SACRED HEART COLLEGE Tel: 011 081 2203 Reception: 011 081 2200 Fax: 011 648 5204 Website: www.sacredheart.co.za
PRE-PRIMARY AND PRIMARY SCHOOL NEWSLETTER DATE: 29 November 2017
Dear Pre-Primary and Primary School Parents
GENERAL: FOR ALL PARENTS Compulsory Orientation & Registration Day for Parents -02 December Please note that Saturday is for parents only as all staff are involved and no child-care is available. The hall is packed to capacity and there is no spare seating for children. Current Grade 6 parents are invited to the talks but there is no re-registration process as their children will be in the High School which follows a different process. Parking is on the top field. The final programme for Saturday is as follows: 08:45 – 09:00 09:00 – 09:05 09:05 – 09:45
Arrival in the School Hall – Alumni Video Welcome Addresses by the: Chairperson of the Board: Dr Rosario Lamparelli The Board of Governors Head of College: Mr Colin Northmore Education for the Future Introduction of Mr Mark Potterton, new Primary School Principal PACE Chairperson: Mrs Veni Munien High School Principal: Mrs Heather Blanckensee How to Raise an Adult Primary School Principal: Robyn Picas Introduction of Teachers and Changes for 2018 Farewell to Parents 09:45 – 10:15 Meet and Greet Parent/Teacher Tea 10:15 - 11:15 Grade R Talk and Registration in Pre-Primary School Foyer 10:15 – 11:15 Grade 1 Talk and Registration in School Hall 10:15 – 11:15 Grade 2-6 Registration and Collection of School Packs for 2018 Parents will collect these packs from the new teachers for 2018 10:15 – 11:15 Grade 8 Parents Talk in the HS AV Room 1
Temporary class lists will be up at the entrance to the quads. Tea will be in the Foundation Phase Quad for Pre-Primary School and Foundation Phase parents and in the Intermediate Phase Quad for parents whose children are in the Intermediate Phase. Parents will also have an opportunity to register their child for School Transport. The Second Hand Shop will be open on Saturday for parents who would like to purchase uniform items for their child. Carols in the Orchard We are hoping that everyone will join us for a wonderful evening of carols in the Orchard, on Monday 4 December. Please bring along a picnic supper, as well as a blanket. Electronic candles and programmes will be on sale for R15. Once again, there is a special focus on Hospice and Hospice candles will be on sale for R35. You will also have the chance to hang a note on a tree in remembrance of a loved one. Should it rain, unfortunately this event will be cancelled. An sms Please note that this event will take place weather permitting. Christmas Mass We shall be saying farewell to Ms Picas. The Mass will be in the School Hall and will start at 07:40. Parking is on the top field. Parents wishing to attend are most welcome but are asked to RSVP to volenten@sacredheart.co.za for seating purposes. Assembly for the Support Staff at 07:40 on Tuesday 05 December We will be having the Support Staff Assembly in the Chapel on Tuesday 05 December. At this assembly we pay tribute to the support staff, who work tirelessly to make sure that the school is clean, the fields prepared and the buildings in good repair. We will also say thank you to the drivers who drive the children so ably, and to the tuck shop women and Memory who prepare the food and drink. Congratulations We would like to congratulate Mrs Lerelle Moss and her husband on the birth of their new baby girl, Reina.
PRE – PRIMARY SCHOOL Feedback Regarding Collaboration Evening. Thank you to those fifteen parents who attended the evening. It was very informative, as Bea Roberts and Veni Munien explained the purpose of the evening and how the 2
structures of the PA and PACE committees work. They also described the role of the class representatives. Parents were given the opportunity to discuss other issues too. 1) It was explained that a policy booklet would be made available in the Pre-Primary School, detailing the numerous policies, as well as the lines of communication. 2) After deliberation, it was decided that if children need to be dropped off at 07:00 in the morning, they are to be left with Rashida, in the entrance foyer until their teacher arrives. Teachers can only be available in their classrooms from 07:15. 3) Some parents felt that they should receive more information if their children were injured during the day. Other parents felt that they were happy for the school to manage this, and that it was unnecessary to be contacted about minor injuries. 4) The teachers will be more active in ensuring a specific time for hand washing, using a disinfectant, in order to stop the flow of germs. The school will run a campaign in the New Year to address this. 5) Parents must be aware that sick children are not permitted at school. 6) It was agreed that it would be most beneficial to discuss concerns directly with the class teacher. 7) The WhatsApp groups are not a forum for the discussion of concerns but should be used as a quick means of communication. 8) Our anti-bullying campaign is to be made more visible. Assemblies are an opportunity for role-play in order to empower children to cope if they feel bullied. We shall continue to use this time to teach children how to verbalise their feelings and what to do in uncomfortable situations. 9) Teachers will also look at communicating the curriculum. Nativity for Grade R The Grade R children should be dropped off at 17:00 at the Macartin Centre on Friday 1 December. Refreshments will be available whilst the children prepare for the show, which will start at 18:00. Christmas Party The children will be having their Christmas Party on 6 December. Teachers will inform parents if they need to bring anything. Aftercare Aftercare will be available up to and including 15 December. Please advise Leah if you wish your child to attend.
