Preparatory Newsletter No 8 2012

7/31/2019 Preparatory Newsletter No 8 2012

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3rd August July 2012

St Johns Preparatory SchoolSt Johns Preparatory SchoolHoughton

Tel: 011 645 3100/ 087 550473 Newsletter Number 8

03/08 Reports E-mailed Home

Hooked on Books UI - UII

Hooked on Books LIII - UIII

Gauteng Climbing Primary School

Finals

Golf League

St Davids Cross Country

06/08 Parent Interviews

07/08 Parent Interviews

08/08 Final Assembly

Reminders fromthe Diary

From the HeadmasterI have just returned from London and it is abuzzwith Olympic Spirit - without a doubt the greatestsports show on earth. The competitors at theGames have dedicated their lives to their particulardiscipline and each one is a supreme athlete. Wecan only marvel at their talent, dedication and

professionalism.

It made me wonder, however, whether any of our

Prep boys would go on to become Olympic Athleteslike Chris Froome, (Old Johannian 2003) who hasjust won a bronze medal in the cycling and whoalso came second in the Tour de France. Should webe doing something differently to ensure we giveevery boy the chance to become a champion? Ibelieve wholeheartedlynot. What we are doing at StJohns Prep is giving every boy the grounding tobecome a champion in his own right and within his

own natural ability.

I will never forget the rugby statistics that Dr JonPatricios presented to the College rugby teams atthe Easter Rugby Festival a few years ago. He wasspeaking to around 200 strapping 1st XV rugbyplayers from all around the country, from top rugby

schools. The stats read as follows:

Only 2% of those 200 boys will play rugby

after school

0.2% of those 200 boys will go on to play

international rugby The average lifespan of an international rugby

player is 7 years.

Rugby is not the be all and end all of a boys

education!

Quite frightening, dont you think? It amazes mehow much emphasis is put on rugby at school level,and often how schools are rated by parents

according to their rugby achievements.

As we come to an end of our ownrugby season in the Prep, Ithought it appropriate to remind

parents of the principles thatunderpin our sports philosophy at

the Prep:

We encourage team sport, asteam sport brings enjoymentand fulfillment throughinteraction with classmates

and friends.

We encourage participationrather than winning children,

especially boys, are naturallycompetitive.

Boys should be encouraged toadd value to the team ratherthan concentrating on theirindividual performance. Toomuch focus on self sets back

the team effort.


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Page 2 St Johns Preparatory School

We want our boys to develop a passion for sport the only way to do this is to play

everything before you have to choose.

We want our boys to play as many different sports and to take part in as many

different activities as possible, rather than being channeled into one sport.

Process is important, not performance. However, boys are naturally competitive, andthey must be taught to accept accountability. We need to ensure that we manage

this process well. We want our boys to concentrate on developing flair and expression. It is easy to

work out methods to win, but unfortunately these methods are often at the expenseof 4developing flair. Pressure (from parents and coaches) has a negative effect ondevelopment. Boys become too focused on their own game rather than playing with

freedom.

Sport does not build character; it reveals it.

Profile of a champion

Ability to focus

Confidence Intrinsic motivation

High optimism

Ability to cope with setbacks

Mentally tough

How do champions achieve this profile?

Played many sports when they were young

Love of sport emphasised, not winning

Parents unconditionally supportive Parents set the example (led active lives themselves, played their own sport rather

than living their dreams through their sons)

Coaches are trusted

Mental skills actively taught

Emphasis on hard work and discipline

How are champions made?

Emphasise can do!

Challenge boys, do not push them

Allow boys to explore techniques and develop their own game

Encourage them to play as many sports as possible

I received this letter from one of our parents last week, and it serves as a fantastic

reminder to all of us.


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Page 3St Johns Preparatory School

An Open Letter to the young St Johns Coaches

It is so annoying watching fathers shout loud instructions to their kids during matches mostlybecause they do this while pacing up and down the side lines and frequently overstepping thelines and actually standing on the field. I know that this is a constant frustration to the coaches,as we have all read countless newsletters asking parents to refrain from doing this. It appears

that these letters are not read by the culprits, or perhaps these particular culprits just dontcare. Irrespective of the season or the sport, there are at least a couple fathers who fit the bill.

