Academic, Bulletin

Self-reflection

The Grade 9s in Mrs Bronwen Langmead’s Creative Arts class, studied the art of Portraiture during a recent lesson.

This activity helps learners better understand the difference between drawing from life and drawing from a photograph.

Through the process of putting forth time and effort, they came to see they can create realistic portraits successfully. It was a “wow” moment for all the learners involved!

[The learners impressive creations can be seen displayed in the UHS main quad, if you’re nearby do pop round to have a look!]

Bulletin, Student Life

“𝐍𝐨 𝐥𝐞𝐠𝐚𝐜𝐲 𝐢𝐬 𝐬𝐨 𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐡 𝐚𝐬 𝐡𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐲.”

“𝐍𝐨 𝐥𝐞𝐠𝐚𝐜𝐲 𝐢𝐬 𝐬𝐨 𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐡 𝐚𝐬 𝐡𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐲.” ― 𝐖𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐚𝐦 𝐒𝐡𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐞

A Grade 6 learner at Union High School deserves to be praised for her honesty after she made sure that a plastic bank bag, containing a substantial amount of money, was returned to its rightful owner.

On Monday afternoon, 10 February, Lisakhanya Menos noticed a small package on the ground while busy with her extracurriculars on the Union High School campus.

This little package turned out to be a small bank bag, filled with money.

While some would have called it their lucky day, pocketed the cash and not thought twice about it, Lisakhanya rescued the little package and then dutifully turned the money over to Mrs Yvette Cloete.

The money soon made its way back to its owner – one of the school’s teachers, who reported having lost it earlier.

Lisakhanya set a great example of doing the right thing even when no one is watching. It is acts of honesty and civic duty like this that replenishes faith in the good-hearted nature of our learners.

Well done, Lisakhanya!

Bulletin, Cultural

Eco Club Celebrates Recent Rains

The members of Union High School’s Eco Club visited the Valley Of Desolation on Friday afternoon, 14 February, where they were amazed to see how this drought-stricken area’s plant life has recovered since the recent rains.

It was also a beautiful sight for all to see the Nqweba Dam with some water in it again after having been dry for almost a year and, as always, the view of the town set against the timeless backdrop of the vast plains of the Camdeboo was a treat for all the learners.

Bulletin, Student Life

Valentine’s Day @ UHS

Oh, we’re definitely feeling the love today 😍

Union High School’s MF committee members worked tirelessly this Valentine’s Day to raise funds for the 2020 Matric Farewell.

We’re thrilled to report that the school’s learners really supported their Valentine’s Day efforts, with children from every grade buying roses and cupcakes for the ones they admire.

Academic, Bulletin

Gr 8 Graffiti

The first few weeks of Grade 8 can be overwhelming, exciting, daunting and ‘cool’ all at once!

In Arts and Culture, the Grade 8s studied graffiti and lettering and then had to choose a word which best described their first few weeks at Union.

They worked really hard and produced magnificent results!

Bulletin, Cultural

Operation ‘Love Sandwiches’ Continue

It was the Grade 10s turn on Wednesday morning, 12 February, to try and best the other grades in the ‘Love Sandwiches’ project recently initiated by the school’s Interact Club.

[This ongoing project sees the learners of the respective grades at Union compete to see who can make the most sandwiches in aid of this initiative.]

Armed with all their sandwich-making supplies, the three Grade 10 classes, led by their class teachers Miss Jacqui Jones, Mr Erwin Ittershagen-Strauss and Mrs Bronwen Langmead, managed to set a new record – a whopping 487 sandwiches!

The sandwiches were delivered later on that afternoon to the Midlands Hospital, the CMR and the soup kitchen at the East Street Congregational Church.

Academic, Bulletin

SAOU Training For Staff

On Thursday afternoon, 6 February, Union educators Mmes Helane Keyser, Kiki Nell, Hanli Rose-Innes and Jenny Street attended a training session hosted by the SAOU in Graaff-Reinet, themed ‘Barriers to Learning in the Inclusive Classroom’.

During this training session particular attention was given to the following most common barriers to learning that manifests itself in classrooms: ADHD, dyslexia, dyscalculia, dysgraphia, dyspraxia, autism and auditory processing disorder (APD).

Particular focus was placed on strategies to support learners with these barriers in the inclusive classroom.

Bulletin, Student Life

Gr 8 Learners Receive Bibles

Grade 8 learners at Union High School had the privilege today of becoming recipients of Gideons Bibles.

The learners were honoured with the Bibles early this morning, Tuesday, 11 February, when Mr Johan Botha and his wife, René, representatives of The Gideons International in South Africa visited the school.

Mr Johan Botha had the privilege of being able to present a Bible to his eldest grandson, Hugo, currently a Grade 8 learner at the school.
Bulletin

Coding Club Gives Learners An Edge

The continuing importance of technology and pervasiveness in our lives require a lot of people with coding skills. Through a special coding club, Union’s learners are not only being taught how to use technology, but also to understand the science behind it.

The members of the 2019 Coding Club in front of the digital clock at Union’s Puttick Field. They are seen here with Mr Kallie Venter and Mr JP Kruger and their new robot front and centre. Back: Jack Allers, Matthew Ferreira, Christopher Collins, Corniel Vorster and Mohamed Hartley. Front: Mr JP Kruger, Karl Venter, Jarryd Hagedorn-Hansen, Cassidy Goliad and Mr Kallie Venter

The Coding Club is a special extra-mural activity initiated by Mr Kallie Venter, an Old Unionite himself, aimed at engaging learners in Computer Science, and allowing them to gain a practical understanding of basic coding.

The Coding Club was started towards the end of 2018, when Mr Venter had the idea of providing the school with a new digital clock for rugby matches.

But, Mr Venter not only wanted to construct the clock for the school, he also wanted to share the knowledge required to build and programme the clock with the learners of the school.

The construction and completion of this project (which can now be seen next to Union’s Puttick Field) has created an enthusiastic group of tech-savvy learners who are all eager to learn more about coding and building devices using the Raspberry Pi.

Meetings are held on Tuesday evenings where learners continue to work on various projects.

The Club’s current project is a robot that will have an array of functions ranging from driving, shooting a water pistol and perhaps even confetti. All this will be determined by the ability of the learners, their dedication, as well as their imagination.

In addition to the practical skills the learners are acquiring while building the various devices, the learners are also beginning to understand the basics of web designing and programming as each device is being programmed to work off a mobile phone or tablet, once it has connected to the web page designed by the learners.

The benefits of learning coding at a young age are enormous and include the development of problem-solving skills, computational thinking, persistence, collaboration, and a deeper understanding of a range of mathematical concepts and language.

Union is exceedingly grateful to Mr Venter, assisted by Mr JP Kruger, for steering this initiative and providing our learners with this very valuable opportunity!