Hello Friends!
As we draw to the end of a year that has been characterised by troubled waters both at home and abroad we must remember Albert Einstein’s wise words:
“Peace cannot be kept by force, it can only be achieved by understanding”
How better can we achieve understanding than by ensuring a quality education that teaches respect, tolerance, accountability, and the importance of service in leadership.
Thank you to all of you who help us to achieve this !!!!!
Happy holidays to all our friends and supporters.
On the 28th of November all our Residential and Outlier and many of our University students gathered with friends and staff at Ridgeway College to celebrate our achievements in 2015.
This month we honour the August Schippers Foundation and Mr. Bart Fuijkschot, long term supporters of both Sumbandila and Ridgeway College.
Sumbandila students excel at Ridgeway’s Honours evening.
Sumbandila Story of the Month
August Schippers Foundation and Mpho Netshifefhe
In October Mr. Bart Fuijkschot from the August Schippers Foundation paid his annual visit to Sumbandila and Ridgeway College. The August Schippers Foundation have sponsored a total of nine students on the full residential programme since 2008.
In 2016 five of their students will be at University: one in third year social science, two in second year medicine, one in first year bachelor of science (genetics) and one in first year bachelor of commerce. Four remain at Ridgeway College.
We are very pleased to announce that the foundation have also just agreed to sponsor Mpho Netshifefhe for his final year at Ridgeway College.
Mpho has not only just scored 100% in his form four pre AS-level maths exam, he has also been appointed onto Ridgeway’s council and as prefect at the hostel.
Watch this video to find out more about The August Schippers Foundation’s dedication to Ridgeway and Sumbandila, and Bart’s personal connection with our students:
Video: Watch the phenomenal work of the August Schippers Foundation
A festive end to 2015!
At the end of each year we celebrate our graduating class of residential students and Outliers who have spent five years with us and are ready to head into the world of tertiary education. Our Christmas function on 28 November was a huge success, with a total of 285 in attendance, special Christmas fair, speeches by school leavers and alumni, joyous conversation and bitter sweet goodbyes.
We were delighted to welcome members of the community who have offered continuous support for Sumbandila and staff and whose love and dedication make this all possible .
220 of our students attended including all the residentials, all the Outliers, the new 2016 intake and as many university students as were able to attend.
In the light of the recent #FessMustFall campaign affecting institutions across South Africa, our students were urged to remain focused on their academic and career goals but also involve themselves fully in the much needed transformation in our country. Mr. Mike Linden, Sumbandila trustee, addressed the students:
“I just want you, all through your futures, to realize and to use that power that you have. You have the power to change things for the better. Use that power”.
It was fitting to have one of our tertiary students, Shadrack Khorombi, address our graduates and introduce the world of university to them. He stressed the importance of time management and the necessity of using available resources. Shadrack also had a profound message for the new Form 1s joining Sumbandila next year:
“I urge you to think of Sumbandila not as a bus but a pair of shoes. You have not won yourselves a bus ticket out of where you come from but you have been given a new pair of shoes to continue walking the one million miles journey to success. Walking makes you aware of your surroundings, you can always look back to where you are coming from and you can see where you are going. In a bus ride, you are not aware of the things happening outside and you cannot see where you come from thus you forget who you truly are”
Read Shadrack’s full speech.
Watch the speech (video)
We ended a great year with a fantastic celebration. Thank you to Ridgeway College for the use of the school hall, the Ridgeway and Sumbandila staff and everyone who played a part in making this a memorable occasion.
Our students shine at Ridgeway’s Honours Evening
On 12 November Ridgeway College hosted its annual Honours Evening to award certificates and trophies to students who have excelled in their particular areas of academic subjects and cultural, social and sports activities. A proud Mr. Wells, Principal of Ridgeway, also stressed the value of the entire Ridgeway community, from teachers to ground and cleaning staff, and all students not receiving awards, in making excellence a daily reality for the school.
Mr. Wells was honoured to introduce Dr. Ayob, a long serving board member of Ridgeway and dedicated servant to the wider community, to present the awards.
