๐๐ข๐ก๐๐ฅ๐๐ง๐จ๐๐๐ง๐๐ข๐ก๐ฆ and ๐๐๐ฆ๐ง ๐ข๐ ๐๐จ๐๐ to Union High School chess players, Karl Venter (Grade 11) and Jasmine Abercrombie (Grade 7), who were invited to represent the Sarah Baartman District at the Eastern Province Chess Trials being held in Queenstown, this Friday and Saturday, 30 September and 1 October.
๐ช๐ฒ ๐น๐ผ๐๐ฒ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ฟ๐ถ๐ฐ๐ต๐ป๐ฒ๐๐ ๐ผ๐ณ ๐ผ๐๐ฟ ๐จ๐ป๐ถ๐ผ๐ป ๐ณ๐ฎ๐บ๐ถ๐น๐!
Today, to mark this yearโs ๐๐๐ฅ๐๐ง๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ฌ which was celebrated nationally on Saturday, 24 September, our campus was awash with various outfits and food celebrating the wonderful diversity of our staff and learners, together with the fact that we are #proudlysouthafrican
๐๐ค๐ค๐ ๐๐ฉ๐๐ข๐จ ๐ค๐ฃ ๐ค๐๐๐๐ง ๐๐ฉ ๐๐ง๐๐๐ ๐ฉ๐๐ข๐ ๐๐ฃ๐๐ก๐ช๐๐๐, pancakes, milk tart, breyani, samoosas, mngqusko, mphokoqo, steam bread, amarhewu, vetkoek, chicken feet, ginger beer, muffins, mealies and koesisters.
๐๐ต ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ค๐ต๐ด ๐ข ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ง๐ถ๐ญ ๐ค๐ฆ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ฃ๐ณ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ช๐ต๐ข๐จ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ซ๐ฐ๐บ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฃ๐บ ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ.
Union extends its grateful thanks to all cooks who so generously contributed to this celebration: Sasha Cochrane, Jovandre Samson, Mrs Lizet Crankshaw, Mrs Tercia Moos, Mrs Sharon Samson, Mrs Nomandla Singeni, Mrs Tokwe-Dayimani and Mrs Fauzia Mohammed.
‘๐๐ด๐ฏ’๐ต ๐ช๐ต ๐ข๐ฎ๐ข๐ป๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ธ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐๐ฐ๐ฅ’๐ด ๐ช๐ฎ๐ข๐จ๐ฆ, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐บ๐ฆ๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ด ๐ด๐ฐ ๐ฎ๐ถ๐ค๐ฉ ๐ฅ๐ช๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด๐ช๐ต๐บ ๐ข๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ฆ?’ – ๐๐ฒ๐๐บ๐ผ๐ป๐ฑ ๐ง๐๐๐
๐๐ข๐ก๐๐ฅ๐๐ง๐จ๐๐๐ง๐๐ข๐ก๐ฆ to the senior marimba band, consisting of Sbusisiwe Gcinisa, Precious Nobula, Ayabulela Goliath, Lisakhanya Mvandaba, Shona Zana, Ambesiwe Tokwe, Simamkele Soyana and Harly Qina, on being awarded a 92% (cum laude) – a Triple Gold Award – for their piece ‘๐๐ต๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐๐บ ๐๐ฆ’ during this yearโs Karoo Eisteddfod. Here they can be seen playing the song during Union High School, Graaff-Reinet’s recent Music Evening.
https://www.facebook.com/unionhighschool/videos/626585815671602
As part of our extra-curricular programme at Union, the school offers a marimba band programme. Learners are introduced to the programme as early as Grade 5 and are taught the skills necessary in an exciting and fun environment by our music educators, Mrs Sanette Brink and Ms Zelda Oosthuizen.
