Academic, Bulletin

Congratulations Class Of 2020

2020 was an extremely challenging year, but, despite the extraordinary circumstances, the grit and resilience demonstrated by Union High School’s Class of 2020 have been remarkable.
Our sincerest thanks go to a very dedicated team of educators as well as to our Union families who supported the learners during this time.
The matrics of 2020, who achieved a 96,5% pass rate, gathered a total of 61 subject distinctions amongst themselves in the recent National Senior Certificate (NSC) examinations.
Of the 57 candidates, 80% achieved Bachelor passes.
Pass rate: 96,5%
Diploma pass: 18%
Number of candidates: 57
Number of distinctions: 61
Number of candidates with ‘A’ aggregates: 4
The Class of 2020’s Top 3 candidates, Sara Kingwill, Katherine Imrie and Laetitia Theron. Between them, they managed to collect 19 subject distinctions.
We heartily congratulate Katherine Imrie, Union High School’s top candidate, who achieved the highest average (87,43%) and a full house of seven (7) subject distinctions.
Sara Kingwill achieved the second-highest average (85,57%) and six (6) subject distinctions.
Laetitia Theron achieved the third-highest average (85,29%) and six (6) subject distinctions.
Bowen Langmead placed fourth with his average of 80,71% and three (3) subject distinctions.
Rounding out our top 5 is Erin Mitchell with an average of 77,57% and four (4) subject distinctions.
While we highlight the top achievers, we also acknowledge the hard work and personal accomplishments of each learner and appreciate the dedication and commitment to their learning.
Your achievements, despite the unprecedented circumstances you faced, are truly exceptional. Some lovely personal bests, a few superb distinctions and all-round pleasing results have been reported.
We’re so proud of you all and wish you every success as you embark on a new chapter of your lives.
Academic, Bulletin

Reimagining Education

The Union Schools are proud to announce our exciting new partnership with KELLER EDUCATION.
Keller Education is a collaboration of education leaders driven to reimagine schooling and committed to improving the school experience for modern children while specifically focusing on the quality of teaching and thinking in schools.
Driven by recent neuroscience research, they will be sharing decades of experience with our educators, while providing them with exceptional training, a variety of support strategies, ideas and toolboxes to navigate seamlessly through 21st-century schooling.
We are super excited about this new development and the benefits our learners are sure to reap from it! We hope you are too!
Have a look at the accompanying video or visit their website at http://www.keller.education/ to find out more.
Academic, Bulletin

Developing Young, Bright, Mathematical Minds

Union High School was recently presented with a 𝟮𝟬𝘁𝗵 𝗬𝗲𝗮𝗿 𝗔𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗱 by the South African Mathematics Foundation. This award acknowledges the school’s annual participation in the SA Mathematics Olympiad for the past 20 years.
Union congratulates all our current and past math educators for ensuring that our young math enthusiasts participate in this event!
Union High School is proud of our long-standing association with this national Olympiad and look forward to participating again in future.
The South African Mathematics Olympiad (SAMO) is South Africa’s biggest Olympiad. Approximately 100 000 high school learners from Grade 8 to Grade 12 participate annually. Through participation in this event, Union hopes to generate enthusiasm and curiosity for the subject in our learners. Mathematics competitions are becoming more and more important as it emphasizes that the school subject called “Mathematics” isn’t just about mechanical calculations or numeracy, but about thinking and the discovery, and validation, of problem-solving methods.
Academic, Bulletin

Fun With Notan

Union High School’s Grade 8 and 9 Creative Arts learners recently explored different arrangements of light and dark elements in ‘Notan’ art – a Japanese art concept often described as the play between light and dark.
This assignment taught them how to work with light and dark contrast, symmetry and composition and they produced some excellent work.
Academic, Bulletin

Join G Suite

As most parents will be aware by now, Union High School has recently adopted G Suite for Education, to improve the technology we use for our online teaching support.
This is an exciting transition, as the tools available in G Suite, will make work-sharing easier, improve communication and also help teachers and learners to collaborate better.
All learners have been issued with e-mail addresses with which to access Union’s new Google classrooms.
To make the migration easier for learners and parents, we’ve put together this step-by-step instruction to help learners access the classrooms via a mobile device.
Please note:
1. Step-by-step instructions to access the classrooms via a computer has also been posted to our Facebook timeline.
2. These instructions were also sent out via the D6 Communicator and class WhatsApp groups.
3. Please contact Mr JP Kruger at 072 076 0352 should you need further assistance in this regard.
Academic, Bulletin

Outdoor Learning

A Breath Of Fresh Air

Whenever the weather (and a lesson’s subject matter) permits it, the educators at Union love moving their lessons outside into the school’s green space.
Taking full advantage of the sunny day on Monday, Mrs Nelia Read took her Grade 12 Tourism class to the ‘outside classroom’.
While soaking up the bit of warmth the winter sun offered, the learners could be heard having a lively discussion about the impact of the Covid-19 Coronavirus on the world’s tourism industry, in particular, the effect that it has on world-famous icons and attractions.
Academic, Bulletin

Gr 8 & 9 Thespians

Union High School’s Grade 8 and 9 learners got to experience the free-wheeling, creative and judgment-free nature of improv when they took to the stage this week for improvised performances as part of their Creative Arts curriculum.

It was immensely gratifying to watch these young thespians as they took on the various characters and put the different dramatic techniques they’ve learnt into practice.

Academic, Bulletin

Learner Excels In Book Review Competition

Learners from all seven municipal regions within the Sarah Baartman district gathered in Addo on Thursday morning, 5 March, to compete on a district-level in a national reading competition.

This was the third round of a competition held to commemorate the 2020 SA Library Week, organised by the Department of Sport, Recreation, Arts & Culture.

Avid reader James Rose-Innes – a Grade 11 learner at Union High School – managed to outperform his competitors in the first two rounds of the competition to claim the honour of representing the Dr Beyers Naudé municipal region at this event.

James competed in the Book Review category which assessed the learners’ reading and comprehension abilities. Here he was given two minutes to review the book ‘Things Fall Apart’ by Chinua Achebe.

James made the municipality and school exceptionally proud with his performance, placing third overall in the district.

James received a laptop bag, pen and wristwatch for his efforts.

Well done, James!

Academic, Bulletin

Gr 9 Learners Attend Performing Arts Workshop

Learners discover the wonder of improv

Last week, during their Creative Arts lesson, Union High School’s Grade 9s participated in a Performing Arts workshop, facilitated by Mrs Paula Kingwill.

This workshop was aimed at teaching the learners about improvisational theatre, often called improvisation or improv.

During their session with Mrs Kingwill, the learners were taught about connecting the art of improv with the adventure of everyday living, personal growth and creativity (with frequent bursts of laughter, of course).

They were also taught about different dramatic techniques, taking on a new character and lifting each other up as a group.

An inspirational and uplifting time was had by all and Union looks forward to the improvisations they will create as a part of their upcoming assessment.