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St Johns Preparatory School Houghton Tel: 011 645 3100/ 087 550473 9th March 2012 Newsletter Number 3
Have we ever said this to our sons: "Why can't you be like David?" or John got 80% because he works so hard, if you worked as hard as John, you would also get an A or You got 75% for your test; what 12/03 UIII Instrumental Concert 13/03 Housemasters Assembly did Matthew get? Comparing our sons to other boys and measuring LIII Instrumental Concert them by that rule is a recipe for disaster. Whether 14/03 Grade 2 & LIII Interact we are in a line at a supermarket or looking at a UII Instrumental Concert school report or dropping off our boys in the car KEPS/ St Benedicts Athletics park at school, we need to refrain from measuring our boys against others. 15/03 LII Instrumental Concert
16/03 UI Instrumental Concert Hair & Uniform Inspection
Sadly whilst we cannot avoid being part of a competitive society which stresses the need to run faster, be smarter and attain much more than others, many parents are using comparative parenting in an effort to motivate children to achieve. Whilst it is not wrong to set goals for children, these goals must be realistic, attainable and unique to the individual child.
St Davids Water Polo Festival Supper and Song 19/03 Music Scholarship Examination UIII 20/03 Headmasters Assembly 21/03 Human Rights Day 22/03 Parents Mass & Chapel Collection
Ephesians 6:4 has this to tell us about heavy- 23/03 Easter 2 Timetable Ends St Stithians Athletics handed parenting, "Fathers, don't exasperate your children by coming down hard on them. Take them St Johns Water Polo Festival by the hand and lead them in the way of the 30/03 St Peters Water Polo Festival Master". I think that this is key do we lead our sons or do we push them? Unfortunately most of us adults today have grown up having been told all our lives that "if you were like George then..." or "if you would try to be like Simon then...", the result is that many adults still feel like children who have never been accepted for who they are.
UIII Camp LIII Camp UII Camp
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The underlying message that boys receive when they hear comparisons is "youre not quite right", "you didn't turn out to be the child I wanted" or "you are wrong". The child also then becomes fearful of disappointing the parent; he becomes anxious of failing and making mistakes. To panic any time our boys dont reach a milestone exactly when other boys do sets us up for a lifetime of worry, jealousy and regret. So don't worry too much and just enjoy and cherish your boy while you have the opportunity. We need to give our boys the clear message that they are loved and accepted as they are, and celebrate their uniqueness. Our measure of success should not be whether or not our boys make the provincial sports teams or get 6 As in matric, or whether they do better than their peers, it should be whether our sons grow into men who live happy lives, worthy of God and themselves. Staff News I would like to congratulate Mr JP Lubbe on his appointment as Director of Sport at Heronbridge Prep. We wish him all the very best in this exciting new role. I am pleased to announce the appointment of Mr Sean Logan as the new Darragh Housemaster and Upper III teacher. Mr Logan comes from St Stithians Boys Prep where he has been Head of Grade 7 and Assistant Sports Co-Ordinator. Mr Logan is extremely well qualified and we wish him a long and happy tenure at St Johns Prep. Congratulations go to Michelle and Mike Fehrsen on the birth of Jack John, born on 11th February and to JP and Belle, on the birth of Samuel Paul born on 16th February.
We would like to extend our sincere condolences to Brandon (UIIF) and Bridget on the passing of their father and husband, Lourens, respectively. Our thoughts and prayers are with you at this difficult time.
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4CTea
February 2012 Over 90% in English and Afrikaans Assessment Gavin McPherson Matthew Chamberlin Thomas Deppe Over 90% in Afrikaans Assessment Andrew Raney Greg Basslian Tiago Neto Garth van den Berg Jack Lees Brandon Badenhorst Cricket B Vermeulen M Elliott
Over 80% in Maths Assessment C Ayo E Baleni A Bester C Ching H Mtshali G Palotta D Stevens J Williamson Neat Handwriting Marc Hersov
Over 90% for Maths Assessment G Berry D Moodie M Nycobo S Smart C Williams G Durlind N Moschides H Papageorgiou B Thomas
LOST PROPERTY The Lost property room will now be open during break only
In order to instil a sense of responsibility, please remind your son to go and collect his own lost property rather than collect it for him.
