Graeme College

info@graemecollege.co.za

PO BOX 281, Grahamstown, 6140

www.graemecollege.co.za t: 046-622 7227 f: 046-622 7491

QUOTE OF THE WEEK:

It is important to get to know what is expected of you and your child, so that you don’t tell your child one thing whilethe school says another.Take full advantage of information sessions where possible.If you are new to Graeme College, encourage your children to make some friends in the same class; if they feel lost oroverwhelmed during the school day, encourage them to seek out a Friendly Face.

Welcome to the new school year! I hope everyone had a very good festive break and that we are all ready for a wonderful start to the new year. There will bemany opportunities for involvement, growth and learning across the school this year. The beginning of the year is a veryexciting time for most students – learning how to navigate the new layout and class schedules, meeting new friends andteachers while reconnecting with old ones- all this will likely be the primary focus of interest for the first few days. A few points that could help you and your son settle back into school: 1.   Be prepared    

WEEKLY NEWSLETTER

Friday 17 January 2020

Message from the Headmaster

"Let us remember: One book, one pen, one child and one teacher can change the world."- Malala Yousafzai

Make sure your child’s body clock is ready for the school day.It is a good idea to start adjusting bedtimes and wake up times early enough to get children back into the rhythm of theschool day.Tired and grumpy children, or children who are rushing out of the house in the morning and dropped off in a hurry,often get anxious and irritable because they don’t have enough time to adjust.

It is important to stay positive about the new school year.Tell them what you want them to do.Letting boys know how you want them to behave at school in a positive way is really helpful, for example, saying,“Listen to the teacher, take notes in class, write down your homework” rather than what you don’t want such as,

2.   Set up a good routine

3.   Stay Positive

“Don’t fight and don’t be naughty”. If you have any particular concerns about your child’s settling in, please do not hesitate to contact the relevant teacherconcerned. Mr. Kevin WatsonHeadmaster

Tuesday 28 January - Grade 8 and 9Thursday 30 January - Grade 10 and 11Monday 3 February - Grade 12

Grade Meetings:Over the past three years, we have found it enormously beneficial to host a series of grade meetings at the start of eachyear.  These meetings provide the school with a platform to engage with parents in a meaningful way and to detail someexpectations for the year.  The Grade meetings are compulsory for all Grade 8 - 12 boys to attend. We would encourage allparents to attend with their sons in order to get involved in the education of your son.  All the meetings will take place inthe school hall and commence at 17h30. The dates are as follows:

We look forward to seeing you there, as you support your son towards completing another chapter of his school career. Assessment Programme:All boys in Grades 8 - 12 will receive the assessment programme for the term early next week.  These will be emailed out toparents and hard copies will be available at the Grade meetings. Important information that needs to be noted is thatGrade 8s and 9s have a scheduled test period every Tuesday.  For the next two weeks, they will write a series of readinesstests. The results of these will be made available to parents. These tests aim to look at the previous year’s work and togive parents an idea of what remediation ought to be done, if the marks are poor.  Details are as follows:  

Academic news

Textbooks:Textbooks have been issued. Please note that these textbooks are on loan to the boys. They sign for them and they areresponsible for that specific textbook. The textbook may not be written in or marked in any way. We understand that thereis wear and tear but the textbook has to be returned in a condition that it can be re-issued next year. If the textbook isdamaged or not returned, a charge of R250 will be charged. Grade Positions 2019:We congratulate the following boys on their excellent academic results from 2019.  These boys will shortly be invited tothe 2020 Academic Dinner, to be held on Tuesday 25 February.  

Cultural news

Programming Club:We will be starting programming club next week on Tuesday,Wednesday and Thursday from 13:30-14:45.This club is expressly there to learn how to program. It is not aboutplaying games or watching movies or surfing the web. It is open toanyone from Grade 4 to Matric. The boys do not have to come to allthree sessions, nor are they expected to be there for the entire session.This way, they can come before sport or other commitments. Generallywe use online courses,  so that it can be self-paced and the boys willneed to create on-line accounts. If you, as parent or guardian would liketo be the adult attached to the account (sometimes required) pleasegive your son your email address and email me, otherwise I will put myemail address in. Your son will use their school email address whichdoes not contain their name.  

