Dear Kingsmead Community,
This newsletter reaches you during a time of turmoil as we navigate the increasingly complex circumstances as South Africans. The media repeats news of unrest, violence and illness throughout our province. It is only natural that our children have questions and worries. It is imperative at a time like this, that as teachers and parents, we partner in the raising of our daughters during a challenging time in our country. With the heightened news of unrest and violence, illness and death, our young daughters are reportedly feeling increased emotions, specifically, fear, anxiety, confusion and loneliness. Our newsletter refers to the need for our children to feel safe and secure during times like these. While it is not necessary to hide the turmoil from our children, we can moderate their experiences and help them manage their emotions in a healthy and safe way. Our staff too are navigating challenging circumstances within their own communities and families and I am grateful to them for continuing to do all they can to provide the necessary routine and structure for our daughters.
We have recently hosted presentations by Klikd, who focus on cyber safety education and providing a new approach to engage and empower parents, teachers and children around the social media world. I thought that the below visuals and infographics would be helpful for us when talking to our children about what is happening around them through the coming weeks.
Let us reach out as a community. Let us prioritise kindness and compassion. Let us connect with positivity and hope.
God bless Africa
Guard her Children
Guide her Leaders
And giver her peace
Amen
Courage Always
Kim Lowman
Talking to your kids and teens about the violence and looting in South Africa
We are calling on our students to be Resilient – ‘Again’
We started off the year reminding our students to Bounce Forward. This reminded our students to remain optimistic during times of uncertainty. Yet again, we are reminded of this.
Did you know that resilience can be learned? Although we can’t control what happens in our lives, we can build skills to help us deal effectively with challenges, recover more quickly and even grow as a result.
There is an immediate necessity to preserve our wellbeing and build resilience at this point in history, where it is genuinely needed. To support this need, we scheduled a series of lessons at the beginning of the year to help our students cope and prosper with uncertainty, which we hope they are drawing upon.
At Kingsmead we continue to support your daughters in their education journey, and aim to keep them ‘school fit’ for whilst online.
Our goal this year within the Senior Primary, remains, to teach our students to be resilient, how to deal with the uncertainty, how to bounce forward in the best way possible.
In order for us to raise resilience during this time, we ask that the girls, remember the motto from the orientation programme – ‘GRIT 2021 Champion’. GRIT is not merely goal setting or problem solving. Nor is it just being willing to go the extra mile. GRIT is the ability to see the long-term goal, set the goal, define the steps, work toward each step, and deal with the obstacles and setbacks that may arise. This too connects to the Habits of Mind – Persisting and Thinking Flexibly.
Raising and developing resilience starts with personal resilience, how to get your daughter to look after herself, building self-awareness, about what might be getting in her way of success, and helping your daughter notice what is going well and her strengths.
Tarryn McLaren
Deputy Head: Senior Primary
Service
Mandela Day – Call to Action
The 18th of July is a significant day in South Africa. It is a call for our nation to give 67 minutes of their time in honour of our late president, Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela. Nelson Mandela so poignantly wrote “There can be no greater gift than that of giving one’s time and energy to help others without expecting anything in return.” This is tethered to our Kingsmead service tagline of ‘Give without expecting reward.’
As Mandela Day falls on a Sunday, in the Junior School we will be celebrating Mandela Day on Friday the 16th of July in support of our community engagement partners. In the current climate with so much sickness and loss around us, the giving of our time to others will help shift our focus outward. More than ever, we need to cultivate hope in our community. Amongst all the uncertainty, it is important that we rise as a community and be a light in the world around us. 
I recently read an article written by clinical psychologist, Dr Jenny Rose, on the topic of parenting during the third wave and greater lockdown restrictions. She wrote the following, “The story of this pandemic will be told for many years to come – and as time goes by, the details may become less and less clear, but children will always remember how they felt during a specific time. Try to ensure that your children FEEL safe and calm and grant them compassion in moments they struggle.” This links so beautifully to Mandela Day, a day on which we give of our time to serve others. When we serve others we feel a sense of purpose, and purpose breeds hope. Not only will those we are serving feel hope and joy, but our children will feel the hope and joy that comes with making a difference, and this in turn goes a long way in creating a sense of safety.
Each grade has been given an activity to complete at home on Friday next week. We encourage our whole Kingsmead community to rally together on Sunday and give the gift of their time in the service of others.
Poster by Gift of the Givers
Lauren Myburgh
Head of Junior School Service
Arts & Music
Chess with CHECKM8s
The Chess students have adapted very well to online classes and have maintained their competitive edge in matches. On Saturday the 10th of July, some of our Grade 2-4 students participated in a voluntary online Chess tournament to practice what they have learned thus far this term.
Thank you and well done to all our Chess players for making this fun event such a success! The standard was impressive and the learning that has taken place this term was evident.
Thank you to the participants, parents and guardians for making it possible. Congratulations to: Malaika Sibanda, Lyala Jean Bar-Bayley and Lalu Hu-Grobbelaar who were placed in the top three positions.
| INTER-CLASS MUSIC COMPETITION | ||
| The Kingsmead Inter-class Music Competition is in its final stretch… Watch this space to see who comes out tops! Online meetings will take place on MS Teams on the Music Class Groups. We hope to see everyone there! 🎶 | ||
| Date | 13h30 – 14h00 | 14h00 – 14h30 |
| Tuesday
13 July |
Grade 4M | Grade 6Z |
| Wednesday
14 July |
Grade 5M | Grade 7Z |
Concerts in the Lounge
WELL DONE to our fantastic Grade 0-3 musicians for a very special concert last week! CLICK HERE to watch the concert. Upcoming concerts:
| Date | CONCERT |
| Wednesday
14 July |
Grade 4 & 5 |
| Wednesday
21 July |
Grade 6 & 7 |
| Wednesday
4 August |
Junior & Senior
Voice Concert |
Moments of Joy
We just LOVE seeing our musicians online. Thank you for allowing us to meet your daughters albeit in this different way. Their smiles and enjoyment of music makes us happy and motivates us to continue doing what we are doing.
Elsabé Fourie Mia Loock
Director of Arts & Music Head of Junior School Music
efourie@kingsmead.co.za mloock@kingsmead.co.za
Sport
A recent study led by Professor Tim McGuine, University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, was done to identify the impact of playing a sport during the COVID-19 pandemic on student athletes’ health. The nature of the study was an online survey conducted in October 2020.
The findings could help inform public health experts, school administrators, sports medicine, and mental health providers regarding the potential physical and mental health benefits for adolescents when they participate in organised sports. To read the full article click here.
The Sports Department will be running the Inter House Virtual Exercise Challenge which runs from 12 to 25 July. We encourage all students, parents and family members to take part either by walking, running, jogging or cycling.
Gymnastics
Milisuthando Mabusela, a grade 2 student has recently been selected for the Central Gauteng Gymnastics Junior team. This is a remarkable achievement, she had only started gymnastics 6 weeks ago and was 1 of 3 girls to achieve a GOLD medal.
Robert Pullen
Director of Sport