St John’s Preparatory School · Page 2 St John’s Preparatory School ... Heronbridge Prep. ......

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9th March 2012 St John’s Preparatory School St John’s Preparatory School Houghton Tel: 011 645 3100/ 087 550473 Newsletter Number 3 12/03 UIII Instrumental Concert 13/03 Housemasters’ Assembly Hair & Uniform Inspection LIII Instrumental Concert 14/03 Grade 2 & LIII Interact UII Instrumental Concert KEPS/ St Benedict’s Athletics 15/03 LII Instrumental Concert 16/03 UI Instrumental Concert St David’s Water Polo Festival Supper and Song 19/03 Music Scholarship Examination UIII 20/03 Headmaster’s Assembly 21/03 Human Rights Day 22/03 Parents’ Mass & Chapel Collection 23/03 Easter 2 Timetable Ends St Stithians Athletics St John’s Water Polo Festival 30/03 St Peter’s Water Polo Festival UIII Camp LIII Camp UII Camp Reminders from the Diary From the Headmaster… Do we compare our Children? Have we ever said this to our sons: "Why can't you be like David?" or “John got 80% because he works so hard, if you worked as hard as John, you would also get an A” or “You got 75% for your test; what did Matthew get?” Comparing our sons to other boys and measuring them by that rule is a recipe for disaster. Whether we are in a line at a supermarket or looking at a school report or dropping off our boys in the car park at school, we need to refrain from measuring our boys against others. Sadly whilst we cannot avoid being part of a competitive society which stresses the need to run faster, be smarter and attain much more than others, many parents are using comparative parenting in an effort to motivate children to achieve. Whilst it is not wrong to set goals for children, these goals must be realistic, attainable and unique to the individual child. Ephesians 6:4 has this to tell us about heavy- handed parenting, "Fathers, don't exasperate your children by coming down hard on them. Take them by the hand and lead them in the way of the Master". I think that this is key – do we lead our sons or do we push them? Unfortunately most of us adults today have grown up having been told all our lives that "if you were like George then..." or "if you would try to be like Simon then...", the result is that many adults still feel like children who have never been accepted for who they are.

Transcript of St John’s Preparatory School · Page 2 St John’s Preparatory School ... Heronbridge Prep. ......

9th March 2012

St John’s Preparatory School St John’s Preparatory School Houghton Tel: 011 645 3100/ 087 550473 Newsletter Number 3

12/03 UIII Instrumental Concert

13/03 Housemasters’ Assembly

Hair & Uniform Inspection

LIII Instrumental Concert

14/03 Grade 2 & LIII Interact

UII Instrumental Concert

KEPS/ St Benedict’s Athletics

15/03 LII Instrumental Concert

16/03 UI Instrumental Concert

St David’s Water Polo Festival

Supper and Song

19/03 Music Scholarship Examination

UIII

20/03 Headmaster’s Assembly

21/03 Human Rights Day

22/03 Parents’ Mass & Chapel

Collection

23/03 Easter 2 Timetable Ends

St Stithians Athletics

St John’s Water Polo Festival

30/03 St Peter’s Water Polo Festival

UIII Camp

LIII Camp

UII Camp

Reminders from the Diary

From the Headmaster… Do we compare our Children? Have we ever said this to our sons: "Why can't you be like David?" or “John got 80% because he works so hard, if you worked as hard as John, you would also get an A” or “You got 75% for your test; what did Matthew get?” Comparing our sons to other boys and measuring them by that rule is a recipe for disaster. Whether we are in a line at a supermarket or looking at a school report or dropping off our boys in the car park at school, we need to refrain from measuring our boys against others. Sadly whilst we cannot avoid being part of a competitive society which stresses the need to run faster, be smarter and attain much more than others, many parents are using comparative parenting in an effort to motivate children to achieve. Whilst it is not wrong to set goals for children, these goals must be realistic, attainable and unique to the individual child. Ephesians 6:4 has this to tell us about heavy-handed parenting, "Fathers, don't exasperate your children by coming down hard on them. Take them by the hand and lead them in the way of the Master". I think that this is key – do we lead our sons or do we push them? Unfortunately most of us adults today have grown up having been told all our lives that "if you were like George then..." or "if you would try to be like Simon then...", the result is that many adults still feel like children who have never been accepted for who they are.

