Dear Kingsmead Community,
At the start of 2022, our intentional focus was to begin the year with a positive approach; a movement from the Covid-19 chaos into a normality defined as ‘new’. Our framework for conversations, curriculum and onboarding was captured by our Grade 7s – as a time to RISE. We focused on rising with optimism; Raising Girls to Raise a Nation; hope as the key to recovery and a way to find certainty and stability.
In a leadership book, I recently read, Psychoanalyst, Eric Fromm was quoted as saying that: “We all have a basic human instinct to satisfy our own wants and needs. That instinct often requires us to pursue material wealth. But if we lose a job, a business or any form of material status it does not mean that we lose our talent, skills and strengths – and it certainly does not mean that we lose our values. What we have matters, but who we are matters more” (P Laburn).
Teaching our students to RISE, does not mean that we teach them to get more; to gain more recognition or to achieve more accolades and applause. It means that we teach them that who they are matters more than what they do or achieve. It is a focus on developing our values and authentic human nature that we teach in order for our children, and even ourselves, to learn how to fly. Let us start by focusing on our values here at Kingsmead. Let us serve one another as a community by living the values in our playgrounds, on the sports fields, the classroom and in your homes. Let us remember that we are raising children who will one day raise our grandchildren. The values of responsibility, service, possibility, happiness, purpose and courage are core as we learn to fly. It is easier to measure a persons’ worth by what they have; join us as we start to focus our attention on who we are as a community and be measured by that.
It is wonderful to be back at school. Thank you to the Kingsmead community for your support and care. This is indeed an incredibly special place.
I wish our Grade 6 and 7 students all the best for their final assessments this week. These students are learning the value of commitment, time-management and responsibility and we are proud of their efforts.
We have four weeks left of the 2022 academic year. Please look out for all the communication coming your way. There is so much to celebrate.
With Love and Courage always,
Kim Lowman
Showcases
Mornington Showcase
Such excitement, so much joy and so many proud moments! Our Mornington girls took us on a Journey through Johannesburg, a great reminder of how many exciting places there are to visit in our City of Gold.
There are so many people we would like to thank for the role they played in making our Showcase a success. We are grateful to Esté Meerkotter, our very talented music teacher who spent hours choosing wonderful songs for us to sing, and writing new words for many of them to suit our theme. We are also blessed to have two dance teachers from Jozi Dance, Janelle and Almar, who choreographed our moves. Our amazing teachers designed and organised the costumes and helped to pull everything together. There were also so many people in the background without whom our Showcase could not have happened: Mia Loock, our Marketing department and facilities staff, photographers, videographers and volunteers.
But the real stars of the day were our amazing girls who learnt 22 songs and their own dances. On the big performance day, we can never predict who will be completely distracted by the audience, and who will suddenly shine once they are in the spotlight. Regardless, every girl played their part on stage, and we can only be super proud of their achievement, especially considering they are only four or five years old!
The girls had great fun with the costumes and make-up, adding to the excitement. Our little girls loved performing for their special visitors and there was plenty of laughter, wiggles and waving – sometimes to the extent that any dancing or singing was forgotten completely! But all of this is part of what makes a production like this memorable.
Grade 0 Showcase
The Grade 0s stunned their audience with their interpretation of ‘Colour Chameleon’. The story was beautifully narrated by our girls and told of the adventure of Kamo, the chameleon who moved from a world of black and white to discover all the colours of the world. Grade 0G performed as penguins, pandas, zebras and stars, starting the show with great enthusiasm. Their dances and songs, including our own version of ‘Karma Chameleon’ soon got everyone into a festive spirit.
“And so off Kamo went, our favourite chameleon
To find all the colours of which she had been dreaming
Her journey would take her to places so new
Starting with the primaries, red, yellow and blue.”
The Grade 0L girls appeared as delightful strawberries, bluebirds, ducklings, ladybirds, raindrops and sunshine. They continued the story of how Kamo discovered the primary colours. The well-known songs ‘Cover Me in Sunshine’, ‘Raindrops keep falling on my Head’, and ‘Strawberry Fields’ were sang beautifully and accompanied by the most stunning dance sequences.