Monday 14h00 - 14h45: Junior Choir (with Mrs Kunju)Monday 14h00 - 14h45: Grade 7 Marimbas (with Mrs Rogers)Tuesday 14h00 - 14h45: Grade 6 Marimbas (with Ms Coetzer)Wednesday 13h45 - 14h45: Grade 4 Marimbas (with Ms Coetzer)Thursday 13h45 - 14h30: Grade 5 Marimbas (with Ms Coetzer)

Drums, Guitar and Jazz/ Pop Piano - Mr WitbooiClassical Piano and Singing - Ms Nkinti

MusicTrinity Exams 2019 results:Congratulations to Bayanda Mthetho, Alexander Oosthuizen and Bernard Frost on passing their respective Trinity Musicexams. Bayanda received a distinction for his Associate Level Diploma recital. Alexander completed the Grade 6 Guitarexam and Bernard the Grade 3 Singing exam. Junior Choir and Marimbas:The Junior School extra-mural music programme will start on Monday 20 January. Notices will also be made at lines. The times are as follows:

Senior Choir:All Senior Choir and Leopards Voice rehearsals will start in the third week on the first term (Tuesday 28 January). Furthernotices will be made at lines. Private Music Lessons:Anyone who is interested in having private music lessons should please speak to Ms Coetzer and collect a form from her.Instruments that are offered are as follows:

 

There is a whatsapp group which you can join by scanning the above QR code. Cancellation on short notice issometimes unavoidable or sometimes there are power outages and the whatsapp group is then used to informparents or boys. Scan the QR Code using a generic QR Code scanning app and view the Group Link. Open the linkwhich will activate Whatsapp and prompt you to join the Group or open up our browser on your Whatsapp device.Type in the following URL https://chat.whatsapp.com/EEfClW16rkjAvt2ywpQeZR. It should then open Whatsapp andprompt you to join the group. Please note that the URL is case sensitive, so the capitals must be capitals etc. The letter between the C and W is a small letter L.  

Community Engagement

Graeme College Wheelchair Drive: Please can all families collect bottle tops fromcoke/fanta/twizza/water bottles for our wheelchair drive.We would like to continue our community involvement in2020. What better way than to gift a wheelchair to a needyperson?Ms White will have a top station in her classroom as well asMrs Luden.We need 10 000 tops for one wheelchair.We are confident that we can make this happen!Ms. White is the organiser if anyone has any queries.  

JUNIOR SCHOOL SOCIAL:There will be a Social on Friday 7 February for all Grade 6 and Grade 7 pupils at Graeme College and Victoria Primaryschool . The social will take place in the Graeme College school hall starting at 18h00 and the entrance fee will be R15 .The main gate will be used as the entrance to the school grounds and the hostel gate will be used as the exit to preventcongestion. RUGBY DAY 2020:Please refer to the link below for more details:https://GC Rugby Day 2020

School Events

BUTCHER BIRD POP UP RESTAURANT: We are very excited to announce that the pop-up Butcher BirdRestaurant will be open for supper over Valentine’s Weekend at GraemeCollege. Book early to avoid disappointment as there is limited spaceavailable. As you know they are always booked out during National ArtsFestival. Two nights only!Friday 14 & Saturday 15 February 2020. Reservations: marketing@graemecollege.co.za or 071 687 4531.Times - 17h30 onwards. Venue - Graemian Centre. Cash bar available.  

WATERPOLO FUNDRAISER/NEW PARENT GET TOGETHER:Join us for a new parent get together, in support of the Waterpolo Team.It will be a wonderful opportunity to meet staff and other parents at theGraemian Centre at 17h30, while enjoying delicious burgers and chips.There will be delicious chicken and beef burgers available, with chips, foronly R60.00.Take-aways are also available if you are unable to join. Please contactHelen McCallum on 082 813 6305 to place an order.  

Junior Tennis:Junior Tennis Trials were held on Thursday afternoon last week and the boys will be given a note to tell them of their timesto attend practices on a Tuesday and a Thursday this week. Junior CricketAll u11 cricketers will meet at Marais nets at 14h30 on Monday 20 January.All u13 cricketers will meet at Marais nets at 15h45 on Monday 20 January. Senior CricketResults XI cricket versus Muir in the CSA T20Graeme 141/9 after 20 overs.Lagon Oerson 29 not out.Cody Schmidt 26Muir 109/6 after 20 overs.Garwin Dampies2 for 19Viwe Gana 2 for 22.  

Sports news

Senior TennisSettlers’ Cup: Sunday 19 January 2020On Sunday the top 8 senior tennis players played two matches inthe Settlers’ Cup Tournament hosted by Graeme College this year.The match against Kingswood College was rained out but Graememanaged to play against Union and lost 5-7 and against StAndrew's College , Graeme lost 1-11.

Left: Graeme College and Kingswood Collegecricket captains, Sonwabile Tshona and MatthewPritchard, at the toss ahead of the CSA T20knockout game. Graeme won narrowly by 3 runs.

