New Kit For 1st XV

Union High School’s 1st XV received their new playing kit earlier today, Saturday, 8 May, thanks to the generous sponsorship provided by Botha’s Garage.
Mr Shawn Botha, of Botha’s Garage, visited the school today to present the jerseys to 1st XV captain Mihlali Tyanase. The team’s coach Mr Christopher Felix, commented “We are very grateful to our 1st XV sponsor for their support this season. Our players are putting a lot of time and effort into their rugby and the provision of new kits plays an important motivational role.”
Union High School is extremely grateful to Botha’s Garage for their support. We’re sure that anyone that has ever had dealings with the team at Botha’s Garage can attest to how extremely fortunate we are to have them involved at Union.
Seen here is Union’s 1st XV coach, Mr Christopher Felix, captain Mihlali Tyanase (Nr. and teammates Liso Binqela (Nr. 15) and MJ Newton (Nr. 9), accepting the kit from Mr Botha on behalf of the team.

First Of The Season for UHS 1st XV

In 2020, Covid-19 destroyed many a Grade 12 learner’s dream of playing for his 1st XV, and, at one point, we could almost see 2020 repeating itself and we were all worried that the 2021 season could be over before it even began.
Needless to say, the resumption of school rugby in April was a welcome relief for all who love the game.
On Saturday, 8 May, Union High School’s 1st XV enjoyed a friendly match against Asherville Secondary School, their first since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The boys played the game with fierce enthusiasm and pride and suffice to say, we loved every minute of it, from the build-up with the war cry to the spectators supporting us from the back of their bakkies outside the school grounds.
We extend our thanks to Asherville Secondary School’s 1st XV for the friendly competition, the Union drivers for availing themselves on a Saturday to transport the Asherville players to the game and back and to the Union boys and their coach for, as always, making their school proud by giving it their best.
➡️ Next Saturday, 15 May, Union will play Muir College.

Top 10 Academic Achievers, Term 1 2021

Grade 12 Top 10

  1. James Rose-Innes
  2. Kyle-Luke du Preez
  3. Melissa Swart; Hannah Watermeyer
  4. Amozolele Relu
  5. Mekisha Manzana
  6. Petra Japhta; Catelyn Anthony
  7. Jarrod Naude
  8. Shayna Japhta; Lungile Netnou

Grade 11 Top 10

  1. Kendall Krige
  2. Grace Merifield; Kathryn Odendaal
  3. Matthew Basson
  4. Amber Binney
  5. Hannah Bodenstein
  6. Marli Brummer; Daniel Nell; Jamie Japhta
  7. Chloe Shires

Grade 10 Top 10

  1. Caitrin Spence
  2. Siphosethu Malotana
  3. Cadee Arends
  4. Gemma Naude
  5. Brigette Oelofsen; Trinity West
  6. Anna Pringle; Siyamthanda Desha
  7. Andrue Victor
  8. Sinazo Soyana

Grade 9 Top 10

  1. Na’eem Mahomed; Caytah-Leigh Koeberg
  2. Joy Merifield
  3. Charlize Vorster
  4. Sade May
  5. Joshua Neill; Jayden Swart;  Tyra Binney
  6. Johannes du Plessie; Ethan Linch

Grade 8 Top 10

  1. Erin Gedult
  2. Tara Ferreira
  3. Megan Nortje; Kenza Neill
  4. Sasha Cochrane; Sarah Jacobs
  5. Aaminah Steele
  6. Kananelo Kometsi; Jayden Eiman; Muhammad Ahmed

Grade 7 Top 10

  1. Katelyn Trollip
  2. Ciara Kivedo
  3. Samantha Charles
  4. Amber Bezuidenhout
  5. Josh Arends
  6. Taegan Hamid; Anebel Norval
  7. Jade Palmer
  8. Xarah Hoffman
  9. Lisa Vutula

Grade 6  Top 10

  1. Anna Stocks; Aimee Short
  2. Tara Piercey
  3. Amber Slater
  4. Zack Verwey
  5. Kirsten Collet
  6. Sixolile Singeni; Emma Gibbons
  7. Richard Murray; Nasreen Foster; Jennavieve Woods

EP Hockey Trials

The first leg of the EP hockey trials (to determine which players from the region will be progressing to the next set of trials) was held at the Union High School AstroTurf this afternoon, Thursday, 6 May.
Players from Volkskool, Union and Cradock High School participated.
Congratulations to all those who took the field.
After the year-long hiatus on sports fixtures due to COVID-19, it was truly wonderful to see all the girls in action again

Gr 12 Career Evening

On Wednesday evening, 5 May, Union High School hosted a career evening in the Tony Burrell Union for the 2021 Grade 12s to help them get a better understanding of their future.
With so many study directions and careers to choose from, it can be difficult to know where to start! The event, therefore, aimed to bring together a diverse group of professionals to share their respective stories and career pathways pursued with our Grade 12s for their consideration.
Union High School extends its grateful thanks to the respective speakers and representatives of Varsity College, First National Bank, CTU Training Solutions and the Pearson Institute of Higher Education (some of whom met with the matrics on Thursday morning, 6 May) for sharing their stories and so eloquently discussing the various opportunities within their career fields and/or organisations with the learners.
It was a wonderful introduction for our learners to the breadth of career opportunities available to them and proved an ideal opportunity for the Grade 12s to consider their future.
It was also very encouraging to see the matrics engaging with the speakers with great enthusiasm throughout the evening with many commenting afterward that it provided them with a lot of valuable insights about life after high school that isn’t obvious from a university prospectus or a course syllabus.
Union’s head prefects Kyle-Luke du Preez and Hannah Watermeyer with Wednesday evening’s speakers.
• Union extends a special word of thanks to Mrs Bronwen Langmead for organising the event, as well as to our head prefects Kyle-Luke du Preez and Hannah Watermeyer for their contribution to the evening.

