Preparatory Newsletter No 2 2013

7/29/2019 Preparatory Newsletter No 2 2013

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21 February 2013

St Johns Preparatory SchoolSt Johns Preparatory SchoolHoughton

Tel: 011 645 3100/ 087 550473 Newsletter Number 2

26/02 Parent Information Evening

28/02 UIII Babanango Report Back

01/03 LII & UII Afrikaans/ isiZulu

Assessments

LIII & UIII Afrikaans/ isiZulu

Assessments

St Stithians Waterpolo Festival

02/03 St Johns Cricket vs St Davids

04/03 UII Camp - Kloofwaters

08/03 LIII & UIII Geog Assessment

St Johns U13 Waterpolo

Festival

St Johns Cricket vs St Dunstans

11/03 Parent Afternoon

12/03 Parent Afternoon

13/03 Mass Athletics vs St Peters

UII Instrumental Concert

UII D&T Evening

14/03 LII Instrumental Concert

15/03 Athletics vs St Benedicts

UI Instrumental Concert

LII Camp Kloofwaters

UIII Instrumental Concert

20/03 Athletics vs St Peters

LIII Instrumental Concert

Reminders fromthe Diary

From the HeadmasterI would like to take this opportunity to applaud ourPrep teachers for the work that they do behind thescenes, in the classroom, on the sports field, on thecamps and on the playground: they console your sonwhen he is hurt, they praise your son when hedeserves it, they open your sons eyes to the wondersof learning and encourage him over and over again,

building him up and setting him an example tofollow. Thankfully, the majority of parents dorecognize the fact that our teachers go the extra mileand appreciate their efforts. For this, I thank you. Iknow that your appreciation, be it via your shortemail, a note of thanks, or even just a smile and a

verbal thank you, is so gratefully received.

I would, however, just like to touch briefly on thesensitive subject of using emails to staff as a tool to

convey anger or criticism. Email communication is aconvenient form of quick communication and nowexceeds telephone traffic in modern society.

In recent months, however, I have seen members ofour staff extremely distressed after receiving anunpleasant email from a parent. And far too often,once weve examined the actual issue, there has beena miscommunication or misunderstanding, whichcould easily have been resolved without the

damaging email, sometimes sent in the heat of themoment. Remember, tone cannot be heard in anemail and can be misinterpreted very easily by theother person.

I appeal to all our parents to phone or to come inand discuss any problems you may have with theteacher concerned. Email communication cannotreplace face-to-face or voice-to-voice communication.Problems can become opportunities for development

if they are brought to our attention through thecorrect channels and in a constructive manner.

So the next time you feel likeyouve been let down by ateacher, take the harder route ofmaking an appointment to comein and see us. There is not asingle teacher at St Johns Prepwho does not want the best foryour boy even if at times thismay involve disciplining him andteaching him to accept the

consequences of his actions.Very rarely is there a situationthat we cant sort out through anhonest, open meeting.


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Page 2 St Johns Preparatory School

I encourage you to keep your emails positive, brief and to the point; to address ourteachers as you yourself would like to be addressed, and to teach your son to follow

your example.

I agree with what novelist and playwright Ian Hay wrote about teachers in a dedicationto them in his book, The Lighter Side of School Life. His dedication read: To members ofthe most responsible, the least advertised, the worst paid and the most richly rewarded

profession in the world.

May I wish you and your family a wonderful mid-term break.

Patrick Lees

Headmaster

With the help of our chapel collections, market day surplus and monies from lost

property fines, we were able to donate R10 000 to TLC. Many thanks to all whocontinue to support this worthy cause.


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Creativity and the Curriculum

For the past six months, we have had several staff development sessions around theconcepts of creativity and technology, both in the curriculum and in the classroom. Atthe International Boys Schools Coalition Conference in Melbourne in 2012, creativityformed the key focus of talks and discussions. The global action research group that Icoordinate for the IBSC this year is also researching ways of enhancing boys learning,using technology to foster creativity. Their research projects will be presented at theannual conference in Richmond, Virginia, in July 2013.

