Bulletin

Matric Farewell 2020

On Wednesday evening, 18 March, the Botanics Sports Club will host one of the most exciting and glamorous nights of the year for Union High School’s bright-eyed soon-to-be high school graduates – the 2020 Matric Farewell.

The school extends and invitation to all those interested, to come and watch as the youngsters arrive at the event, emerging in their red carpet worthy outfits from rumbling hot rods, Italian exotics, supercars and the classics, to the dazzle of camera flashes, cheering and ululating crowds.

• Viewing tickets are available at R30 each from Mrs Elsebe Moos at Union High School’s reception.

Sport Results, Tennis

Snr Tennis – Fichardtpark McDonalds Sports Day

Union tennis aces compete in Bloem

On Thursday, 27 February, Union High School’s Top 8 tennis boys and girls hit the road to Bloemfontein, to participate in the Fichardtpark McDonalds Sports Day, hosted by Hoërskool Fichardtpark.

This annual tournament is a highlight on Union’s tennis calendar, and, as always, an incredibly high standard of tennis was evident throughout the competition.

• Boys

Despite a very early start on Friday, the boys were extremely enthusiastic and took to the courts ready to show off their strategies and ball skills in one of the most popular games in the world.

Brent Hesselink got the competition off to a great start for the boys’ second team, winning Union’s very first match of the day.

This seemed to boost his team members’ confidence and the boys continued to produce great tennis throughout the day.

The boys’ first team fared just as well and delivered some really exciting tennis. Congratulations are extended to Matthew Hesselink who won all his singles matches, as well as to doubles duo, Brett Amsterdam and Bowen Langmead, who dominated the court, going unbeaten on the day.

Both the boys’ first and second teams produced really competitive tennis throughout the day and must be commended on their great sportsmanship and never-say-die attitude.

Overall, the boys’ first team ended second in their section, with the second team ending third in theirs.

• Girls

Union’s spirited girls’ first team was divided into a pool that featured some very strong competition.

But, even though they had to face some intimidating tennis heavyweights, the girls never got discouraged, giving it their all on the courts in every single encounter.

The girls tied for third place in their pool, and upon conclusion of the day’s play, placed 8th overall in the ‘A’ section.

The girls’ second team also enjoyed a very competitive day on the courts and ended the tournament having placed 15th out of the 19 schools entered in the ‘B’ section.

The girls displayed a lot of grit on the courts and Union High School thanks them for their efforts.

Sport Results, Swimming

Top 8 Gala Results

On Friday evening, 28 February, seven Union High School swimmers participated in the Top 8 Invitational Gala at the Newton Park Swimming Pool in Port Elizabeth.

The Top 8 Gala is the culmination of the season’s ‘B’ Age Group Galas where the region’s top 8 swimmers in each age group and each stroke are selected to participate.

The atmosphere at the pool was, as always, very festive, with great camaraderie, friendly rivalry and good sportsmanship prevailing among the different schools.

As is tradition, the evening started with a poolside parade of all the teams, during which the Union swimmers proudly displayed their school flag as they made their way around the pool.

Throughout the evening that followed, Union’s swimmers gave it their all and managed to obtain six medals overall.

Congratulations to:

• Hannah Bodenstein who claimed gold in the 50m Backstroke and Hugo Botha who came first in the 50m Breaststroke,

• Elia Railton and Amber Binney who won silver in the 50m Backstroke and 100m Freestyle respectively, and;

• James Potgieter who took home bronze in both the 50m Backstroke and 50m Breaststroke.

Union High School is exceptionally proud of all of you!

The gala was hugely successful for Union, not only in terms of medals, but in times as well as six new personal bests (this included new PBs for first-timers, Mia and Hugo Botha) were also recorded!

This meet is always a wonderful competition with which to end off a very busy swimming season and we thank everyone involved for making it such a memorable event.

All our learners can be very proud of what they achieved and we look forward to seeing what next season holds in store for our Union swimmers!

• Union High School would like to extend a special word of thanks to Stefan and Andrea Ittershagen-Strauss who, very generously, hosted the swimmers for the night in Port Elizabeth.

