Prep Newsletter No 2 2011

8/7/2019 Prep Newsletter No 2 2011

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24 February 2011

St Johns Preparatory SchoolSt Johns Preparatory SchoolHoughtonTel: 011 645 3100/ 087 550473 Newsletter Number 2

01/03 Hair Inspection

Assessments in Science LIII - UIII

02/03 College Scholarship Concert -UIIIs invited

03/03 Interim Academic Progress Meeting

NO EXTRAMURALS

St Benedicts 1st XV Rugby Festival

04/03 Swimming Gala

Cross Country Meeting

07/03 Bousfield & Carter Parent Interviews

13/03 Assessments in Geography LIII - UIII

Assessments in English LII - UII

08/03 Cullinan & Darragh Parent Interviews

09/03 Athletics vs KEPS & Pridwin10/03 UII Open Water Polo Festival

11/03 Swimming Gala

Cross Country Meeting

17/03 UIII Music concert

Athletics vs St Benedicts

18/03 Assessments in History LIII - UIII

Assessments in History/ Science /

Geography LII - UIII

Reminders from theDiary

From the Headmaster

Introduction

Its all about power. Power can be intoxicating,exhilarating and addictive. But power, whenabused, turns into bullying and bullying hurtspeople, leaves lasting scars and can destroylives. The goal of bullying: to gain power andcontrol over your target by inflicting pain throughexclusion, physical or verbal means. Dr Joel

Harber.

It is always important to talk to the boys aboutbullying. While there is a wonderful hurly burlyor rough and tumble in a boys school, thisshould never cross the line into bullying. Weshould also not confuse rough and tumble forbullying; and it is sometimes a very fine line. Itis also true that bullying does not only happenin boys schools. It exists in all types of schools:high schools, boarding schools, co-ed schoolsand girls schools. It is important for us asparents to understand that we function in acontext in which individual rights are protectedin The Bill of Rights in the Constitution of SouthAfrica. It enshrines the rights of all people in ourcountry and affirms the democratic values of

human dignity, equality and freedom.

According to the Bill of Rights:

Everyone is equal before the law and has the right to equal protection and benefit

of the law.

Everyone has inherent dignity and the right to have their dignity respected and

protected.

Everyone has the right to freedom and security of the person, which includes theright to be free from all forms of violence from either public or private sources andnot to be tortured in any way; and not to be treated or punished in a cruel,

inhuman or degrading way.


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Page 2 St Johns Preparatory School

Our boys also need to understand that bullying takes many forms and can be bothpsychological and physical in nature. It is important that our boys know how to dealwith bullying and whom they can turn to for help. In every bullying situation, there arealways three parties involved: the bully, the victim and the bystanders. Of course thetrick is to get the bystanders to intervene, either directly or indirectly, by knowing to

whom they can take the problem. Peer pressure and the so-called code of silence arealways the biggest threat in allowing bullies to prosper, and we need to teach the boys

that this is not a noble thing to do when bullying occurs.

So what can we do as parents and teachers? Are we perhaps putting our boys undertoo much pressure to be excellent and if they feel that they are not living up to ourexpectations it may cause them to be nasty to other boys so that they can feel powerful

and somehow raise their self-esteem?

I challenge all parents to sit down at the dinner table over this mid-term break anddiscuss the importance of kindness. Discuss that it does not matter what team theirsons play in or that its okay if they do badly in a test at times. But what does matter isthat they are nice boys and that they treat other boys just as they would like to be

treated.

As the headmaster of St Johns Prep, my dream is for every one of our boys to be kind

and happy, as only then can true excellence be achieved.

Academics

The response around the report questionnaire has been very positive and as soon as

the results have been analysed and discussed, we will inform you of any changes. Thereports for this term will not have any changes.

Sport

We have come to the end of our summer sport programme and despite someunpredictable weather it has been very successful and enjoyable. We now look forwardto an exciting athletics season, as well as to squash and tennis matches.