Sir Ken Robinson is much quoted on the subject of creativity, and if you havent

already watched his famous TED talk which questions whether schools kill creativity, Ido urge you to do so if you have a moment: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iG9CE55wbtY. His best-selling book, Out of our minds Learning to be creative, hasalso been revised and updated and makes for very interesting reading.

He defines creativity as the process of developing original ideas that have value.This focus on developing creative skills in education has come about largely becauseof the rapidly changing times we live in. Because of the speed of changes taking placein the world, schools need to develop skills in creativity and innovation, enabling theirstudents to be flexible and adaptable enough to cope with any changes, across a widespectrum of situations in the workplace and in their own lives.

Thomas Friedman, author ofThe world is flat, explains how those who are waiting forthe recession to end so someone can again hand them work could have a long wait those who have the ability to imagine new services and new opportunities and newways to recruit work ... are the new Untouchables Our schools have a doubly hardtask, not just improving reading, writing and arithmetic, but entrepreneurship,innovation and creativity. "

We need to develop thoughtful, creative, self-confident boys, who are numerate,literate, who can analyse information and ideas, generate ideas of their own and helpto implement them, and who can communicate clearly and work well with otherpeople.

Ironically, all of these changes in global education come at a time when the SouthAfrican curriculum, widely revised and now being implemented through the CAPSdocuments, has narrowed its focus at a Prep School level. Whilst we understand theneed for concentrating on numeracy and literacy in South African schools and whilstthere is much of value in these documents, we also feel very strongly that this cannothappen at the expense of subjects which encourage creativity, such as Art, Music andDrama. For example, the CAPS documents allow just 1,5 hours a week for theteaching of Creative Arts at Lower II Lower III level, where our boys have 3 separate

lessons a week of Art, Music and Drama. Our timetable also allows for the teaching ofresearch skills, thinking and study skills, a library period and a silent reading periodto foster the love of reading. No provision is made at all for the teaching of a secondadditional language in the CAPS curriculum, where we have retained this optionthrough our conversational language programme, and so on.


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It is worthwhile mentioning that the focus on creativity and creative skills does not liesolely in the creative arts subjects, but rather forms part of all lessons. Creativity islearnable it is not artiness and it refers to creative ways of thinking and doing,problem-solving, etc. Teaching boys creative skills includes, for example, teachingthem how to think laterally; how to interpret questions in many different ways, and

how to develop the ability to see many possible answers. Professor Erica McWilliamhas written several very interesting articles around this topic, including a paperentitled,Teaching for creativity: from sage to guide to meddler, which we used as thebasis for one or our staff development discussions at the end of last year.

Teachers are also developing the use of technology in their classrooms. Almost all ourteachers now have ipads and we hope to acquire our bank of 26 ipads just after halfterm, which our boys will be able to use in class, on a rotational basis. Almost allvenues also have an interactive whiteboard and a digital projector. Mr Mulengascomputer room has been transformed into a fully functioning MacLab, and we have

two further computer venues which are fully utilised in virtually every period of theday. Boys use these venues for a variety of subjects, but good examples would be theuse of the Singapore Maths online programme, Mathletics and the Reading Eggssoftware in English.

We have an exciting journey ahead of us as we explore the potential of our creativecurriculum and develop our technological teaching capacities and we hope our boysenjoy every minute of the journey.

Margot [email protected]


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St Johns Internal Evaluation & IQAA Survey Forms

Thank you to all those parents who completed and returned the IQAA survey forms sopromptly. We had a high percentage of returns from parents in the Prep School (well

over 80%), which augurs well for the rest of the internal evaluation of our school. Theentire process is intended to gather evidence of levels of satisfaction in a number ofareas, and to report back facts and recommendations to the Prep School community,

Council and the Executive.