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The underlying message that boys receive when they hear comparisons is "you’re not quite right", "you didn't turn out to be the child I wanted" or "you are wrong". The child also then becomes fearful of disappointing the parent; he becomes anxious of failing and making mistakes. To panic any time our boys don’t reach a milestone exactly when other boys do sets us up for a lifetime of worry, jealousy and regret. So don't worry too much and just enjoy and cherish your boy while you have the opportunity. We need to give our boys the clear message that they are loved and accepted as they are, and celebrate their uniqueness. Our measure of success should not be whether or not our boys make the provincial sports teams or get 6 “A’s” in matric, or whether they do better than their peers, it should be whether our sons grow into men who live happy lives, worthy of God and themselves. Staff News I would like to congratulate Mr JP Lubbe on his appointment as Director of Sport at Heronbridge Prep. We wish him all the very best in this exciting new role. I am pleased to announce the appointment of Mr Sean Logan as the new Darragh Housemaster and Upper III teacher. Mr Logan comes from St Stithians Boys’ Prep where he has been Head of Grade 7 and Assistant Sports Co-Ordinator. Mr Logan is extremely well qualified and we wish him a long and happy tenure at St John’s Prep. Congratulations go to Michelle and Mike Fehrsen on the birth of Jack John, born on 11th February and to JP and Belle, on the birth of Samuel Paul born on 16th February.

Patrick Lees Headmaster  

Condolences We would like to extend our sincere condolences to Brandon (UIIF) and Bridget on the passing of their father and husband, Lourens, respectively. Our thoughts and prayers are with you at this difficult time.

Jack John Fehrsen Samuel Paul Lubbe

LOST PROPERTY The Lost property room will now be open during break only

In order to instil a sense of responsibility, please remind your son to go and collect his own lost property rather than collect it for him.

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4CTea

February 2012 Over 90% in English and Afrikaans Assessment Gavin McPherson Matthew Chamberlin Thomas Deppe

Over 90% in Afrikaans Assessment Andrew Raney Garth van den Berg Greg Basslian Jack Lees

Tiago Neto Brandon Badenhorst

Over 90% for Maths Assessment G Berry G Durlind D Moodie N Moschides M Nycobo H Papageorgiou S Smart B Thomas C Williams

Cricket B Vermeulen M Elliott

Over 80% in Maths Assessment C Ayo H Mtshali E Baleni G Palotta A Bester D Stevens C Ching J Williamson

Neat Handwriting Marc Hersov

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Versus Keps Result Individual Performances

U11A Lost M Durant 26 J Lees 12

U10C Lost K Dooley 13 runs K Ntuli 2 for 11

Versus St Stithians Result Individual Performances

U11A Draw R Haffejee 30 J Lees 20 B Milton 10

U10A Lost A Barrow 27

U10B Won R Wilford 34 N Ranchod 3 wickets

4th Lost

3rd Rained out

2nd Rained out

U11B Lost

Cricket

Sports Results

Basketball St John’s vs St Benedict’s 1st played 3 won 3 2nd played 3 won 3 SJP were crowned Tournament Champs, and remained unbeaten this season!

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Well done to all the boys who played basketball this season. There has been a general improvement in skills across all age groups. I was particularly pleased with the enthusiasm, passion and dedication displayed by our junior group. Congratulations also to the seniors. The 1st and 2nd teams won all their matches at the St. Benedict’s Preparatory School Basketball Festival, which took place on 18 February 2012. The following boys received awards at the festival: Matthew Robinson – Best Defensive Player Jordan Williamson – Best Shooter Ross Morshead – Runner Up: Most Valuable Player Yannick Ter Mors – Most Valuable Player Award The 1st Team also scooped first place at the St. John’s Preparatory School First Team Tournament, which took place on 3rd March 2012. Well done to Musachi Nkanza (Most Valuable Player of the Tournament) and Ben Shefer (Fair Play) on their awards.