Traffic

As we are all aware, the traffic problem at St Johns is a nightmare and I urge allparents to try and help out as best they can. We are hoping to build a drop-off zone onSt Patricks Road, near the water polo pool, but for the time being please could you try

and abide by a few rules:

St David Road is a one way, please only drive West to East. Please drive slowly at all times. Please try and drop your son off and do not go in to school with him. If possible, please use the St Patricks Road drop-off.

Conclusion

In conclusion I would like to congratulate Nicky Sulter and her Kids Lit Quiz boys whocame third in the country in the National Finals in Cape Town an outstandingachievement! I would also like to wish all the boys and their dads an enjoyable Father /

Son Golf tour to Mpumalanga this weekend.Lastly, I trust that you all have a wonderful mid-term break with your families.

Patrick Lees

Headmaster


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Lets make St Johns Prep a leader in self-respect!I came across the following definitions of self-respect:

dignity: the quality of being worthy of esteem or respect The knowledge of one's own worth, valuing one's self; pride

It has been a wonderful experience for me at St Johns thus far, and I have lovedevery minute of my time here. I like to spend a portion of my day wandering around

the Prep, having a look at how the boys are getting on.

In most cases, a picture is formed immediately of how they are doing by taking aquick glance at them. Dress code, hair, socks and body language are sure signs orindications of how they are doing. When socks are down, shirts are untucked, bodylanguage is heavy with a bag draped across the back, it gives a clear insight into themake-up of the boy. Perhaps he is not doing so well?

We like to know, no matter what the physical appearance may suggest, that ourboys have self-respect. We want our boys to be proud of themselves. We want them

to be spurred on to maintain important standards. Their personal worth is ofsubstantial value.

Having respect for others is difficult if you have no respect for yourself. The idea ofself-respect is very closely related to self-confidence, but respect is more about whatyou do, whereas confidence is about how you feel. The two go hand-in-hand.

We need to think about what it means to respect someone. The qualities that werespect vary from person to person, and the way we express respect varies from

culture to culture. Generally, we respect people who have more experience and whoare more accomplished than ourselves. However, there is also a basic level of respect

that most people will agree is a right, and does not need to be earned.

We feel it would be a very valuable exercise for us as families to sit around thedinner table and discuss this word respect. It would be interesting to see what theboys come up with! And respect should affect our every move, our every thought. Weshould take pride in what we have to offer.


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St Johns Prep has a 3G ethos: Greeting, Grooming and Grounds. This says it alland covers many important aspects of what makes the Prep the school that it is.Please do encourage your son to greet everybody with respect; to be well groomed; to

respect his own appearance; and to respect and care for his environment. We believethat this education starts at home, and we are here to assist and support your son.

We also believe that with respect comes leadership. When we start to create habitsof respect and pride, we can progress to the next level, and start to take the initia-tive. We can take others with us, and lead from the front.

I would like to end with this verse:

Romans 12:10

Be devoted to one another in brotherly love; give preference to one another inhonour.I trust that you will have a wonderful time with your families over the half-term!Craig [email protected]

Office: 0116453116


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4th February 2011

Brandon Badenhorst Cricket

Lodewijk Volkersz CricketAlex Bester Cricket

Adam Levendig Cricket

Sean Morrison Cricket

Jack Stewart Cricket

4CTea

7th February 2011

Timothy McKernan Cricket

Matthew Chamberlin Cricket

Ross Morshead Cricket

Colin Kinghorn Outstanding English Assessment

Lukha de Jesus Outstanding English Assessment

Jack Gnodde Outstanding English Assessme

Justin Koevort Outstanding English Assessment

18th February 2011

Bohlale Masala Showing maturity in resolving a problem

Bradley Milton Always polite and considerateNicholas Forbes Always polite and considerate

Christopher Ching Excellent results in English

Jack Lees Cricket

Jack Montgomery Cricket

The following boys for Kids Lit Quiz:

Aidan Quin

Alex Harding

Thomas Mattiuzzo

Daniel Burke

Alex Brady

23rd February 2011

David Green Excellent manners

The following boys 100% for Maths assessment:

Neil Gultig

Numar Koor

Patrick Richardson Good Behaviour

Thando Myeza Excellent Maths results

Fayadh Haffegee Excellent Maths results

Connor Williams Excellent Maths results

Darshan Pillay

Chris Burke

Aidan Bellingham

Sam Harding

Matthew Collins

Jordan Williams


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Saturday 5th February

St Johns U10B vs CBC

St Johns 167/6

Match Won

On 18 February a combined Prep School-College Mind Sports team played against ateam from Roedean. St Johns won convincingly, beating Roedean 28-8 at Morabaraba

and 26-10 at Checkers. Well done to all the players!