The survey forms have identified areas that need to be investigated further. This will bedone via focus and discussion groups with parents, boys and teachers. The topics fordiscussion will be published shortly and parents will then be invited to attend the focusgroups. These will take place during the week starting Monday, 11 March. Wed like toassure you that information collected through these discussions will be reported onwith integrity. The identity of participants will be kept confidential, but we hope to

retain the essence of the concerns raised.

Although our membership of the Independent Schools Association of Southern Africa(ISASA) requires a full audit every six years, we see this as an opportunity for authenticreflection and growth. It is also an opportunity to assess the outcome of some our

medium-term strategies that have been implemented.

The final report will be available in June. The executive of the school will then have the

opportunity to implement changes, and will be in the position to use the findings todirect further strategic planning within the school.

If you have any queries, please dont hesitate to contact me via email

[email protected] or pop in for a chat.

Thank you for your valuable input into the process and for your support of the

school.

Margot Long

Second Mistress Academics

[email protected]


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League Galas

It was with some trepidation that I set off in the bus to St Davids for our first A50

League swimming gala this term. I couldnt help asking myself whether our move upto the top league had been premature and whether possible failure would disheartenthe boys. I neednt have worried. The team had no such thoughts and were lookingforward to the challenge! Their performance at the first gala was a solid start to theseason and, as they have become more accustomed to swimming the 50m distance,our results have improved considerably as the season has progressed. Our U10 andOpen age groups have been particularly strong. Although our U9s tended to be alittle stage struck at first, they have become increasingly competitive each week and

promise to do very well in seasons to come.

The results have been as follows:

A team

*LIII and UIII boys away on camp

B team

*LIII and UIII boys away on camp

Our swimming captains, Stefano Cavalieri, Simon Shelton and Luca Allasio, and theother UIII team swimming boys have been remarkable. They have organised andencouraged their teams at every gala and have even composed a St Johns war crywhich they shout out with great gusto at the end of each gala. Their excellent example

of determined swimming and absolute commitment has filtered down to the youngerboys and, suddenly, we have a keen, determined and very competitive team! Theirgreat commitment to the team earned them 4CTs with Mr Lees on Wednesday this

week.

Week 1 Week 2 Week 3 Week 4*

1 St Davids 153 1 St Andrews 96 1 St Davids 136 1 APPS 81

2 APPS 124 2 The Ridge 88 2 St Andrews 108 2 The Ridge 78

3 The Ridge 113 3 St Johns 70 3 St Johns 87 3 St Marys 77

4 St Marys 101 4 St Stithians Boys 55 4 St Benedicts 79 4 St Johns 44

5 St Johns 78 5 St Teresas 52 5 Kingsmead 55 5 Kingsmead 31

5 St Teresas 78 6 St Stithians Girls 52

7 Roedean 27

Week 1 Week 2 Week 3 Week 4*

1 St Johns B 1 The Ridge B 1 St Davids C 1 APPS B 105

2 Holy Rosary B 2 St Johns B 2 St Stithians B 2 Roedean B 82

3 Roedean B 3 Roedean B 3 St Johns B 3 St Johns B 58

4 KEPS B 4 KEPS B 4 Roedean B 3 APPS C 58

5 Holy Rosary C 5 St Teresas B 5 KEPS B 5 St Johns C 27

6 Assumption B 6 St Teresas B

7 St Stithians Girls D


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We have one more week of galas after half term. The A team will be swimming at StTeresas and the B team at KEPS. I thank the parents who have managed to get theirboys to the early morning training sessions. I know that it can disrupt theorganisation of a family in the morning rush to get everybody to where they need tobe. I really appreciate the effort many parents have made to give their boys the

opportunity to do a little extra swimming.

Buffelspoort Platinum Mile

Although I believe that an early introduction to open water events gives the boysanother dimension to swimming, the thought of taking 11, 12 and 13 year old boys toswim the Midmar Mile makes me very nervous. It is such an enormous event that it isvery hard to guarantee the safety of every one of my charges. It was very exciting to beable to introduce our boys to the Platinum Mile in the Buffelspoort Dam (near Brits)last year as a safer and more manageable option. The event is always held on the first

Sunday of February (a week before Midmar) and, once again, I took a group of StJohns U3 and L3 boys to swim it. Mr Bell swam with the boys and they all managedto complete the event with little difficulty. Miss Joubert swam with the St Marys girlsin the womens event. All of our St Johns swimmers were able to complete thedistance in very competitive times. Unfortunately, although I have waited for as longas possible before writing this, the results have not yet been published on the website

so I have not been able to include them in this piece.

