Union High School extends its grateful ๐ง๐๐๐ก๐๐ฆ to the Old Unionite Association for gifting the matric girls at Arthur Kingwill House with a new fridge for their common room.
On Wednesday morning, 16 June, as South Africa commemorated Youth Day, Union High Schoolโs junior boarders took full advantage of the beautiful day and the magical place we live in.
The day was full of fun, adventure and laughter as the Grade 5 to 7 boarders went on a 5 kilometre walk by way of Mountain Drive – accompanied by their matrons – making memories together and taking a break from their everyday routines.
The boarders had a wonderful time connecting with each other and the outdoors.
After the walk, the boarders were treated to a braai, salads and some delicious cake!
Boarding is a happy and contented way of life for many of our learners.
Union High School offers co-educational boarding from Grade 5 through to Grade 12, with options for weekly, termly and casual boarding.
The Grade 5 to 7 boarders are housed in Herby Arnott House and the Grade 8 to 12 boarders in Arthur Kingwill House.
(Weekly boarding is available for Union Preparatory School’s Grade 1 to 4 learners at Max Kroon House.)
Each house has been structured in such a way that it offers its boarders a comfortable home-away-from-home where they can feel a sense of belonging, make friends and enjoy their school years fully immersed in Union’s vibrant campus life.
If you are considering the boarding experience for your children, there really is no better place for them to be than at our wonderful school.
Read more about boarding at Union on our website at http://www.unionschools.co.za/boarding-facilities/ or contact us at 049 891 0262 to find out more or to arrange a visit.
โค ๐๐ฝ๐ฝ๐น๐ถ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป๐ ๐ณ๐ผ๐ฟ ๐ฎ๐ฑ๐บ๐ถ๐๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป ๐ถ๐ป ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ฎ๐ฎ ๐๐ถ๐น๐น ๐ผ๐ฝ๐ฒ๐ป ๐ผ๐ป ๐ฏ ๐ ๐ฎ๐ ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ฎ๐ญ.
One thing is certain: change is essential. Change means growth, progress and moving forward.
In what has been one of the most significant developments at Union High School in recent times, the school officially reopened its two boarding houses as co-ed establishments on Monday, 1 March 2021 – Herby Arnott House as a junior co-educational boarding house for Grade 5 to 7 learners and Arthur Kingwill House as a senior co-educational boarding house for Grade 8 to 12 learners.
Herby Arnott House has served the school as its girlsโ hostel since 1959 when it was built. Arthur Kingwill House, in turn, has served as the schoolโs boysโ hostel since its construction in 1953. As of this week, these two boarding establishments now offer Union High Schoolโs boarders a modern, vibrant and age-appropriate co-ed experience.
Combined, the Union Preparatory School and Union High School now offer three co-educational boarding houses:
โข Max Kroon House for the Grade 1 to 4 learners;
โข Herby Arnott House for the Grade 5 to 7 learners and;
โข Arthur Kingwill House for the Grade 8 to 12 learners.
At Union, we pride ourselves on providing our boarders with a safe and supportive environment and believe that the restructuring of our boarding establishments as co-educational houses will have many benefits for our learners, not least the further development of the family atmosphere for which Union is rightly proud, but it will also serve to provide a mutually supportive environment for both boys and girls to live and work together and learn from each other.
All three houses have separate boysโ and girlsโ wings with spacious common rooms, game rooms and extensive grounds and sports facilities that provide the necessary break-out spaces for busy and active children.
An experienced and dedicated team of boarding staff creates a warm and caring atmosphere across all three boarding houses, offering round the clock support to ensure the learners feel at home.
Each house has been structured in such a way that if offers its boarders a comfortable home-away-from-home where they can feel a sense of belonging, make friends and enjoy their school years fully immersed in Union’s vibrant campus life. This enables learners to flourish at a time in their life when they are making great leaps in their academic, physical and emotional development.
Seen here is our very first group of Grade 5 to 7 boarders to reside in Union’s new junior co-educational boarding establishment at Herby Arnott House.
