Dear Kingsmead Community,
I trust that the half term break was a good time for our teachers and students to rest, take one last deep breath and get ready to dive into the final few weeks of the third term. We have many things to achieve together before the year closes and we are looking forward to each and every one of them.
During the course of the last week, we were able to celebrate some of the Junior Primary Showcases, while we eagerly await the rest in November.
We would like to thank all the families who took the time to join us in witnessing nothing by joy and happiness. It was our privilege to watch these showcases as they remind us that education goes far beyond what happens within the 4 walls of a classroom. Our students, staff and class reps, put in a lot of preparations for their items.
While delighting in the showcases and starting to reflect on 2022’s successes of our school and students, we feel such – JOY and happiness.
This left me questioning – What is joy? What is happiness? And what is the difference between joy and happiness?
The difference between joy and happiness lives in the mind and heart.
- Joy is a little word. Happiness is a bigger word.
- Joy is in the heart. Happiness is on the face.
- Joy is of the soul. Happiness is of the moment.
- Joy transcends. Happiness reacts.
- Joy runs deep and overflows, while happiness hugs hello.
- Joy is a practice and a behaviour. It’s deliberate and intentional. Happiness comes and goes along its way.
- Joy is an inner feeling. Happiness is an outward expression.
Thank you to each of your daughters and the teachers, who allow us to practice joy. Know joy. Live joy. To feel happiness, in the various moments of our school year.
Yours in Joy and Happiness,
Tarryn McLaren
Deputy Head: Senior Primary
Showcases
Grade 1 Showcase – Seasons of Life
Once upon a time in fairyland, the Grade 1s became seasonal fairies and put together the most amazing show explaining the different seasons. The Grade 1 students loved every minute of being on the stage, dancing and singing with joy and zest. They wowed their audience and had them singing along to all their songs. They certainly put a little bit of sunshine into everyone’s pocket. And after singing and dancing all about the rain, that afternoon Kingsmead had its first spring showers.
Grade 2 Showcase – Sweet Charlie
It was a sweet treat to watch the ‘delicious’ Grade 2s dressed up as ice-creams, popcorn and sweets in their showcase “Sweet Charlie”. The girls had learned all about chocolate, the history of chocolate and of course we read the classic novel, ‘Charlie and The Chocolate Factory’ by Roald Dahl. Our script was South Africanised to include Charlie (a girl) and all the other wonderful characters who were Proudly South African. Veruca Letswai was one of our favourite characters and her bad manners made the audience giggle. The moral of the story was that one needs to believe in magic and live the habit of mind ‘wonderment and awe’. The girls sang their hearts out and had the audience crying in Fight Song and laughing in “Chew, chew, chew your bubblegum.”
Grade 3 Showcase – Amo in Wonderland
We’ll tell you a story, if you’re willing to listen
About a place of magic and a little glisten
There’s also a girl, Amo’s her name
And this is the story that gives her some fame
The Grade 3 students welcomed their guests to Wonderland and took them on a magical adventure. Amo and her animal friends were entertained at the Mad Hatter’s tea party. The showcase reminded the students of having Courage and Persistence along life’s journey. It certainly was a magical concert, filled with fun and laughter. The girls loved learning their dance for the Eurythmics song, Sweet Dreams are Made of This. We were so proud of them for working as a team to arrange their costumes and accessories. This reaffirmed the last line in the script of them feeling confident that “they are already enough”.
If you think it a dream, you’d better think twice
Our Amo really did see rabbits and mice
And though there were trials, and challenges too
Amo persisted, and eventually won through
So remember persistence, when the going gets tough
You have all that you need, you’re already enough
Art and Music
Dance Achievements
A number of Kingsmead students recently participated in Tania Doyle’s production of The Magic of Disney at the Lesedi Theatre. Ella van Dyk, Sienna Hutchings and Sophie Jensen performed in Toy Story, Catie Burgoyne danced in Beauty and the Beast, while Kate van Dyk, Stephanie Rees, Sarah Jensen and Kate Redshaw performed in The Lion King and Grace Rees in Cars. Both the dancers and audience thoroughly enjoyed the performances, and the participants should be proud of the hard work and persistence that went into such a wonderful production.
One of our Grade 7 dancers, Paula Anderson, participated in the 2022 American Dance Awards on 6 October. She achieved a gold medal in the category Competitive Ballet age 12. Well done, Paula!

