Our Connection: Issue 15 2022

Dear Kingsmead Community,

With just more than eight weeks left of our school year, I am so grateful for all we have to celebrate! On behalf of the Junior School, we wish our matrics many blessings as they prepare for their final examinations. As they have officially closed the chapter of their Kingsmead journey, we also wish the 2023 newly elected leaders all the very best for their time to serve ahead. May you leave a legacy of compassion, courage and community building for the generations to follow!

This week we have been fortunate enough to celebrate an innovative Inquiry Week in the Senior Primary. Our sports teams are doing well at the various competitive sports, coupled with our Music Department.

Another pocket of JOY – Goodwill Day celebrations onsite and in our precinct was another moment of a community in celebration. The ‘Walk and Greet’ in colour was so well supported and enjoyed by all. Thank you to our community for the incredible support. Your generosity will go a long way in supporting future students supported by the Kingsmead Trust. Thank you to our Matric Dance committee, Service Team and of course the PTA for their time, energy and persistence in making days like this happen!

Last week we also celebrated World Teacher’s Day. I would like to personally acknowledge our teaching team for holding onto hope, prioritizing their students and taking care of one another during what has been the most challenging two years in our teaching profession. During our recent Speech Evening, we were blessed to hear feedback from one of our own alumnae who shared and celebrated her succeses in various directions as she has succeeded as a resilient, strong and influential leader within her sphere of work and community.

Now we look ahead at finishing the term well. We will seek every possible opportunity to fill our days with joy and a love of learning.

I ask us to take a step back during these two months and remember the goals, hopes and dreams we have set for ourselves for 2022. Remember to be present in the moment, as Mrs. Lowman echoed at the start of Term 3, that we focus on being – ‘human beings’ vs. ‘human doings’. Have a rest filled upcoming half–term. If you are travelling, we look forward to your safe return on Tuesday, 25 October.

With love and Courage Always
Tarryn McLaren
Deputy Head: Senior Primary

Please note – Important Information:

The Junior School closes for half-term break on Thursday, 20 October at 10h00. To avoid car park congestion, please can all JP (Grade 000-3) students be collected at the Cecil Road entrance and the SP (Grade 4-7) students be collected from the Tottenham Road entrance.

Instilling Etiquette

We are observing shifts in behaviour post Covid and how this is impacting in relationships both in the classroom and the playground. As teachers, we often have to remind our girls to remember their manners, say please and thank-you, stand aside for adults and listen to others without interrupting. We would like to remind our parent body of the importance of being a good role model in your daughter’s life.

However, in essence, when it comes to manners, really not much has changed. Good manners are simply codified kindness and that never goes out of style.
Manners are not about trying to catch people out with elaborate place settings or dress codes. They’re about putting yourself in someone else’s shoes for a moment and letting grace and tolerance be your guide, which has never been more appropriate than now.

Children are inherently positive and enthusiastic about life and display gratitude much more easily than adults. From our experience, they naturally have a zest for life. In order for children to be successful, they need to remain humble. This is an important balance that we try and create in our classrooms.

Instilling etiquette in your children is a challenging but worthwhile effort. You might think well-mannered kids are born rather than raised or that your kids will naturally pick up on the way to act from watching those around them. However, while some kids do take to manners more naturally, it’s vital to teach and reinforce these important skills with your children.
A well-mannered child will stand out for all the right reasons. Saying “please” and “thank you,” being respectful and courteous, and using good table manners will get your child noticed by teachers and other parents—and build their self-confidence, independence, and self-esteem.

Please encourage good manners and a sense of gratitude. An “attitude of gratitude” is a wonderful way to live one’s life.

Thank you for partnering with us

Academics

Inquiry Week: Senior Primary – Kingsmead Cultivating Kindness

Our inquiry week for Term 3 took place this last week culminating with our annual Goodwill Day. This was a very exciting time for the Senior Primary as the timetable was collapsed as the students and staff embarked on inquiries for the duration of the week. Our transdisciplinary theme is ‘Kingsmead Cultivating Kindness’. Each grade in the Senior Primary launched their own inquiry to explore and investigate around the United Nations Sustainable goals. By collapsing the timetable, thinking on meaningful and critical levels was provoked, allowing the students to make amazing and inspiring connections across all subjects. With rigorous opportunities to inquire and make meaning of the world around them, students began to ask questions, compare, wonder, take risks, solve problems and come up with wonderous creations and ideas.