We hope that this game will see the start of a regular inter-school league.

Teams:

Prep: Merlin Love (Capt), Jason Batzofin, Afrika Ndlovu, Daniel Stevens, Katlego Ramosedi,Adrian Ionescu

College: Rowan Batzofin (Capt), Jesse Stevens, Matthew Davies, Benedict Didcott-Marr,Tamlin Love

Cricket results


St Johns U10B vs St Davids

St Johns 115/6

Match Won

Mind Sports


St Johns U9A vs St Davids

St Johns 73/4

St Davids 88/6

St Davids won by 9 runs


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Swimming

During these lessons, the boys have beenchallenged to push themselves to do

exercises which they may only do in theirhome pools with their friends to mix uptheir strokes by using, for example,butterfly arms and a flutter kick, to swimunderwater across the entire length of thepool or to swim a length of freestylewithout taking a breath. These exercisesare fun but they also help to improveseveral of the skills required to be a

strong and effective swimmer.

Last week our theme was Medleys. Wetalked about Medley Relays andIndividual Medleys and the order in whichwe swim the strokes in each. At the endof the lesson we had some very closelymatched relays and then ended off withan Individual Medley for those whowanted to swim it. I was very pleased atthe number of boys who rose to thechallenge and completed the 4 lengthsrequired for an I.M. We have identifiedboys who find swimming difficult andlessons have been arranged for them inthe special Learn-to-Swim pool at thePre-prep. These lessons happen onMondays and Wednesdays straight afterschool. There is a growing number ofboys who are making use of theselessons. They will continue after HalfTerm for as long as the weather is warmenough to swim and the boys will be

encouraged to keep swimming if they areable to fit these lessons into their new

sports schedule.

Another reason for the improvement inour teams performance is that we havedeveloped a very simple team selectionpolicy. No longer do we have an A teamand a B team. We have a SwimmingTeam. The initial team we selected waslarge. We tried to give as many boys as

possible the opportunity to be a memberof the squad and have involved about 90boys each week.

I am so pleased with the progress ourswimmers have made this season. Our

boys have begun to look like swimmers,they have swum competitively in theweekly galas and their final scores haveimproved as the season has progressed.Most importantly, they seem to be excitedabout their progress and their results.Our U9s have been the most successfulage-group with the A team winning all buttwo of their races this season. Our A teamwon the gala at Brescia House and tied for

2nd

place with Pridwin (who are probablyour closest rivals at the moment) at last

weeks Roedean gala.

There are several reasons for our progress.

The fact that all of our boys are spendingmore time in the water each week hashelped a great deal. Every boy has a 45minute swimming lesson during the schoolday. During these lessons we have workedon streamlining and on good, efficient

strokes. They are beginning to understandthat good technique makes swimmingeasier and that they dont have to rely onpower to swim fast. There has been agreat turnout at the early morning teamtraining sessions (perhaps the thought ofhot chocolate after the session is an incen-tive!). Here, we have concentrated on rac-ing technique starts, underwater workand finishes. Although there are still boyswho have trouble diving, they are all

learning to use their legs off the block andto aim for the other side of the pool ratherthan to plop in and then to have tostruggle to the surface before they canstart their race. I thank all of the parentswho have made an effort to get their boysto school early to attend these practices. I

know what early in a busy family!

Our afternoon lessons for all boys onTuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays

have been fun. On Tuesday afternoons wehave had between 50 and 60 boys in thepool.


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Midmar Swimmers

The following boys, along with Mr Bornman and his family, took part in the MidmarMile Open Water Swim held on Sunday 13th February. B MacKenzie, S Poole,L A Thiel, J Benn, J Shelton, S Shelton, L Magee, I Blok, M Baard, G Baard, G Berry

and Mitchel Sinclair. Mitchel Sinclair was placed 37th overall. Well done, boys!

