Academic, Awards, Bulletin

Academic Awards

We would like to take this opportunity to honour learners in each respective grade who had attained high academic successes during the course of last year.
We would like to congratulate these learners – not simply on their high achievement in academics, as important as that is – but on their deep and genuine engagement in learning and an eagerness to stretch and challenge themselves to get the most out of their education at Union.
• These awards are calculated on learners’ November 2020 results.
• These Grade 6 to 8 learners identified here, will be awarded academic bars, the Grade 9 and 10 learners academic ties and the Grade 11 and 12 learners Half and Full Colours.

Grade 6
Kirsten Collett
Nasreen Foster
Tara Piercy
Aimee Short
Amber Slater

Grade 7
Josh Arends
Amber Bezuidenhout
Samantha Charles
Taegen Hamid
Ciara Kivedo
Jade Palmer
Katelyn Trollip

Grade 8
Muhammad Ahmed
Sasha Cochrane
Zara Deysel-Douman
Tara Ferreira
Erin Gedult
Kenza Neill
Megan Nortje

Grade 9
Caytah-Leigh Koeberg
Na’eem Mahomed
Sade May
Joy Merifield
Joshua Neill
Charlize Vorster

Grade 10
Cadee Arends
Lana Bouwer
Siyamthanda Desha
Jenna-Lee Jansen
Tayla Kingwill
Siphosethu Malontana
Gemma Naude
Brigette Oelofsen
Anna Pringle
Simone Prinsloo
Caitrin Spence
David Venter
Andrue Victor
Trinity West

Grade 11 Half Colours
Amber Binney
Alexandra Imrie
Chloe Shires

Grade 11 Full Colours
Matthew Basson
Kendall Krige
Matthew McNaughton
Grace Merifield
Kathryn Odendaal

Grade 12 Half Colours
Catelyn Anthony
Kyle-Luke du Preez
Petra Japhta
Litha Mngoma
James Pringle

Grade 12 Full Colours
Mekisha Manzana
Amzolele Relu
James Rose-Innes
Melissa Swart
Hanna Watermeyer

Bulletin, Student Life

Representative Council Of Learners 2021

Union High School recently elected class representatives as well as a new Representative Council of Learners (RCL).
Elections for the new RCL were done last month and all learners from Grade 8 to 12 participated.
The class representatives and members of the RCL are, at all times, expected to carry themselves with excellence and epitomise what a Union learner should be: kind, caring and sensitive to the needs of others; hard-working and motivated to bring about positive change in their environment; honest, trustworthy and dependable; but, most of all, proud of their school and the opportunity to serve others. This is what the RCL of Union High School strives constantly towards.
Congratulations to:
𝗚𝗿𝗮𝗱𝗲 𝟴:
• Erin Gedult (Class representative)
• Aaminah Steele (Class representative)
• Megan Nortje (Class representative)
• Kananelo Kometsi (Class representative)
• Zenande Mazana (Class representative)
• Lisakhanya Menos (Class representative)
𝗚𝗿𝗮𝗱𝗲 𝟵:
• Sade May (Class representative and RCL member)
• Joshua Basson (Class representative and RCL member)
• Na’eem Mahomed (Class representative and RCL member)
• Caytah-Leigh Koeberg (Class representative and RCL member)
𝗚𝗿𝗮𝗱𝗲 𝟭𝟬:
• Laythan Carelse (Class representative and RCL member)
• Jude Langmead (Class representative and RCL member)
• Lulibo Pietersen (Class representative and RCL member)
• Caitrin Spence (Class representative and RCL member)
• Simone Prinsloo (Class representative)
• Jenna-Lee Jansen (Class representative)
𝗚𝗿𝗮𝗱𝗲 𝟭𝟭:
• Bubele Thibini (Class representative and RCL member)
• Alutho Cekiso (Class representative and RCL member)
• Asa Matross (Class representative and RCL member)
• Lisakhanya Mvandaba (Class representative and RCL member)
𝗚𝗿𝗮𝗱𝗲 𝟭𝟮:
• Siphesihle Goliath (Class representative and RCL member)
• Chloe Bosch (Class representative and RCL member)
• Liso Binqela (Class representative and RCL member)
• Hannah Watermeyer (Class representative and RCL member)
Bulletin

Governing Body Elections 2021

Union High School will be holding its School Governing Body elections on Friday, 19 March 2021.

We urge all parents/guardians to use this opportunity to exercise their right to elect a governing body member of choice or to make themselves available for election to serve on this important body.

Academic, Bulletin

Matriculant Receives Best Achiever Award

Union High School is proud to announce that Katherine Imrie has been awarded the Rupert Achievement Award for being the highest achieving 2020 matric candidate in Graaff-Reinet.
The Rupert Achievement Award consists of a cash prize that will be paid towards her studies.
Katherine has just arrived at the University of Cape Town where she has been accepted to study towards a Bachelor of Science (BSc) degree.
Congratulations Katherine! Best of luck in your studies!
Bulletin, Hostels

