St Johns Preparatory School

St Johns Preparatory School Houghton Tel: 011 645 3100/ 087 550473 30th March 2012 Newsletter Number 4

From the Headmaster

I

cannot believe we are now one term down for 2012 and Easter is already upon us, with winter just around the corner. Time has certainly flown by and as always, I look forward to the coming term and all 30/03 St Peters Water Polo Festival that it may bring.
UIII Camp LIII Camp UII Camp 03/03 Camps return 04/03 Break up for Easter Holidays

Reminders from the Diary

Electronic Reports Our new electronic reports have been favourably received by all. We plan to address one or two difficulties next term, to continue to improve upon our reporting process. Thank you to everyone behind the scenes who enabled this to be such a stress-free implementation it has been a resounding success! Good Luck, Mr Cameron

The Prep would like to wish Mr Roger Cameron all the very best for his Two Oceans Marathon over the Easter weekend. We will be watching with interest to see if he can crack that 6-hour mark. If you would like to sponsor him in this effort, please go to http://r.sjc.co.za/2oceansform for further details. Mr Cameron is attempting to raise funds to assist with the building of the pavilion for the new cricket However, we also take this opportunity to wish Jane Lane all nets; as well as other sporting facilities. the very best as she steps into Helens shoes from the beginning Good Bye to a Special Lady of next term. Having taken over As the saying goes, all good things have to come to myself from Mike Workman just an end. However, it is a particularly sad day that over 18 months ago, I know sees Helen Popplewell retire from St Johns, after exactly how she is feeling; but I giving over twenty years of outstanding service both am also sure that everyone here to the school and to our community. Thousands of will make her feel welcome and at St Johns boys have been touched by this special ease. I look forward to working lady; thousands of boys have learnt to read with with Jane and I know she will be this special lady; and thousands of boys have a wonderful headmistress of the become true gentlemen of St Johns Prep because Pre-Prep. of this special ladys example.

It goes without saying that St Johns is a better place for having her here. We are all better people for knowing her, and St Johns will always be indebted to her for all the love and care she has given to all of us. Helen, we wish you all the very best for this next exciting chapter of your life. We hope that you and Ian share many more days of happiness as you take this well-deserved rest.

Page 2

St Johns Preparatory School

Thank you! And on the topic of wonderful teachers, I would like to pay a sincere tribute to all the special teachers we have on our staff here at St Johns. Teaching is often not an easy job, but one that they all absolutely love doing. Please continue to treat them with respect, as I promise you they only ever give of their best, in the best interests of your sons. Just a small word or a simple note or email of thanks makes such a difference, and it has always been quite astounding to me how few parents (and boys) thank staff at the end of a term, or after going away on one of our camps where they have given up time with their own families to look after your sons. I urge you to remember our wonderful teachers and to acknowledge the outstanding job that they do. The Prep School is in a very good position at the moment: we have a very strong academic programme; our choirs, orchestras and jazz band continue to grow and flourish; and our sports results for the term have been fantastic. Above all, however, our boys and staff are happy. I could not think of a better place to be, and for this, I thank everyone involved: boys, parents and staff. Finally, we wish all our Christian families a blessed Easter, and to all our Jewish families, we say Chag Sameach over Passover. For those who are taking leave during this time, have a relaxing break and if travelling, may you travel safely. I look forward to seeing you all return refreshed and ready to tackle the challenges and maximize the opportunities the Trinity Term will have to offer.

