Today, we said goodbye to someone very special to our Union family – ๐ ๐ฟ๐ ๐ฌ๐๐ฒ๐๐๐ฒ ๐๐น๐ผ๐ฒ๐๐ฒ – as she closes a remarkable 18-year chapter at our school.
In a deeply meaningful final assembly this morning, filled with music, small gestures and quiet emotion, learners and staff came together to honour a woman whose calm presence, unwavering consistency and gentle leadership have left a lasting mark on our Primary Department and the wider life of Union.
The assembly carried a gentle blend of celebration and emotion – our junior choir honoured Mrs Cloete with a rendition of her favourite song, ๐๐ถ๐ฑ๐ด, after which Mrs Cloete made her way through a guard of honour filled with smiling, emotional faces. ๐๐ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ฒ๐ป๐ฑ ๐ผ๐ณ ๐๐ต๐ถ๐ ๐๐ฎ๐น๐ธ, ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ฟ๐ฎ๐ป๐ด ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐๐ฒ๐ป๐๐ฒ๐ป๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ ๐๐ฒ๐น๐น, a symbolic and fitting farewell to a chapter so faithfully served.
๐๐ป ๐๐ฟ๐๐ฒ ๐จ๐ป๐ถ๐ผ๐ป ๐๐ฝ๐ถ๐ฟ๐ถ๐, ๐๐๐ฎ๐ณ๐ณ ๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐ฎ ๐๐ผ๐๐ฐ๐ต ๐ผ๐ณ ๐ต๐๐บ๐ผ๐๐ฟ ๐๐ผ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ผ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป, ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ฟ๐ถ๐๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐ฑ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐๐๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐ถ๐ป ๐ฏ๐น๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ธ – a loving tribute to the well-known โLady in Black,โ whose signature style became as much a part of her identity as her calm and composed presence around the school.
๐๐ฐ ๐ด๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฌ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐๐ณ๐ด ๐๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฆ๐ต๐ฆ ๐ช๐ด ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ด๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฌ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ด๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฐ ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ต๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ. ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ด ๐ข ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ข๐ด๐ถ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ณ๐ถ๐ฆ๐ด๐ต ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ด๐ฆ – ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ถ๐จ๐ฉ๐ต๐ง๐ถ๐ญ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฅ๐ด, ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ช๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ข๐ค๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ด ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ญ๐ธ๐ข๐บ๐ด ๐จ๐ถ๐ช๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฃ๐บ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ณ๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ต ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ช๐ข๐ต๐ฆ. ๐๐น๐ค๐ฆ๐ฑ๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐บ ๐ฐ๐ณ๐จ๐ข๐ฏ๐ช๐ด๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ด๐ช๐ด๐ต๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ญ๐บ ๐ถ๐ฑ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฅ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ, ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ถ๐จ๐ฉ๐ต ๐ข ๐ฒ๐ถ๐ช๐ฆ๐ต ๐ฆ๐ง๐ง๐ช๐ค๐ช๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ค๐บ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ๐บ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ๐ถ๐ค๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฅ, ๐ค๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ท๐ช๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฉ ๐ด๐ต๐ณ๐ถ๐ค๐ต๐ถ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ด๐ถ๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ต๐ช๐ท๐ฆ.
What set her apart, though, was her remarkable way with children. Firm, yet never harsh. Disciplined, yet always kind. She carried herself with a calm authority that earned the respect of learners and colleagues alike, all while maintaining a gentle, reassuring presence. ๐๐ป ๐ต๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ฒ, ๐ฐ๐ต๐ถ๐น๐ฑ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ป ๐ณ๐ฒ๐น๐ ๐ฏ๐ผ๐๐ต ๐ด๐๐ถ๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐๐ป๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ฟ๐๐๐ผ๐ผ๐ฑ – a balance that is not easily achieved, but one she carried so naturally.
๐๐ผ๐ป๐๐ถ๐๐๐ฒ๐ป๐. ๐๐ถ๐ป๐ฑ. ๐๐น๐๐ฎ๐๐ ๐ฐ๐ผ๐บ๐ฝ๐ผ๐๐ฒ๐ฑ. These are the qualities that have come to define Mrs Cloeteโs time at Union. Beyond her role, she has been a trusted colleague, a steady hand, and a loyal friend – someone whose wisdom and experience have enriched our school in countless ways.
๐๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฌ ๐๐ณ๐ด ๐๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฆ๐ต๐ฆ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐บ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ๐ด ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฅ๐ช๐ค๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ, ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฒ๐ถ๐ช๐ฆ๐ต ๐ด๐ต๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐จ๐ต๐ฉ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ด ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ด๐ค๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ญ. ๐๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ช๐ด๐ฉ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ข ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ต๐ช๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต ๐ง๐ช๐ญ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ต, ๐ซ๐ฐ๐บ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ด ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ฐ ๐ณ๐ช๐ค๐ฉ๐ญ๐บ ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ด๐ฆ๐ณ๐ท๐ฆ๐ด