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Sports Results
Cricket
Versus Keps U11A U10C Result Lost Lost Individual Performances M Durant 26 J Lees 12 K Dooley 13 runs K Ntuli 2 for 11
Individual Performances
Basketball
St Johns vs St Benedicts 1st played 3 won 3 2nd played 3 won 3 SJP were crowned Tournament Champs, and remained unbeaten this season!
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Well done to all the boys who played basketball this season. There has been a general improvement in skills across all age groups. I was particularly pleased with the enthusiasm, passion and dedication displayed by our junior group. Congratulations also to the seniors. The 1st and 2nd teams won all their matches at the St. Benedicts Preparatory School Basketball Festival, which took place on 18 February 2012. The following boys received awards at the festival: Matthew Robinson Best Defensive Player Jordan Williamson Best Shooter Ross Morshead Runner Up: Most Valuable Player Yannick Ter Mors Most Valuable Player Award
The 1st Team also scooped first place at the St. Johns Preparatory School First Team Tournament, which took place on 3rd March 2012. Well done to Musachi Nkanza (Most Valuable Player of the Tournament) and Ben Shefer (Fair Play) on their awards.
St Johns 1st Basketball Team are unbeaten this season! Dave Mulenga
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Sports Results
Swimming
A Team Gala 3rd 2nd 1st St Benedicts St Johns St Stithians B Team Gala 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Assumption Convent KEPS St Peters Girls St Johns St Katharines St Marys St Stithians Boys
Chatterbox
Our first Chatterbox Public Speaking Festival was held on Tuesday 6 March at The Ridge. The following boys participated and were awarded certificates for their performances. Lower II Keane Dooley Jamie Diesel Zaahid Suliman Upper II Bradley Milton Jack Montgomery Milan Prioreschi Congratulations to these orators! Lower III Dominic Moodie Nicholas Ching Nicholas Moschides Upper III Jordan Williamson Merlin Love Dylan Cutifani Connor Dooley
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Chess
20th February
St Johns A vs St Stithians A Seniors won 21 - 11 Juniors won 22 - 6 Overall won 43 - 17 St Johns B vs The Ridge A Seniors won 17 - 15 Juniors lost 13 - 15 Overall tied 30 - 30
Well done to the following boys who won both their games: S Modi, H Papageorgio, D Stevens, J West, N Haripershad, K Prior, Z Coetzee, T Kudzurungla, A Sharma
5th March
St Johns A vs St Benedicts A Seniors lost Overall lost 14 - 18 28 - 32 Juniors tied 14 - 14 St Johns B vs St Marys A It was decided to play friendlies against St Marys, so no results were recorded.
Well done to the following boys who won both their games: S Modi, E Baleni and S Omand
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As part of the theme Body and Health Talk, the Upper 1s had to carry out research on some of the organs of the body. They then made life-size posters and presented their researched information on these posters.
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Lower II boys did All About Me collages which are on display in the classroom corridor
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By Sebastian Shearer
By Ekow Daniels
By Miles LI
By Sean Faesen
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By Khayalami Ntuli
By Fraser McLardy
By Kwindla Mangaliso
By Ronin Quinn
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Pannekoek Dag
UIII Afrikaans 1st Additional Language boys celebrated Shrove Tuesday by baking Pannekoek.