St John’s 1st Basketball Team are unbeaten this season!

Dave Mulenga

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Sports Results

Swimming A Team Gala 3rd St Benedict’s 2nd St John’s 1st St Stithians

Our first Chatterbox Public Speaking Festival was held on Tuesday 6 March at The Ridge. The following boys participated and were awarded certificates for their performances. Lower II Keane Dooley Jamie Diesel Zaahid Suliman Upper II Bradley Milton Jack Montgomery Milan Prioreschi Congratulations to these orators!

Chatterbox

B Team Gala 7 Assumption Convent 6 KEPS 5 St Peter’s Girls 4 St John’s 3 St Katharine’s 2 St Mary’s 1 St Stithians Boys

Lower III Dominic Moodie Nicholas Ching Nicholas Moschides Upper III Jordan Williamson Merlin Love Dylan Cutifani Connor Dooley

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20th February St John’s A vs St Stithians A Seniors won 21 - 11 Juniors won 22 - 6 Overall won 43 - 17 Well done to the following boys who won both their games: S Modi, H Papageorgio, D Stevens, J West, N Haripershad, K Prior, Z Coetzee, T Kudzurungla, A Sharma 5th March St John’s A vs St Benedict’s A Seniors lost 14 - 18 Juniors tied 14 - 14 Overall lost 28 - 32 Well done to the following boys who won both their games: S Modi, E Baleni and S Omand

Chess

St John’s B vs The Ridge A Seniors won 17 - 15 Juniors lost 13 - 15 Overall tied 30 - 30

St John’s B vs St Mary’s A It was decided to play friendlies against St Mary’s, so no results were recorded.

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Shave the Head’s Head Mr Patrick Lees raised in excess of R25000 by collecting money from Pre-Prep and Prep boys by having his head shaved on stage at the CANSA Relay For Life Event. The event was a huge success with over R450 000 has been raised so far!

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By Caleb Gill U1R

Upper I ‘What’s in my lunchbox?’

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By Zayd Motara U1R

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As part of the theme ‘Body and Health Talk’, the Upper 1s had to carry out research on some of the organs of the body. They then made life-size posters and presented their researched information on these posters.

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Lower II boys did ‘All About Me’ collages which are on display in the classroom corridor

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Lower II Totem Poles A Paragraph deals with one idea! I am third in my family. I have two older sisters. I am glad I don’t have brothers. My face has two eyes and my mouth is mostly closed, I am very quiet. My sisters used to say I had eagle eyes because I was very good at spotting animals. I also used to be very good at eye staring contests. One time I spent three hours without talking. I am ten years old this year. I used to always want to be sixteen. Nowadays I want to be twenty because I can do whatever job I want. Still I am very excited to be turning ten. My favourite subject is art because it is about expressing yourself. My favorite work of art is The Snail. I am really good at drawing and I have very recently painted on a can-vass. My hobby is playing computer games but I mostly play on weekends. I a new computer and I love it. It has downloaded Google sketchup which is a program where you design buildings. I don’t know what I would do without my computer. I live in a white, quiet house with a very small garden. It is 3 stories tall I like it. I have lied in it for eight years. My dad helped built it himself but my mum bought all the furniture. I have a very deep pool and it is heated but it is very cold in winter.

I am the only child in my family. I am enjoying this because I can play without anyone annoying me and I get the most attention! I have a big mouth because I talk a lot. I like to eat a lot! I mainly like Sushi! I have a beautiful face! I like to smile. As you can see the flag, I love history so much. My favorite person in the world is Na-poleon. He conquered almost the whole of Europe in 20 years. My hobby is Warhammer. I mainly beat my dad. He won one! I am the lizard men or the Emprie and they are good. I live in a medium sized house. I love it because it has a big garden. I love the garden because I have lots of space to play! I love it so much it is fun.

