Possibility
Dear Kingsmead Community
“If you embrace possibility thinking, your dreams will go from molehill to mountain size, and because you believe in possibilities, you put yourself in a position to achieve them” John C. Maxwell.
Our winter term brings with it so much possibility; possibility to engage as individuals in many opportunities to grow and learn. We started by celebrating 25 years of democracy during election week, reminding us of the importance to instill a sense of hope for our future as South Africans. We also celebrate World Africa Day with our girls this term, which was launched beautifully at our assembly on Monday.
“Possibility” is one of our Kingsmead values. By focusing on individual strengths, we can ensure that each student at Kingsmead believes in the possibility for a happy and fulfilled future.
I encourage each staff member, each parent and each student to consider their responsibility to actively seek opportunities to contribute meaningfully- to find possibility in every month, week, day and event presented this term. We look forward to World Africa Day celebrations; Book Week, the highly anticipated Book Fair; The Grade 7 Production; Dance Marathon; the many service outings and visits; music and sports festivals; and Student-Led academic discussions. Join us, as we find many reasons to celebrate possibility this term.
Happy Mother’s Day for Sunday, 12 May. I hope that mothers, grandmothers, aunts and guardians were celebrated this weekend. May all the love you share with others, come back to you in the week ahead.
Kim Lowman
Head: Junior School
SERVICE NEWS
Give without expecting reward
Kate Chapman initiated a remarkable Service initiative in the holidays. She rallied together a team consisting of Olivia Cooke, Lucia Sabbioni, Kayley Ritchie, Gabriella Dodd and Rebecca McMillan to raise funds for The Society for Animals in Distress and Salvazione School.
Kate was inspired after doing a big household spring clean, to organise a neighbourhood “Make your Mark on voting day charity jumble sale.” She made a poster, helped her mom organize all the jumble, bake cupcakes and then got a team of friends to help her ice the cupcake and sell the items which also included scones with jam and cream and lemonade which they took to the local voting station in Dunkeld.
They made a whopping R7500 which is all going to these two very worthy causes. We are so proud of these girls for living out the Kingsmead value of Service and for making such a significant contribution to their community.
Junior School Dance Marathon
At the end of Term 1 the Senior School girls raised more than R100 000 for Dignity Dreams and A21 at the annual Dance Marathon. This term, the Junior School will have a turn to dance and raise funds for Service. The Dance Marathon will be in support of each grade’s community engagement partner and will be held on Thursday 23 May from 11:00 to 14:00 in the Joel Hall.
The following organisations will be supported:
Grade 7 The Society for Animals in Distress
Grade 6 JAM (Joint Aid Management)
Grade 5 Sunshine Association
Grade 4 Fight with Insight
Grade 3 Park Care
Grade 2 The Bunny Hop Haven
Grade 1 St Vincent School for the Deaf
Grade 0, Bluebell and Buttercup will support Service initiatives of the PTA, OKA and MDC.
Our goal is for every Kingsmead pupil to raise donations to the value of R200 (the price of an item identified by each organisation that we partner with). The donation form must be submitted to the Class/Lead teacher on 23 May. Donations can be given in cash or charged to the school account.
Jenny Venter
Director of Service
MUSIC
Grade 7 Production 2019
We are very excited about the upcoming Grade 7 production. In less than six weeks, our Grade 7 girls will take the stage for their annual production. Drought Breaker is an original piece written by our Director Gera Louw. Grade 7 parents, please take note of the following rehearsal and performance dates:
Tuesday 11 June 07:30-14:30 Full day Rehearsal
Wednesday 12 June 07:30-14:30 Full day Rehearsal
Wednesday 19 June 17:30-20:00 Tech Rehearsal
Thursday 20 June 17:00-20:00 Dress Rehearsal
Saturday 22 June 14:00-17:00 Final Run through
Monday 24 June 17:30-20:00 Final Dress Rehearsal
Tuesday 25 June 13:30-14:30 Matinee Performance
Wednesday 26 June 18:00-19:00 Performance
Thursday 27 June 18:00-19:00 Gala Performance
Choir Evening with St David’s
SPORTS NEWS
Welcome back to all our Kingsmead families. We trust that you all had a much-deserved rest and that the girls managed to spend time taking part in many fun events and activities during this break. We have hit the ground running as we always do, and this term promises to be one of short days and long nights as winter fast approaches. However, this will not dampen our sporting spirits as we embark on our Netball programme for the season.