Patrick Lees Headmaster

Page 3

St Johns Preparatory School

The Importance of Play

The importance of play in young childrens lives should not be underestimated. Play is an essential part of growing up and researchers believe that it is critical in ensuring that children reach their full potential in life. In fact, it is an absolutely vital ingredient in their development. We, as parents, don't always understand the importance of play, and in today's competitive world, the temptation is to stop our children "wasting time" and to put the time into what we believe is more constructive use. For a child, however, there is no more constructive activity than play. When analysing the importance of play, particularly if you're tempted to introduce a more "worthwhile" activity such as using flash cards, educational computer games or dancing lessons, the following points are worth considering:

Play allows a young child to be "in charge". In their everyday lives, they're small and powerless, always being told what to do, and how to do it. Without an adult around, they're running the show! So let us give them the freedom and space to play, and perhaps in watching them play, we may learn a thing or two about our children. Play helps children learn about the world in which they live. They can investigate and discover, test their theories, spatial relationships, explore cause and effect, societal roles and family values. Such is the importance of play, that there is virtually no aspect of life where your child wont learn something through play. Isnt that an amazing statement! Play builds self-esteem. Children will often play at something they know they can do well, at which they can be successful. Play builds social skills. Children will begin playing with inanimate and non-threatening objects, like cuddly toys, bricks, etc, so practising their interactive skills. Later, playing with other children will build on this foundation as they learn to share, take turns, assert themselves and begin to empathise with others. Play with parents should not be underestimated either, as research shows that children whose parents play with them ultimately develop superior social skills. Play also provides the opportunity for children to work out their feelings. The importance of dealing with difficult or unpleasant emotions through play is very useful. A child who is worried about going to the dentist, for example, may deal with the anxiety by setting up a clinic for dolls with toothache. Play helps with language development. Think of the vast number of words that a toddler uses during play, many of them repeatedly, enhancing their language skills. Play allows children to grow beyond their years. They can pretend to be all sorts of things in play - a doctor, a surgeon, a civil engineer.

Page 4

St Johns Preparatory School

Finally, don't forget to consider the importance of stimulating your child's creativity and imagination - making a castle in the sand, or a car garage out of a shoe box, taking an order in their own (imaginary) restaurant - these all allow children to stretch the limits of their world and experience the fun in make-believe. Adapted from http://www.child-development-guide.com/importance-of-play.html As the Easter Term draws to a close, may I take this opportunity to wish you and your family a blessed Easter and holiday period. I encourage you to play with your children, to enter their space and allow yourself to be whisked away to another world. Have fun! Kind regards

Craig Verdal-Austin 2nd Master 0116453116 verdal@stjohnscollege.co.za

It Makes Cents Coin Collection Challenge

This campaign, sponsored by Standard Bank, kicked-off almost a month ago. The idea was to get all the Prep classes to compete against each other to see which class could collect the most number of South African coins. The emphasis was more on the number, not the value of the coins. Each week, the winning class, who collected the most number of coins, was treated to a visit to the nearest McDonalds for a Macmeal. So far the winning classes have been L3M, U3G and L3T. To date over 228,062 coins with a value of R23,037.47 have been collected. A supreme effort by all involved! On the final day of term, the overall winning class will be announced. Each boy in that class will receive R300! But the greatest prize of all will go to the children of TLC Ministries. Standard Bank has promised to match the amount collected by our boys and the total amount, somewhere in the region of R55 000, will then be donated to TLC Ministries.

Page 5

St Johns Preparatory School

4CTea
March 2012 Excellent Afrikaans Assessment Matthew Monteith Cricket 1st team for outstanding festival and season Outstanding Maths Results Claudio di Giacomo William Kerr-Phillips Justin Koevort Numan Koor Good Sportsmanship Kian Dooley

3rd in Regional Round of Kids Lit Quiz Nicholas Moschides William Kerr-Phillips Max Milella Donato Moodie 2nd in Regional Round and 2nd in National Round Daniel Burke Sam Harding Numan Koor 100% Spelling Reserves for Kids Lit Quiz Sean Morrison Justin Koevort Zayd Motang

Over 90% for Maths Assessment Nicholas Moschides

Consistent Hard Work Austin Karan Emile Strydom

Chatterbox Contestants D Cutifani Nicholas Moschides Z Suliman C Dooley J Williamson D Moodie M Prioreschi L de Jesus M Love