Milan Prioreschi, Michael Smith, Gavin McPherson Stefano Cavalieri,Luca Allasio, Daniel Harding, Kieran McKenna and Matthew Monteith


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Congratulations!

Ethan Berriman participated in the Central Gauteng AquaticsLevel 1 Championships last weekend. He finished first in thefinals of the 50m Butterfly, the 50m Backstroke and the 100mBackstroke in his age group to earn the gold medal in each ofthese events. He has also qualified to swim in the Level 2

Champs in 50m and 100m freestyle. Well done Ethan!!

Improving the swimming at St Johns and building the team has been an exciting andvery rewarding journey for me. It helps, enormously, that I teach the swimminglessons during the morning PE sessions because I have been able to spend timeworking on the basics of good swimming. It has been exciting to watch the boysgaining an understanding of the science of swimming, about streamlining, forces andresistance, and learning to apply these principles in the water. They have worked withfins, under the water and on the surface, to improve their streamlining and they havelearnt the importance of long, efficient strokes, good starts and strong finishes. It hasbeen remarkable to watch them remembering what they have learnt during theirlessons and applying these lessons in their races at the galas. I have tried to makethe teams as big as possible in order to include as many boys as I can. Although ourprimary goal is to ensure that every boy in the school becomes a strong swimmer whowill have the ability to participate, with confidence, in any aquatic sport, the increasein skills levels has also created a greater depth of boys from whom the swimmingteams may be drawn and there is little doubt that by the first term in 2014, we will be

able to field 3 competitive teams.

However, I would like to emphasise that in assessing the strength of swimming at StJohns, I do not look at the best swimmers but, rather, at the weakest. It is very easy

to take a few promising boys and ensure that they produce good results at the galas.It is a lot more difficult to ensure that every boy in the school makes significantprogress and that every boy becomes a strong (rather than fast!) swimmer. I canconfidently say that, by looking at our weakest swimmers, the standard of swimmingat St Johns has improved considerably. I have been a little distressed by thecorrespondence I have had with some of the parents, particularly of the U1 group,and believe that in their clamouring for a place for their son in the teams, they fail tosee the purpose of teaching sport and Physical Education at our school. I can assureyou that we know every boy well. We know his strengths and we know his

eaknesses and we strive to make him the best that he can be in each of thedisciplines we teach. When the time is right, he will be given the opportunity to swim

(or play) for a team and we can assure you that he will not be forgotten. We lookforward to the Tabloid Gala on Thursday where every boy will swim against a series oftimed whistles to score as many points as possible for his house.

Lynn Joubert

[email protected]


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The Upper I boys are taking time to think about how special they are. Theybrain-stormed their ideas and then using their mind maps to help them, they wrote

delightful stories about themselves.

Me

I am special because I love my life. Sometimes I stand up for

people when they are bullied. I love myself because I am the

only person I can be. I dislike it when people say I am fat. I

dont like bullies at all. I absolutely hate guns. I love R and B

music and my best place is Swaziland. Bafana Bafana is myfavourite soccer team. I enjoy sport and playing on my PS3.

The holidays are fun.

Mdvumo Dlamini Upper 1R

All About Me

My name is Michael. I like burgers because of all the flavours

and tastes. I also like hotdogs because of the flavours in it

and the yummy crunchy parts. I dislike swearing because it

can get you into trouble and it is bad language. I also dislikemosquitoes because they make you scratch yourself. My

favourite hobby is camping because you can ride your bike

and go in the rivers and canoeing is also fun. I also like

reading Beast Quest books because they are interesting. I

am special because I do so well at school and work so hard at

most things. I am also special because I go to such a great

school and I have teachers and a great mom and dad.