It is at this time that I would like to congratulate the grade 6&7 Netball and school Tennis teams that participated in the St Stithian’s Preparatory Easter Festival at the end of the term. The girls remained unperturbed by the days when the weather was not favorable. In total, both Netball teams managed to play 7 games. The grade 7 team lost 1 game and the grade 6 team was unbeaten.
Our tennis team had the pleasure of playing in the mixed doubles category. They partnered up with Redhill and produced pleasing results. I would like to commend both coaches and players on these outstanding results.
A special mention must be made to the grade 7 spirit team who attended the matches with Kingsley the mascot. Their encouragement was invaluable to the teams’ success.
Extra-curricular
Term 2A is currently underway. I would like to remind the parents and the pupils of the following:
- Girls are expected to attend 2 practice sessions for their chosen sport
- As it is Netball season, Hockey players wishing to play both can do so and need only attend 1 hockey session.
- If a player has chosen only Hockey, then they still need to attend their 2 sessions to be eligible for team selection.
- If there is a clash with goal shooting with other activities, then girls can choose to attend the other goal shooting session regardless of grade.
- Goal shooting sessions however take preference over Hockey.
- Please note that the only amendment we envision to make will be the movement of Grade 6 &7 early morning to an afternoon session once the Astro is available from the SS. We recognise that as the term progresses it will become very cold, however, we are unable to make this change at the moment as our SS is busy with their league fixtures.
- As the temperatures begin to drop, girls are encouraged to wear their school tracksuits to practices. No jerseys, blazers or other coloured warm clothing will be allowed at practices and at Physical Education.
- Yellow hockey socks have been ordered and will be available from the school shop. Unfortunately, there is a 6 week turn-around time. In the mean-time, parents will be able to source these socks from Hermers.
Communication
We are currently working very hard to ensure that the live calendar is consistently up to date. The venues for the Netball fixtures should reflect from Tuesday 14 May. For now please refer to our fixture list below:
Netball Fixtures: 2019
| DATE | HOME | AWAY | TRANSPORT |
| 17 May | Grade 6 & 7 AT Kingsmead
|
Grade 4 & 5 AT
St Peter’s
|
Bus will leave at 13h15 and will be back at Kingsmead at approximately 18h00, depending on the traffic |
| 23 May | Grade 3 AT Brescia House
|
Bus will leave at 13h15 and will be back at Kingsmead at approximately 18h00, depending on the traffic | |
| 24 May | Grade 4 & 5 AT
St Teresa’s
Grade 6 &7 AT Assumption Convent
|
Buses will leave at 13h15 and will be back at Kingsmead at approximately 18h00, depending on the traffic | |
| 31 May | Grade 4 &5 AT Kingsmead
|
Grade 6 & 7 AT
Brescia House
|
Bus will leave at 13h15 and will be back at Kingsmead at approximately 18h00, depending on the traffic |
| 6 June | Grade 3 AT
Kingsmead |
||
| 7 June | Grade 4 & 5 AT
St Andrew’s
Grade 6 & 7 AT St Stithians
|
Buses will leave at 13h15 and will be back at Kingsmead at approximately 18h00, depending on the traffic | |
| FESTIVALS & TOURNAMENTS:
|
|||
| 18 May | Grade 7 A Team AT
St Andrew’s |
OWN TRANSPORT | |
| 18 May | Grade 3 A/B Teams AT Holy Rosary (for this festival the top 16 grade 3 players will be chosen)
Grade 4 A/B Teams AT Holy Rosary |
OWN TRANSPORT | |
| 25 May | Grade 5 to Grade 7 A/B Teams AT Holy Rosary | OWN TRANSPORT |
Please keep an eye out for the Grade 3 sport letter that was sent out today.
We would like to make a plea to our parents to please avoid planning early Friday social engagements. The heads of sport have committed to ensure that the girls are playing full matches as per league rules. This will ensure that girls are not being shortchanged on competitive play. Matches will only be shortened in the event of inclement weather.
