Union High School, Graaff-Reinet Grade 8 learner ๐ง๐ฟ๐ถ๐๐๐ฎ๐ป ๐๐ผ๐ฝ๐ฒ participated in his very first competitive endurance ride this past weekend (Friday and Saturday, 19 and 20 August) in the Camdeboo National Park.
Aptly called the sport of a million steps, ๐๐ก๐๐จ๐ฅ๐๐ก๐๐ ๐ฅ๐๐๐๐ก๐ is a long-distance competition against the clock, testing the speed and endurance of a horse and challenging the rider over their effective use of pace, thorough knowledge of their horseโs capabilities and ability to cross all kinds of terrain. ๐๐ญ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ถ๐จ๐ฉ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ณ๐ช๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ช๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฅ, ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ฉ๐ข๐ด๐ช๐ด ๐ช๐ด ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ง๐ช๐ฏ๐ช๐ด๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐จ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฅ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ช๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ณ๐ข๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ง๐ช๐ณ๐ด๐ต.
Tristan fared exceptionally well, as he not only completed a 40km course on both days successfully, but did so on two different horses, one of which he’d never ridden before.
His best time clocked during the event was 2 hours, 34 minutes. Tristanโs next race will be the Bedford Endurance Ride planned for September.
It was a special occasion on Monday evening, 22 August, at the Arthur Kingwill House annual dinner, when nine learners were appointed to serve as boarding house prefects for 2022/23.
Being a house prefect is the ultimate honour given in any school boarding establishment and means a great deal to all who are chosen.
With the honour of being a boarding house prefect comes great responsibility, but the badge presented to them is a symbol in the faith bestowed upon them by the school community and ๐ฌ๐ ๐๐ง๐ ๐จ๐ช๐ง๐ ๐ฉ๐๐๐ฎ ๐ฌ๐๐ก๐ก ๐๐ก๐ก ๐๐ค ๐๐ฃ ๐๐ญ๐๐๐ก๐ก๐๐ฃ๐ฉ ๐๐ค๐!
Mr Gradwell is well-known among the Union community, being an ๐ข๐๐ ๐จ๐ก๐๐ข๐ก๐๐ง๐ himself.
Upon matriculating from Union, he pursued qualifications in both the Fine Arts and Education from NMMU, after which he served as an educator at the De Kuilen Primary School in Cape Town for about eight years before accepting a position at Union.
(In addition to teaching, Mr Gradwell is also working towards his postgraduate Master’s degree in Education.)
With much excitement, the school gathered in the hall this morning, 19 August, for the announcement of Union High Schoolโs new prefect body for 2022/23.
๐๐ข๐ก๐๐ฅ๐๐ง๐จ๐๐๐ง๐๐ข๐ก๐ฆ to (in alphabetical order) Cadee Arends, Lana Bouwer, Siyamthanda Desha, Brent Hesselink, Joshua Horne, Jude Langmead, Siphosethu Malotana, Brigette Oelofsen, Anna Pringle, Hlakanipha Skepe, Chuma Sobantu, Caitrin Spence, David Venter, Karl Venter, Andrue (AJ) Victor, Shona Zana and Ngomusa Zweni.
Back, left to right: Joshua Horne, Andrue (AJ) Victor and Karl Venter Middel, left to right: Jude Langmead and David Venter Front, left to right: Brent Hesselink, Hlakanipha Skepe, Chuma Sobantu
Back, left to right: Lana Bouwer, Anna Pringle, Ngomusa Zweni and Caitrin Spence Middel, left to right: Brigette Oelofsen, Cadee Arends and Siphosethu Malotana, Front, left to right: Siyamthanda Desha and Shona Zana
This is an outstandingly capable, confident and humble team of leaders from within our current Grade 11 class. May they have the conviction and wisdom to lead the school to new heights next year!
To conclude the 2022/23 prefect induction ceremony our new prefect body took the stage to sign the prefectsโ book and pledge. Signing this book is a symbolic gesture of their commitment to their new roles.
On Saturday, 20 August, Unionโs senior hockey teams faced off against Georgeโs York High School in what was their last match for the 2022 hockey season.
Well done to the first team girls who played their hearts out in tough weather conditions.
The Union team enjoyed a great start to the game, creating two goal-scoring opportunities in the first 30 seconds of the game. York countered, however, and ran three solid counterattacks in the first chukka.
It was high-tempo stuff from the start of the second chukka, as Union probed for openings on attack and displayed a lot of physicality on defence, creating five chances to score, but failing to capitalise on them. ๐๐๐ ๐ง๐๐๐ฃ ๐ฅ๐ง๐ค๐ซ๐๐ ๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ช๐ก๐ฉ ๐๐๐ง๐ง๐๐๐ง ๐ฉ๐ค ๐ค๐ซ๐๐ง๐๐ค๐ข๐ ๐ฌ๐๐๐ฃ ๐๐ฉ ๐๐๐ข๐ ๐ฉ๐ค ๐จ๐๐ค๐ง๐๐ฃ๐. Half-time saw the score standing at 1-1 .
Going into the second half, the rain started to pour down in earnest, putting a strain on Unionโs play. The team managed to create two counterattacks, four goal-scoring opportunities and one short corner, but lack of concentration gave York the opportunity to score in the last 30 seconds.