Basketball David McAlpine Edward Baleni

Page 6

St Johns Preparatory School

Sports Results
Athletics
St Johns Athletics Meeting B team 3rd KEPS 2nd St Johns 1st St Benedicts A team 3rd KEPS 2nd St Johns 1st St Benedicts WHPS Athletics Meeting A team 6th Pridwin 5th St Stithians 4th Ridge 3rd St Johns 2nd WHPS 1st St Benedicts

Hockey
Murray Blair was selected for Southern Gauteng Hockey Team and Alex Bester was selected for the Invitation Team. Well done, boys!

Swimming
Mitchel Sinclair has been selected to represent CGA, (Central Gauteng Aquatics) in Open Water Swimming. Well done, Mitchel!

Page 7

St Johns Preparatory School

Inter House Athletics 2012

With another short, but successful athletics season behind us, we can see the positive influence that both our Physical Education and extracurricular programmes are having on our boys. The St Johns boys were all given an opportunity to participate in all events, and as a result, we were able to put our best teams together. We successfully competed with St Benedict's and WHPS, our teams out-performed teams such as KEPS, The Ridge, St Stithians and Pridwin. Age groups that performed consistently throughout the season were the Under 10 and 12 age groups. Well done to all our St Johns boys on a fantastic athletics season. Ivan Forbes MIC Athletics

Event
U10 High Jump

Name
N Bothma

Height 1.34

House Darragh

Nathan has beaten the previous high jump record, held by S Diers in 1985, 1.33m Well done, Nathan!

Event

Name

Time 2.47.49 2.46.06 2.3.00

House Cullinan Cullinan Carter

U9 800m P Buckle U10 800m K Kum U12 800m G McPherson

Event

House

Time 56.85

4 x 100 Relay Carter

Well done to Ethan Chilvers, Gavin McPherson , Bradley Dunbar and Brandon Vermeulen who broke the U12 4 x 100 m relay . This was a fantastic achievement beating the record held since 1975.

Page 8

St Johns Preparatory School

Music
During Supper and Song on the 16th and 17th March, the Prep trebles joined the College Choir in performing two works. The Junior Prep String Ensemble as well as the Senior Prep Jazz Band gave their first public performance at this prestigious event, to the delight of the parents.

St Johns Preparatory School

Page 9

Lower IIV Describing words

By Miles LI

By Henry Rochester

By Daniel Segal

By Edwin Mattiuzzo

St Johns Preparatory School

Page 10

Lower IID
Some amusing extracts from our Totem Pole writing activity:

My brother and I dont usually get along but as soon as he chases me outside, and we see a rugby ball, we start playing together. Matthew Bester Nsika and Kabelo are are better than me at soccer but I respect defeat. Kamille Kum I like to eat and talk but not at the same time. Alexander Rekhviashvili I live in Bryanston. It is really far from school but what can I do? Thulani Vein My hobbies are writing down number plate numbers and counting cars on the M1. Abdul Malik My mom says that sport is good for me because when I go straight home from sport, I am too tired to annoy her. Stuart Omand I have a very annoying older sister called Luci. Julio Mordoh My hair grows very fast and if I wet it, it will go dark ginger. Ethan Orritt I have big ears because I try to listen a lot during school hours. Matteo Paparella My hair is not so blonde anymore. It is quite mousey now. Alex Barrow Go karting is my hobby. My go cart is orange and it can go up to sixty kilometers an hour! Dino Koutromanos For some reason, I like being young because I have a long time to live. I was happily born on the 29th of April 2002. Tanaka Shoko We have a R5 fine at home for screaming and shouting. I am really laid back. Stefan Milos My favorite subject at school it D&T. It is fun and you learn a lot about technology. Shaye Hutchings

St Johns Preparatory School

Cricket is my hobby as you get to bowl and bat. You hit, run and get hurt!