Parents and peers were encouraged to engage in conversation and ask questions about this learning journey throughout the week. We too invited our community to join us at collection time on Thursday afternoon to share in the learning, discoveries and creations that occurred throughout the week.

The week started off with a moving and powerful assembly message drawing on the work of Carl Sagan’s – Pale Blue Dot, and Oliver Jeffers ‘Here we are’. Reminding our students that we have only 1 planet to live one, and with this comes a deep level of responsibility and awareness to guard Earth.

With nearly 8 billion people in the world, how is it that we can’t come up with one solution for each of these problems? “At this very moment enormous numbers of intelligent men and women of goodwill are trying to build a better world. But problems are born faster than they can be solved.” These are some of the powerful statements that we shared with our students to think about and troubleshoot.

Grade 4
The Grade 4s engaged in an interesting week filled with fun and practical activities, they enjoyed listening to two guest speakers and even created their own stress balls. This year, the focus was on the topic ‘Sustainability’ where the students dived into four of the Sustainable Goals – No Poverty, Quality Education, Good Health and Wellbeing, and Clean Water and Sanitation. The week began with an exciting provocation that caused a reaction and the girls swiftly ensured that they made a change when they saw the Grade 3s discarding litter all around the area outside the Grade 4 classes. The Grade 4s were horrified to see the Grade 3s behaving in such a manner and they cleaned then sorted the litter out and this created a lovely launch into a focus on how organic waste can be utilised for compost and planting vegetables to combat poverty. The girls appreciated a presentation by a guest speaker, who shared knowledge on how to look after the environment in which one lives. The rest of the week ensured each of the Sustainable Goals were focused on by means of activities including water filtering, creating an infographic about poverty-stricken countries and engaging with wellness activities, which included making stress balls, creating healthy kebabs and learning breathing and yoga routines. This all led up to the final project to document their learning which was ‘Our Dystopia, My Utopia’ where the girls had to compare the current world with their ideal world by focusing on one or more of the Sustainable Goals and solving the problems we currently face. The students produced creative, interesting work which reflected their learning from the week.

Paige Finch – Grade Coordinator

Grade 5
“Kindness is the ability and desire to have a positive impact on others.” – Raktivist

With the introduction of IBL week, the greatest desires of the Grade 5 Team were to, firstly, ensure the eyes of our students were opened to the world around them and the challenges faced by many on a daily basis. From there, to stir a passion and need to reach out to the community and help in a way that would be presented as long-term kindness. Through the exploration of Life on Land, Hunger, Quality Education and Life Below Water, the students engaged and grappled with real-life problems, and were then required to create a prototype of a solution to aid the solving of these issues, or to raise awareness that would move others to join in the movement of change. During this process, the girls also produced musical instruments made from recyclable materials, and performed a moving performance to Michael Jackson’s memorable song, “Heal the World”, reminding us all to make it a better place. This Inquiry delved into ‘humanity’ and certainly had all involved thinking about the difference we can make in our communities.

Nicole Hilario – Grade Coordinator

Grade 6
The Grade 6 students and teachers went on an excursion while wearing global goals glasses in order to ‘Look Through Different Eyes’ and pinpoint issues in our communities. Upon our return, the girls thought about what they had seen and filled out the global goals tree map by sticking post-its beneath the goals that resonated with them. The kids did a ‘See, Think, Wonder’ Thinking Routine while watching videos. To determine which segment of their community they are catering to, they had to develop a persona that took into account the potential users of repurposed items, and the demographics of the community they are trying to serve. They tried to make a little change on a larger scale by digging deeper into problems and using their knowledge to construct a new object out of an old one.

Celiwe Magubane Grade Coordinator

Grade 7
The Grade 7s were very busy last week learning about the Global Goals. They were tasked with investigating how they can transform the problem of pollution and make it into a solution. Teamwork was key in their first activity where they had to swim in their pyjamas collecting as many plastic bottles from the swimming pool. Another task where they excelled was in their global awareness anti-pollution campaigns which were thoughtful, creative and impactful. The week culminated in them producing a sustainable fashion item which used a wide variety of recyclable material and techniques. The Senior School loved watching the girls present their items in the catwalk show on the final day!