Michael Giltrow Upper 1L

All About Me

My name is Nicholas Lowick. I am eight years old. I live in Oaklands,

Johannesburg. I like pizza and I love having it at Colcaccios. I also like

ice-cream as a dessert. My favourite past time is hiking in the

Drakensburg with my family. I also enjoy camping there and swimming

in the rock pool and sleeping on the trailer. I dislike it when people

hunt animals. I really get annoyed when my dad changes the channel to

a morning talk show. I am lucky to go to the best school because theyhave the best teachers. I am also lucky because I have the best family

who can pay for me to go the school.

Nicholas Lowick Upper ID


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The UI's are currently covering the theme 'Body and Health Talk'. The focus at themoment is a study of the different organs of the body. After completing research athome on a specific organ, the boys completed a group project in class. This involvedthe placing of a picture and information of their researched organ on a life sizedpicture of the body that they traced. Much fun and learning took place as boys

discussed (and argued!) where each organ belonged. There was the occasional'mishap, for example, an upside down stomach attached to the heart.


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Why Music Theory?

The music department is offering music theory lessons to all interested pupils. Theselessons are free.

The music department is committed to provide opportunities for all boys to improvetheir music theory standard. Research has shown that when a pupil develops musicliteracy skills from an early age, these skills aid enormously in the process ofinterpreting written notation and translating notational text into practical sound.With an accelerated knowledge of music notation, pupils are able to access theirrepertoire with greater ease, and to start working together in ensembles, be it a choiror an instrumental group. Music theory is therefore paving the way for a better

practical understanding of what needs to be performed, and how it should sound.

UIII and LIII boys have an opportunity to choose Music as Subject, instead ofattending the Class Music classes. Boys are expected to join an ensemble, and toperform at the termly concerts. The termly mark is therefore based on practicalperformance, as evaluated during the concert, as well as written theoretical work.

Alternatively, pupils who do not want to take music as subject, as well as any otherinterested pupil in UII and LII, can attend lessons on the following days:

Tuesdays 14:00- 14:30, Thursdays 14:00 15:00; and Thursdays 15:00 16:00.

All U1 pupils can take theory lessons at 13:00 14:00 on Wednesdays and Fridays.Lessons are given in room 14, in the music department.

We would like to encourage all instrumentalists to make use of the opportunity tofurther their music education free of charge. Parents can send a confirmation e-mailto Veronica Savage, indicating their preferred day and time.

Please mail to [email protected]

Dr B [email protected]


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Chess

4CTea 2013


For Settling In So Well At Their New School

Joshua Botha Hamza Moosa

Joseph Delmar Eli Osei

Well done to the following boys who won both their games:J Arthur, C Williams, N Haripershad, K Prior, G Thompson

S Omand, T Martin and C Meyer.

For Winning Fizz, Bang, Pop

Aaron Hooper and Dino Iozzo

Displaying St Johns Boy Attributes

Matthew Knight

Swimming

Ben De Sousa

Excellent Batting at Cricket

Dylan Wong Keagan Lion-CachetSpencer Clarke

For Excellent Leadership Of And Commitment To The Swimming Team

Joshua Bailey Luca Allasio Lloyd Magee

Garryn Berry Nicholas Ching Alex Thiel

Stefano Cavalieri Dale Hallendorff Michael Smith

Kieran McKenna Robin Swartz Jordan van der Walt

Gavin McPherson Thomas Deppe Simon Shelton

Nicholas Moschides Thomas Sandilands Ethan Chilvers

18 February

St John's vs De La Salle

Juniors won 37-27

4 February

St Johns vs The Ridge

Seniors won 21 -11

Juniors won 31 - 5

Over all won 52 - 16

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

A Qu, K Prior, G Thompson, A Van Der Riet, T Williamson

and M Monyatsa.