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PRIMARY SCHOOL Awards Ceremonies and Break-up Day – Thursday 7 December Thursday 7 December
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FP Awards Ceremony 07:45 (Hall) IP Awards Ceremony 09:30 (Hall) Reports and school magazines issued 11:00 (Classrooms)
Reports Reports not collected on Thursday by 11:00 will only be available from the Main Reception until Friday 15 December. NB! No reports will be available for collection after 11:00 on Thursday 7 December as all academic and administrative staff go off campus for the Christmas lunch. Clearing up of Classrooms Parents are to ensure that all of their child’s belongings have been cleared out of their locker and taken home by the end of the term. All lost property needs to be cleared on Wednesday 07 December as items remaining will simply be taken to the Second Hand Shop to be sold. Please assist us in getting the school ready for a deep clean over the holiday period. This can only be done if the school is cleared of children’s belongings. Class Allocation Process The teachers use numerous criteria when deciding on the classes for the following year. In addition, the teachers ask the learners to write down the names of two friends with whom they would like to be. The HODs, as well as Mrs Pam Paton-Mills, Ms Smith and Ms Grobler review the class lists critically to ensure the mix is correct. The teachers are in the best position to decide where a child should be placed and we ask parents to trust their judgement. No changes will be entertained. Should there be a change, this will be on account of a late application, sudden relocation or exclusion because of fees. Condolences Our sincere condolences go to Tiara Costella (Grade 4M) and her family on the death of her grandfather. Our thoughts and prayers are with Adelina Hlongwane, one of our support staff members, whose mom passed away this week.
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Grade 1 Sweet and Savoury Sale The Grade 1 children will be have their sweet and savoury sale on Thursday, 30th November. Please support them by sending your child with money. The funds raised are used to buy classroom resources.
The PA’s Appreciation Breakfast for the Academic and Admin Staff – 23 November The speech below was given by Lynda Wilkinson, to express the parent’s appreciation for what the staff do throughout the year. It has been adapted slightly for the purpose of the newsletter. In Margaret Atwood’s poem, Progressive Insanities of a Pioneer, she documents the gradual descent to insanity of a pioneer who tries to impose order and control on the wilderness in which he finds himself. She says that, ironically, the pioneer stood at a point on a sheet ‘proclaiming himself the centre … with no walls, no borders anywhere; the sky no height above him, totally unenclosed and shouted, ‘Let me out!’ ‘ He dug the soil in rows ‘imposed’ and ‘asserted’ himself into the furrows but nature responds with ‘aphorisms’ (truths) in the form of ‘a tree-sprout, a nameless weed, words he couldn’t understand.’ Threatened by nature, he puts up fences but in his house ‘pitched … in the middle of nowhere’, his increasingly paranoid mind, also situated ‘in the middle of nowhere’, imagines the natural world outside stealthily creeping up and surrounding him – ‘the idea of an animal patters across the roof’ - and he feels that ‘everything is getting in’. So ‘for many years he fished for a great vision’ – his idea of what he should achieve in this wilderness but ‘it was very like enticing whales with a bent pin’ – rather hopeless, rather futile. Atwood suggests that ‘if he had understood that unstructured space is a deluge’ and ‘stocked his log-house-boat with all the animals – even the wolves – he might have floated’. But in obstinacy, he states, ‘‘The land is solid’ and stamped, watching [in disbelief]his foot sink down through stone up to the knee’. He is exasperated, frustrated, finds that ‘Things refused to name themselves, refused to let him name them’ and, as nature takes back the clearings of the forest he has made, he forsees ‘disintegration’. In the end ‘through eyes made ragged by his effort ‘the green vision … the unnamed whale invaded’. The poem explores mankind’s egocentric and unflawed belief that he can impose order and control nature, making it bend to his will and purposes. It challenges our understanding of ourselves. It suggests that we have to work with what seems to be disorder and chaos in
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order not only to survive, but to thrive. To impose a certain way of thinking, a dogmatic way of thinking, is really what leads to loss of control. I feel very much a pioneer in parenting. This unchartered territory in which I am trying to impose some kind of order, often frustrates me, exasperates me. As a teacher, I often feel very much the same way. The world is shifting around me; I am forced to rethink how to work with the new child of today in the classroom. The constant negotiation, renegotiation and compromise that must happen, whilst trying to keep sight of certain principles, feels like a descent into insanity at times or trying to keep the ‘unnamed whale’ at bay. I am sure you all often feel the same way; parents and teachers are often in the same head space, the same log-house-boat as is the pioneer. The shift