JOZIDANCE has had an incredible year with some extraordinary achievements! Over the last few months, the Kingsmead Jozidancers participated in the World Lyrical Dance Federation’s competition at the Roodepoort Theatre. Many of these dancers went on to participate in the International Dance Open South African Qualifier where they qualified to represent South Africa in the A-team at the finals in Croatia. Congratulations to teacher Janelle Classens for her award for choreography. At the World of Dance International Workshop, a worldwide sensation of which the finals took place on live television in the USA, our Director Jayd Swart was one of the facilitators and two of our senior dancers represented Jozidance at Kingsmead with great success.
Huge congratulations to Meera Luksmidas, Maia Luksmidas, Fallon Grundlingh, Amari Afrika, Aimee Schloss, Zoe Schloss, Caitlyn Jewel and Lerato Langana, who not only represented Kingsmead at the JOZI Youth Dance Company Annual Professional Workshop and Auditions, but were successful in this event. Teachers Sabelo Maphumulo, Almar Kanda and Jayd Swart were facilitators at this prestigious event.
St Mary’s Ensemble Festival
Just before half term break, our Junior School Orchestra participated in the annual Ensemble Festival at St Mary’s. Not only did they share the music they have worked hard to learn, but they also had the opportunity to perform alongside all the other orchestras who participated in the event. What an absolute joy and privilege to perform in a mass orchestra for an appreciative audience!
Thank you to all our orchestra parents for your ongoing support, at this event and throughout the year.


Upcoming events to diarise
- Students must wear their summer school uniform for concerts and arrive at least 15 minutes before the start of the concert.
- Not all music students who take lessons at Kingsmead will necessarily perform in these concerts. Individual music teachers will use their discretion to establish whether a student is ready to perform.
- The concert programme will be posted in the morning of the concert on the app.
- Students who don’t take lessons at Kingsmead who would like to participate must contact mloock@kingsmead.co.za or efourie@kingsmead.co.za at least one week before the concert to be added to the programme.
Thursday 3 November | 17:30-18:30 | JS Grade 3 Music Concert | Joel Hall |
Tuesday 8 November | 17:30-18:30 | JS Grade 2 Music Concert | Rehearsal space |
Thursday 10 November | 17:30-18:30 | JS Grade 0 & 1 Music Concert | Rehearsal space |
Thursday 17 November | 18:00-19:00 | JS Grade 4 & 5 Music Concert | Joel Hall |
Tuesday 22 November | 18:00-19:00 | JS Grade 6 & 7 Music Concert | Joel Hall |
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.
Elsabé Fourie
Director of Arts & Music
efourie@kingsmead.co.za

Mia Loock
Head of Junior School Music
mloock@kingsmead.co.za
Sport
We have had a very busy Term 3A and we are really looking forward to an eventful Term 3B. Our Term 3B extra-curricular schedule has started and is accessible on the App. Just a reminder that our priority sports for this term are soccer, diving & water polo. All students wanting to make a team are to attend both practise sessions. Should your daughter not be able to make a session, please inform the teacher in charge of the sport.
Athletics
Saturday, 15 October 2022, marked the end of the athletics season. We have been blessed to witness the most admirable sportsmanship, grit, and Kingsmead Courage at each of our fixtures. Each week, we were taken aback by the talent our athletes put forward and the hard work they dedicated to their specific events. Inter-Schools, the most prestigious athletics event we take part in each year, was phenomenal. We had spectators, war cries, team spirit, laughter, personal bests, top placings, and everything we could have hoped for such an event to hold. We would like to extend our congratulations to our athletes for being as wonderful as they are – we are proud of each of you, and truly admire you for your dedication this season. We would like to leave the following quote by Tommy Lasorda with our athletes, “the difference between the impossible and the possible lies in a person’s determination.”
The following athletes placed within the top 3 in their events:
Liani van Lith
Grade 3 Long Jump
3rd Place
Grace Hefer
Grade 7 Hurdles (B Race)
3rd Place
Mia Parry
Grade 3 60m (C Race)
2nd Place
Keodirelang Maqubela
Grade 4 80m (A Race)
3rd Place
Robyn Herold
Grade 7 100m (D Race)
3rd Place
Grade 7 200m (B Race)
3rd Place
The overall results for Saturday, 15 October 2022, are as follows:
1) St Peter’s – 398
2) St Mary’s – 378
3) St Andrew’s – 291
4) St Stithian’s – 249
5) Brescia House – 236
6) Kingsmead College – 225
7) Holy Rosary – 187
8) St Teresa’s – 88
Tennis
Our tennis players finished off the season with some fun matches and a dress-up. The players had an absolute blast whilst playing the game they love. There were some very interesting outfits on the tennis courts.
Diving
Congratulations to the following divers who competed at the Gauteng National Diving Championships on Saturday 15 October:
Jada Williams – 3rd place
Maya Rono – 1st place
Olona Mbele – 2nd place
Kylie Dugmore – 3rd place
Water Polo
We would like to congratulate the following players for participating in the Roedean U14 water polo tournament that took place over the half term (20-23 October). They all played so well, and the team placed 9th overall. Well done to the following students:
Robyn Herold
Chloe Chapman
Hannah Cooke
Jenna Askew
Jada Williams
Sofia Allison
Maryam Hassan
Alexandra Miller
Congratulations to the following students for being selected for the Gauteng Water Polo teams:
U13B:
Jenna Askew
Chloe Chapman
Hannah Cooke
Emily Kennedy
U12A:
Zoe Kennedy
Erin Boyd (Non-Travelling Reserve)
Emma Clowes (Non-Travelling Reserve)
Chess
On 17 September 2022, Chess Molecules hosted a tournament at St Mary’s, Waverley. The tournament had 3 sections namely: Grades 0 – 3, Grades 4 – 7 and Grades 8 – 12.
Kingsmead Junior School chess players did exceptionally well in the tournament and achieved outstanding results:
Grade 0 – 3 section
Milisithando Mabusela – 1st place
Nondumiso Mabuza – 3rd place
Kganya Rakumakoe, Bokang Phiri, Ariel Harris – top 10
Grade 4 – 7 section
Lalu Hu-Grobelaar – 1st place (beating both boys and girls)
Jasmine Lovemore – 11th place
We also acknowledge the commendable effort of the following students for participating in their first tournament:
Irene Kamera, Chengeto Munyaradzi, Abigail Linnell and Hanna Linnell.
Soccer
A reminder that our Grade 4 – 7 soccer sessions on a Monday will be taking place at Wanderer’s athletics club until the Astro is complete. Once complete, all soccer sessions will move to Kingsmead College. (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. Please see below the estimated times of bus departures:
Trip one (Grade 4 & 5 Soccer players)
Bus depart: 14h00
Bus return: 15h30
Trip two (Grade 6 & 7 Soccer players)
Bus depart: 15h00
Bus return: 16h30
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.
Hockey
Congratulations to Georgie Dalling and her team for winning the Indoor Hockey season. Well done, Georgie!