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Congratulations to Zeyn Mahomed who has been given the honour of being anambassador for Mathletics (only one of two children in South Africa). Pleasesupport Zeyn and support the World Educational Games on 5, 6, 7 March. HereZeyn shows off his Samsung Tablet which he won for his amazing achievement.

Well done, Zeyn!

FREE and FUN t o reg is t er and par t ic ipat e

Join the 3.6m students already registered.Ensure your school is part of the worlds largest online education event!

The World Education Games website has officially launched for 2013 - registrations are openand the warm-up period has begun! Your school can access the website for

FREE FOR THE WHOLE OF February to warm up for the big event days in March.

Marc h 5, 2013 - World Li terac y DayMarc h 6, 2013 - World Mat h Day

Marc h 7, 2013 - World Scienc e Day

This year the World Education Games is bigger and better than ever - with a sleek new look,new features and lots of additional teaching resources to make the next few weeks a really excit-

ing time in your school.

*Note - if you are a Mathletics or Spellodrome user you do NOT need to register, simply sign intothe World Educations Games with your existing username & password.

* Be sure to check local start times, as the event may begin on the previous calendar day in your


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Exclusive Books Kids Lit Quiz 2013

After many early morning sessions accompanied by muffins and hot chocolate tosoften the blow, two teams of very proficient and enthusiastic readers took part in theRegional Round of the Kids Lit Quiz on Friday 15 February, in the Rene EnglandCentre. One hundred questions, of a literary nature, in ten different categories, were

asked of the forty-five teams from schools all over Johannesburg, taking part.

At the end of the afternoon, the St Johns team of Sam Harding, Daniel Burke, MaxMilella and Sean Morrison emerged victorious with 81 points, followed closely by thetwo Roedean teams. Our other team, Shaun Jacobs, Donato Moodie, Justin West andKei Prior also displayed their literary strength and came out with 66 points and were

placed 12th overall.

The very next day, Saturday 16 February, the St Johns 1 team went through to theKLQ SA Finals, held at Roedean.

The SA Finals, in which nine teams from around the country competed, werecontested on a completely different level. This was a challenging and rather tenseexperience with teams having to use buzzers to answer questions and where pointswere deducted for incorrect answers. The boys were astounding with some of theiranswers to the most obscure literary questions. Right up until the very last question,

our boys were in the lead, but were unfortunately pipped at the post by the Roedeangirls and lost by one point! The Roedean girls will be attending the World Finals ofthe Kids Lit Quiz in Durban in July.

The standard of questions was extremely high and we can be very proud of what ourteam achieved at the Regional and South African finals. They are testament to thefact that reading at St Johns is a priority and that it maintains a high profile in the

school.

Well done and congratulations to our champion readers!

Nikki Sulter

[email protected]


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Page 16St Johns Preparatory School

Class Mums 2013

LII D Nikki Hansell [email protected]

LII H Robbie Cheadle [email protected] T Ruth Graca [email protected]

UII B Jackie Hutchings [email protected]

UII F Nicci Beswick [email protected]

UII H Nicky Berriman [email protected]

LIII D Jenne Morrison [email protected]

LIII M Maria Cockram [email protected]

LIII T Fatima Haffejee [email protected]

UIII G Rose Dunbar [email protected]

Tiffany Williams [email protected]

UIII H Gill McPherson [email protected]

Adele Wong [email protected]

UIII L Greta Smart [email protected]

Deidre Smith [email protected]

Individual Achievements

Alex Thiel and Nick Siedle wereboth selected for the District 9

U13 hockey team. Well done,boys!


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Join us on 28 March, 30 March and 1 April at this years St Johns College EasterRugby Festival. Enjoy a true Showcase of Schoolboy Rugby, with games relayed on big

screens.

A great week-end of schoolboy rugby is planned, with fun and entertainment for theentire family. Well have a variety of gastronomical delights and traditional

family-based entertainment.

SuperSport Rugby coverage will be screened on TVs in the main marquee.

Funds raised from each years Festival have traditionally been utilised for various

projects and activities throughout the school. These contributions have benefited theentire school from Pre-Prep through to College.

