The debate between the benefits of co-educational versus monastic schools has been raging for many years. With the boom in the number of independent schools in this country, the trend has definitely been towards sending boys and girls to the same school. Many new independent schools have emerged in South Africa just recently and to my knowledge almost all have been co-ed. I cannot in fact think of any new monastic private schools that have started in this country in the last 10 years.

The bottom line is that the whole point of education is to prepare pupils for tertiary education, work and life. Skills such as emotional intelligence, relationship building and mutual respect need to be fostered in an environment that mirrors the real world. Surely this means that boys and girls need to learn to work together.

Single sex schools go back a long way and have many honourable traditions, but are they not a relic of the past? They go back to a time when men and women had very different rights and expectations. At Thomas More College we believe that in this new era it makes sense to educate boys and girls together.

I know that I am essentially preaching to the converted as the readers of this newsletter are largely already parents of this school. I would however recommend that you click on the link below to read an article posted on the website of Seven Oaks school in the UK. You should be very reassured that you have made the correct choice. http://www.sevenoaksschool.org/co-education Amazingly, this enlightened school was founded in 1432.

Back to Top

I do trust once again that you all had a wonderful long week-end and quality family time, as I did.

Thank you to all those parents and staff who supported our Shakespeare Evening outside the Great House last Wednesday evening. It was a very special event- notwithstanding the load shedding- made even more auspicious by having this special performance in the month of Shakespeare’s birthday (the 23^rd of April) and having our Great House with its Shakespearian ambience as the back drop. Sincere congratulations to Mrs Roberta Ramasamy and all those who supported her on drawing out the potential within our children, and thank you to you as parents for supporting us to be able to achieve this. It was wonderful to see the involvement of the recorder group and the Grade 7s who are to be commended on their efforts and commitment. It was also rewarding to see them grow in confidence and maturity. To quote Shakespeare: “we know what we are, but know not what we may be.”

Our rugby and netball matches started in earnest last week against Virginia. Thank you to our parents for not only supporting these matches but also for abiding by our parent code of conduct for sport. For those new to our school, or whose children are involved in team sport for the first time this year, I have included it below, for your easy access as it applies to all sports and age groups.

PARENTS AND SPECTATORS’ CODE OF CONDUCT

· Your child is playing sport for his/her own enjoyment, not yours. Allow him/her to enjoy the game.

· You and your child are representing the school. Please be mindful of the image that your words and actions might reflect.

· We respectfully ask that spectators give the referees, coaches and all players the respect that they deserve. They are all trying their best.

· Coaches, parents or spectators who are found to be behaving in an inappropriate manner i.e. verbally abusing the referee, coaches or other spectators, will be asked to remove themselves from alongside the field of play before the match continues.

· Do not publicly question the referees’ judgment or their honesty.

· Children learn by example. Be a good example and applaud good play by both teams.

· Show respect for your son’s/ daughter’s opponents. Without them, there would be no game.

· Encourage your child to play by the rules.

· Praise your son/ daughter and his/her team on their efforts, not their results.

Please remember that all sport is, after all, just a game. If the game is played in the correct spirit, everyone will enjoy themselves.

We welcome back Mrs Sheila Chiles who will be doing the locum for Mrs Candice Mordecai-Jones while she is on accouchement leave. Candice’s baby girl, Mia, was born earlier than expected, on Thursday evening and mother and child are doing well.

All the best to you all for the week ahead, especially to those parents playing in our TMC Golf Day on Friday or attending our designated Mothers’ Day times with children in the Foundation Phase. To our moms and those in mothering roles, may you have a superb Mothers’ Day on Sunday.

 

Back to Top

Weekly Achievers  - Sponsored by Debonairs & Steers – Kloof

Irish Dancing

Congratulations to Jaymee Lang on obtaining a B+ in her grade 3 Irish Dancing exam.  Well done Jaymee. 

SP Netball vs Virginia

U10A team – won 2 – 0

U10B team – lost 6 – 2

SP Netball vs St Mary's

1^st team won 12-5

2^nd team lost 13-6

3^rd team won 12-5

U10A team lost 6 - 0

U10B team drew 1 - 1

U11A team drew 7 - 7

U11B lost 4 - 2

SP Rugby vs Virginia

U10A - TMPS lost 20 - 15

U10B - played their U10C team - TMPS won 10 - 5

U11A - TMPS lost 29 - 15

2nds - TMPS played 3rds lost 17-12

1st - TMPS lost 35 - 10

Congratulations to the following boys on their recent Rugby achievements:

Jaden Tite - selected for the Pinetown and District U13 Rugby Squad to go to KZN Trials.

Michael Maclean - Thomas More Primary School 2015 Captain

Kenton Griesel - Thomas More Primary School 2015 Vice - Captain

HS Girls' Netball
1^st TMC 32 1^st Crawford La Lucia 37
TMC U16A 14 Crawford La Lucia 15
TMC U15A 10 Crawford La Lucia 15

TMC U15B 11 Crawford La Lucia 28

TMC U14A 21 Crawford La Lucia 5

TMC U14B 1 Crawford La Lucia 7

HS Boys' Hockey
1^st TMC 9 1^st Kloof 0
TMC U16A 7 Kloof 0
TMC U16B 3 Umhlanga College U16A 0

TMC U14A 3 Kloof 0

TMC U14B 0 Umhlanga College U16A 3

HS Rugby
1^st TMC 0 1^st Gelofte 27

2^nd TMC 3 2^nd Gelofte 10

15A TMC 38 Gelofte 24

HS Boys' Tennis
1^st TMC 43 1^st Port Natal 15

Equestrian

Congratulations to:

Gabriella Buchholtz on receiving a gold medal for achieving a first place in a Vaulting competition over the weekend.

Laura van Tonder on receiving 2 medals for clear rounds jumping Dusty on 30cm and pole on the ground.

Julia van Tonder who also cleared 2 rounds jumping on Dusty. 

Tom Gourley who placed 2nd in 70cm accumulator and 3rd in the Grand Prix 70cm competition. 

Alex Lutz who placed 1st in the 60cm show jumping competition. 

Well done!

Cycling

Congratulations to Josh Fitzpatrick who rode 45km for the Tour D'urban.  Well done Josh. 

MTB Champs

Congratulations to Keagan Brand who participated in the SA Mountain Bike champs over the weekend.  He placed 3rd in the SA Cup Cross Country and 1st in the SA Cup Downhill.  Well done Keagan.

Swimming

Congratulations to Nathan, Brian & Luke Riddle, Simei Bekker and Nikolaos Bratos who all took part in the KZN swimming trials in the holidays.  Nathan, Luke, Simei and Nikolaos have been selected for Provincial Champs.  Well done to all our swimmers.

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.

"

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

"

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:

"

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

"

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:

"

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.