“The primary colours made the world a delight
Much more exciting than just black and white.”
Kamo continued her adventure, discovering green, orange and purple. The frogs, grasshoppers, ginger kittens, goldfish, plum fairies and butterflies from Grade 0S entertained the audience with catchy songs, including Goldfish’s ‘Get Busy Living’, and lively dances.
“You see there’s a feast, for our ears, eyes, and nose
You just have to stop, and look really close
And if you’re more careful, maybe you’ll see
Our Kamo Chameleon, colourful as can be.”
The finale came all too soon and it was spectacular when the girls moved into a rainbow formation. Each girl felt special in her eye-catching costume, make up and sparkles. Performing for their families made all those long practices worthwhile. We would like to congratulate our girls for receiving a standing ovation! We are so proud of them for their tremendous accomplishment, but most importantly, we’re glad they had fun!
Arts & Music
It is Concert time!
Well done to our Grade 2 & 3 Music students who performed over the last two weeks, we are so incredibly proud of you! It takes great courage to perform in front of an audience. Diarise the events coming up:
Thursday 10 November | 17:30-18:30 | Grade 0 & 1 Music Concert | Rehearsal space |
Thursday 17 November | 18:00-19:00 | Grade 4 & 5 Music Concert | Joel Hall |
Tuesday 22 November | 18:00-19:00 | Grade 6 & 7 Music Concert | Joel Hall |
Tuesday 29 November | 18:00-19:00 | Junior School Voice Concert | Joel Hall |
- Students must wear their school uniform 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 on the App on the morning of the concert.
- Students who don’t take lessons at Kingsmead who would like to participate must contact mloock@kingsmead.co.za at least one week before the concert to be added to the programme.
The thing about concerts…
Concert time is always a very exciting one for the Music department, our young musicians and their families. Music is a performance art, and we need to perform and share the music we have enjoyed learning. There is nothing like the applause of an appreciative audience and it encourages and motivates a young performer to experience the acknowledgement of their hard work.
We try to create as many performance opportunities as we can: concerts, assemblies, and music performance days. The music teachers love to see their students perform and the enormous smiles of satisfaction after a successful performance!
However, when a performer is not quite ready to perform, a somewhat disappointing performance can cause irreparable harm. Our teachers have their students’ best interest at heart and will not enter them for a concert when they are not quite ready yet. Please trust us. There are numerous opportunities to perform during the year and if a student is not ready this time, there is always another opportunity.
Acknowledgements 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 (dance, drama or music) 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 and some photos. Email to mloock@kingsmead.co.za and efourie@kingsmead.co.za
CAROL SERVICE
For those of us who love Christmas… It is only 45 days to Christmas and 26 days to our annual Carol service – the first‘ live’ service since 2019! This is traditionally a wonderful community event, involving all our choirs and orchestras. It is a compulsory event for all our students and a special evening for our community to come together. Join us to celebrate as a community. The rehearsal schedule will be shared on the App and WhatsApp groups within the next week.
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
Sports
Diving
Congratulations to our divers who competed against St Stithian’s last week. Our divers have worked hard to improve their skills, and the results show it.
Grade 4A
1st Thoriso Motshegoa
2nd Madison Crozier
3rd Kate Redshaw
Grade 4B
2nd Isabelle Munro
4th Kate Van Dyk
6th Sarah Jensen
Grade 5A
1st Milan Williams
2nd Olona Mbele
3rd Kylie Dugmore
Grade 5B
1st Mikayla Rono
2nd Scarlett Haslam
Grade 6A
1st Maya Rono
4th Shane Van Lith
Grade 7A
1st Grace Hefer
Grade 7B
1st Chloe Mandy
Water Polo
On 26 October, the Inyoni and Kingsley Water Polo teams took part in the Wednesday night lights at Roedean. Well done to our players. The results were as follows:
Inyoni vs Reddam Bedfordview Lost 9-2
Kingsley vs Roedean Won 10-1
St Stithian’s Water Polo Tournament
The Kingsmead U13 Water Polo team competed in the St Stithian’s tournament on the weekend of October 28. This competition is extremely competitive, with schools from all around the country participating. Our Kingsmead squad performed admirably and finished 5th out of 14 schools in the event. Congratulations to all players.