in perspective often requires that we accept that chaos is inevitable, and that crazy can be creative – constructive rather than destructive. It means that if, instead of holding what we perceive as a threat at bay, we allow it into our space – even ‘the wolves’ or ‘the undergrowth’ encroaching on our clearings - then instead of ‘sinking’ in our insistence that something is what it is not, we might ‘float’. If we resist the need to categorise and name everything, to control everything, to insist on our way, we might find wisdom in the chaos, wisdom in the crazy, wisdom in the humour, wisdom in the liberty of thinking in a new way. I am slowly realising that wisdom may be apparent in unthought-of places, like the voices of my children: the reassurance and affirmation of my fourteen year old’s – “Don’t worry, Mom, you’re doing ok”, or the twelve year old’s ability to compromise and mediate friendship issues in ways most adults can’t, or the nine year old’s contemplation of how God might be like the Force of the Jedi. My children have interesting and wise things to say in between the chaos and about the chaos, if I just listen and accept a little craziness. So, as parents and teachers, we need to do crazy, we need to do new, we need to do authentic, we need to do teamwork, we need to do funny, we need to be guided by kindness and, ultimately, we need to do heart. We do all this, in this school. Our token gift to you the teachers, is symbolic of these traits. Firstly, the soap. The soap has an imprint of hands holding a heart. We hope you are going to take a long, hot soak in the bath at the end of term to relax. The hands symbolise your care and nurturing of our children as they pass through your hands. They also represent teamwork – between colleagues but also between teachers and parents working together with the child’s well-
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being as the common goal. On a personal level, I have been so grateful for the emails or texts, or moments in the car park or stairs or quad where you have stopped me to tell me something about my children and showed, in that moment, that you cared. Secondly, the teabag. In history, empires have been built and maintained on the back of drinking tea – the Chinese, the British … it seems to impart a kind of coping strength and you know the tea gets stronger the longer it is subjected to hot water. It may possibly be the key reason for Ms Blanckensee’s strength and sanity, even if she inevitably drinks it cold! And, of course, the chocolate: I believe chocolate solves most things (except maybe a weight loss issue …) and Harry Potter finds it essential after those scary Dementors – the well-named embodiments of insanity – come calling. It’s just what you need if you’re feeling a little demented after a crazy term and Harry Potter can’t be wrong. The breakfast contributions are from the parents, I hope the sheer amount indicates the level of regard the parents have for you and what you do. Please accept our gifts with an understanding of our appreciation for all the crazy stuff you do in educating and caring for our children and enjoy the breakfast.
UPCOMING EVENTS Friday 1 December
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Saturday 2 December Monday 4 December Wednesday 6 December Thursday 7 December
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PPS Newcomers Party: Creche to Grade R (New Children Only); Grade R Nativity Play 17:30 Orientation 2018 for all PPS and PS parents Carols Evening Christmas Mass FP and IP Award Ceremonies Reports Issued School closes 11:00
FROM THE SPORTS DESK Please find the pamphlet and reply slip for the holiday clinic, running during the first week of the December holidays, at the back of this newsletter.
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Come and join us in the
DECEMBER HOLIDAYS at Sacred Heart College
Monday 11 - Friday 15 December for a
FUN SPORTS CLINIC Enjoy yourself by playing sport, fun games, SWIMMING & sharing time with your friends! Soccer Baseball/Softball Swimming
Continuous Cricket Problem Solving Basketball
Racing Games Dodgeball Tennis
Ultimate Frisbee American Football Swimming Games
Time: 08:30 to 12:00 Price:
R550,00 for all 5 days
R130,00 per day
(R1000,00 for 2 siblings, (R1,300,00 for 3 siblings)
Please bring a drink and a packed lunch or snack. All activities are supervised by the Sacred Heart College Sports Department Please Note: The clinic will only be run if we have sufficient numbers attending. Reply Slip: Please return as soon as possible to Mr van der Merwe (071 508 9177) or Mr Lambert (0846276271) so that we may plan activities for the clinic. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - My child(ren), _______________________________ in Grade _______________ will be attending the Fun Sports Clinic during the December holidays. Please tick appropriate box:
All 5 Days (R550) Individual Days (R130 per day) Day/s attending: _____________________________________________
I enclose Cash for the sum of _______________ OR I would like to pay the sum of ________________ via EFT (account details will be e-mailed/sms’ed to you).
Parent/Guardian: ______________________________ Signed: ___________________________ Cell Number: ______________________________
Email: ____________________________________
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