New Junior Co-ed Boarding Establishment

One thing is certain: change is essential. Change means growth, progress and moving forward.
In what has been one of the most significant developments at Union High School in recent times, the school officially reopened its two boarding houses as co-ed establishments on Monday, 1 March 2021 – Herby Arnott House as a junior co-educational boarding house for Grade 5 to 7 learners and Arthur Kingwill House as a senior co-educational boarding house for Grade 8 to 12 learners.
Herby Arnott House has served the school as its girls’ hostel since 1959 when it was built. Arthur Kingwill House, in turn, has served as the school’s boys’ hostel since its construction in 1953. As of this week, these two boarding establishments now offer Union High School’s boarders a modern, vibrant and age-appropriate co-ed experience.
Combined, the Union Preparatory School and Union High School now offer three co-educational boarding houses:
• Max Kroon House for the Grade 1 to 4 learners;
• Herby Arnott House for the Grade 5 to 7 learners and;
• Arthur Kingwill House for the Grade 8 to 12 learners.
At Union, we pride ourselves on providing our boarders with a safe and supportive environment and believe that the restructuring of our boarding establishments as co-educational houses will have many benefits for our learners, not least the further development of the family atmosphere for which Union is rightly proud, but it will also serve to provide a mutually supportive environment for both boys and girls to live and work together and learn from each other.
All three houses have separate boys’ and girls’ wings with spacious common rooms, game rooms and extensive grounds and sports facilities that provide the necessary break-out spaces for busy and active children.
An experienced and dedicated team of boarding staff creates a warm and caring atmosphere across all three boarding houses, offering round the clock support to ensure the learners feel at home.
Each house has been structured in such a way that if offers its boarders a comfortable home-away-from-home where they can feel a sense of belonging, make friends and enjoy their school years fully immersed in Union’s vibrant campus life. This enables learners to flourish at a time in their life when they are making great leaps in their academic, physical and emotional development.
Seen here is our very first group of Grade 5 to 7 boarders to reside in Union’s new junior co-educational boarding establishment at Herby Arnott House.
Bulletin

Youth For Christ

After a year-long hiatus due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the weekly meetings of the Junior SCA resumed again last week.
Union’s Junior and Senior Student Christian Association (SCA) is a society that stands for Jesus Christ. It is a safe place for girls and boys who are walking in faith to come and grow and have fun with other Christians.
The Junior SCA meetings, which at present are open to all Grade 5, 6 and 7 boarders, are held every Wednesday evening, under the guidance of Ms Jenny Street.
These intimate meetings take the form of a Bible lesson and activities around a specific theme, supported by Scripture references and prayer.
Biathlon, Student Life

Learners Add Colour to Middle Street

On Wednesday and Thursday afternoon, 3 and 4 March, a few of Union’s learners enjoyed the once-in-a-lifetime experience of working alongside renowned artist, Michèlle Nigrini, while creating a massive work of art in Middle Street.
Their eye-catching mural was created to celebrate the unique immersion of colour, collaboration and creative interaction of two simultaneous art exhibitions in Graaff-Reinet, which opened to the public on Friday, 5 March.
The first exhibition, ‘In Conversation with Colour Symphony’, is being housed at the Jan Rupert Art Centre in Middle Street and is a group exhibition comprised of over 40 artworks.
The second exhibition, ‘Outside In’, is a solo exhibition by Nigrini, and is being housed in Church Street, at the Imibala Gallery.
Both exhibitions are centred around Nigrini’s extraordinary installation, ‘Colour Symphony’, which was moved from the Rupert Museum in Stellenbosch to the Jan Rupert Art Centre in Graaff-Reinet for this event.
Union High School extends its thanks to the Jan Rupert Art Centre and to artist Michèlle Nigrini for involving the learners in this project and invite the public to view their finished mural in Middle Street.
Academic, Bulletin

Congratulations Class Of 2020

2020 was an extremely challenging year, but, despite the extraordinary circumstances, the grit and resilience demonstrated by Union High School’s Class of 2020 have been remarkable.
Our sincerest thanks go to a very dedicated team of educators as well as to our Union families who supported the learners during this time.
The matrics of 2020, who achieved a 96,5% pass rate, gathered a total of 61 subject distinctions amongst themselves in the recent National Senior Certificate (NSC) examinations.
Of the 57 candidates, 80% achieved Bachelor passes.
Pass rate: 96,5%
Diploma pass: 18%
Number of candidates: 57
Number of distinctions: 61
Number of candidates with ‘A’ aggregates: 4
The Class of 2020’s Top 3 candidates, Sara Kingwill, Katherine Imrie and Laetitia Theron. Between them, they managed to collect 19 subject distinctions.
We heartily congratulate Katherine Imrie, Union High School’s top candidate, who achieved the highest average (87,43%) and a full house of seven (7) subject distinctions.
Sara Kingwill achieved the second-highest average (85,57%) and six (6) subject distinctions.
Laetitia Theron achieved the third-highest average (85,29%) and six (6) subject distinctions.
Bowen Langmead placed fourth with his average of 80,71% and three (3) subject distinctions.
Rounding out our top 5 is Erin Mitchell with an average of 77,57% and four (4) subject distinctions.
While we highlight the top achievers, we also acknowledge the hard work and personal accomplishments of each learner and appreciate the dedication and commitment to their learning.
Your achievements, despite the unprecedented circumstances you faced, are truly exceptional. Some lovely personal bests, a few superb distinctions and all-round pleasing results have been reported.
We’re so proud of you all and wish you every success as you embark on a new chapter of your lives.
Bulletin, Student Life

Prefects Get Together

On Thursday evening, 18 February, Union High School’s 2021 prefect body enjoyed an informal get-together at the Tony Burrell Union.
They spent their evening discussing their duties and responsibilities as prefects, having fun together during the various team-building activities and enjoying a delicious build-a-burger dinner.
The evening brought all of the prefects closer together and helped them to focus on a shared vision for this year.
The team of prefects look forward to working together with staff and learners in 2021!