We would like to congratulate the following players:
Chloe Chapman
Emily Kennedy
Sofia Allison
Jenna Askew
Erin Boyd
Emma Clowes
Hannah Cooke
Ella de Goede
Emma Gray
Robyn Herold
Zoe Kennedy
Annabelle Herringer
Alexandra Miller
Jada Williams
Robyn Herold is congratulated on receiving player of the match for 4 out of the 9 games played.
We would also like to congratulate Katherine Raats and Grace Rees who played for the WP Elite team from KZN and went on to win the bronze medal in the tournament.
Well done to all players.
Swimming
Congratulations to Zara Harrison for placing 3rd in her age group in the breaststroke race and Charlotte Cederwall for placing 3rd in her age group in the breaststroke and individual medley race at the Mandeville Dolphins Junior League Series gala on Sunday 6 November. Well done, Zara & Charlotte!!
Soccer
Our soccer season is well on its way and our players have been making us very proud. Results for the last 2 weeks’ fixtures are as follows:
Matches vs St Peter’s
Grade 4A draw 0-0
Grade 4B draw 0-0
Grade 5A draw 1-1
Grade 5B lost 2-1
Grade 6A won 1-0
Grade 6B won 1-0
Grade 7A lost 2-1
Grade 7B won 4-0
Matches vs Roedean
Grade 4A won 2-1
Grade 4B won 4-0
Grade 5A lost 2-0 against Roedean A
Grade 5A Won 1-0 against Roedean B
6A lost 1-0
6B lost 3-0
7A draw 1-1
7B won 9-0
Combined grades 6&7 won 3-0
Well done to our soccer players!
Gymnastics
Congratulations to Fallon Grundlingh for receiving half colours for Central Gauteng Gymnastics. She placed 3rd overall at the Wanderers Club Championships on Thursday 3 November and placed first at the Zone Competition on Friday 4 November. Well done, Fallon!
Upcoming Events
Thursday 10 November – Grade 3 Soccer Matches (selected players)
– Matches will take place at Kingsmead.
Friday 11 November – Grade 4-7 Soccer matches vs St Mary’s (selected players)
– Matches will take place at Kingsmead.
Saturday 12 November – Grade 4-7 Inter-Schools Diving Competition (selected divers)
– Competition will take place at St Andrew’s.
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
Service
Bread tags and bottle tops for a wheelchair
Thank you to the entire Kingsmead Community for your dedication and kindness in collecting bread tags and bottle caps to donate to “The Sweetheart” foundation who provide wheelchairs to those who need them most.
The bread tag and bottle top collection project, which began in 2014, came to a halt in 2020 due to Covid-19. However, now that things have returned to “normal,” we have been able to pick up speed on the collection, and recently donated 32 bags of bottle tops to ‘The Sweetheart’ Foundation—all donations will go toward purchasing a wheelchair for 15-year-old Bandile.
Bandile is a lovely young gentleman with Cerebral Palsy who has never had the joy of standing up or moving around by himself. This young man refuses to be defined by his physical limitations, and he always leaves people in awe with his big heart and eagerness to share.
For the last five years, he has been enrolled in a wonderful school in Johannesburg where he has access to a motorised wheelchair whilst at school. Over the years, going home during the holidays and weekends was always difficult and emotionally taxing for Bandile because the motorised wheelchair is difficult to transport from and to school (not only is it large, but relying on public transportation is very expensive), once at home, he is completely reliant on his family to move him around. The family had exhausted all options in order to provide their son with the best possible future and mobility, and eventually reached out to “The Sweethearts” Foundation for assistance. Thanks to the Kingsmead family’s hard work and dedication, he will now have his own fitted home wheelchair.
Thank you to everyone who helped make Bandile’s dream a reality. Let’s keep collecting.