These same fathers are in the habit of instructing other kids on the field - particularly whenthey see that their kid is free and they want the ball passed to him. They also go onto the fieldwhen there is an injured child and deal with the situation. In one instance I watched a fatherlift the legs of a winded boy, pump them a couple of times and then pull the boy up into a stand-ing position. This, even although there are medics beside the field who are trained to attend tothese situations. (By the way, I shudder to think what damage this father would be

exacerbating if the boy had injured his back or neck!)

At one particular rugby game this season at home, I was mortified to see a father lecture thereferee after the match (a young St Johns coach who I happen to think is fantastic!) After hisaggressive diatribe, he approached a group of St Johns parents (his friends?) and he related tothem - in a loud and angry tone - what he had told the useless young man in question, i.e.that he didnt deserve to wear the St Johns jersey, that he was biased against his own schooland that he shouldnt be allowed to referee matches because he obviously doesnt even under-stand the game. At this point, the opposing schools parents who were still alongside the field

were having a good chuckle at our parents behaviour towards our coaches.

To the father: Would you stand for someone treating your son the way you treated this youngcoach? Do you really think he was deliberately trying to secure a victory for the opposing

school? Can you not see the damage you do to our reputation by insisting on behaving in thismanner in front of schools WE ARE HOSTING? I cant begin to tell you how much you negativelyaffect the pleasure that we get from watching our son participate in team sports. Maybe yourson thinks you are the bees knees right now, but I assure you that the time will come when hewill ask you not to come and watch him play because of your embarrassing behaviour towards

his team mates and his coach.

To the coach (and in general to all the young men who bring such fantastic energy to the prac-tices and games): please know that you are highly valued by the majority of the parents and we

are so grateful to you for all you do.

Thank you to the parent who took the trouble to send this letter to show their support

for what we are trying to achieve.

Finally, I would like to wish you all a wonderful holiday. Travel safely and cherish the

time spent with family.

Patrick Lees


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IBSC2012ActionResearchProgrammeThe IBSC started the Action Research in Boys' Schools programmein 2005. Each year,a group of teachers from all over the world apply to be part of this programme, andwork collaboratively online, for a year, on a particular research topic. Their findings are

presented at the annual IBSC Conference.These teachers ask questions about an area of their teaching practice that may needimproving, research what's known about it, design a new way of approaching theproblem, and assess how well the process has worked. They are required to produce a

formal research report for publication by the IBSC at the end of the cycle.

The topic for this years team is:Fostering creativity in boys through their use ofdigital technologies.

There are 42 team members, divided into three separate teams. I have the good fortuneof co-ordinating a team again this year, which is very exciting! My team has 14members - from schools in South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, the UK, the USA and

Canada.

Participants met for the first time at a series of pre-conference workshops held at ScotchCollege in Melbourne.


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These are examples of some of the research questions team members are undertaking:

How does the use ofBookGlutton, an online social reader, encourage and foster boys'authentic engagement when reading a novel? (John Green, St Christophers School,

USA)

How will the use of Go!animate and Voice Threads foster independent languagelearning in a Grade 10 Spanish classroom? (Patrice Dixon, St Georges School,

Canada) How do new technologies, like iPad apps, encourage boys to create new knowledge

that other more broadly adopted methods may not? (Steven Feldman, Belmont Hill

School, USA)

How does using Google sketchup affect students ability to be creative

mathematicians? (Ian Fisher, Crescent School, Canada)

How does the use ofGamemakersoftware foster the development of creative problem

solving skills in boys? (Ben Marr, Scotch College, Australia)

How can boys' use of mobile technologies influence the development and use of

creative design processes? (Peter Holt, Dr Challoners Grammar School, UK)

This is the website that is used by the team for their online discussions on the topic.

My thanks go to the IBSC and to St Johns (particularly to Roger Cameron and PatrickLees) for their support in enabling me to participate in this exciting initiative for a

further year.

Margot Long [email protected]


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Well done to everyone involved in soccer, cross country, tennis, squash, rock climbingand rugby this season! As the season draws to a close, we realize how much effort hasbeen put in by everyone involved in Prep sport. Well done to all our boys who fit somany activities into their busy sport timetables! Thank you to all our parents for theircontinual and valued support it does not go unnoticed. We also recognise thesignificant contribution of our staff and coaches this season, your effort, time andprofessionalism have contributed towards a successful and enjoyable season. Thanksare also due to the many ladies who provided wonderful teas and refreshments: you

made our visitors and our own parents feel so welcome at matches.

