In last week’s newsletter, I introduced one of our core values for the year; Courage. During assembly this week, I spoke about courage with the view of “feeling fear yet choosing to act”. I highlight the idea that often we can feel fear when we have to make a decision that may not make us popular with our peers. That there will be times when we need to overcome fear and display courage to ask questions in class such that we can understand a new concept or gain clarity on a concept or area of knowledge. Often we can find ourselves needing to dig deep into ourselves in order to achieve our goals and achieve success. Nelson Mandela said the following, “I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear”. Please assist your child in demonstrating and displaying courage in all that they do in the school programme.
We are pleased to announce the first awarding of the Upholding the Ethos Award for 2015. This was presented to Simon Duffy, in Grade 6, during assembly on Wednesday for his effort to hold the hand that holds the future. Simon assisted a peer who was absent for a day and he took it upon himself to record all of the class work, the homework and collect all materials that the absent child had missed during the day. Well done, Simon!
We congratulate the following children on their appointment as captains for the Summer sports for the year:
Chess Captain – Max Perdikes
Tennis Senior Boys Captain: Brendan Cross
Tennis Senior Girls captain: Simone Voigt
Cricket Captain: Luca Beddington
Softball Captain: Sarah Walker
Swimming Girls Captain: Kelli Parenzee
Swimming Boys Captain: Duncan Scott
Lightening: I request that all parents and children adhere to the School’s policy with regards to lightning. The policy is created to ensure the safety of the children, staff and parents on the campus and, although it is hugely frustrating at times, the system is there to protect all on campus. I ask that, in the interests of safety, you follow the requests of the staff when asked to clear fields, courts and the swimming pool.
Google Innovation Tour: On Thursday, 26 February 2015 Grayston Prep will be hosting education administrators, IT leaders, Academic Heads of schools, Universities, FET and TVET colleges for Google’s Innovation Tour. The tour involves sharing ideas about Google for Education from both the technical and academic points of view. It will commence at 8:30am and run until 4:30pm. Please note that, due to hosting 250 visitors on campus that day, parents are asked to drop off and collect children at the top school gate. The bottom school gate will be closed and used only for the Google Innovation Tour visitors to access the bottom field where they will be parking for the day. Our Grade 7 children will be escorting the guests from the bottom field to the hall for registration where they will be given a “delegates lanyard”. Please note this tour will not interfere with teaching time and school will close at 12:00pm for Exeat Weekend.
Themes: The Grade 000 and Grade 00 children will be learning about their Families and Homes next week while the Grade R children will continue their investigation of My Body.
Show and Tell: Every week the children are given an opportunity to show something they have brought from home and tell their classmates about the object. This could be related to the theme or a personal interest of the child. We encourage parents to help their children prepare what they are going to say about the objects they bring. The ‘show and tell’ sessions take place on a Monday morning in Grade 00 and Grade R and on a Wednesday morning in Grade 000.
Swimming: The children will swim on the following days next week –
Wednesday, 18 February – Grade 00 and Grade R boys
Thursday, 19 February – Grade R girls
Friday, 20 February – Grade 00 girls
Please note that the request to send the children to school with their swimming costumes under their uniforms should have been directed to the Grade 00 parents and not the Grade R parents. The Grade R children swim later in the day and are finding it difficult to disrobe every time they need to go to the bathroom!
Cookie Day: Our next Cookie Day will take place on Monday, 16 February and our bakers for the day are Matthew Cochran, Layla De Wit,Kristin Biggs, Alexia Cutter and Samuel Britton.
Happy Birthday: We wish all our January and February ‘babies’ a very happy birthday and thank them for their donations of books to the school library.
Collection of Children: If your child is going home with a friend, please let us know by email or letter. Alternatively, please tell the classroom assistant. It is very important that we know who is to collect the children for safety reasons.
Nursery School Reports: If your child is new to Grayston and you have not already done so, we would appreciate it if you could let the class teacher have a copy of his/her most recent school report.
Grade 00 Painting Shirts: Please would you send a large old shirt that can be used as a cover-all for painting activities.
Grade R Letters: Our letter of the week is Ee. We would like the children to bring objects of pictures that contain the letter. We would also appreciate it if you would encourage your children to practise the letter formation of those we have already learnt (Aa, Bb, Cc and Dd). To assist you, we have sent home the letter formation sheets which show the formation pattern for each letter.
Grade RD Puzzles and Games: Mrs Dixon needs assistance with the weekly ‘puzzles and games’ sessions. Please add your name to the list on the classroom door if you are able to help.
Grade R Mums’ and Dads’ Tea Party: The Grade R children will enjoy a ‘grown-up’ day on Friday, 20 February. Please help them to dress up as if they are you for the day – boys as daddy and girls as mommy! During the course of the day, while dressed in their finery, they will attend a tea party! (This event is for the children and not the parents.)
Chicken pox: Please note there has been an outbreak of chickenpox in Grade 1. If you child does have chickenpox please keep your child at home until a medical professional has issued a clearance letter.
School photos: Please diarise Monday, 30 March to Wednesday, 1 April as school photo day for all children from Grade 000 to Grade 7. The individual photo of your child will be printed and sent home with your child on the same day and an amount of R100.00 will be billed to your school fees account.
The Week Ahead:
Date
Time
Event
Venue
Fri 13 Feb 2015
13:45
Swimming A Team Gala
Redhill
Fri 13 Feb 2015
17:30
Montrose Night Series
Montrose
Sat 14 Feb 2015
18:00
Valentine’s Social (Gr6 & Gr7)
Grayston
Mon 16 Feb 2015
11:00
In the Enchanted Garden (Gr 1)
Grayston
Mon 16 Feb 2015
13:45
Grade 2 Cricket
St David’s inanda
Mon 16 Feb 2015
13:45
U10 A Cricket Match
Grayston
Mon 16 Feb 2015
13:45
U10 B Cricket Match
Crawford Sandton
Tue 17 Feb 2015
13:45
Gr 2 T-Ball Match
Curro Aurora
Tue 17 Feb 2015
13:45
U11 A Cricket Match
Crawford Sandton
Tue 17 Feb 2015
13;45
U11 B Cricket Match
Grayston
Wed 18 Feb 2015
07:30
4W Assembly
Grayston
Wed 18 Feb 2015
08:00
isiZulu Workshop
Brescia House
Wed 18 Feb 2015
13:45
First XI Cricket Match
Grayston
Wed 18 Feb 2015
13:45
Second XI Cricket Match
St Stithian’s
Wed 18 Feb 2015
13:45
Girls Tennis Match
St Martins
Thu 19 Feb 2015
13:45
Boys A Tennis Match
Grayston
Thu 19 Feb 2015
13:45
Boys B Tennis Match
St Martins
Thu 19 Feb 2015
13:45
Softball Matches
Grayston
Thu 19 Feb 2015
13:45
U9 A Cricket Match
Grayston
Thu 19 Feb 2015
13:45
U9 B Cricket Match
Kind David
Fri 20 Feb 2015
05:00
First XI Cricket Tour Departs
Grayston
Fri 20 Feb 2015
13:45
Swimming A Team Gala
Grayston
Fri 20 Feb 2015
13:45
Swimming B Team Gala
Sacred Heart
Fri 20 Feb 2015
13:45
Swimming C Team Gala
Crawford Lonehill
Fri 20 Feb 2015
13:45
Montrose Night Series
Montrose
Sun 22 Feb 2015
18:00
First XI Cricket Tour Returns
Grayston