Staff Awards

𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗳𝗳 𝗮𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗱𝗲𝗱 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗺𝗶𝘁𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗹𝗼𝗻𝗴 𝘀𝗲𝗿𝘃𝗶𝗰𝗲
On the last day of Term 1, Friday, 23 April, Union High School held its long-term service awards ceremony in the Tony Burrell Union.
The awards ceremony is held at the end of each term to acknowledge and commend teachers and support staff who have been serving the school for a long period of time.

The most recent long-term service milestones were achieved by:

Mr Arnold du Plessis – 10 years of service as a groundsman at Union High School.
Mrs Lou-Anne Gerber – 15 years of service as a teacher at Union High School.
Ms Sharon Shell -15 years of service at Union High School.
Mrs Lizet Crankshaw – 20 years of service at Union High School.
Mrs Belinda Grewar – 25 years of service as a teacher at Union High School.

Tongue Twisters For The WIN!

Union High School recently held a tongue twister competition to see which of our learners can fire off a set of fun Afrikaans, isiXhosa and English phrases filled with either a lot of alliteration or a confusing combination of words without tripping up!
➡️ Read more about this competition here: http://www.unionschools.co.za/…/tongue-twisters-for…/
The 𝗪𝗜𝗡𝗡𝗘𝗥𝗦 in the school’s primary department (Grade 5 to 7) are Miecke Blom (Afrikaans), Elizabeth Houseman (English) and Hlelo Skotshi (isiXhosa).
In the senior department (Grade 8 to 12) Vuyo Pietersen won the prize for the Afrikaans tongue twister, James Rose-Innes for English and Ngomusa Zweni for isiXhosa.
There were several learners who attempted all three tongue twisters, here Jarrod Naude and Vuyo Booysen received a special prize for their stellar attempts!
Congratulations to all the winners!
➡️ Visit our YouTube channel to view some videos of the competition: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCpuKcTrHgpAQ_KovzKsZXPA

 

Thank You SuperHygiene!

Union High School was delighted to receive a visit from Old Unionite Mr Luvo Swelankomo on Tuesday morning, 4 May.
Mr Swelankomo and fellow Old Unionite Mr Khanyisa Tshuni, who were both part of the Class of 2016, recently founded a company called SuperHygiene, based in Queenstown, that supplies hygiene services and consumables.
During his visit to the school, Mr Swelankomo donated packs containing dishwashing liquid, Handy Cleaner, Pine Gel and hand sanitiser to the school.
[After matriculating from Union in 2016, Mr Swelankomo furthered his studies at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology, where he first obtained his National Diploma in Analytical Chemistry and then his B. Tech degree. Mr Tshuni furthered his studies at the Grootfontein College of Agriculture where he studied Farming Management. Their company, SuperHygiene was founded in 2020 during the Covid-19 pandemic, after the two entrepreneurs identified a need for affordable, but effective, cleaning consumables in their community. After having originally only manufactured sanitising liquid to help curb the spread of the disease, the company has since expanded to the production of multipurpose liquid soap, bleach and several other cleaning consumables. They also offer a range of services, such as water purification, fumigation and pest control to name but a few.]
Union High School is very proud of these two enterprising young men and thanks them for their kind donation.
Seen here on the right is Old Unionite, Mr Luvo Swelankomo, SuperHygiene’s MD, with Union High School’s Headmaster Mr William Pringle and Mr Bantu Dodo, SuperHygiene’s chemical mixer.

Applications 2022 Now Open

Where are you going to school next year? 𝐔𝐧𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐇𝐢𝐠𝐡 𝐒𝐜𝐡𝐨𝐨𝐥 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐰𝐞𝐥𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮!

➡ Visit our admissions page at http://www.unionschools.co.za/administr…/admission-policy/
to find out more about the process of applying or visit our website at www.unionschools.co.za to find out more about the school and its boarding facilities.

Alternatively, please e-mail admin@unionschools.co.za with any queries in this regard or to request an application form.

See you soon, future UNIONITES!

New Coach For Union’s 1st XV

Union High School takes great pride in announcing that Mr Christopher Felix has been named as the new coach of the school’s 1st rugby team.
Mr Felix, a well-known educator at Union who is highly regarded by all his learners, has been teaching Accounting to the school’s seniors since 2014. He is currently also serving as the Senior Duty Master at Union’s senior boarding establishment, Arthur Kingwill House.
Since starting at Union, Mr Felix has been involved in the coaching of rugby in all the respective age groups, from u/13 right through to u/19, while attending numerous coaching clinics and courses over the years.
In addition to this, Mr Felix boasts some valuable coaching experience gained while serving as the assistant coach of the Eastern Province Country Districts team in 2018 and 2019.
Following his continuous successes with his EPCD teams at the Academy Week rugby tournaments, he was subsequently appointed as the head coach of the EPCD team for 2020/21, before the rugby season was shelved due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
With a coaching philosophy of ‘Humility breeds success”, we’re confident that the boys will thrive under Mr Felix’s knowledgeable and passionate tutelage.
“It is an honour and a privilege to be able to coach Union’s 1st team rugby boys this year. Following a difficult year in which they weren’t able to take to the field, they’re motivated and raring to go,” said Mr Felix on his appointment. “For me, the game needs to be exciting, fast-paced running rugby and, whilet is what I am looking forward to encouraging here, my main focus will be the boys’ growth and development and most importantly, they must enjoy it,” concluded Mr Felix.