There are a few boys in particular who have made really noteworthy contributions in avariety of different sports this term. Some of these boys have played as many fivesports in a given week, over and above their other commitments. Well done to this

group of dedicated sportsmen!

We look forward to an exciting hockey season next term. Each boy will need to bring ahockey stick and gum guard to practices and matches. Hockey will be followed

by basketball, water polo, swimming and cricket.

There is an article below by Nick Gordon from the Citizenabout the importance of early

exposure to sport.

Enjoy the break

Dave Odgers

Director of Sport

[email protected]


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Cross Country


Cross Country Meeting

St Benedict's 20 July 2012

Well done to all the boys who ran.

There were some excellent performanceswith most boys improving their positions

from the previous week when they ran at

St Stithians. The following boyscame in the top 10 and received medals

already on Friday.

Under 9

Total number of boys running was 140

St Johns had 3 in the top 10

Peter Buckle-2nd

Torin Torrente-7th

Hamza Masood-9th

Dylan Brugman-16th

Caden Meyer-22nd

Kieran Anderson-24th

Under 10


Timothy Martin-7thMusa Mphomane-23

Under 11


Dino Iozzo-4th

Emile Strydom-24th

Under 12


Robin Swartz-2ndBrandon Vermeulen -9th

James Barrow-17th

Nicholas Ching-25th

Under 13


Matthew Robinson-10th

Nicholas Ives-11th

Alex Worsdale-25th

Cross Country Results

St Stithians 13 July 2012

Well done to all the boys who ran. Therewere some excellent performances

considering its a very difficult course.

The following boys came in the top 10

and received certificates.

Under 9



Peter Buckle-3rd

Dylan Brugman-9th

Caden Meyer-21stUnder 11


Dino Iozzo-6th

Tristan Butler-17th

Under 12



Gavin McPherson-1stRobin Swartz -2nd

Stefano Cavalieri-18th

James Barrow-27th

Under 13



Alex Worsdale-22nd


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Cross Country results

St Peters 27 July 2012

Well done to all the boys who ran. There were some excellent performances with most

boys bettering their positions from previous runs.

The following boys came in the top 20 with the top 10 receiving certificates at St Peters.

