Our Connection : Issue 6 2023

Dear Kingsmead Community,

There are so many reasons to celebrate as we look to the close of our first term. I am reminded of the welcome and information evening at the start of term, where our focus was to come together as a community and develop human-‘being’ skills as opposed to human-‘doing’ skills. Our Social, Emotional Learning (SEL) programme has highlighted the need to develop these critical skills, together with the age-appropriate cognitive skills required. I want to thank our teachers and coaches for creating a safe and stimulating environment for our girls in every way possible this term. It is rewarding to see how many girls have already found their place to ‘shine’. Our talented musicians have played their hearts out during many performances and our aquatics season concluded on a high note. I look forward to the excitement at the Prep sports festival this weekend. We certainly have so much to celebrate!

I do hope that all our families and staff take time this holiday to rest and be ‘still’ as we prepare for our winter term. We wish those celebrating Ramadan a month of peaceful blessings and Chag Pesach Sameach to our Jewish families . Our warm wishes are shared for each family as we prepare to celebrate Easter this holiday. May our community share in the blessings and joy found in this beautiful community.

Please take careful note of the live calendar on the App for events leading up to the school closure on Thursday, 6 April.

With love and Courage Always,
Kim Lowman
Head: Kingsmead Junior School

Thinking at Kingsmead 2023, off to an inspiring start..

It is March, time for the Annual TSSA Roadshow. Our ‘Cognitive Education Department’ has been extremely busy in the background. We have not only hosted staff and parent developments this term but were also invited by Thinking Schools South Africa’s CEO – Dr. Sonja Vandeleur to showcase the Annual TSSA roadshow with an international speaker, Paul Main, on our Kingsmead Campus on Monday, 13 March. Several teachers and education specialists from Gauteng attended this event.

This year the Roadshow is titled: Structural Learning: Learning Fundamentals through Metacognitive Practices. We had several of our staff attend this conference across our various disciplines, but more excitingly, that Kingsmead were asked to be part of this national roadshow and have our NEST Grade 7 committee students assist with the preparation for this event. Our Grade 7 students were able to visit their teachers’ classrooms across campus and gather evidence of where learning and thinking were made visible, showcasing metacognitive practices. An opportunity to showcase evidence of teaching, facilitating, discovery and inquiry learning was showcased at the roadshow for the visitors and was well received, especially how visible and explicit our student’s thinking is.

Paul Main shared several ways in which teachers can get students to take ownership of their learning by using metacognitive strategies. These sessions allowed us to find out how visuals help learning and how students connect ideas together to build conceptual understanding. As teachers we left his session with a ‘Critical Thinking Toolkit’ to help us plan and deliver deeper learning experiences. This feedback will filter into our various grade, phase and subject meetings at Kingsmead. It was so humbling to note how much Kingsmead are doing in terms of their Thinking and Inquiry learning approaches.

Tarryn McLaren
Deputy Head: Senior Primary

Arts & Music

Practice Tips

If your daughter is participating in one of the Grade 1-3 Music Concerts your music teacher will notify you in which concert she will be involved. The Music department offers termly concerts for students who take individual music lessons. These concerts cannot include every music student in our school but provide a performance opportunity for those students who have a piece ready to perform at the time of the concert. If your daughter does not have a piece that is performance-ready at the time of the concert, she hasn’t missed her chance! We also have class concerts, assembly performance opportunities and many more concerts during the year. Should your daughter take lessons privately, outside of Kingsmead, and would like to participate in any of these concerts, please contact Mia Loock via email: mloock@kingsmead.co.za

Students must wear their summer school uniform for these concerts and be at Joel Hall at least 10 minutes before the start of the concert, or as indicated by their teacher.

Sport

St Stithian’s Sport Festival
We wish all our students the best of luck as they participate in the Saints Sports Festival this upcoming weekend. Good luck to the following students:

Squash
Maria Yiannoulakis
Olivia Cross
Rebecca Donly
Teagan Hannig

Tennis
Olivia Turck
Ava Naidoo
Vuyo Mkwanazi
Carla Palmer
Zara Stewart
Leah Schoeman
Madison Botha (only Saturday)

Netball
Grade 5
Ava Booth
Francesca Pardini
Lilia Thomas
Kate van Dyk
Vuyo Mkwanazi
Keodirelang Maqubela
Vera Collocott
Rania Tayob
Scarlett Larsen
Isabella Barnes

Grade 6
Reneilwe Ramutla
Kylie Dugmore
Nina Fourie
Olona Mbele
Scarlett Haslam
Zenoyise Gqoli
Milan Williams
Teagan Hannig
Lucy Berry
Lisakanya Tshabalala

Grade 7
Olivia Turck
Shané van Lith
Omolemo Tebeila
Maya Rono
Sofia Allison
Maria Yiannoulakis
Zara Stewart
Ella Fairlie
Ren Clement
Khwezi Ngqula

Netball
Our first netball fixture for the 2023 netball season took place on 24 March 2023. Our Grade 4 – 7 A to E teams played against St Mary’s and St Teresa’s. The nerves and excitement amongst the players were tangible, but the energy our players brought onto the courts was unparalleled. We are incredibly proud of each of our teams for their phenomenal performances, and commend our players for being true, courageous ambassadors for Kingsmead College.

Equestrian
Lucy Berry competed at the first Sanesa Qualifier on Sunday and received a brilliant set of results. Congratulations on 1st place in Level 1 Equitation and 2nd place in Showjumping Round 1.

Archery
Congratulations to Morgan Chen-Heyneke as she competed at the 73rd SA Nationals Archery tournament from 10-12 March 2023. Morgan placed first in the Girls U13 Barebow category and received a gold medal. We are very proud of you, Morgan.

Tennis
Congratulations to Aliyah Dada in Grade 3 for participating in the Gauteng East Wilson Tennis Tournament. Aliya placed 3rd overall in her category. Well done, Aliya.

Karate
Congratulations to Ishvara Skosana for participating in Karate grading. Ishvara was awarded her red 1 belt. Well done, Ishvara.

Hockey
Congratulations to Georgie Dalling for participating in JHL Hockey matches last week. She played for the Central Samurai’s and her team placed second in the U12 age group. Well done, Georgie.

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/Saturday fixture. Please ensure that you let the coaches know if your daughter is not able to attend a fixture.

Service

Rhino Walk – 6 April
Our Grade 7s have partnered with the Zululand Conservation Trust and will be raising awareness for saving rhinos throughout 2023. Their goal is to adopt a rhino orphan. https://zululandconservationtrust.org/

As part of this initiative all Grade 1-7 students will take part in the Rhino Walk around campus on break-up day, Thursday 6 April, after our assembly. The walk is for awareness and there will be no charge. Each student will be given a sticker for their participation.

Grade 1-7 students must please wear sports uniform to school with a comfortable pair of takkies, and a ‘touch of rhino’! The walk will be followed by a buddy picnic enjoyed on the music lawns while listening to their peers perform.

Conversation Starter
We hope that you enjoyed the last conversation starter…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.

Time is running out to get your entries in for the nationwide Young Writers’ Competition!

Please see details and submit your stories via the website entry form https://kingsmead.co.za/bookfair/young-writers-competition-2023/

Don’t miss out – great prizes to be won. The winner will be announced at this year’s Kingsmead Book Fair on 27 May.

We look forward to reading your entries.