๐๐ฃ๐๐ค๐ฃ ๐๐ช๐ง๐ง๐๐ฃ๐ฉ๐ก๐ฎ ๐๐๐จ ๐ฉ๐ฌ๐ค ๐จ๐๐ฃ๐๐ค๐ง ๐ข๐๐ง๐๐ข๐๐ ๐๐๐ฃ๐๐จ ๐๐ฃ๐ ๐ค๐ฃ๐ ๐๐ช๐ฃ๐๐ค๐ง ๐๐๐ฃ๐. Marimba is an amazing tool for learning, team building and morale boosting and serves as a fun and interactive way for our learners to build their confidence while demonstrating their unique talents.
๐๐ต ๐๐ฏ๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ, ๐ธ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ต๐ณ๐ช๐ท๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฉ๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ญ๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ช๐ณ ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ช๐ข๐ญ. ๐๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐ถ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ต๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด ๐ข๐ค๐ฉ๐ช๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ ๐ด๐ถ๐ค๐ค๐ฆ๐ด๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ถ๐จ๐ฉ ๐ฅ๐ช๐ง๐ง๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฅ๐ช๐ถ๐ฎ๐ด ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฆ๐ฅ๐ถ๐ค๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ.
The recent Karoo Eisteddfod was a wonderful experience for our learners!
๐๐ข๐ก๐๐ฅ๐๐ง๐จ๐๐๐ง๐๐ข๐ก๐ฆ to pianists Joy Merifield, Vivian McEwan, Brigette Oelofsen, Caitrin Spence and Arno Nell on having been awarded Triple Gold certificates for their respective performances.
๐๐ฆ ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ฆ๐น๐ค๐ฆ๐ฑ๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐บ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฅ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฎ!
On Saturday, 24 September, Union High Schoolโs ๐จ/๐ญ๐ฏ๐ ๐๐ฅ๐๐๐๐๐ง๐๐ฅ๐ฆ hosted Muir College for a 40-over encounter.
Union lost the toss and was sent to bowl first. Muirโs batsmen got off to a very decent start, managing a run-rate of about 10 an over for the better part of their innings. Union’s bowlers, however, managed to bring that down by taking wickets at regular intervals, resulting in Muir making a total of 155.
Unionโs best bowlers were ๐ฅ๐ถ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ฑ ๐ ๐๐ฟ๐ฟ๐ฎ๐ (2 wickets), ๐ข๐๐ฒ๐ป ๐ฃ๐ฎ๐ ๐๐ผ๐ป (2 wickets) and ๐๐ผ๐ต๐ป-๐๐ฒ๐ป๐ฟ๐ ๐๐ถ๐ป๐ด (3 wickets).
The Union side then went in to bat, but got off to a bad start, losing their top order with only 24 runs on the board.
๐ฅ๐ถ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ฑ ๐ ๐๐ฟ๐ฟ๐ฎ๐ managed to build a few partnerships, but the Union side eventually fell short by 43 runs with ๐ฅ๐ถ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ฑ ๐ ๐๐ฟ๐ฟ๐ฎ๐ being the best batsman, scoring 50 not out.
๐๐ฆ๐ญ๐ญ ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐๐ถ๐ช๐ณ ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ช๐ณ ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ญ-๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ด๐ฆ๐ณ๐ท๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ธ๐ช๐ฏ
This past Saturday, 24 September, Union had a strong team of 14 ๐๐๐๐ง๐๐๐๐ง๐๐ฆ participating in the second meet of the season in Gqeberha.
๐๐ต ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ข ๐ง๐ช๐ณ๐ด๐ต ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฏ๐บ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ข๐ต๐ฉ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ต๐ฆ๐ด ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ท๐ฆ๐ด ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ณ๐ช๐ง๐ฆ, ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ต ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ต๐ณ๐ถ๐ฆ ๐๐ฏ๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ด๐ฑ๐ช๐ณ๐ช๐ต, ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ‘๐๐ข๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฐ ๐ฌ๐ช๐ฅ๐ด’ ๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ๐ค๐ข๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ช๐ณ ๐ข๐ฏ๐น๐ช๐ฆ๐ต๐บ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ณ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ข๐ณ๐ต๐ข๐ฏ ๐ต๐ณ๐ข๐ค๐ฌ ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐จ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ต ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฎ๐ช๐ฏ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ.