Swimming
Congratulations to Fallon Grundlingh & Charlotte Cederwall. They both participated in a swimming gala at the Linden Mini Lympics and did very well. Fallon placed 1st in Freestyle and Breastroke, 2nd in Backstroke and 5th in Butterfly and Charlotte placed 2nd in Breaststroke and 10th in Freestyle. Well done to these swimmers!


Term 3B Extra-Curricular Schedule
A reminder that the new extra-curricular schedule is in full swing. The schedule can be accessed on the App.
Upcoming Events
Thursday 27 October – Grade 3-7 diving trials (divers that attend team practises)
– Trials will take place at Kingsmead.
Friday 28 October – Grade 4-7 soccer matches vs St Peter’s (selected players)
– Grade 4 & 5 matches will take place at Wanderer’s/Kingsmead depending on the completion of the new Astro.
– Grade 6 & 7 matches will take place at St Peter’s.
ALL PLAYERS THAT ARE PLAYING AWAY ARE TO MEET AT THE GYM BY 13h00 TO TRAVEL ON THE BUS.
Friday 28 October – Sunday 30 October – St Stithian’s Invitational Water Polo Tournament (Teams to be confirmed and on the App by Wednesday)
– The tournament will take place at St Stithian’s.
A few reminders for parents & guardians:
- Please send any sports achievements (school & non-school) to Mrs Hanekom.
- A reminder to please download the Kingsmead app as this will be the direct method of communication to parents on sport fixture days.
- 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.
- A reminder to refer to the week ahead document on the app under the Sports section

Yours in sport
Shavaun Hanekom
Head of Junior School Sport
Conversation Starters for Families
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.

Our reflections of Goodwill Day
Goodwill Day’s excitement started on the day that we were told about serving tea, coffee, scones and cupcakes to raise money for ‘Rays of Hope’. All our hearts started racing knowing that we were going to get a chance to prove that we are responsible! We got into groups of three to decorate a table; we chose an orange theme.
The day finally came where we had to miss a day of school so that the school could set up for all of the excitement. We woke up super early the next morning to go to school to set up our tea garden table which was a great experience.
The time where we participated in the walk in colour came and man-o-man there was intense competition! People were jokingly making bets on who would run the walk and come in first! This was so much fun! After this event, the day just got better with the obstacle courses, inflatables, climbing activities, scuba diving and so much more!
The Grade 9s were amazing with their great circus games and stalls that included face painting, henna tattoos and even soft serve ice-cream machines!
Goodwill Day – you were such a treat! The memories of this day will remain special for a very long time.
By Robyn Herold, Jada Williams and Annabelle Herringer
Goodwill day
Goodwill day was extremely fun, from the food stalls to the jumping castles to the shopping. There were hundreds of people there to participate in the walk. One of the best parts of the day was the Grade 9 stalls who offered endless entertainment. We could tell they put a lot of work in to their games. Another fun thing about the day was the jumping castles; they were fantastic! The line to enter the rocket went on for miles throughout the day. There was a lot of effort put into the day and it was worth it. The Grade 7 tea garden was a huge success after all the planning. We’re so proud of what we achieved on Saturday.
Nuha Jassat & Hannah Mills