Our Connection: Issue 13 2022

Dear Kingsmead Community,

Our third term has started with such JOY! The warmer weather helps of course, but the true essence of happiness is captured in the hearts of our children. We are so incredibly excited to join our students again on their path to discovery and learning. May this Spring Term bring with it every opportunity to grow and bloom. Just as the rains clear the dust and invite the green sprouting of new growth; may this also be an opportunity for us as a community to pour our hearts and minds into building our beautiful school.

It was good to start the term with the Grade 3-7 inter-house athletics. Well done to all our Grade 5 students who enjoyed a wonderful camp experience last week too. We are proud of you as ambassadors of our school.

Thank you to the group of parents who joined our First Additional Language coffee morning. A reminder to please complete the language choice link for 2023 as soon as possible.

We have so much to celebrate this term. Take a walk with us and enjoy every moment. Capture joy and happy, significant moments and shout them from the rooftops! We started the year with the intentional drive to RISE by lifting others. I want to thank each and every person who continues to do just that. Thank you for focusing on the positive. Kingsmead is in a good place and continues to RISE.

Wishing you all a happy term ahead.

With love and Courage Always,
Kim Lowman

Habits of Mind: Managing Impulsivity

We are now well on our way to the fast approaching end of school year excitement and festivities, however, with this comes the realization of needing to meet goals that one has set for themselves. Thus the habit of mind – Managing Impulsivity is a predictor of success, through self-discipline. This behaviour plays out in the various facets of a school day not only academic and within the classroom, but also out on the playground and sports field. How to manage your impulsivity – is to refrain from hasty action, to calm yourself when angry, and to carefully choose your words—is something that we can teach, and that children readily learn. Research has shown that students who are able to delay gratification tend to develop into successful adults. We can train ourselves to be less impulsive when we are aware of our emotions and manage them deliberately. When a person is able to manage their impulsivity better, it has been found to positively impact children’s enjoyment of school, their performance in the classroom, and the positivity of their interactions with both peers and teachers. Self-control is a mental muscle that children strengthen through exercise.

Managing impulsivity is the Habit of Mind that we are encouraging our students to explore and develop this term by developing a range of strategies to become better at not being hasty. Rather to be mindful and deliberate in their approach to achieving success in their respective areas.

One of these is the ‘Star Strategy’:
Stop
Think
Act
Reflection

Successful people are able to plan, prioritise, remain calm and consider actions in a thoughtful and deliberate manner. Managing your impulsivity helps you achieve your goals and improves your organisational skills. At Kingsmead, we are encouraging the students to progress from being unconsciously incompetent at managing impulsivity to becoming unconsciously competent, where they can carefully evaluate situations, and gather appropriate information before taking goal-directed actions.

“Great things are not done by impulse, but by a series of small things brought together.” Vincent Van Gogh

 Great resource for additional strategies:
https://veryspecialtales.com/impulse-control-strategies-kids/

Tarryn Mclaren
Deputy Head: Head of Senior Primary

Children blossom when they feel heard and loved

We have had a wonderful start to our third term and our Junior Primary girls have returned full of energy and enthusiasm. It has been so wonderful to listen to them sharing their holiday news and their experiences. Something that has certainly stood out for us as educators is the importance they place on the time spent with you, their parents and on the attention they are given.

Simone Weil the French philosopher (February 3, 1909–August 24, 1943) said that, “attention is the rarest and purest form of generosity”. Our full attention and being present in the moment is a gift not only to our children but to ourselves. We so often allow ourselves to become distracted when we are engaging with our children.

Being present is not about multi-tasking. Our children are very aware when our attention has wandered and when we are not fully engaged with them. It often takes a concerted effort on our parts to put our phones and tech devices down in order to be fully present and to give our children the generosity of our attention. What our children need is to feel heard, seen, valued and loved.