In a poignant address to the graduating class of 2015, Dr. Ayob quoted Professor Jonathan Jansen (Rector of the University of the Free State) who in a recent address stated that:“For too long the poor have been ignored in this country. It’s about time society has a wake-up call… The Fees-Must-Fall campaign has probably started our own Arab Spring”.
Dr. Ayob invited Ridgeway’s graduates to become part of the positive change happening in our country, but to also remember that their central purpose at University is to learn and educate themselves.
Dr. Ayob gave a special note of thanks to Leigh Bristow and her commitment to the alliance between Sumbandila and Ridgeway, expanding on the financial and infrastructural benefits this brings to the College, and the brilliant and humble young minds Sumbandila adds to the student body. He went on:
“It is said that aptitude is equally distributes in society, but not opportunity. Leigh, you create opportunity for children with high aptitudes who don’t have the means to get a good education. Thank you for being the remarkable human being you are. Thank you for engaging and encouraging people to bring about social change in out country. And certainly our country needs that”.
Sumbandila was proud to have many of our students across all years receive academic, leadership, cultural and sports awards, and congratulate them on their excellent achievements.
We also had a private residential awards ceremony for our students, in which we rewarded the performance and improvement of our students in areas such as general tidiness, good manners, leadership and dedication to the boarding house community. We are a close knit community of students and staff and it is always important to nurture an environment of respect, caring and involvement, and give due credit for participation and good ‘citizenship’.
A lovely surprise for principal of Luvhalani Primary School
Donald Mudau from our partner school Luvhalani was delighted to discover at our end year function that a number of our Sumbandila scholars actually attended his school in junior primary.
This bears testament to the fact that a first-class primary education is absolutely critical and that the partnership between our two schools is bearing fruit.
We are also delighted to announce that yet another product of this wonderful school has been selected onto the Sumbandila primary school program. Next year we welcome Oritonda Nemalale to Ridgeway Independent School and Sumbandila.
Mutshidzi shines with award
Mutshidzi Ramavheya (Form 2 Residential student) stunned us at Ridgeway’s Honours Evening with an impressive performance of a poem she wrote herself. Her poem God Bless Africa uses fierce irony to address our country’s dysfunctionality and her vehement presentation called the audience to action.
It is no wonder that Mutshidzi fared exceptionally well at this year’s National Eisteddfod competition, winning the prize for lyric poetry in the Grade 9 category for the entire region of Northern Gauteng and Limpopo. Congratulations Mutshidzi!
May your pen keep flowing as you develop your unique voice in the years to come! Watch her performance here.
Babies Under Baobabs
Watch Nomvuka Daycare receive some very special festive gifts.
Since its launch in January, Babies Under Baobabs (Bubs), our Early Childhood Development (ECD) programme, has made many new friends, and has begun the journey in supporting ECD in the Limpopo Province. We would like to thank Nali Bali and the Swedish community together with Agora for their generous support.
The Swedish community together with Agora treated the Mamvuka crèche to Christmas gifts and toys. Each of the 66 children received a little bag with goodies for school and home. The nursery school received some truly invaluable teaching resources including books, crayons, trucks, a giant calculator for maths hour and a 12 piece puzzle for each child. These toys will not only bring a smile to all the children this Christmas but will also be a valuable tool to helping them achieve their developmental mile stones before grade 1.
We wish our three nursery schools good luck for the new year in 2016 and we hope they manage to use all the skills they have learnt with us this year.
Youngest Sumbandila graduates from Grade R
Nommy Makhubele, our youngest child on the Sumbandila programme, graduated from Ridgeway’s Early Childhood Development Programme (grade R), with a happy smile and enthusiastic dance moves as her class took their final bow.
We look forward to Nommy’s growth as she enters Grade 1 at Ridgeway Independent School next year. Well done Nommy!
Happy Christmas to those who celebrate it and happy holidays to you ALL!
Kind regards
Leigh Bristow