By Matthew Russell LIIV

By Gregory Thompson LIIV

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Lower II Totem Poles A Paragraph deals with one idea! I am the first born out of all the kids in my entire family. I love all my cousins and my aunts and uncles. I love my brother most of all, sure he can be very mean but I need him most of all. My face is very smiley because I always have fun with my brother, friends and always my teachers. My eyes are blue, my hair is brown, I never ever frown and I have got a chip in my tooth. I think my face is best of all because that’s how I see the soccer ball. I am 10 years old and am very happy with everything I do. When I turned ten my mum was proud of me because ‘I reached double digits’. The best thing about being 10 is be-ing past single digits. My favorite subject at school is English because it is always so much fun and quite easy. English is my favorite subject because we always learn something new. My favorite hobby is hockey! I like hockey the best out of everything because I’m the very best at it. Each Friday I go down to hockey and score three or more than three goals. I live at 30 Congo Road, Emmarentia. My house is a lot like a castle. In my house almost everything happens. Soccer matches, cricket matches, badminton matches, swimming contests and marbles. The best thing about my house is that is has the complete family, two dogs, two cats and six fish with a mum a dad a brother and me.

By Fraser McLardy LIIV

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Lower IIV Totem Poles

By Sean Faesen

By Ekow Daniels

By Miles LI

By Sebastian Shearer

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Lower IIT Totem Poles

By Khayalami Ntuli By Fraser McLardy

By Kwindla Mangaliso By Ronin Quinn

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UIII Afrikaans 1st Additional Language boys celebrated Shrove Tuesday by baking Pannekoek.

Pannekoek Dag

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Asikhulume Day is about promoting the isiZulu language at school. On this day everyone strives to speak isiZulu. Teachers are given phrases and words to use in their lessons. For our first Asikhulume Tuesday, the Upper III boys prepared a role play about the sport they enjoy at school. During the Headmaster’s assembly they performed their skit which also included some of the teachers. The boys greeted the teachers and asked them a few questions in isiZulu. It was a wonderful day filled with excitement as boys and teachers tried their best to speak isiZulu. Dudu Mashele isiZulu Department

Asikhulume Tuesday

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After many early morning sessions and a gross of muffins and gallons of hot chocolate, two teams of very proficient and enthusiastic readers took part in the Regional Round of the Kids’ Lit Quiz on Friday 17 February. One hundred questions, of a literary nature, in ten different categories were asked of the thirty-three teams taking part. At the end of the afternoon, the St John’s team of Sam Harding, Daniel Burke, Numan Koor and Nick Vine-Morris had scored 78 points, placing them second after Roedean Junior (84). Our other team, comprising William Kerr-Phillips, Donato Moodie, Nicholas Moschides and Max Milella, acquitted itself exceptionally well and was placed third in the Regional Round with a score of 71. An outstanding achievement attaining both second and third place!

2nd and 3rd in KLQ Regional Round. L to R: Numan Koor, Nicholas Moschides, William Kerr-Phillips, Mrs Sulter, Nick Vine-Morris, Sam Harding, Quizmaster

Wayne Mills, Donato Moodie, Max Milella and Daniel Burke

Exclusive Books Kids’ Lit Quiz 2012

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The very next day, Saturday 18 February, along with the Roedean team, the St John’s 1 team went through to the KLQ SA Finals held in Centurion.

The SA Finals, in which eight teams from around the country competed, were contested on a completely different level. This was a challenging and rather tense experience with teams having to use buzzers to answer questions and where points were deducted for incorrect answers. The boys were astounding with some of their answers to the most obscure literary questions. Towards the end of the afternoon, they were really firing on all cylinders and had a superb run of correct answers. We were extremely proud of their performance and they achieved second place (27), again, after Roedean Junior (42) who were the outright winners. The Roedean girls will be attending the World Finals of the Kids’ Lit Quiz in New Zealand in July.

Above: Sam Harding, Daniel Burke, Nic Vine-Morris and Numan Koor are put through their paces in the KLQ SA Finals in the scorching mid-day Pretoria heat

Congratulations must go to all eight boys in the two teams as well as to our reserves, Sean Morrison and Justin Koevort. They all made a supreme effort, often with numerous other activities on the go at the same time, to read as much as possible and to learn a multitude of book-related facts. Seeing the overt enthusiasm for reading amongst our boys has been such a rewarding experience for me and our participation in this event constantly promotes this enthusiasm and love for reading throughout the school.