By giving our children our full attention we give them what they require as well as modelling what appropriate respectful attention and interaction looks like in a relationship. It says, you matter and I am interested in what you are saying or doing. Our relationships will flourish, our emotional fuel tanks will be replenished and our children will feel secure and acknowledged.

When we slow down and are present with our children we bring more mindfulness to our own lives and are reminded of the importance of connection of talking, reading and playing and of meeting our children’s need for uninterrupted time spent with us.

Wishing you a happy third term and the joy of sharing the gift of time and presence with your precious children.

Irene Ilsley
Deputy Head: Head of Junior Primary

Arts & Music

After a busy and successful 2^nd term, we look forward to a jampacked and exciting 3^rd term. Please diarise the upcoming events until half term. A summary of all the events of the term can be found in the Arts & Music folder on the App. Keep an eye on the App alerts and live calendar for more details of each event closer to the time.

Marimba band parents – please see the information letter about the Grayston Festival on the App. Make sure to book your ticket before Saturday.

Acknowledgments in the Performing and Visual Arts: Arts & Music: Dance, Music & Drama
If your daughter participates in activities at or outside of Kingsmead that fall in the performing or visual arts, please let us know. We would love to acknowledge your daughter in assembly, the school newsletter and/or Facebook. Send us an email with as many details as possible; photos are also welcome it you are happy for your daughter’s picture to be published on any of these school platforms. We will soon be posting a link to an online form which parents can use to notify us of any achievements and results. Keep an eye on the App alert for more details.

Thank you for your continued support of the Arts & Music department at Kingsmead. We wish you a wonderful term ahead!

Sport

After a restful break we are very excited to be back on the sports fields preparing for our upcoming fixtures and we look forward to a sport filled term.

Term 3 is a very busy term with many sports on offer, therefore we ask parents to please be mindful of your daughter’s schedule and to please assist your daughter with the selection of the various sport sessions for this term. While we encourage all students to participate in the sports offered, we do understand that clashes may arise, however, our coaches are always willing to assist should your daughter be torn between the choice of sports. Should your daughter be selected for a team, please ensure that she prioritizes the sport and attends the relevant training sessions.

Sessions at Wanderers on a Monday
A reminder that our Grade 4-7 athletics and soccer sessions on a Monday will be taking place at Wanderers Athletics Club. (This will be the only day of the week that we will utilise their fields)

There will be buses doing shuttle services to Wanderers from Kingsmead and from Wanderers back to Kingsmead. We will try our best to run according to the schedule below but please be aware that these are estimated times:

Trip one (Grade 4 & 5 Athletes – session 1)
Bus 1 Depart: 14:00
Bus 2 (if necessary for excess students) Depart 14:15

Trip two (Grade 4 & 5 Soccer players + Grade 6 & 7 Athletes – session 2)
Bus 1 Depart: 14:40
Bus 2 Depart: 15:00 (Marimba students & excess students)
Bus to return: 15:30 (Bring session 1 students back)

Trip three
Bus to return to Wanderers to collect session 2 students.
Bus 1 return: 16:30
Bus 2 return: 16:45 (if necessary for excess students)

Should parents wish to collect students from Wanderers, we request that collection takes place at the field itself as students will not be allowed to walk through the parking unattended. Please ensure to then inform the coach that your daughter will not be traveling on the bus.

Sport News

Grade 6 & 7 Hockey/Netball Tour
As school broke up for the August holidays, the combined Grade 6 and 7 netball and hockey tour teams embarked on their journey to Durban for their Sports Tour 2022. The excitement from the students was overwhelming with so many fun activities planned, and the positive energy was always pleasing to see. The students had fun at Ushaka Wet N’ Wild Park, Mini-Town, and Pirates Beach on the first two days of tour. On our final day of tour, we were treated to PheZulu Snake and Reptile Park, where they enjoyed a traditional village tour and show. Each day after our fun and games it came down to business when the teams had to focus on their epic battles against some of Durban’s top sporting schools.