Under 9Total number of boys running was 150-St Johns had 2 in the top 10

Peter Buckle-5th

Dylan Brugman-10th

Tori Torrente 11th

Caden Meyer-13th

Under 10


Alexander Barrow-27th

Under 11

total number of boys running was 130-St Johns had 1 in the top 10

Dino Iozzo-3rd

Emile Strydom-15th

Tristan Butler-24th

Under 12

Total number of boys running was 120-St Johns had 3 in the top 10

Robin Swartz -2nd

Gavin McPherson-3rd

Dale Hallendorff-8th

Brandon Vermeulen-12th

Under 13

Total number of boys running was 120-St Johns had 1 in the top ten

Nicholas Ives-9th


Alex Worsdale-22nd

Joshua Harrison-23rd


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Position Name House

1 Peter Buckle Cullinan

2 Torin Torrente Carter

3 Dylan Brugman Cullinan

4 James Groves Cullinan

5 Caden Meyer Carter

6 Hamza Masood Bousfield

7 Kieran Anderson Darragh

8 Alistair Hindle Cullinan

9 Matthew Knight Carter

10 Carl Leathwhite Darragh

Inter-House Cross Country

Under 9Position Name House

1 Timothy Martin Cullinan

2 Russell Browne Carter

3 Alex Barrow Darragh

4 Musa Mphomane Bousfield

5 Matthew Bester Cullinan

6 Nicholas Koutromanos Carter

7 Joshua Sansom Darragh

8 Ethan Berriman Darragh

9 Stuart Omand Carter

10 Matthew Chow Carter

Under 10

Under 11Position Name House

1 Dino Iozzo Cullinan

2 Tristan Butler Cullinan

3 Emile Strydom Darragh

4 Kirby Golding Darragh

5 Jack Montgom-ery

Carter

6 Sean Morrison Cullinan

7 Andrew Raney Darragh

8 Matthew Du-randt

Cullinan

9 Bradley Milton Darragh

10 Oliver de Sousa Carter

Position Name House

1 Robin Swartz Cullinan

2 Stefano Cavalieri Bousfield

3 Dale Hallendorff Carter

4 Brandon Vermeulen Carter

5 Ross Morshead Cullinan

6 Jordan van der Walt Carter

7 Thendo Mudau Darragh

8 James Barrow Darragh

9 Michael Mackie Cullinan

10 Nicholas Lansdown Cullinan

Under 12

Under 13

Position Name House

1 Yanick Ter Mors Darragh

2 Matthew Robinson Bousfield

3 Alexander Worsdale Bousfield

4 Joshua Harrison Carter

5 Neil Gultig Darragh

6 Timothy McKernan Darragh

7 Alexander Bester Cullinan

8 Peter Boshoff Cullinan

9 Seth Streeter Bousfield

10 Connor Dooley Bousfield


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Individual Achievements

Hraklis Papageorgiou was presented with the Leaping Wolf Award by MrM Tyson, District Commissioner of the North West District. The LeapingWolf Award is the most prestigious Award that can be given to a Cub.

Kian Rose, Bradley Dunbar and Matthew Stephen received their S AKids Golf Blazers. They are taking part in the Kids Golf WorldChampionships to be held at Pinehurst in the USA during August.


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4CTea July 2012

Over 90% Maths Assessment

Justin West Greg Basslian

Ben Macqueen Jack Montgomery


Individual Achievement

GolfBradley Dunbar played two tournaments on Sunday, 15th July, for Central Gauteng,against Mpumalanga; Northern Gauteng and Ekurhuleni in the Nelspruit Quadrangular

Interprovincial. There were four members per age group and their U13 Team took thetrophy. Well done, Bradley!

MusicSome of our young pianists received master classes fromrenowned South African University lecturers at this years JanCelliers Piano Symposium. On Saturday, 23 June 2012 MatthewMonteith (Upper II) and Harry Myburgh (Lower III) represented StJohns College. Their teachers are Mr Willie de Beer and Ms Ilse

Myburgh. Well done, boys!

Helpful and Considerate

Daniel Fowlis Harry Stanley

Yousuf Mahomed

Hard Work and Progress

Fumani Rikhotso

Outstanding Results in Zulu Assessment

Zizwe Dlamini Nicholas Thiel

Excellent Work in HistoryKevin Rowe

Standing in at the last minute for the UI play

Tim Milton

Ambassador for St Johns

Marc Elliott


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4CTea continued

20% Improvement in Zulu

Kabelo Motsepe Max Mukami

Nihal Ranchod Thulani Vein


Cleaning up during Inter-House Athletics

James Estil Marc Hersov

Alistair Verhoogt Ronald Wheeldon

Good Sportsmanship

Matthew Collins

Stopped Biting Nails

Brandon Badenhorst

Overcame Shyness during his Zulu Speech

Dylan Wong

Dedication and Kindness

Jordan van der Walt

Compassion and Thoughtfulness

Andrew Ray

Good Work during DNT

Kian Rose Tayne Beswick

Oliver Krynauw Ayrton Griffin-Ellis

Good Painting

Juliano Murdoh

Milan Prioreschi

Excellent Work in Art Club

Justin West

Ran Cross Country with a Broken Arm

Stefan Milos

Respectful During Divinity For Life

Zaahid Suliman Abdul Malik


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Inter-House Quiz 2012

All Lower and Upper III boys were given a chance to take part in the Inter-House Quizthis year. Aside from the four house teams of four boys each, the audience was alsogiven a chance to test their general knowledge . This made for a highly-competitive andvery exciting event. The house teams answered questions in all the rounds, while the

audience teams were able to answer questions in the written rounds only. Categoriesvaried from Local News, Cartoons and Recent Sport to Entertainment, Spot the

Mistake and St Johns.

The last round of the quiz consists of a Rapid Fire round of 18 questions which theteams had to answer very quickly. Often this round changes the fortunes of the teams.The Darragh boys scored 17 out of 18 for that round, which put them in 2nd place andmade them overall winners by a 0,5 margin. Congratulations also go to Alex Thiel,

Ciaran James, Numan Koor and Marc Elliott of Bousfield for winning the senior section.

Junior

Bousfield 53

Cullinan 57

Carter 59

Darragh 59

Senior

Cullinan 62

Carter 68Darragh 70

Bousfield 76

Final Scores

Cullinan 119

Carter 127

Bousfield 129

Darragh 129


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Mandela Day

Mandela Day is an annual celebration of Nelson Mandelas life and has become a globalmovement for people to embrace the power that lies within them to change the worldaround them. Frenzied activity in and around the school marked this special occasion.67 minutes of service for others was taken up with enormous enthusiasm by the boys.