Page 11

Zaahid Suliman I have a big mouth in my drawing because I eat a lot, scream a lot and talk a lot. Musa Mphomane I have brown eyes that twinkle when I am happy. If I am not happy, my mouth will pout. Dylan Wong I talk a lot at dinner, my mom says that I have herbal diarrhea. Adrian Lapin

I wonder what I will get for my tenth birthday? By Tian Badenhorst My mom gave birth to a baby two months ago. Yesterday, he went for his vaccinations. By Kei Prior

St Johns Preparatory School

Page 12

I have brown hair which is usually gelled. I wear sunglasses all the time on the weekends. By Keegan Graham

My hair has a life of its own. I spend fifteen minutes every morning trying to make it nice but after half an hour at school, it looks like I have just woken up. By Spencer Clarke

Lots of people call me ginger which is seriously annoying. By Aidan Stride

When I was three, I hit my head in the swimming pool and I had to be rushed to hospital. I had fifteen stitches. It was serious, very serious. By Alex Wiltshire

St Johns Preparatory School

Page 13

My eyes change colour depending on my mood. By Nathan Bothma

My eyes are closed in the morning because I am tired, so it looks like I am sleep walking. By Nihal Ranchod

I have lots of freckles. If you look closely, you will see a freckle on my left ear. By Ethan Berriman

St Johns Preparatory School

Page 14

Interact Day
An exciting day for the Pre-Prep when they came to visit the Prep and meet their buddy.

Page 15

St Johns Preparatory School

Lower II Camp

Page 16

St Johns Preparatory School

Page 17

St Johns Preparatory School

St Johns Preparatory School

Page 18

TLC - THANK YOU

Thank you so much for the donation of grocery items!

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

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

St Johns Preparatory School

Page 19

Just One Bag - Bloemfontein

Jordan Van Der Walt, LIIIT, will be running a Just One Bag maize drive in Bloemfontein which will be sponsored by Child Welfare. St Andrew's pupils came to school in civvies and donated the money to Child Welfare. Grey College donated maize on the day which will go to various charities. Oranje Vooruit School will also be running a Just One Bag maize drive. Jordan was also interviewed by Radio Rosestad who have challenged the public in Bloemfontein to donate money or maize towards Just One Bag. Well done, Jordan!

Jordan with Emma Francis (Head of Child Line), Lize Du Plooy (Marketing and Funding Manager Child Welfare), Mr Thomas ( Head of St Andrews)

Jordan with Maize donated from Grey College

St Johns Preparatory School

Page 20

Notices

St Johns Preparatory School

Page 21

Notices

St Johns Preparatory School

Page 22

Notices
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 Powells office. We also have an electronic version where boys can contact the Pastoral Care Team at iCare@stjohnscollege.co.za. The Pastoral 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 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 Johns 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 meirim@stjohnscollege.co.za

St Johns 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

Page 23

St Johns Preparatory School

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 poco@stjohnscollege.co.za

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:

info@cobblecrab.com R100 per copy

Italian Language Lessons

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

EXTRA MATHS LESSONS

Lower III & Upper III boys in Mrs Jean Clarences classroom Every Thursday 14h15 - 15h00 All Welcome

St Johns Preparatory School

Page 24

WHOSE CHILD IS THIS? "Whose child is this?" I asked one day Seeing a little one out at play "Mine," said the parent with a tender smile "Mine to keep a little while To bathe his hands and comb his hair To tell him what he is to wear To prepare him that he may always be good And each day do the things he should" "Whose child is this?" I asked again As the door opened and someone came in "Mine," said the teacher with the same tender smile "Mine, to keep just for a little while To teach him how to be gentle and kind To train and direct his dear little mind To help him live by every rule And get the best he can from school" "Whose child is this?" I ask once more Just as the little one entered the door "Ours," said the parent and the teacher as they smiled And each took the hand of the little child "Ours to love and train together Ours this blessed task forever."

Author Unknown