All families are warmly welcomed back to the Primary School of Thomas More College. We trust all our new families will soon feel quite at home in our friendly and nurturing school family environment. We do strive to have open communication channels, so trust we shall have a good relationship with you as partners in your children’s education.

Our Grade 6 and 7 pupils enjoyed their educational trips with their Grade Heads, teachers, and their grade intern – a wonderful way of integrating new pupils, establishing ground rules and learning more about themselves, the natural environment, leadership and teamwork. Friendships were rekindled, new friends made and our new pupils soon felt they were part of the group and belonged.

It is great to have all our Thomas More teachers back with us. In the Senior Primary, we warmly welcome past pupil Mrs Candice Mordecai- Jones as our Senior Primary music teacher, who has replaced Mrs Chiles who retired at the end of last year. She comes to us with ten years teaching experience largely at Ashley Primary School and has also run her own music school. We are also delighted to have Mrs Jill Balarin as our new Grade 3 teacher. She is a strong, principled Christian lady with many years teaching experience and a great understanding of and support for our ethos. We are pleased to have Mrs Taryn Trethewey taking over Mrs Heidi Lloyd’s class while she is on accouchement leave for the whole year, and to have Ms Courtney Rogers as our sports intern/ Foundation Phase Sports’ assistant. Also welcome back to Mrs Bizell and Mrs Sewchuran from their accouchement leave.

In addition, we welcome a few new SP interns, namely: Ms Jocelyn McDaniel in the Senior Primary (Grade 5), Mr Jason McGarry (Grade 4 ). We believe they will add value to our phases.

We look forward to sharing more information with you at the parent information evenings coming up shortly with the Senior Primary evening being on Wednesday 21st this week in the Habberton Hall followed by class visits and the Foundation Phase cocktail party and class visits taking place on Thursday evening- 17:00 for new parents in the MacKenzie Centre and 18:00 in the hall for the rest. We know you will make every endeavour to attend. Please also diarise the Parents’ Council AGM for Wednesday 4th February.

Please note that all Primary School sport (both Junior- as notified in the week ahead- and Senior Primary) commences today Monday 19 January, except for Grade 1 who start when indicated. We would also really appreciate it if you were able to get your child to school by 07:15 so they can be in their classes by 07:20 to collect what is needed and get organized for a 07:30 prompt start to their academic day.

Our Outreach Days start again this Wednesday. Please pop an extra wrapped sandwich, or some fruit into your child’s lunch box or anything else that you would like to donate. In addition old clothes, fresh veggies, or even nappies are welcome. A volunteer worker collects them and delivers to the 1000 Hills Community where they are gratefully accepted and eagerly looked forward to each week. With our having been on holiday, we really appeal to you to send something this week in particular-thanks.

Should you have any concerns or misgivings about anything, please consult first directly with the staff member involved, whether it be the class or subject teacher or sports coach or co-ordinator. Subsequent to that, especially with regard to general academic and school matters, consult any of the grade heads, or relevant Heads of Department. However, please avail yourself of the correct channels of communication first before referring matters to them. As the Headmistress of the Primary School, I also practise an “open door” policy, so do avail yourself of this should needs arise, especially after trying the other channels. We also value positive feedback, so would appreciate you contacting us when you are delighted about something and when we wish to celebrate goals realized and progress made. The school e-mail addresses of staff are also on the communicator for your convenience.

All of the Primary School staff and pupils congratulate our High School on the excellent Matric results once again. Well done to all staff as such results start from grass roots in our Pre- Primary department and are built on from year to year. We are indeed delighted with what has been accomplished!

With God’s grace and blessings, we look forward to a happy, and fulfilling first term. We ask Him to continue to guide and lead us and our precious charges to fulfill His purpose in all we undertake, while remaining centred on each and every individual child. To a joyful and successful term…

 

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Weekly Achievers  - Sponsored by Debonairs & steers – Kloof

Will resume next week.

None to report this week.
 

SA Colours (Softball/Cricket)

Congratulations to Caitlin Downes who was selected for the SA Schools All Stars Softball Team after representing the KZN U17A girls in their IPT during the first week in December last year.  She then travelled to Nelspruit where she Captained the U19 girls' Cricket side where she excelled. After receiving 2 individual caps for player performance during the tour, she went on to be awarded Full SA Colours for Cricket (the only female player from KZN).  Caitlin also represented the KZN Dolphins Women's Team vs Freestate in the ODI and T20, as well as having joined 3 other SA senior women and 4 Protea players in a KFC Mini Cricket initiative as a curtain-raiser to the SA vs West Indies game at Kingsmead.  Well done Caitlin, this is an outstanding achievement, and we are exceptionally proud of what you have achieved in your sporting codes over the years.  We look forward to watching Caitlin grow in Cricket and Softball in the years to come.

Cycling

Congratulations to Cian Leveridge who participated in the KZN Road Championships this weekend.  Cian won the Time trial race and placed 2nd in the Road Race (U16 boys).  Well done on your outstanding achievement.
 

All of these calendars start out with basic information and then details are added as we find them out. E.g. at the start of a term, a subject test will be booked for a later date. As the time draws closer, the teacher is able to determine more fully what syllabus the class has managed to cover thus far, and will fill in details of what will be in the test at that stage.

It is important to note that this information is “live” and needs to be checked regularly. We have links to the different calendars available inside our website, found under the different Phase sections. We also have links to the same calendars inside the Parent Portal. The calendars that apply can be found under each of your child’s subheadings.

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The Horse’s Mouth Newsletter has all calendar links available to be able to easily find whichever calendars you need to.

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How to use the Google Calendar:

After you have clicked on the relevant calendar link, it will show you the default monthly view of the calendar:

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There are navigation buttons at the top left to change dates easily to look back or to future events:

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You are able to change the view of the calendar using the buttons at the top right to show only a week at a time, the default monthly view, or if you click on “Agenda” then you will see a list of events scheduled:

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Please note – it is not a good idea to print the calendar out, as the information might get updated and you will not realize this if you are referring to a print out of a calendar at a certain point in time.

To see more details about a heading in the calendar, you need to click on that heading – it will pop-up a small window giving you what details have been filled in already. This is where we have information such as which teams are playing and times, and also what material will be covered in a test/examination:

It is important to note here that it is also not a good idea to click on the bottom option “Copy to my calendar” here, for the same reason as printing, you will not receive updated information if anything changes in the live calendar.