Lauren Myburgh Grade Coordinator

The excitement, energy, curiosity and interest from our littlest to our Grade 7s and our Staff was tangible and such a joy!

“In some cases we learn more by looking for the answer to a question and not finding it than we do from learning the answer itself.” Lloyd Alexander

isiZulu Amanqampunqampu:
Our isiZulu students participated in the isiZulu Amanqampunqampu (Chatterbox). This was a fantastic chance for our students to practise their public speaking abilities. Usuku engingasoze ngalukholwa, Iholide lami, Ukusebenzisa izinkundla zokuxhumana, abangane abahle/abangane ababi, and Uma ngingashintsha okukodwa ngesikole sami, are the topics from which the students had to choose. A huge congratulations to each of them.

Impromptu Chatterbox
On Thursday 6 October, Drishti Desai, Paula Anderson and Nina Schoeman participated in the Impromptu Chatterbox competition at Pridwin Preparatory School. They were given just five minutes to prepare a speech and what they produced was impressive to say the least! Drishti achieved a double gold award where she successfully discussed the idea of whether there should be an age limit on who should be able to adopt. Paula gained a gold by entertaining the audience whilst speaking about gardening and Nina also received a gold award by sharing her knowledge of spiders. These Grade 7s were excellent ambassadors for Kingsmead and we are extremely proud of their achievements. Well done girls!

Maryam Hassan and Erin Boyd also did us very proud as they received Silver certificates in the Impromptu Chatterbox competition at Pridwin Preparatory School.

Arts & Music

We are so incredibly proud of Ines Bregman who recently participated in the Hubert van der Spuy National Music Competition. This event attracts the very best young performers at junior school level in South Africa, and it is an exceptional achievement to be selected for this prestigious competition.
Watch her perform one of her pieces: Andante in C K315 by Mozart

The Ridge Choir Festival
The Grade 4-7 Choir was super excited to perform at The Ridge Choir festival this year. The enjoyment for both the students participating and the parents in the audience was evident. Thank you to all our Choir parents for your ongoing support, at this event and throughout the year.

There’s nothing like making music together. Whether it’s singing, playing, or conducting, it doesn’t matter. There’s just nothing like it, and there’s nothing like the feeling it gives to people. Music is education, music is community, music is joy, music is life. It’s amazing. ~ Vaughan Fleischfresser

Upcoming events to diarise

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 an 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.

Thank you for your continued support of the Arts & Music department at Kingsmead.

Sport

Diving
Our divers participated in their first diving competition for the season at St Andrew’s which made us all very proud. We saw some spectacular dives and our divers brought home amazing results. Our next diving competition will be held at Kingsmead on Thursday 13 October.

We would like to wish our diver’s the best of luck for their upcoming championships. The following divers will be competing at the Gauteng National Diving Championships on Saturday 15 October:
Maya Rono
Jada Williams
Olona Mbele
Kylie Dugmore

Athletics
We have had two phenomenal weeks of athletics. On Saturday, 1 October 2022, we enjoyed a sun-filled Saturday morning at St Stithian’s College. The heat was challenging, but it was nothing the Kingsmead athletes couldn’t handle! This meeting was followed by a week of hard work, which ended in an admirable second place at Brescia House School on 7 October 2022. We have been fortunate to have parents, siblings and friends join us at the athletics meetings and witness the excellent outcomes of our athletes. Each week, our athletes improve their times and distances, and we cannot wait for our Inter-Schools Athletics meeting on 15 October 2022, to see a season’s hard work all come together!

SCORES:
1 October 2022
1) St Peter’s – 561
2) St Mary’s – 455
3) St Stithian’s – 450
4) Brescia – 359
5) Kingsmead College – 337
6) Holy Rosary – 216
7) St Teresa’s – 139

7 October 2022
1) Brescia House – 362
2) Kingsmead College – 312
3) St Teresa’s – 101

Please note that there will be no athletics practises taking place after the final Inter Schools Meeting on Saturday 15 October.

Tennis
Congratulations to our tennis players for very successful results over the past two weeks against Roedean and St Teresa’s. As our tennis matches have also come to an end, we would like to congratulate all our players for a successful doubles season. We played superb tennis, and the team spirit was admirable from the side-lines.

Equestrian
Well done to our riders who participated in the SANESA Nationals Championships. You have all shown true commitment to your riding this year and the hard work can be seen in the results.