Our selections for our weekly galasdepend on the times swum at theprevious weeks galas. Every boy istimed and those times are put onto theswimming notice board each week. The

fastest four boys in each stroke in eachage group will swim in the A gala the nextweek and the next four will swim in theB. We believe that this arrangementoffers every boy the promise of swimmingin the top spots in the team. If heattends practices regularly, works hardand improves his strokes and his racingtechnique, his times will improve. Nolonger can the A team boys afford to be

complacent or will the B team boysbecome disheartened by the fact thatthey are never given the opportunity to

show what they can do.

This can only have a positive influence on

swimming as a whole at St Johns Prep.

We hope that when we start our newseason in the Michaelmas Term, we will

have many more boys keen to be part ofour squad and that, perhaps, we mayeven be able to enter a C team! Ourultimate goal is to get our A team backinto the A 50 league, our B team into the

A25 and a new C team into the B25.

We will be hosting the final A team galaon Friday 4th March. There are no more

galas for the B team this season.

Lynn Joubert


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Chess Results


Congratulations to the following boys on their recent appointments:

Captain: Chris Burke

Vice Captains: Jason Batzofin

Oliver Kieser

14th February 2010

St Johns A vs Trinity House A

Seniors won 10 - 6

Juniors won 9 - 7

Overall won 19 - 13

The match against Roedean was cancelled due to Roedean

staff development.

Well done to the following boys who won both their games:

E Baleni, M Mseleku, J Braham, W Kerr-Phillips, L Pan, B Thomas, D Harding,

Bradley Dunbar, UIIF, was awarded full

Provincial Colours for Karate on Saturday, 12th

February. Well done, Bradley!

Individual Achievements


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St Johns Preparatory School Page 10

Upper I

The Upper Is have been learning about the human body. They had lots of funtracing their friends bodies and then placing organ parts in their correct positions.

The highlight was definitely the viewing of real parts - those of a cow!


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Kids Lit Quiz

After many early morning sessions and many, many muffins, two teams of veryenthusiastic readers took part in the regional rounds of the Kids Lit Quiz on Monday14 February. One hundred questions, of a literary nature, in ten different categories

were asked of the teams. At the end of the afternoon Alex Harding, Aidan Quinn, DanielBurke and Thomas Mattiuzio had 91 points and came second out of thirty nine teams.Along with Roedean, who was placed first, these boys were invited to take part in the

South African Finals of the Kids Lit Quiz in Cape Town on Saturday.

Exclusive Books, Tyger Valley where the SA Finals took place

Our other team of Sam Harding, Darshan Pillay,Aidan Bellingan and Chris Burke acquittedthemselves exceptionally well and were placed 5th

in the regional round with a score of 84. For theround on Harry Potter they scored 20/20!

The SA Finals, in which eight teams from aroundthe country competed, were contested on acompletely different level. This was a challenging

and rather tense experience with teams having to use buzzers to answer questions andwhere points were deducted for incorrect answers. They boys were astounding with

some of their answers to the most obscure literary questions.

We were extremely proud of their performance and they came third with 24 points afterGrove Primary, CT with 27 points and the well-deserved winners Manor GardensPrimary, Durban with 39 points. The winners will be attending the World Finals of theKids Lit Quiz in New Zealand in July.

Seeing the overt enthusiasm for reading amongst our boys has been such a rewardingexperience for me and our participation in this event constantly promotes thisenthusiasm and love for reading throughout the school.

