a place to BELONG

CO-EDUCATIONAL THOMAS MORE COLLEGE OFFERS THE PERFECT BALANCE BETWEEN ACADEMICS, SPORTS AND CULTURE

As one enters through the gates of our magnificent campus, the rich ethos of a 60-year-old, highly successful and progressive school greets visitors and family alike. The magnificent views over Durban reflect the vision of a safe, happy and family-orientated school with successful Alumni in all walks of life.

The facilities speak for themselves and affirm the manifold opportunities presented to students of Thomas More College.

Our Academic programme is incredibly innovative and we place very strongly in the IEB National Rankings celebrating a 100% pass and numerous distinctions on an annual basis.

Sport has been identified as a priority area and the appointment of Mr Ross Veenstra as our Sports Director, who has a proven track record in terms of the future of sport in a number of co-educational schools, highlights our commitment to this ideal. We are aware that the sourcing and retention of high calibre coaches who must primarily establish and build a relationship of trust with the students, is an important component of success. We have mandatory sport and a physical literacy programme to increase the wellness and skills of our students.

Our three choirs, marimbas and orchestra celebrate the arts with our innovative drama department.

We celebrate our coeducation and its proven track record. It’s a co-educational world out there, and the value of these skills and interactions cannot be underestimated in the highly competitive workplace our young people will find themselves in. Through our unique consequence management programme our students take responsibility for their journey in partnership with parents and teachers.

The overriding value of Thomas More is love – there is a sense of that in terms of concern spent on students, how we celebrate the success of students and how we define that success. While over the years our school has achieved exceptional IEB results, our true success lies in the students who identify this as a place to belong and how we are able to unlock that potential. For us that’s the true definition of success - if a person can leave here with strong self-esteem, and high EQ in the way they can read and relate to people we have served them well.

Article written by High School Headmaster, Matthew Davies.

It’s rife globally, with new scams popping up regularly. In South Africa, the skills and creativity run high. For those who haven’t fallen prey, they’re often aghast at the ease with which others have done so … until it happens to them. Those who have been scammed, are usually ashamed to talk about it. Why? Because the human factor plays a role, and victims are aware they’ve played a part in their own demise – it’s simply embarrassing.

Good scammers are extremely skilled at what they do, and manipulating emotions is one of them. Most scams have tiny red flags through the process, but somehow, our eye on the goal, we quash that little feeling of unease. As they say, “Hindsight is always 20/20.”

The online culture has made it far easier for fraudsters. Many people are unskilled and anxious around technology, which makes them ripe for the picking – with the older generation being perfect prey. When it comes to buying (and selling) on platforms such as Marketplace, Bid or Buy, Gumtree or indeed, even professionallooking, but little-known sales sites, the motto around pricing is: If it seems too good to be true, it usually is. Days or weeks like Black Friday are every scammer’s dream, because as a shopper, your interaction is underpinned by the belief the price will be far cheaper than usual. Your guard is down, and hey, it’s Black Friday. An amazing price is suddenly believable.

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Kaamini Reddy laughed bitterly: “I was so naive,” she says. “We just don’t