Congratulations to Mila Hozack, Hannah Cooke and Katherine Papadopoulos who were selected to ride for Gauteng in the SANESA Nationals. The Kingsmead Junior School riders did extremely well in the face of stiff competition from all over the country.

A big thank you to Ms Hanekom for always supporting and encouraging our riders, to Ms Mclaren and Mrs Lowman for your interest and encouragement and to Kingsmead for sponsoring and recognising the sport.

Results for Nationals:
Hannah Cooke- Pony (Firefly)
2nd – Working Riding, level 3
4th – Dressage, level 2
5th – Handy Hunter, level 1
5th – Prix Caprilli, level 1
11th – Performance Riding, level 3
16th – Jumping level 2

Katherine Papadopoulos – Horse (Going Going Gone)
1st- Handy Hunter – level 5
7th – Jumping, level 4
15th – Dressage, level 3
17th – Equitation, level 2

Mila Hozack – Pony (Pot Luck)
1st – Equitation, level 2
2nd – Handy Hunter, level 1

Soccer
Due to it being the end of our athletics season, there will be a slight change in the bus schedule for Monday 17 October. Please see the bus shuttle times below:
Grade 4 & 5 Soccer players
Bus 1 Depart: 14:40
Bus 2 Depart: 15:00 (Marimba students & excess students)
Bus to Return: 16:30

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 travelling on the bus.

Outside Sport

Hockey
Georgie Dalling was selected to play in the PSI Northern Nationals from Friday – Sunday for the Titan Stars. Her team played like champions, fighting for every goal. They qualified for the semi-finals and lost narrowly to take 4th place overall. Well done, Georgie!

Gymnastics
Congratulations go out to Zothile Ndiweni who was selected for the under-12 National gymnastics team. Further congratulations go to Stephanie Walker for placing third and Ella Fairlie for placing 5th at the SA Gymnastics Games. Grace Hefer was also selected to participate at Nationals, and she achieved silver in Bar and Beam in the advanced level 8. These are all phenomenal results. Well done!

Karate
Congratulations to Faye Greenberg who competed in the nationals of the World Shotokan Karate Federation (WSKF) in Vanderbijlpark. She was awarded two bronze medals in her division. Well done, Faye!

Swimming
Well done to Jordyn Knowles, Jordyn attended the Aquatics Gauteng Swim Stars Champs and had a very successful day. She placed as follows in her age group:
Gold: 100m Breast – 1:42.04
Gold: 100m Back – 1:30.22
Bronze: 200m Free – 2:58.24
Bronze: 50m Breast – 45.99
Bronze: 200m Back – 3:20.92
Congratulations, Jordyn!

Archery
Congratulations go to Morgan Chen-Heyneke who competed at the Gauteng Provincial Indoor Archery Championships on the 25th of September 2022. Morgan came first in the Barebow Girls Under 13 category and was awarded a gold medal. Well done, Morgan!

Term 3B Extra-Curricular Schedule
The new extra-curricular schedule for term 3B will be published shortly. Our priority sports for Term 3B are as follows:
Soccer
Diving
Water Polo

Upcoming Events
Thursday 13 October – Grade 4-7 Fun Internal Tennis matches (open to all players on the ladder)
– Matches will take place at Kingsmead.
Thursday 13 October – Grade 3-7 Diving competition (Selected divers – Teams to be confirmed and on the app by Tuesday)
– Competition will take place at Kingsmead.
Saturday 15 October – Grade 3-7 Inter-Schools Athletics Meeting (Teams to be confirmed and on the app by Wednesday)
– The meeting will take place at St Stithians. All athletes are to please meet at St Stithian’s.
ALL ATHLETES ARE TO MEET AT ST STITHIANS. MEETING TIME WILL BE PLACED ON THE APP CLOSER TO THE EVENT.
Thursday 27 October – Grade 3-7 Diving trials (open to all divers who attend team training sessions)
– Trials will take place at Kingsmead
Friday 28 October – Grade 4-7 Soccer matches vs St Peter’s (Teams to be confirmed and on the app by Tuesday)
– Venues to be confirmed
ALL PLAYERS THAT ARE PLAYING AWAY ARE TO MEET AT THE GYM BY 13:00 TO TRAVEL ON THE BUS.

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.