Grahamstown School's Cricket Festival

A young Graeme College 1st XI cricket side has had a very constructive start to the year. Graeme College hosted this year'sGrahamstown Schools' Cricket Festival, which was uncharacteristically hampered by the very welcome rain.Graeme won comfortably in a T20 fixture against Cambridge on the first day. Viwe Gana (2 for 19) was the pick of theGraeme bowlers, as they restricted Cambridge to 94/ 3 after their 20 overs. Graeme got off to a good start in the run chasewhich meant that Cambridge was always going to struggle to pull back the momentum. Fabio Rischbieter battedsuperbly scoring 32 off 16 balls taking the game away from Cambridge. Garwin Dampies (29) played a mature roleensuring the victory by 7 wickets in the 12th over.Graeme struggled on day 2 against a well drilled Peterhouse team. The inexperience in the batting showed, as Graemewere dismissed for 132 despite Rischbieter (33) and Ryan Bush (28) batting well. Graeme weren't too much better withthe ball in hand, although Mihlali Kobese was superb, ending with figures of 3 for 30. There was too much other pressureput on Peterhouse, as they reached their target, winning by 6 wickets. With day 3 being rained out, day 4 saw Trinity House also enjoy a win against a soft performance from the Graemebatsmen. Graeme bowled well to restrict Trinity to 112, but then collapsed and were dismissed for 73. Trinity won by 39runs.The young Graeme side then started their CSA T20 campaign against a Kingswood team, which finds itself in the samedevelopment cycle. Graeme struggled a little with the bat on a slow surface, but the experience of Garwin Dampies (46)helped propel Graeme to a score they could possibly defend. Kingswood would have felt they missed a few chances toapply even more pressure on Graeme, with Dampies being the only batsman to really spend too much time at the crease.Michael Fourie was the pick of the Kingswood bowlers ending with 2 for 10 after his 4 overs. He was well assisted byMatthew Pritchard (2 for 12) and Luke Kelly (2 for 22). The Graeme bowlers started superbly well with Aphiwe Mnyanda (1 for 14) and Sonwabile Tshona (1 for 18) applyingincredible pressure on the batsmen. Their spells were possibly the difference in the match, although Viwe Gana wasabsolutely crucial in the middle overs; bowling his 4 overs and claiming 2 for 13. The Graeme College side held their nervein a tense end to the match securing a 3 run win. Cole van der Merwe batted well and scored 50 for Kingswood. Below: Trinity House versus Graeme College. Photo credits: Sue Maclennan

Grade 00's These are the Grade 00’s enjoying their first day as Leopard Cubs! Their daily programme is centred on developing themsocially, emotionally and academically through a flexible informal learning approach where the children developthrough observation, exploration, thinking and imagination. Here they are already enjoying sensory activities anddrawing. What a great first day!

Grade R's

The Grade R’s (Reception year) enjoying their first day. It is the year that our children are received into the exciting worldof ‘big school’. Their reception this week was fun and warm, providing an excellent foundation for coping with schooland learning.

The Karri App

General GOOGLE CALENDARPlease click on the link below to be directed to the school Google Calendar. The link helps you subscribe to the schoolcalendar which you can add to your phone, tablet or computer. Just click on the ‘plus sign’ at the bottom right handcorner of the calendar.http://www.graemecollege.co.za/calendar.html TRAFFIC CONTROLFor easy movement of traffic, please adhere to the following:1) Only Foundation Phase boys (Grade 1, 2 & 3) may be dropped or collected from the front of the school. This must takeplace at the “circle” and not in front of the main entrance to the school building.2) Between the times of 07h15 and 07h45, please use the main school gate as an entry ONLY and please exit via the GrantHouse (boarding establishment) gate i.e. one way.3) Boys in Grades 4 to 12 must be dropped off and collected at the Graemian Centre car park or at the Selborne orswimming pool gates, i.e. at the back of the school.Please adhere to a speed limit of 20km per hour on the school roads and be a responsible road user. SECOND-HAND CLOTHING SHOPThe Second-hand Clothing Shop is open on the following days and times (except Public and School Holidays):Mondays: 13h00 – 14h00 and Wednesdays: 13h00 – 14h00All enquiries with regards to the shop will be dealt with by Mrs Siebritz (046-622 7227). Please note: Only second-hand clothing that is clean and in a good condition will be accepted at the Clothing Shop. Clothing that is tattered, threadbare, stained or clothing that requires mending and/or washing will not be accepted atthe Graeme College Second-Hand Clothing Shop.  We greatly appreciate clothing that is donated by some parents.

Yours sincerelyK. WATSON

Make an instant payment to your organisation from your MasterCard or VisaStore funds in your Karri wallet to make sure you never miss a payment againReceive a convenient reminder if you forget about a paymentAdd all events to your calendar, straight from the Karri appNo bank charges! Karri is completely free to use

Graeme College makes use of the Karri app. Karri allows you to make safe, quickand convenient payments back to your school or other community organisation.Download the app, register an account (in less than 60 seconds), choose yourpreferred payment mechanism and make an instant payment to our school.Forget to pay? No problem. Karri will send you a friendly reminder so you or yourchild never miss an event/outing/fundraiser again.Help us remove cash from our school and thereby making it a safer place for all.Some benefits of using the app are the following 

We encourage all parents to download and use the app.