The great thing about biathlon is that the participants may run with several different age groups, but it is their OWN time that is important, not winning or losing a particular race. This first event allowed Union’s biathlon team to get both a running and swimming time on record in order for them to now try and beat that time at every following event.
๐๐๐ ๐ฃ๐๐ฌ๐ก๐ฎ ๐๐ค๐ง๐ข๐๐ “๐ฟ๐๐ซ๐๐ก๐ค๐ฅ๐ข๐๐ฃ๐ฉ ๐๐๐๐ข” ๐๐๐ ๐๐ฃ๐๐ค๐ฃ ๐ฅ๐ง๐ค๐ช๐, with great manners and sportsmanship, and fantastic running results, most notably Luvela Makaula and Qhama Solomon who ran fantastic times to take first and second place respectively in the u/15 boys running category.
๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ง๐ก๐จ ๐๐ก๐ก ๐ง๐๐ฃ ๐จ๐ฉ๐ง๐ค๐ฃ๐ ๐ง๐๐๐๐จ and mention must be made of Miley Burger and Samantha Gilfillian who, for the first time, had to run 800m – a hard sprint twice around the track!
The swimming was held at Brylin – Independent Learning Centreโs 50m indoor pool, and our athletes did very well considering they haven’t been able to train throughout the winter. They held their own, and everyone thoroughly enjoyed it, with two of our athletes improving on their past times (Ben and Taylor)!
๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฅ๐ข๐บ ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฐ๐ง๐ง ๐ข๐ต ๐๐ข๐ค๐๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ข๐ญ๐ฅ’๐ด ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ด ๐ต๐ณ๐ช๐ฑ ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐ต๐ช๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฅ, ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ต ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฑ๐ฑ๐บ ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด.
๐ง๐ต๐ฒ ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐๐๐น๐๐ ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ฒ ๐ฎ๐ ๐ณ๐ผ๐น๐น๐ผ๐๐:
๐/๐ญ๐ญ ๐๐๐ฅ๐๐ฆ:
โข 1st Taylor Jacobs
โข 3rd Allison Gilfillian
๐/๐ญ๐ฏ ๐๐๐ฅ๐๐ฆ:
โข 5th Samantha Gilfillian
โข 8th Miley Burger
โข 10th Angelique Kyanda-Kaboza
๐/๐ญ๐ฑ ๐๐ข๐ฌ๐ฆ:
โข 7th Luvela Makaula
โข 8th Qhama Solomon
โข 9th Lulonke Vumazonke
โข 10th Asakula Nkomo
๐/๐ญ๐ฑ ๐๐๐ฅ๐๐ฆ:
โข 8th Onika Jantjies
๐/๐ญ๐ณ ๐๐ข๐ฌ๐ฆ:
โข 3rd Ben Lemke
โข 8th Sophephela Vimbi
โข 9th Connor Horn
๐/๐ญ๐ณ ๐๐๐ฅ๐๐ฆ:
โข 6th Misha Newton
โข 8th Mecoli Vorster
โข 9th Rebecca Copeman
Each year, Unionโs Grade 10s spend months anticipating the Odyssey hiking adventure which takes them on a physical, soul-searching journey down the Gats River Canyon, starting in Nieu-Bethesda and ending in Graaff-Reinet five days later.
Bright and early this morning, Friday, 23 September, it was the Grade 10 class of 2022โs time to set off on this adventure.
๐๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ช๐ด๐ฉ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฎ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ด๐ต ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ญ๐ถ๐ค๐ฌ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐น๐ต ๐ค๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฅ๐ข๐บ๐ด. ๐๐ข๐บ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐บ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ช๐ญ๐ช๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ, ๐จ๐ณ๐ช๐ต ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ๐ต๐ช๐ต๐ถ๐ฅ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ถ๐จ๐ฉ!
๐๐ข๐ก๐๐ฅ๐๐ง๐จ๐๐๐ง๐๐ข๐ก๐ฆ to Grade 10 learner Camran Swartz on being awarded his 1st XI cricket cap!