Special achievements
Congratulations to Jessica Stevens who made it through to the final round of D13 Netball trials. District 13 has 45 schools competing at Junior level at these trials which means on average Jessica was competing against approximately 300 players. To be selected to attend the final trials for 30 spots is an incredible achievment in indeed. We look forward to watching Jessica’s progress.
GROUP IX INTER-AFRICA CUP VAULTING – 11th & 12th May
Jade Anderson was selected to compete for South Africa in the Group IX Inter-Africa Cup this past weekend. This is a development event offering young vaulters an opportunity to compete internationally. Jade was award an overall 5th place in her category.
SANESA Vaulting Qualifier 3 – 4th & 5th May
Jade Anderson who had an incredible weekend at the Gauteng qualifier. She had the following placings:
1st Level 3 horse overall
1st Level 3 barrel
1st Level 1 horse compulsaries
1st Level 1 barrel
Congratulations Jade.
Sheillah Denenga
Head of Junior School Sport
Kingsmead Book Week 2019
20 May – 23 May
We have some exciting events planned for our Book Week in the lead up to The Kingsmead Book Fair on Saturday 25 May.
The Travelling Bookshop will again be visiting our school. This is a wonderful opportunity for your daughter, and you too, to browse and purchase some top-quality books at amazing discounts. The Travelling Bookshop and Kingsmead are supporting LisaKhanya Ikusasa Reading Club yet again this year! Read about Nhlanhla’s story on the advert enclosed.
The Gr 000 – Gr 3 Reading picnic for the girls and their parents or a special person, on Tuesday 21 May, is always a highlight. Please bring along a blanket, camping chair and breakfast treats to savour while you share your favourite book in and amongst the Junior Primary gardens.
Annual DEAR (Drop Everything And Read) sessions will be marked with the ringing of the bell at different times each day. Your daughter will need to ensure she has a book on her at any given moment so that she can enjoy some quiet reading time for 10 minutes. This year, classes will steer their DEAR sessions with an addictive Class Reading Bingo Chart. Ask your daughter to tell your more about this next week.
The ever-entertaining ‘Hooked on Books’ performances are scheduled for Wednesday 22 May. These shows never disappoint and create much excitement amongst the girls as they rush to the library to get their hands on these enticing reads. Don’t despair if the library runs out of stock, because for the first time Hooked on Books will be selling the books they perform in their shows. Please refer to the detailed communication sent out via email to learn more about how to pre-purchase a book voucher for your daughter to select her book/s straight after the show!
On Thursday 23 May, we will have ‘Book Character Dress Up Day’. Our theme this year is “Read and Rise”. Please encourage your daughter to create her costume from items found at home. We would appreciate it if your daughter could bring along one gently read book to donate as part of our Book Drive Collection.
On Friday 24 May, our school prepares the venue for our popular Kingsmead Book Fair. If you haven’t yet booked tickets, don’t delay!
We look forward to welcoming you all at our 8th annual Book Fair.
Tania O’Maker
Junior School Media Specialist
Book Fair 2019
The countdown to the 8th annual Kingsmead Book Fair is upon us and we are looking forward to another exciting event on Saturday 25 May. If you have not managed to take a look, the full programme is available on the website – www.kingsmead.co.za/bookfair.
Our Kingsmead Book Fair App is available for download. Please download it for iOS and android from the Google Play or App Store or via the link http://myeventzone.eventapp.com.au/. The event code is KBF2019.
Tickets for sessions can be purchased at www.webtickets.co.za. Tickets are R70 for entry and R60 for each session. Children from pre-school to Grade 5 pay the R70 entry and all sessions on our fabulous children’s programme are included. The day is a compulsory school day for all Kingsmead students from Grade 6-12. Girls are expected to come in their school uniform and attend one session, which they have chosen from the options sent to them. Children under 3 are free.
Please follow us on all of our social media platforms for all updates and information on the day:
Facebook – https://web.facebook.com/KingsmeadBF/
Twitter – @KingsmeadBF with #KBF18
Instagram – KingsmeadBF
Again this year we will have amazing food vendors, lots of coffee, Olives & Plates in the tea garden along with Porcupine Ridge wine, craft beer and the gin bar returns to quench your thirst.
We look forward to sharing this day with the Kingsmead Community next Saturday.
Alex Bouche
Director of Marketing