On Thursday, 24 September, the boarders at Union’s Arthur Kingwill House lit the fires and got the braai tongs and marinade out to celebrate Heritage Day with a traditional South African braai.As the smell of a braai hung in the air, the boys enjoyed a fun afternoon sharing stories, braai techniques and plenty of jokes while gathered around the fires.
With the ongoing pandemic thwarting an in-person party, the staff at Arthur Kingwill House, one of Union’s boarding houses, had to get creative in saying goodbye and congratulations to a beloved member of staff who is retiring after a long career at the school.
The moment was therefore celebrated, from a distance, on Sunday, 14 June, in what is becoming an increasingly more common way to โget togetherโ โ a drive-by.
After having first all gathered at AK House, the friends and colleagues of Ms Pam Hector then drove to her house, with each of them stopping to tie a balloon to her fence and to wish her a well-deserved rest and an enjoyable retirement.
โAunty Pamโ as she was affectionately known, has worked for the Union Schools’ boarding houses for the past 34 years and has always been regarded as a very kind and dear lady.
Her gentle nature was appreciated by both the adults and the young AK House gentlemen alike.
The boys have always spoken very highly of her and the Houseโs superintendent Mr Donald Kingwill and his wife Alet will always remember her for her gentle nature and friendliness.ย As a retirement gift from her friends and colleagues, Aunty Pam was presented with a beautiful king size blanket made up of squares, knitted by the ladies who worked at AK House during the winter of 2017, that was recently crocheted together.
Happy retirement, Aunty Pam. You will be missed!
This past Saturday morning (26 October), some of Union’s Arthur Kingwill House boarders, joined the hostel’s superintendent, Mr Donald Kingwill, his wife Alet, and daughter Ingrid, in participating in the local Assembly Church’s ‘Dam Day’ initiative.
The boarders were just some of the many members of the Union community who were among the 612 locals who supported this venture which sought to clear the Nqweba Dam of dead fish and litter.
At the end of the day’s efforts, a total of 36 625 fish were picked up!
Union congratulates the Assembly Church on this very successful community project and extends its thanks to all those from the Union community who rolled up their sleeves to support them!
A memorable evening was recently enjoyed by all the girls at Union’s Herby Arnott House.
The Egyptian-themed annual house dinner presented an opportunity for all involved to reflect on the year in boarding and to acknowledge the departing Grade 12s.
This year the HAH girls were joined by the little Max Kroon House boarders, who were all very excited to attend this special event.
During the course of the evening, a select few special guests were honoured for their contribution to hostel life, thank you gifts were presented to hostel staff and farewell gifts were given to the matrics.
The highlight of the evening was the announcement of the hostel’s new prefects for 2019/20.
Congratulations to Jade Shires (Headgirl), Lauren Rose-Innes (Prefect) and Ayden Brown (Deputy Headgirl).
They will be assisted by monitors Primrose Mutapati, Kaydn Retief, Hannah Watermeyer and Soyama Mbetshu.
The evening was thoroughly enjoyed by all those present and the school extends its heartfelt thanks to all involved for creating such a special evening for the girls.
We extend our congratulations to the girls who have been chosen as the leaders of Union’s Herby Arnott House for the coming year.
They have already taken up their duties, working in tandem with the Grade 12 prefects until they start writing their final examinations.
They are: (front) Jade Shires (Headgirl), Lauren Rose-Innes (Prefect) and Ayden Brown (Deputy Headgirl). They will be assisted by monitors (back) Soyama Mbetshu, Kaydn Retief, Hannah Watermeyer and Primrose Mutapati.
The Grade 12 girls at Union’s Herby Arnott House recently enjoyed a relaxing spa break at the Africology Spa at Drostdy Hotel.
The afternoon saw the girls take full advantage of the spa’s leisure facilities, with the world-class therapists sweeping them off their feet.
This was the ultimate way to unwind for the girls in anticipation of the final exams that lie in wait…