Camran received his cap during the recent Pearson Cricket Festival. ๐๐ฆ ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฌ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ๐ธ๐ข๐ณ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ฎ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฅ๐ถ๐ค๐ฆ ๐ด๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต๐ด๐ต๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ๐ด ๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐น๐ต ๐ค๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐บ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ๐ด ๐ข๐ด ๐ข ๐๐ฏ๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ 1๐ด๐ต ๐๐ ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ข๐บ๐ฆ๐ณ.
On Saturday, 17 September, Union High School, Graaff-Reinetโs senior tennis girls played their hearts out in doublesโ and singlesโ encounters against their counterparts from the The Diocesan School for Girls – Senior School on Union’s Bremner and Arthur Kingwill House courts in Graaff-Reinet.
๐๐ต ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ข ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ง๐ถ๐ญ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฏ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ง๐ฆ๐ญ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ด๐ฉ๐ช๐ฑ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ง๐ถ๐ฏ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐จ๐ช๐ณ๐ญ๐ด.
โข Unionโs 1st team remained disciplined to claim a close win – 5 matches to DSGโs 4.
โข Unionโs 2nd team girls showed tremendous fighting spirit, but in the end, lost 4 matches to DSGโs 2.
Overall, DSG narrowly edged out Union โ winning 8 matches to Unionโs 7.
๐ช๐๐๐ ๐๐ข๐ก๐ to both the Union and DSG teams for displaying good sportsmanship and impeccable manners.
๐๐ฑ๐ณ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ช๐ด ๐ข ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ง๐ถ๐ญ ๐ด๐ฆ๐ข๐ด๐ฐ๐ฏ! ๐๐ต ๐ฃ๐ณ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ๐ด ๐ต๐ณ๐ข๐ฏ๐ด๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฎ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ค๐ฉ๐ข๐ฏ๐จ๐ฆ.
What better time of year to focus on some of the โnew growthโ at the Union Schools!
Over the past couple of weeks, visitors to our school would have seen that there are several areas under construction, with builders hard at work in every nook and cranny of our campus.
โข We were excited to break ground on the new junior school classrooms on the corner of Donkin and Caledon Streets a short while ago. The ๐๐ข๐ก๐ฆ๐ง๐ฅ๐จ๐๐ง๐๐ข๐ก ๐ข๐ ๐ง๐๐๐ฆ๐ ๐ก๐๐ช ๐๐ก๐ก๐ข๐ฉ๐๐ง๐๐ฉ๐ ๐๐ก๐ ๐ง๐๐๐๐ก๐ข๐๐ข๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ฌ ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฃ๐๐๐ฆ๐ง๐๐๐๐ง๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฅ๐ข๐ข๐ ๐ฆ is taking shape at an incredible pace and is on track for completion before the end of the year.
โข The radical ๐ฅ๐๐๐จ๐ฅ๐๐๐ฆ๐๐ ๐๐ก๐ง ๐ข๐ ๐ข๐จ๐ฅ ๐ฆ๐๐๐๐ก๐๐ ๐๐๐ is also well underway. Once completed, Unionโs science lab will be a tech-forward, bright, friendly and comfortable educational space, second to none in the province.
โข The ๐๐๐ก๐๐๐ง๐๐๐ก๐๐ก๐ ๐ข๐ ๐ง๐๐ ๐จ๐ก๐๐ข๐ก ๐ฆ๐๐๐ข๐ข๐๐ฆ’ ๐ฆ๐ช๐๐ ๐ ๐๐ก๐ ๐ฃ๐ข๐ข๐ is also nearing completion. Once finished, the elongated pool will measure exactly 25 metres in length, which will allow the school to host formal swimming galas and in doing so, generate, and allow for, renewed commitment from our swimmers and coaches to take swimming at Union to new heights.
We are incredibly excited about these projects – ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ฐ ๐ฌ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐บโ๐ญ๐ญ ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐น๐ต ๐ค๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ต๐ฉ๐ด – and are exceptionally grateful as a school for the innovative thinking and collaborative teamwork of the Union Schoolsโ Governing Body members in realising these enormous undertakings and the support of the generous sponsors backing the various projects