The teams had a wonderful time on tour and the results spoke for themselves. The teams tackled schools that had placed 6^th in the country, older age groups and even teams that mainly consisted of provincial KwaZulu-Natal players. The results of the matches they played are as follows:

10 August:
Netball
KMC vs Glennwood Prep – 38-1 loss

11 August:
Netball
KMC vs CURRO U/14A – 8-3 loss
KMC vs CURRO mixed – 10-4 loss

Hockey
KMC vs CURRO – 0-0 draw
KMC vs St Mary’s Kloof – 5-0 loss

12 August:
Netball
KMC vs Atholl Heights – 10-5 win
KMC vs Westville Senior – 7-5 loss

Hockey
KMC vs Atholl Heights – 1-0 loss
KMC vs Westville Senior – 0-0 draw

Equestrian
We would like to congratulate the following riders from Kingsmead Junior School for being selected to represent Gauteng at the SANESA National Championships which will take place from 30 September – 4 October 2022 at Kyalami Equestrian Park.

Hannah Cooke:
A Team for Prix Caprilli
B Teams for Dressage, Handy Hunter & Working Riding
C Teams for Jumping (60cm) & Performance Riding

Katherine Papadopoulos:
A Team for Handy Hunter
B Team for Equitation
C Team for Jumping (80cm) & Dressage

Mila Hozak:
B Teams for Equitation & Handy Hunter

Water Polo
The following students are congratulated on making the U12 and U13 Gauteng water polo training squads. Final team selection will take place closer to the provincial tournament at the end of the year:

U12:
Erin Boyd
Emma Clowes
Zoe Kennedy

U13:
Chloe Chapman
Emily Kennedy
Hannah Cooke
Katherine Raats
Jenna Askew

Inter-House Athletics
For the first time in years, we were fortunate to enjoy our Inter-House Athletics day. The excitement amongst the athletes, spectators and staff was tangible. Our athletes all ran an admirable race and showed true grit and dedication to their sport and their teams. After much preparation and set up, hours of war cries and several litres of face paint, Barons walked away with the Spirit Cup. Thanes managed to snatch a win for the day’s event and gave an impeccable demonstration of what it means to give your all. We are so proud of each of our athletes and cannot wait for the rest of the athletics season.

Outside Sport

Gymnastics
We have had a few students taking part in gymnastics competitions recently and they have been doing exceptionally well. We would like to congratulate the following students for being selected for the Central Gauteng team that will be participating in the National Gym Games:
Rorisang Mamathuba
Ella van der Hijden
Iysla Perera
Ella Fairlie
Jasmine Berridge

Good luck to all of you!

Upcoming Events
Thursday 15 September – Grade 4-7 Tennis matches vs St Peters (Teams to be confirmed and on app by Tuesday)
– Matches will take place at Kingsmead & St Peter’s. (A/B – Kingsmead, C/D – St Peter’s)
Friday 16 September – Grade 3-7 Athletics Meeting (Teams to be confirmed and on app by Wednesday)
– Meeting will take place at St Peter’s. ALL ATHLETES TO MEET AT THE GYM BY 13:00 TO TRAVEL ON BUS.
Thursday 22 September – Grade 4-7 Tennis vs St Andrew’s (Teams to be confirmed and on app by Tuesday)
– Matches will take place at Kingsmead & St Andrew’s. (A/B – Kingsmead, C/D – St Andrew’s)
Friday 23 September – Grade 3-7 Athletics Meeting (Teams to be confirmed and on app by Wednesday)
– Meeting will take place at St Stithian’s. ALL ATHLETES TO MEET AT THE GYM BY 13:00 TO TRAVEL ON BUS.

A few reminders for parents & guardians:

1. Please send any sport 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 the 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 Sport section.

Yours in sport
Shavaun Hanekom
Head of Junior School Sport

Conversation Starters for Families

You will notice a new insert in our bi-weekly 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.