-Anna Asherson and Fallon Grundlingh, did a lyrical duet ‘Rainbow’. Fallon Grundlingh placed third place in her age category and 2nd overall in the novice section for her ballet solo.
The ballet group ‘Do You Want To Build A Snowman’ placed 2nd in their category and included Fallon Grundlingh, Katie Lawlor, Mackenzie Kotwal, Rebecca-Anna Asherson, Viola-Grace Asherson, Aila Hoosen, Bokang Phiri, Isabella Brand, Jagger Wellsted and Jaime Kinnear.
The contemporary group ‘Time’ placed first in their section and the group included Anabelle Collier, Ella Cornfield, Fallon Grundlingh, Isabella Brand, Jagger Wellsted, Rebecca-Anna Asherson, Rorisang Ngumbela, Viola-Grace Asherson and Vuyolwethu Mabindisa.
The Grade 3 contemporary group ‘Lovely’ placed third and this group included Chloe Millar, Frances Keus, Jasmine Berridge, Josephine Forssman, Liani van Lith, Michaela Stephano, Buhlebendalo Ndebele, Rafaella Karasavvidis, Zalisidinga Pepeta, Zoe Schloss, Mieke Pretorius and Sibanye Gqoli.
The following Grade 4’s danced lyrical solos: Aimee Schloss placed 3rd, Nalayethu Mkhize placed second while Scarlett Larsen placed first and moved up to advanced level.
Kennedy Wagner-Read in Grade 5 performed a lyrical solo ‘Rosemary’ while Kristen Benjamin and Karlina Kganane in Grade 6 performed a ballet duet ‘A Thousand Years’. Rebecca Mills in Grade 9 danced a lyrical solo ‘Goodbye’.
Ballet & Contemporary Dance Examinations
Well done to all our Kingsmead Jozidance contemporary dancers who completed their contemporary dance and ballet examinations last week and this week. We are so proud of you!
It is the Season! Only one weeks to go until our annual Carol Service
In just more than one weeks we will have our annual Carol service together at Rosebank Union Church. This event is traditionally a wonderful community event, and all our musicians take part, from the Grade 2 and 3 choirs to the seniors, and every orchestra member across the college. The rehearsal schedule is available on the app in the Arts & Music folder as well as on the Orchestra and Choir WhatsApp groups. Orchestra members are reminded to bring their instruments to the rehearsals.
From all of us in the Arts & Music departments – we wish our Kingsmead community a special holiday and blessed Christmas time and a prosperous and happy 2023! We look forward to a lot more music making in the year ahead. Sincere thanks for your ongoing support of the Arts & Music department at Kingsmead.
Elsabé Fourie
Director of Arts & Music
efourie@kingsmead.co.za
Mia Loock
Head of Junior School Music
mloock@kingsmead.co.za
Sports
Diving
Kingsmead divers participated in the annual Inter-Schools diving competition on Saturday, 12 November and did a phenomenal job. Our A team placed 3rd overall and our B team placed 5th overall. Well done to the following divers:
A Team
Grade 7
Grace Hefer – 3rd
Jada Williams – 6th
Grade 6
Maya Rono – 3rd
Shané van Lith – 13th
Grade 5
Milan Williams – 3rd
Olona Mbele – 9th
Grade 4
Madison Crozier – 10th
Thoriso Motshegoa – 9th
B Team
Grade 7
Chloe Mandy – 9th
Grade 6
Nishka Makan – 7th
Grade 5
Mikayla Rono – 3rd
Kylie Dugmore – 1st
Grade 4
Kate Redshaw – 6th
Kate van Dyk – 12th
Water Polo
We would like to congratulate our water polo teams for participating in the Roedean Wednesday night lights. The results were as follows:
Kingsmead Inyoni vs OJ Eagles – 8-0 Loss
Kingsmead Kingsley vs Water Warriors – 4-1 Win
Kingsmead Inyoni vs Water Warriors – 7-1 Loss
Kingsmead Kingsley vs OJ Eagles – 7-1 Win
Swimming
On Wednesday 16 November our Junior School Grade 1-3 swimmers took part in the annual Auckland Park Preparatory Gala. Our swimmers participated with courage in a range of strokes and made us very proud! We witnessed fantastic efforts and performances in the pool from our young swimmers across the age groups. All in all, it was a very enjoyable morning of swimming and a very well done to all swimmers who took part. Thank you to all parents for your incredible support!