Union High School’s annual ๐๐๐น๐๐๐ฟ๐ฎ๐น ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐ช๐ถ๐ป๐๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐๐๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ฑ๐ ๐๐๐๐ฒ๐บ๐ฏ๐น๐ was held early Friday morning, 19 August.
With limited performance opportunities for our musicians during the course of the past three years, Union High Schoolโs ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ฎ๐ฎ ๐ ๐จ๐ฆ๐๐ ๐๐ฉ๐๐ก๐๐ก๐ held on Thursday evening, 18 August, was a welcome โreturn to the normโ for our pianists, percussionists and choristers โ from Grade 5 through to Grade 12 – to share their learning and talents with friends and family.
The junior choir opened the evening in rousing style before Unionโs musicians each took to the stage to present their competitive programme of pieces they had prepared this year.
The eveningโs masters of ceremonies, Grade 12 learners Likhona Batala, Ijabulile Mtwazi, Dylan Petitt and Matthew Basson, kept the evening rolling and congratulated all the music instructors and musicians for their efforts, which resulted in a great night of musical entertainment.
The audience really enjoyed the evening and were enthusiastic in their praise.
While ๐ฃ๐จ๐๐๐๐ ๐ฆ๐ฃ๐๐๐๐๐ก๐ is something some of our Primary Department learners enjoy โ and others dread โ they are all aware that public speaking and presentation skills are incredibly important.
After all, in an age saturated by information and opinion, it has never been more important (or difficult) for their voices to be heard.
And, of course, they โ and their peers โ learn a lot about their chosen subject, improve their research skills, and have fun in the process.
On Tuesday evening, 16 August, 25 brave learners from Grades 5, 6 and 7 took part in this yearโs speech competition, hosted in the Tony Burrell Union.
The three adjudicators, Brigette Oelofsen, Matthew Basson and Mrs Bronwen Langmead (Unionโs Head of Culture), all remarked on the exceptionally high standard amongst the speakers.
Left to right: Tara Piercey, Sixolile Singeni, Aidan Ferreira, Helen van den Heever, Chloe-Anne Fourie and Zunaida Deysel
Aidan Ferreira was the popular choice as winner among the Grade 5s, followed closely by Helen van den Heever, runner-up. In Grade 6 Chloe-Anne Fourie was the best speaker, followed by Zunaida Deysel as runner-up. Tara Piercey took 1st place in Grade 7 with Sixolile Singeni as the runner-up.
๐๐ข๐ก๐๐ฅ๐๐ง๐จ๐๐๐ง๐๐ข๐ก๐ฆ to all 2022 speakers!
๐๐ข๐ก๐๐ฅ๐๐ง๐จ๐๐๐ง๐๐ข๐ก๐ฆ to junior music students, ๐๐ฒ๐น๐ฒ๐ป ๐๐ฎ๐ป ๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ป ๐๐ฒ๐ฒ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ (Grade 5), ๐๐ถ๐บ๐ฒ๐ฒ ๐ฆ๐ต๐ผ๐ฟ๐ (Grade 7) and ๐๐น๐ถ๐๐ผ๐ป ๐๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ผ๐ฏ๐ (Grade 5) who successfully passed their recent Rockschool Graded Music Exams with aplomb!
Helen passed her Debut Contemporary Exam with Distinction (96%), Allison also passed her Debut Classical Exam with Distinction (90%) and Aimee passed her Grade 1 Contemporary Exam with Merit (85%).
๐๐ฒ๐น๐ฒ๐ป ๐๐ฎ๐ป ๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ป ๐๐ฒ๐ฒ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ, ๐๐ถ๐บ๐ฒ๐ฒ ๐ฆ๐ต๐ผ๐ฟ๐ and ๐๐น๐ถ๐๐ผ๐ป ๐๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ผ๐ฏ๐
On Monday evening, 15 August, Union High School, Graaff-Reinet hosted a ๐ฆ๐ข๐จ๐ฃ ๐๐ก๐ ๐๐๐๐ฆ๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐๐ฅ๐๐ก๐ง๐ฆ’ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ก๐๐ in the Tony Burrell Union.
The evening provided an opportunity for the schoolโs chess players โ from prep school through to matric โ to compete against their parents in a game of chess.
As the event commenced, the ๐๐๐๐๐ก๐ฎ ๐๐ฃ๐ฉ๐๐ช๐จ๐๐๐จ๐ฉ๐๐ ๐ก๐๐๐ง๐ฃ๐๐ง๐จ ๐ฌ๐๐ง๐ ๐๐๐๐ง๐๐ ๐ช๐ฅ ๐๐ฃ๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐จ๐๐ฉ ๐ค๐ฃ ๐๐๐๐ฉ๐๐ฃ๐ ๐ฉ๐๐๐๐ง ๐ฅ๐๐ง๐๐ฃ๐ฉ๐๐ก ๐ค๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ค๐ฃ๐๐ฃ๐ฉ๐จ.
Throughout the evening, across the floor, participants could be seen crowded close to the chessboards, nervously assessing the game, with the opportunity of beating their opponents cause for much excitement and it was quite heart-warming to see the younger children playing their moves like stalwarts with rapt concentration and a collected demeanour.
In the end, whether a match was won, lost or drawn, a ton of fun was had by all!
After conclusion of the matches, all those who attended could help themselves to a delicious selection of soups and breads.
Union High School, Graaff-Reinet