The Upper Is, Lower IIs and Upper IIs set to work making sandwiches for a local soupkitchen with unbounded fervour. We ended up with so much food, that we were able todistribute the extras to other schools and community concerns in Yeoville. Cleaning upthe litter in the streets surrounding St Johns was the task of the Lower and Upper IIIboys. This they did this as if they were off on a big adventure - just down St PatricksRoad! At the end of the 67 minutes, the entire Prep School formed a giant hand onBurger Field as a salute to a great man. We finished off the festivities with birthdaycake, supplied by the Class Mums , who also made extra cakes, which were enjoyed bythe children of Parktown Public School.


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Making sandwiches for theunderprivileged

Cleaning up the school grounds and surrounding streets


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Through Jordan and Lynn van der Walt, the Lower IIIC Class visited The Harvey CohenCentre in Eldorado Park on 18 July. The Centre provides assistance to mentally andphysically challenged children and adults. The boys were escorted to the Centre by an

Eldorado police car with siren blaring and blue lights flashing.

On arrival at the Centre, they were welcomed by beautiful singing by the members of

the community and given an overview of the amazing work that is done there. Every-body then sang happy birthday to Nelson Mandela and the various items from the Cen-

tres wish list were officially handed over to them.

After a brief tour of the workshops the boys were given a lunch pack and then theyjourneyed back to school in time for the rugby match. It was a wonderful experience for

them all.


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Upper I


The Upper I show, Good Sport, proved to be an evening of fun and entertainment. Af-ter weeks of rehearsals, the boys warmed up the chilly evenings with theirenthusiasm and energy. Well done to all of them! A special thank you, as well, to thefamily and friends who came to watch. Your support, laughter and loud applause made

all the hard work worth it!

The Upper I show, Good Sport, proved to be an evening of fun and entertainment. Af-ter weeks of rehearsals, the boys warmed up the chilly evenings with theirenthusiasm and energy. Well done to all of them! A special thank you, as well, to thefamily and friends who came to watch. Your support, laughter and loud applause made

all the hard work worth it!

Staff News

St Johns would like to welcome two new appointments:

Jaci de Lange as HOD Maths, Jaci joins us from Roedean and Mark Hood who will be

teaching LII. We wish them a long and happy time at St Johns


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Lower III and Grade 2 Interact Day


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During half term, 17 prep boys, 3 college boys, Mr Nick, Mr Martins, 4 coaches and 1dad headed down to Waterval Boven in Mpumalanga for a rock climbing camp. Westayed at a small resort called Tranquillitas (which is owned by the man who built ourschool climbing walls). The weather was good to us, and three crazy boys even dared a

jump off the boulder into the swimming pool.We visited a different crag each day, and the cliffs we climbed on were up to about 25mhigh. Some boys led their climbs (which means taking the rope up with them, clippingit to anchors in the rock as they go), while the others top-roped. In all, over 30 routes

were climbed, with the hardest being a 21.

Some of the highlights included:

Leading hard climbs

Looking at the amazing views from the tops of the climbs

Slacklining

Playing games around the campsite

Making our own food

Playing Uno and other games in the chalets until late

Seeing Mr Nick take a big fall on a route called Emancipated Spider Chicks(and

be caught on belay by Matt Robinson)

Half Term Rock Climbing Tour Waterval Boven 2012


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.

Art Work By Juliano Mordoh LIID


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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

not always be the case. Some boys may feel unsure of how to approach a staff memberor unsure of what they should say. For this reason we are continuing to use the iCarebox, which is now located in Mrs Powells office. We also have an electronic versionwhere boys can contact the Pastoral Care Team at [email protected]. ThePastoral 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 aroundwhatever 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 Meirim

[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 aboveareas and 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 group

sessions.

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 9420E-mail : [email protected]

Notices


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St Johns Preparatory SchoolPage 24

Notices

Art club and extra classesFrom 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 Jean Clarences

classroom

Every Thursday 14h15 - 15h00 All Welcome

Extra Maths Lessons

Individual tuition offeredMrs M Hauptfleisch

Call 011 442 1854

083 256 7714

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 contactMr MacIntosh on 076 529 5529

Copies can also be ordered through the publishers:

[email protected] R100 per copy


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Preparatory Newsletter No 8 2012

Documents

Transcript of Preparatory Newsletter No 8 2012