Mrs Nikki Sulter

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St John’s and St Mary’s have embarked on a very exciting new Outdoor Education project. For nearly ten years we have been involved at Kloofwaters where our U1 to UIII boys have enjoyed superb outdoor education programmes, various dads-and-lads camps have been held, and numerous boys and girls have experienced holiday camps in the August and December holidays. An amazing new opportunity has now been offered to us to partner with the Maretlwane Trust, which administers a magnificent mountain property in the Magaliesberg, a little closer to Johannesburg than Kloofwaters. Through this partnership, access to a number of other exceptional mountain wilderness properties will also be possible, with dramatic kloofs and waterfalls, beautiful pools and rock formations. There are some existing facilities on the property – a luxurious 10-bed, self-catering guest lodge, a few small, self-catering cottages, and a 32-bed “Outdoor School” facility. Plans are under way to develop a new, 100-bed Outdoor Centre, which will take over the camps currently served by Kloofwaters. We are looking for parents who would like to get involved in the development of Maretlwane so if you are interested, please contact me at [email protected]. Brett Nicolson

An Exciting New Opportunity in the Magaliesberg – Maretlwane

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Barefoot Day – Friday 23 March This project is based on the International ‘One Day without Shoes’ project which this year takes place on 10 April. The project is held to highlight the plight of children who are forced to attend school barefoot. We have chosen to come to school barefoot on the last Friday of the term when all boys will be together at school before departing on camps. To participate in ‘Barefoot Day’ boys will be required to pay an entry fee of an old, but wearable pair of shoes. The shoes may be for ladies, gents or children. Three charities will benefit from this project, Bethany Women’s Shelter, Tsepho Work Creation Project and TLC. There will be chocolates for the boy in each year group who brings the most pairs of shoes! First Barefoot Traverse of the Otter Trail

Our inspiration to hold a Barefoot Day comes from Ross Morshead (Lower IIIM) who in December was part of the first barefoot traverse of the Otter Trail. Ross’s dad, Iain, writes the following: “Hey Dad, you think your feet are so tough, why don’t we do the Otter Trail barefoot?” Much like most challenges, this one has a bit of a history. I do most of my running barefoot and Ross only wears shoes when he has to. He finds it most entertaining when I cautiously ooh and aaah across difficult terrain that he simply glides across. After a quick mental scan of the route, I decided to accept his challenge, but despite having done the Otter many times, I had no idea how difficult it would be without shoes. Now I’m no hero, but I’m also no stranger to extreme endurance events such as Iron Man, Duzi, Comrades & long distance trail races (I’ve even run the Otter Trail twice), but nothing could adequately prepare me for this. If the pain associated with step-ping on a devil thorn is rated at 10 out of 10 and the last 10 kms of Comrades a 3, we faced long stretches of sharp rock that would score a solid 7 on the same scale Each day had its challenges, however, it was deep into the fourth day that the combi-nation of scalding hot sand and long stretches of shattered sandstone reduced me to bum sliding down the 100 metre drop to the last overnight hut. This was tough on an epic scale and to add insult to injury, on arrival I had to deal with a very self-assured young Johannian who wanted to know why I took so long. While there were some tough sections, removing our shoes brought us into direct contact with the environment and resulted in a very intimate experience. This pro-vided a wonderful backdrop to a special father and son experience. SANPARKs advised us that this was the first time that anyone has completed the trail barefoot. The latest research proves that barefooting has many benefits. In this case, the tactile experience of walking barefoot on the fields, paths and floors of the school will leave a lasting impression on the boys and at the same time highlight the plight of children who have no choice but to go to school barefoot.”