Quiz Master Wayne Mills from New Zealand, Daniel Burke, Aidan Quinn, Thomas

Mattiuzio, Alex Harding and Colleen Whitfield from sponsors of the KLQ,

Exclusive Books


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Looking for a regular fun, outdoor activity? Come along to Cubs/Scouts on Fridays

at First Kengray-B.K. Scouts at 385 Highland Rd Kensington, between Queen andRoyal Oak Street for Cubs at 17h30 to 19h00 or if you have turned 11 come at19h00 until 21h15 for a Scout Troop meeting. You need not have been a Cub to joinScouts.For more details about cubs contact Kerry McFarlane (Akela) at 082 509 7776 or forscouts Robert Faltermeier at 073 185 4849. For other areas, girls groups andAir/Sea Scouts contact Jenny Duncan at the Scout Shop on 011-440-6491 [email protected]. You can also consult our website atwww.northrand.scouting.org.za

Notices

St Johns boys celebrating the birthday of Robert Baden-Powell founder of theScout Movement


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Each collectors pack costs just R100 and is purchased directly fromthe school shop or via email orders to [email protected].

Available from Thursday 17 February 2011

In the run up to the cricket worldcup, the St Johns College Shop isoffering a collector's pack of the FanCan Proteas puzzles at a greatlyreduced price. The collectors packhas four fan cans each containing a252 piece high quality A3 sizejigsaw puzzle that is licensed byCricket South Africa. This is a greatopportunity to build puzzles ofGraeme Smith, Jacques Kallis,AB de Villiers and JP Duminy.


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Notices

St Johns College Shop

New opening times:

Monday & Thursday 7am to 3pm

Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday 10am to 3pm

Stationery and Labels as well as all your sports clothes, jerseys, bags andsocks

Bluebird celebrates 60 years of fine education

Calling all those Bluebirds who left the Nest

Boys and Girls come out to play

On both wintry and sunny days

Now Bluebird calls you back to her nest

Where you can show youre still the best!

Join us to celebrate old times and renew acquaintances.

Date: 11 March 2011

Time: 16h30 onwards

Venue: The Nest you left so long ago

Cost: R15 per head

RSVP: Nikki (011) 442 8160 or [email protected]

Jordan Van Der Walt, (UIIIF) is challenging all boys and the St Johns community

to take part in his Just One Bag initiative. Everyday thousands of children go to

school hungry; by donating a bag of mealie meal many children will be supported.

All boys are encouraged to put their name on a bag of mealie meal and hand it in

to Mrs Taylors office. This initiative will run from Monday the 21st of February

until Friday the 1st of April. Lets show them what we can do!


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St Johns Preparatory SchoolPage 15

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 juniorboys. 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 notnormally 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 [email protected]

ItalianLanguage

LessonsSmall age appropriate classes and individual tuition

offered outside school hours at St Johns.

Experienced mother-tongue graduate teacher usingcommunicative method of conversation, maintaining

cultural ties for solid IEB foundation. Contact Lisabetta on 082 682 2859 or

[email protected]

EXTRA ZULU

LESSONS

Lower III and Upper III boys.

Every Thursday 13h45

Upper III Mrs Mashele

All Welcome

Hair Dee-Lite 082 462 6813/011 648 6367

Dee offers excellent work for the whole family,

competitive prices and the added

convenience of being on campus.

Modern cuts, colours (from R300) and hi-lites.

Kids R50

7 Elm Street (Opposite Rice Field)

Open Tuesday to Friday

08h00 - 17h00

Saturday 08h00 - 13h00

EXTRA MATHS

LESSONSLower III & Upper III boys in Mrs Jean Clarences

classroom

Every Thursday 13h45 All Welcome

Extra Math Lessons

Individual tuition offered

Mrs M Hauptfleisch

Call 011 442 1854

083 256 7714


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Page 16St Johns Preparatory School

TO MY GROWN UP SONS

My hands were busy through the day

I didnt have much time to playThe little games you asked me to

I didnt have much time for you

Id wash your clothes, Id sew and cook

But when youd bring your picture book

And ask me please to share your fun

Id say A little later, son

Id tuck you in all safe at night

And hear your prayers, turn out the light

Then tiptoe softly to the door

I wish Id stayed a minute more

For life is short, the years rush past

A little boy grows up so fast

No longer is he at your side

His precious secrets to confide

The picture books are put away

There are no more games to play

No goodnight kiss, no prayers to hear -

That all belongs to yesteryear

My hands once busy now lie still

The days are long and hard to fill

I wish I might go back and do

The little things you asked me to

Author Unknown

Prep Newsletter No 2 2011

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