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Asikhulume Tuesday
Asikhulume Day is about promoting the isiZulu language at school. On this day everyone strives to speak isiZulu. Teachers are given phrases and words to use in their lessons. For our first Asikhulume Tuesday, the Upper III boys prepared a role play about the sport they enjoy at school. During the Headmasters assembly they performed their skit which also included some of the teachers. The boys greeted the teachers and asked them a few questions in isiZulu. It was a wonderful day filled with excitement as boys and teachers tried their best to speak isiZulu. Dudu Mashele isiZulu Department
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2nd and 3rd in KLQ Regional Round. L to R: Numan Koor, Nicholas Moschides, William Kerr-Phillips, Mrs Sulter, Nick Vine-Morris, Sam Harding, Quizmaster Wayne Mills, Donato Moodie, Max Milella and Daniel Burke
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The very next day, Saturday 18 February, along with the Roedean team, the St Johns 1 team went through to the KLQ SA Finals held in Centurion. The SA Finals, in which eight teams from around the country competed, were contested on a completely different level. This was a challenging and rather tense experience with teams having to use buzzers to answer questions and where points were deducted for incorrect answers. The boys were astounding with some of their answers to the most obscure literary questions. Towards the end of the afternoon, they were really firing on all cylinders and had a superb run of correct answers. We were extremely proud of their performance and they achieved second place (27), again, after Roedean Junior (42) who were the outright winners. The Roedean girls will be attending the World Finals of the Kids Lit Quiz in New Zealand in July.
Above: Sam Harding, Daniel Burke, Nic Vine-Morris and Numan Koor are put through their paces in the KLQ SA Finals in the scorching mid-day Pretoria heat Congratulations must go to all eight boys in the two teams as well as to our reserves, Sean Morrison and Justin Koevort. They all made a supreme effort, often with numerous other activities on the go at the same time, to read as much as possible and to learn a multitude of book-related facts. Seeing the overt enthusiasm for reading amongst our boys has been such a rewarding experience for me and our participation in this event constantly promotes this enthusiasm and love for reading throughout the school. Mrs Nikki Sulter
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Thank you
The kids are thrilled to finally have hot water in the bathroom and the fact that it is solar means we don't add any expense to TLC! We are so grateful for the love and kindness you have all shown us and your generous gift is highly appreciated! God Bless Everyone involved! Pippa
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It makes cents!
During the month of March the Prep School, in conjunction with Standard Bank, will be taking part in the exciting It makes cents! campaign. The aim of the campaign is to collect as many coins as possible. Standard Bank will then match the value of these coins (to a maximum of R100 000) and present a cheque to our charity, TLC. The bank will use the coins collected as part of a Maths programme it is devising for use in schools. Standard Bank has been most generous in donating prizes for our classes as an incentive. Each week the class collecting the highest number of coins will be treated to a meal at McDonalds in Rosebank. In addition to this, the boys in the class that collects the highest number of coins throughout the campaign will each receive a voucher from a large store to the value of R300. Everyone wins in this campaign your purse and wallet will be less cumbersome, those coin collections you were waiting to take to the bank will be gone! Maths teaching will benefit and boys stand a chance to win exciting prizes and most importantly TLC will receive much needed funds. Please support this campaign by filling the blue Standard Bank containers your sons have taken home with any coins you may have and then returning these to your sons class teacher in time for the weekly count each Friday. Please have a look at the official rules as supplied by Standard Bank. Should you have any further questions please do not hesitate to contact Karen Maitland maitland@stjohnscollege.co.za.