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Ross Morshead LIIIM

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A huge thank you to the St John’s Prep Community for donating so generously to TLC. Thank you for your numerous donations of toys, jungle gyms, furniture, clothing … the list is seemingly endless. Financial donations have also exceeded all expectations so far this term and an amount of R19 000 has been sent to TLC. This money was collected from Market Day 2011, charity donations from boys at the beginning of the term, civvies on Valentine’s Day and a chapel collection. TLC were really concerned about how they were going to be able to supply hot water to a new section of the nursery which has been developed on the farm. With this donation from our community, they are able to install a solar geyser and provide a few extra comforts for the little ones. Pippa Jarvis, who runs TLC, was totally overwhelmed by this amount and sends love, hugs, kisses and immense gratitude to everyone. Once able to speak, her words were a simple “Woo-hoo!” To read more about the work of TLC and to see personal projects which you and your family might like to become involved in, why not subscribe to their newsletter at www.tlc.org.za or TLC also now have a Facebook page – follow the link below and "like" the page. http://www.facebook.com/#!/TlcChildrensHome?notif_t=page_new_likes Well done and thank you to the Upper III Community Service Team of Connor Dooley, Brayden Loxton, Joshua White and Daniel Stevens who work tirelessly for the cause. These boys organised the Valentine’s Day project and also do much of the fetching, carrying and admin work.

The Love of Christ (TLC) Ministries Fundraising Update

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The kids are thrilled to finally have hot water in the bathroom and the fact that it is solar means we don't add any expense to TLC! We are so grateful for the love and kindness you have all shown us and your generous gift is highly appreciated! God Bless Everyone involved! Pippa  

Thank you

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During the month of March the Prep School, in conjunction with Standard Bank, will be taking part in the exciting “It makes cents!” campaign. The aim of the campaign is to collect as many coins as possible. Standard Bank will then match the value of these coins (to a maximum of R100 000) and present a cheque to our charity, TLC. The bank will use the coins collected as part of a Maths programme it is devising for use in schools. Standard Bank has been most generous in donating prizes for our classes as an incentive. Each week the class collecting the highest number of coins will be treated to a meal at McDonalds in Rosebank. In addition to this, the boys in the class that collects the highest number of coins throughout the campaign will each receive a voucher from a large store to the value of R300. Everyone wins in this campaign – your purse and wallet will be less cumbersome, those coin collections you were waiting to take to the bank will be gone! Maths teaching will benefit and boys stand a chance to win exciting prizes and most importantly TLC will receive much needed funds. Please support this campaign by filling the blue Standard Bank containers your sons have taken home with any coins you may have and then returning these to your son’s class teacher in time for the weekly count each Friday. Please have a look at the official rules as supplied by Standard Bank. Should you have any further questions please do not hesitate to contact Karen Maitland – [email protected].

It makes cents!

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Rules and regulations – It makes cents Overall

The “It makes cents” initiative starts on Wednesday, 29 February 2012 and ends on Friday, 30 March 2012, and will be conducted in the following manner

• All Upper I, Lower II, Upper II, Lower III and Upper III classes will participate

• Boys need to collect coins with the following denominations (5c, 10c, 20c, 50c, R1, R2, R5), and deposit these into the collection boxes in each classroom

• Each week, Standard Bank will count the coins collected by each class, and the winning class will be identified, by the number of coins collected. Weekly collection totals will be cumulated, and an overall winner identified at the end of the collection period

Prizes

Weekly prize

• Weekly winning class will be treated to a trip to a designated fast food restaurant where each boy will have a meal to the value of R45

• Boys will be transported in the St Johns college school bus, and accompanied by relevant school representatives

• Weekly counts will be conducted on the 12 March, 19 March and 26 March

• The trip to a designated fast food restaurant will be conducted on the Friday following the count, on the following dates: 16 March, 23 March and 30 March

Overall prize

• Each boy in the winning class will receive a gift card to the value of R300

• Overall prize winner will be announced on 4 April

Charity donation

• Standard Bank will match the amount collected by St John’s College Prepara-tory up to the value of R100 000. The cumulative amount will be donated to the school’s charity, TLC

