Category: Cultural

On Tuesday, the 22nd of January, Grade 8’s and 9’s were invited to attend the first Debating/Public Speaking evening for 2019. Enthusiastic learners were encouraged to engage with peers in preparation for panel discussions on a variety of current affairs.

Those in attendance received valuable feedback from the audience and this was sure to encourage learners – building confidence in a public speaking environment under the guidance of Ms Phillips.

The following learners played the ABRSM piano exam in 2018:

Owethu Singeni – Passed Gr 1
Erin Gedult – Passed Gr 1 with Merit
Sasha Cochrane – Passed Gr 1 with Merit
Lana Bouwer – Passed Gr 2
Caytah-Leigh Koeberg – Passed Gr 3
Caitrin Spence – Passed Gr 4
Chloe Shires – Passed Gr 5 with Merit
Barbara McNaughton – Passed Gr 5
Hannah Watermeyer – Passed Gr 5
Shayna Japhta – Passed Gr 5
Jamie Jaftha – Passed Gr 5 with Merit
Jenna McNaughton – Passed Gr 7 with Merit

The following learners represented the local district Chess team at the SAJCC (South African Junior Chess Championship) in December 2018 and are awarded the following:

Liano Naidoo – Full Colours – represented the local districts’ team at SAJCC and won 3 matches at SAJCC
Harun Wajid – Half Colours – represented the local districts’ team at SAJCC
James Rose-Innes – Merit Certificate – represented the local districts’ team at SAJCC and won 3 matches at SAJCC
Tracy Pettit  – Merit Certificate – represented the local districts’ team at SAJCC

Yesterday, our brand new Primary Marimba band learned their first song. You can see the concentration on their faces as they try to remember the rhythms, notes and sequences. Max Blank, our exchange student from Salisbury Cathedral is especially proud to be part of the band this term and to learn a new instrument. He quickly caught on to the melody and played it almost flawlessly. Our Marimba band is looking forward to making more music together!

Union High School celebrated their new Interact committee with their first community activity by creating blankets for Narsing Street Hostel learners as part of the “Blanket Project” launched by Derek Light Attorneys. Mrs Michelle Kingwill trained sixteen Interact members and the group produced 8 blankets by the end of the session. Mrs Crankshaw served the group with much guidance throughout the session.

The committee elected Siphesihle Jali as chairperson, Jada Smith as deputy-chairperson, Kirsten King as secretary and Ethan Gedult as Treasurer. The executive will lead sixteen enthusiastic teenagers with a heart for the communities they live in.

We wish our Interact many a successful community project for 2019.

Having a school surrounded by a national park makes for some interesting sightings on our campus. We had an expert on grass visit the Arthur Kingwill House cricket nets last Thursday! During times of drought one should never lift tortoises to move them, as quite often they eliminate precious liquid when stressed.

The Art Club had its first outing to the Imibala Gallery at the Drostdy Hotel. Mrs Kim Imrie gave a very interesting talk about the art in the gallery and we learned about prints and commissions. She guided us through the gallery and gave us interesting information about the artists and their backgrounds. We are looking forward to our next gallery visit and visits to artist in their studios. We would love to visit all the local artists and galleries in our area, so please let us know where you are!

Our music teachers, Mrs van der Walt, Mrs Brink and Mrs van Rooyen started their year by attending a Rockschool workshop, presented by Mrs Naome Bezuidenhout, an international Rockschool examiner from Vanderbijlpark in South Africa. Rockschool is an international exam board, “Awarding the Contemporary Arts”.

RSL was founded on an ethos to provide innovative, contemporary qualifications for music and the arts. Being at the forefront of the industry for over 25 years, their operations include Rockschool Graded Music Exams, Teaching and Performance Diplomas, Vocational Qualifications (VQ’s) and Performance Arts Awards (PAA).

They pride themselves on delivering the most academically rigorous, industry-relevant qualifications designed to support aspiring artists, educators and teaching establishments – wherever they may be.

Our teachers were instructed on the content of the piano syllabus, from Debut to Gr 8, and the standard and different aspects of the graded exams. They learned a lot and are excited to implement the syllabus as another option of instruction into our music program for learners who wish to earn a graded qualification in contemporary piano music.

We are very pleased to announce that our 2018 efforts for our eco-schools projects have been favourably received and we’ll be awarded with our Platinum 1 Eco-Scools Award soon. Any parents who would like to be part of our 2019 Eco-Schools Committee please contact Ms Street.