For comprehensive information, please log on to the school website:

www.stjohnscollege.co.za


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iCare

Whilst we hope and anticipate that all boys will feel able to approach their teachers or amember of staff should they feel that something is wrong, we understand that this will notalways be the case. Some boys may feel unsure of how to approach a staff member orunsure 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 boyscan contact the Pastoral Care Team at [email protected] . The Pastoral Care teamis 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 aroundhatever 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 Johnsexperience. 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 [email protected]

AFRIKAANS TUITION

Is your son struggling to communicate in Afrikaans or having difficulty mastering thebasics of the language (oral or written)? I am qualified to assist in both of the above areasand would be available to provide the necessary tuition between 15:00 and 18:00 on

Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays at St Johns Preparatory.

Tuition will be provided on either a one-to-one basis or in group situations, lessons willlast for an hour. Progress will be regularly monitored and pupils will be expected to

perform certain tasks and complete basic written assignments.

Tuition fees for individual lessons are R250 per hour and R150 per hour for groupsessions.

Should you be interested in the above, my contact details are as follows:

Graham Carroll

Tel : 011 534 1224

Fax : 011 534 1225

Cell : 076 858 9420

Notices


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St Johns Preparatory SchoolPage 21

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]

Italian

Language

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 MATHS

LESSONSLower III & Upper III boys in

Mrs De Langes classroom

Every Thursday 14h00 - 15h00

(Teacher recommendation only)

Shop At St Johns College

New opening times from 28th January 2013Tuesday and Thursday: 7am to 3pm

Monday, Wednesday and Friday: 10am to 3pm

For stationery and labels, as well as all your sports clothes, jerseys, bags and socks


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Letter from an Irish Mother to her Son

For Mothers Day!

Dear Son,

Just a few lines to let you know I'm still alive. I'm writing this letter slowly because Iknow you can't read fast. We are all doing very well.

You won't recognise the house when you get home - we have moved. Your dad read inthe newspaper that most accidents happen within 20 miles from your home, so wemoved. I won't be able to send you the address because the last Irish family that livedhere took the house numbers when they moved so that they wouldn't have to changetheir address.

This place is really nice. It even has a washing machine. I'm not sure it works so wellthough: last week I put a load in and pulled the chain and haven't seen them since.

Your father's got a really good job now. He's got 500 men under him. He's cutting thegrass at the cemetery. Your sister Mary had a baby this morning but I haven't foundout if it's a boy or a girl, so I don't know whether you are an auntie or an uncle. Yourbrother Tom is still in the army. He's only been there a short while and they've alreadymade him a court martial!

Your Uncle Patrick drowned last week in a vat of whiskey in the Dublin Brewery. Someof his workmates tried to save him but he fought them off bravely. They cremated him

and it took three days to put out the fire. I'm sorry to say that your cousin Seamus wasarrested while riding his bicycle last week. They are charging him with dope peddling.

I went to the doctor on Thursday and your father went with me. The doctor put a smalltube in my mouth and told me not to talk for ten minutes. Your father offered to buy itfrom him.

The weather isn't bad here. It only rained twice this week, first for three days and thenfor four days. Monday was so windy one of the chickens laid the same egg four times.

We had a letter from the under-taker. He said if the last payment on yourGrandmother's plot wasn't paid in seven days, up she comes.

About that coat you wanted me to send you, your Uncle Stanley said it would be tooheavy to send in the mail with the buttons on, so we cut them off and put them in thepockets. John locked his keys in the car yesterday. We were really worried because ittook him two hours to get me and your father out. Three of your friends went off abridge in a pick-up truck. Ralph was driving. He rolled down the window and swam tosafety. Your other two friends were in back. They drowned because they couldn't get thetailgate down.

There isn't much more news at this time. Nothing much has happened.Your loving Mum

P.S. I was going to send you some money but I had already sealed the envelope.

Preparatory Newsletter No 2 2013

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Transcript of Preparatory Newsletter No 2 2013