• Handover of the donation will happen on 4 April 2012

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Notices

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Notices

St John’s College Shop New opening times from 1st February Monday & Wednesdays: 7am to 3pm Tuesday, Thursday and Friday: 10am to 3pm For stationery and labels, as well as all your sports clothes, jerseys, bags and sock

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iCare Whilst we hope and anticipate that all boys will feel able to approach their teachers or a member of staff should they feel that something is wrong, we understand that this will not always be the case. Some boys may feel unsure of how to approach a staff member or unsure of what they should say. For this reason we are continuing to use the iCare box, which is now located in Mrs Powell’s office. We also have an electronic version where boys can contact the Pastoral Care Team at [email protected]. The Pastoral Care team is hoping that the boys make use of these initiatives to highlight anything that they CARE about at St John’s Prep.

The aim is to provide the boys with an alternative avenue to voice their feelings around whatever may be on their minds. This extends beyond the reporting of just peer difficulties (such as bullying) the aim is to further enhance the quality of the St John’s experience. All notes placed in the box or sent via email will be treated confidentially and actions instituted where possible.

We ask that you encourage your son to make use of the iCare initiative so that we can make his day all that he hopes it can be.

Hugo Meirim

[email protected]

Notices

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Notices

Art club and extra classes From the beginning of next term, Mr Poco is starting an Art Club (for LIII and UIII boys) and extra art classes for junior boys. Senior boys are encouraged to join the Art Club on Tuesdays from 14h00 -15h00 or Thursdays from 15h00-16h00. Juniors may arrange extra art lessons with Mr Poco at alternative times and on alternative days.

We hope to see the senior boys joining the Art Club to create various exciting art works with mediums they do not normally use in class, such as print making, photography, oil painting and many more. This will be a fantastic opportunity for any boy who wishes to develop his art skills.

For further information e-mail Bruno Poco on [email protected]

Italian Language Lessons

Small age appropriate classes and individual tuition offered outside school hours at St John’s. Experienced mother-tongue graduate teacher using communicative method of conversation, maintaining cultural ties for solid IEB foundation. Contact Lisabetta on 082 682 2859 or

[email protected]

EXTRA MATHS LESSONS

Lower III & Upper III boys in Mrs Jean Clarence’s classroom

Every Thursday 15h15 - 16h15 All Welcome

Extra Maths Lessons Individual tuition offered

Mrs 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 contact Mr MacIntosh on 076 529 5529

Copies can also be ordered through the publishers: [email protected] R100 per copy

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Sad News: Today we mourn the passing of a beloved old friend, Common Sense, who has been with us for many years. No one knows for sure how old he was since his birth records were long ago lost in bureaucratic red tape. He will be remembered as having cultivated such valuable lessons as knowing when to come in out of the rain, why the early bird gets the worm, why life isn’t always fair, and maybe it was my fault. Common Sense lived by simple, sound financial policies (don’t spend more than you earn) and reliable parenting strategies (adults, not children, are in charge). His health began to deteriorate rapidly when well-intentioned but overbearing regulations were set in place. Reports of a six-year-old boy charged with sexual harassment for kissing a classmate; teens suspended from school for using mouthwash after lunch; and a teacher fired for reprimanding an unruly student, only worsened his condition. Common Sense lost ground when parents attacked teachers for doing the job they themselves failed to do in disciplining their unruly children. It declined even further when schools were required to get parental consent to administer Panado, sun lotion or a Band Aid to a student – but could not inform the parents when a student became pregnant and wanted to have an abortion. Common Sense lost the will to live as the Commandments became contraband, religions became businesses, and criminals received better treatment than their victims. Common Sense took a beating when you couldn’t defend yourself from a burglar in your own home and if you did, the burglar could sue you for assault. Common Sense finally gave up the will to live after a woman failed to realise that a steaming cup of coffee was hot. She spilled a little in her lap, and was promptly awarded a huge settlement. Common Sense was preceded in death by his parents, Truth and Trust; his wife, Discretion; his daughter, Responsibility; and his son, Reason. He is survived by three stepbrothers; I know My Rights, Some One Else is to Blame, and I’m A Victim. Not many attended his funeral because so few realised he was gone…