They treated the learners to a great dinner and breakfast, and made sure that their evening was fun and relaxed.

Sport Results, Swimming

Swimming – Karoo Team

Congratulations to the following Union High School swimmers who have been selected for the Karoo team that will be participating at the Inter-Districts Gala in Grahamstown on Thursday, 5 March:

Grace Kemp, Brogan Koeberg, Callum Jacobs, Daisy Sears, Matthew Paxton, Hayden Pienaar and Daniel Marais.

Bulletin, Eco-Schools

Eco Reps 2020

Every year, a representative of each class at Union High School is chosen to serve as Eco Representative.

These enthusiastic environmentally-minded learners are then tasked with raising awareness about ecological issues, encouraging environmentally responsible behaviour among their peers and planning related events and activities at the school.

Union’s 18 Eco-Reps for 2020 were announced and presented with their badges at Assembly this morning.

Congratulations to all those chosen to serve this year, they are:

Grade 5: Jordan Koeberg and Zoë Liesing
Grade 6: Rebecca Copeman and Ashleigh Shell
Grade 7: Tara Ferreira and Erin Gedult
Grade 8: Caytah-Leigh Koeberg (absent) and Imitha Nkwintya
Grade 9: Lwanda Ntlonti, Kaitlin Kenmuir and Precious Nobula
Grade 10: Tessa James, Sisipho Arnols and Liyabona Binqela
Grade 11: Primrose Mutapati and Tanya Mataba (absent)
Grade 12: Juandre Jaftha and Erin O’Halloran

The new Eco-Reps are seen here with the teacher in charge of this initiative, Mrs Danelle Botes.

May they inspire all to actively engage in practices of energy conservation, water conservation, waste reduction, reuse, recycling and environmentally preferable purchasing!

Sport Results, Tennis

Jnr Tennis Results vs Gill

Monday afternoon, 24 February, saw Union’s Top 6 junior tennis players competing against their Gill Primary School counterparts on Union’s courts.

The girls won their encounter 6 – 2, while the boys were also victorious, with an end result of 6 – 3.

Well done to all concerned!

Sport Results

Karoo Gala

A number of Union swimmers competed at the annual Karoo Gala held at Hoër Volkskool on Tuesday, 25 February.

Schools who attended included Gill, Cradock, Volkskool, Marlow as well a large group of Homeschoolers.

The high standard of swimming at this event continues to amaze and the positive competition between the schools and individual swimmers is a pleasure to witness.

As always, competition was fierce in all events – 104 in total – but Union’s swimmers never gave in, giving their best in all their races.

The day’s climax saw all age groups racing in relays. It was an incredibly close competition and thoroughly enjoyable to watch as a spectator.

The school proudly placed a close second in both the primary and high school sections.

Special congratulations go to Matthew Paxton who shared the ‘Victor Ludorum’ award with Laer Volkskool’s Aidan Thiart in the primary school section.

We are so very proud of all our swimmers who committed and gave of their time to swim for their school and thank them for their stellar efforts.

Sport Results

Jnr Cricket Results vs Frans Conradie

On Thursday, 20 February, Union’s junior cricketers played their first-ever declaration match against the Frans Conradie Primary School.

After winning the toss, the hot and sunny weather motivated the Union boys to bat first. The opening batsmen started the innings cautiously, but managed to get the team off to a solid start.

The middle overs, unfortunately, proved to be their downfall with the loss of several quick wickets.

Captain Shaakir Kazi’s performance with the bat then proved to be pivotal, as his 50* settled the downfall, allowing the Union team to retire on 119/9.

Inspired to deliver a stellar performance, Union’s bowlers managed to take a quick three wickets in the first three overs.

Frans Conradie’s batsmen, however, settled in well after that and managed to score freely after the first bowling change.

Union fought back through brilliant bowling from Yaseen Kazi, ending the day’s play with Frans Conradie on 100/9.

• Due to rain, this match could, unfortunately, not be completed.

Union would like to commend the Frans Conradie team for the lovely way in which they played the match and for traveling to our beautiful school once again.