We had the following top 3 placings:
Fallon Grundlingh
Grade 2A Backstroke Individual 2nd place
Grade 2 Backstroke Relay 3rd place
Grade 2 Breastroke Relay 1st place
Ishvara Skosana
Grade 2 Backstroke Relay 3rd place
Grade 2B Freestyle Individual 2nd place
Georgia Morte
Grade 2 Backstroke Relay 3rd place
Grade 2 Breastroke Relay 1st place
Faye Thomas
Grade 1B Freestyle Individual 3rd place
Mackenzie Wilson
Grade 2 Backstroke Relay 3rd place
Grade 2A Breastroke Individual 2nd place
Grade 2 Breastroke Relay 1st place
Charlotte Cederwall
Grade 2 Breastroke Relay 1st place
Grade 2B Breastroke Individual 1st place
Hannah Parry
Grade 1B Breastroke Individual 1st place
Georgia Matthews
Grade 3B Breastroke Individual 3rd place
Soccer
Results for the last week’s fixtures:
Grade 3
St Mary’s V Kingsmead 1: won 0-3
Kingsmead 4 V Brescia 2: lost 2-0
Kingsmead 1 V Brescia 1: lost 1-0
Brescia V Kingsmead 3: draw 1-1
Brescia 2 Vs Kingsmead 2: lost 3-0
Brescia 3 Vs Kingsmead 3: lost 1-0
Kingsmead 4 Vs Brescia 3: lost 2-1
Kingsmead 2 vs St Mary’s 2: draw 1-1
Grade 4
Kingsmead 4A vs Brescia 4A: won 1-0
Kingsmead 4B vs Brescia 4B: lost 3-0
Grade 5
Kingsmead 5A vs Brescia 5A: draw 0-0
Kingsmead 5B vs Brescia 5B: won 3-0
Grade 6
Kingsmead 6A vs Brescia 6A: draw 2-2
Kingsmead 6B vs Brescia 6B: won 4-2
Grade 7
Kingsmead 7A vs Brescia 7A: won 5-1
Kingsmead 7B vs Brescia 7B: won 5-0
Hockey
We would like to congratulate the following girls on making it through to the next round of D9 and Southern Gauteng Hockey trials which will take place next year:
U12:
Malaika Sibanda
Zenoyise Gqoli
Lucy Berry
U13:
Zoe Kennedy
Sofia Allison
Upcoming Events
Thursday 24 November – Grade 3 Soccer Matches vs St Stithian’s & Holy Rosary (selected players)
– Matches will take place at Kingsmead.
Thursday 24 November – Saturday 26 November Grade 6/7 Water Polo Tour – DGC (selected players)
– Matches will take place at Durban Girls College.
A few reminders for parents & guardians:
1. Please send any sports achievements (school & non-school) to Mrs Hanekom.
2. A reminder to please download the Kingsmead app as this will be the direct method of communication to parents on sport fixture days.
3. All team lists will be published on the app by no later than Tuesday for a Thursday fixture and the Wednesday before the Friday fixture.
4. A reminder to refer to the week ahead document on the app under the Sports section.
5. The Junior School Extra Curricular Schedule will conclude on Friday 25 November.
Yours in sport
Shavaun Hanekom
Head of Junior School Sport
Transformation, Diversity and Inclusion
Inclusion & Belonging at Kingsmead College
Often in life, something as simple as a greeting can make a profound impact on someone. When we each take the time to perform small acts of kindness, we are in a way, telling each person we encounter that, “I see you. I care about you. I respect you. I value you.” Feeling valued and connected can feed into an individuals’ sense of belonging. And at Kingsmead, we strive to ensure that every individual feels that they have a place in this community.
Having a place can mean a number of things to different people. Having a place is about having the courage to make your voice heard through sharing your ideas, opinions, beliefs, fears and desires. Having a place is about being seen, having your community be intentional about getting to know you for who you truly are, and not only the parts of yourself you choose to present. Having a place is about being trusted, and that is about each individual knowing that they too are seen as a safe place for others. Ultimately, having a place is about being able to show up fully and unreservedly as your unique self and contributing to making the Kingsmead community a diverse space, filled with understanding, respect, connectedness; having every person know that they matter.
Conversation Starter
You will have noticed a new insert in our last newsletters. Conversation Starters for Families… as we know, one of the signs of a healthy family is open and meaningful conversation/communication. But often finding the time or the points to speak to, don’t always come easily. We thought we would share some prompts to facilitate this process, which are ideal to share around the table, on a trip – anytime, anywhere.
We hope you enjoyed the last conversation starter.