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The It makes cents initiative starts on Wednesday, 29 February 2012 and ends on Friday, 30 March 2012, and will be conducted in the following manner
All Upper I, Lower II, Upper II, Lower III and Upper III classes will participate Boys need to collect coins with the following denominations (5c, 10c, 20c, 50c, R1, R2, R5), and deposit these into the collection boxes in each classroom Each week, Standard Bank will count the coins collected by each class, and the winning class will be identified, by the number of coins collected. Weekly collection totals will be cumulated, and an overall winner identified at the end of the collection period
Weekly winning class will be treated to a trip to a designated fast food restaurant where each boy will have a meal to the value of R45 Boys will be transported in the St Johns college school bus, and accompanied by relevant school representatives Weekly counts will be conducted on the 12 March, 19 March and 26 March The trip to a designated fast food restaurant will be conducted on the Friday following the count, on the following dates: 16 March, 23 March and 30 March
Overall prize
Each boy in the winning class will receive a gift card to the value of R300 Overall prize winner will be announced on 4 April
Charity donation
Standard Bank will match the amount collected by St Johns College Preparatory up to the value of R100 000. The cumulative amount will be donated to the schools charity, TLC Handover of the donation will happen on 4 April 2012
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Notices
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Notices
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Notices
iCare
Whilst we hope and anticipate that all boys will feel able to approach their teachers or a member of staff should they feel that something is wrong, we understand that this will not always be the case. Some boys may feel unsure of how to approach a staff member or unsure of what they should say. For this reason we are continuing to use the iCare box, which is now located in Mrs Powells office. We also have an electronic version where boys can contact the Pastoral Care Team at iCare@stjohnscollege.co.za. The Pastoral Care team is hoping that the boys make use of these initiatives to highlight anything that they CARE about at St Johns Prep.
The aim is to provide the boys with an alternative avenue to voice their feelings around whatever may be on their minds. This extends beyond the reporting of just peer difficulties (such as bullying) the aim is to further enhance the quality of the St Johns experience. All notes placed in the box or sent via email will be treated confidentially and actions instituted where possible.
We ask that you encourage your son to make use of the iCare initiative so that we can make his day all that he hopes it can be. Hugo Meirim meirim@stjohnscollege.co.za
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Notices
Art club and extra classes
From the beginning of next term, Mr Poco is starting an Art Club (for LIII and UIII boys) and extra art classes for junior boys. Senior boys are encouraged to join the Art Club on Tuesdays from 14h00 -15h00 or Thursdays from 15h00-16h00. Juniors may arrange extra art lessons with Mr Poco at alternative times and on alternative days. We hope to see the senior boys joining the Art Club to create various exciting art works with mediums they do not normally use in class, such as print making, photography, oil painting and many more. This will be a fantastic opportunity for any boy who wishes to develop his art skills. For further information e-mail Bruno Poco on poco@stjohnscollege.co.za
Mr R MacIntosh has written a book Maccey A Quest for Freedom A story of a teacher and his dog Published by Cobblecrab Publishers Parents who would like a copy are asked to contact Mr MacIntosh on 076 529 5529 Copies can also be ordered through the publishers:
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Sad News:
Today we mourn the passing of a beloved old friend, Common Sense, who has been with us for many years. No one knows for sure how old he was since his birth records were long ago lost in bureaucratic red tape. He will be remembered as having cultivated such valuable lessons as knowing when to come in out of the rain, why the early bird gets the worm, why life isnt always fair, and maybe it was my fault. Common Sense lived by simple, sound financial policies (dont spend more than you earn) and reliable parenting strategies (adults, not children, are in charge). His health began to deteriorate rapidly when well-intentioned but overbearing regulations were set in place. Reports of a six-year-old boy charged with sexual harassment for kissing a classmate; teens suspended from school for using mouthwash after lunch; and a teacher fired for reprimanding an unruly student, only worsened his condition. Common Sense lost ground when parents attacked teachers for doing the job they themselves failed to do in disciplining their unruly children. It declined even further when schools were required to get parental consent to administer Panado, sun lotion or a Band Aid to a student but could not inform the parents when a student became pregnant and wanted to have an abortion. Common Sense lost the will to live as the Commandments became contraband, religions became businesses, and criminals received better treatment than their victims. Common Sense took a beating when you couldnt defend yourself from a burglar in your own home and if you did, the burglar could sue you for assault. Common Sense finally gave up the will to live after a woman failed to realise that a steaming cup of coffee was hot. She spilled a little in her lap, and was promptly awarded a huge settlement. Common Sense was preceded in death by his parents, Truth and Trust; Discretion; his daughter, Responsibility; and his son, Reason. his wife,
He is survived by three stepbrothers; I know My Rights, Some One Else is to Blame, and Im A Victim. Not many attended his funeral because so few realised he was gone