News from the Horse's Mouth
Newsletter 02
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Letter from the Editor |
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Please find the Scripture for the week here.
Some points of particular interest in the expanded sections below include:
Communicator - please ensure that you update the channels for Term 1 applicable to your child/children. The download link for the School Communicator is as follows: http://www.school-communicator.com/download.php
2015 SP & HS Family Camping Weekend Venue : Glengarry Date : 27 Feb to 2 March (Term 1 Half Term break) Bookings : info@glengarry.co.za Phone: 033 2677 225 Fax: 033 2677 392
Thomas More College
Coffee Shoppe
Have a great week, |
Google Calendars for parents
We plan ahead as far as possible for test dates and sporting fixtures, and so information gets added into these areas often. For this reason, we have set up a number of different Google Calendars to allow parents and students to access information as soon as it is available, so that they may also plan ahead. We have a separate calendar for each Grade’s academic deadlines starting from Grade 5 onwards. This allows teachers to make sure that a grade is not getting overloaded with deadlines bunching up. We also have separate sporting calendars for each Phase of the school. We have included a section at the end of the newsletter to
explain google calendars in more detail. Your login details for the portal have been included in the email sent to you for this newsletter – please note the easy to use address for the portal: http://parents.thomasmore.co.za
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| Achievements | Extra-mural Calendars | Academic Calendars | ||
| Week Ahead | Quick Links | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
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 After dismissing the crowds, He went up on a hillside by Himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone. Matthew 14:23 Well we’ve finished our first week of school and I hope and pray that everyone has been able to settle into the life of this amazing community here at Thomas More. One of the most crucial parts of Jesus’ ministry is that He took time out to pray, often alone. To find out the will of the Father who sent Him. We too must make prayer one of the most important aspects of the life of this school. I would encourage the parents to be involved with the prayer life of the school, even if you can’t make the meetings. Send your request to me (measson@thomasmore.co.za) and we will pray to the Lord about it. Whatever needs the school has we pray about it we ‘saturate’ it with pray. So for the ladies we have the awesome prayer warriors the ‘Mums Who Pray’ who meet in the Indaba Room in the Great House at 7:30am on a Wednesday. ‘Dads who pray’ meet in the Chapel, underneath the Great House at 6:30am on a Friday. So please come along and join us in praying not only for the needs of the school but also the wider community. Shalom (peace) |
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The Long Walk will also require huge parent involvement. 700 officials are needed on the day. We need marshals, stop convenors and helpers, logistics and transport assistants, medical/first aid helpers, walker control helpers, set up, break down and clean up teams. The first round of appeals has gone out to last year’s helpers and there will shortly be an appeal for new helpers. This is a day where the whole Thomas More College community needs to get involved.  |
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Just a short note from me this week about the compulsory Grades 8 – 11 prize giving evening on Thursday 29th. Registration is at 18.00 and proceedings start at 18.30. All pupils are required to attend including Grade 8s and other new pupils. I cordially invite parents to attend. It is going to be something of a special evening as Matthew Willman, an eminent past pupil, will be the guest speaker.  |
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It was wonderful to see the great turn-out at the parent Information evenings, at which we were able to discuss important issues and also have class teacher contact time. Thank you to those who have offered to serve as class parents this year. This is much appreciated and serves a vital role in creating a sense of community and support, so much a part of our Thomas More ethos. Thank you too to Mrs Roberta Ramasamy, Mrs Candice Mordecai-Jones and Mr Gary Balarin: HOD Culture for organising the choir camp this weekend- a wonderful way to break the ice and already get involved in a world of music! New Year’s resolutions: We are also once again making every effort to start this year by laying down firm boundaries and to encourage self-discipline and being responsible, and we do ask your support in this. We are also on a mission to ensure that our children do not use any swear words. We would also appreciate your support in ensuring your child’s school and sport uniform is correct. There are thus once again a few good resolutions to make. One would be to strive to get your child to school on time, so that they do not feel flustered before the day starts. Children should be at school by 07:20, so they can collect the things they need from their classes/ settle down in a stress-free way ready to start school promptly at 07:30. For the entire Primary School, we start leading classes to the Hall on a Wednesday just after 07:20, so we can start our assemblies promptly at 07:30. Another initiative (if not done already) is ensuring they have checked their school satchels the day before so that things are orderly and organized as this also helps your child to feel on top of everything. This includes ensuring your child has all the necessary stationery/ sports equipment, so that they do not need to scramble to borrow things. Please, however, encourage your child only to take those books home which he/ she needs, each day, as heavy bags are not good for their backs or posture. It is also important that your child has breakfast and a healthy lunch and water and juice packed to see them through the day. You are not being kind to your child if you pack biscuits or sweets in their lunchbox, as too much sugar makes it hard for him/her to concentrate in class. (A good night’s sleep is obviously also essential, so please encourage realistic ‘Lights out’ time and actual sleep – not sms-ing under the covers!) Please also ensure sunscreen and a hat as the weather has been very hot and can be unpredictable. Should your child be too short for his/her feet to touch the ground when seated at his/ her desk, I strongly recommend getting some friends to donate you an old telephone directory. Two or three of these bundled together, or better still covered with a strong denim cover, and placed under their feet, can make a big difference in his/her ability to have good posture and to cope well. Wishing you all the best for the week ahead. May we maintain a positive start to the year.  |
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Weekly Achievers - Sponsored by Debonairs & steers – Kloof
Grade 6 IEB Core Skills - 2014 award recipients
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None to report this week. |
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SP House Captains Congratulations to the following pupils who have been selected by their peers as House Captains. Dalberg: Captains - Hanna Alexander and Rory Camp; Vice-Captains - Jessica Thompson and Trent Henwood Savory: Captains - Christine Heyns and Josh Hooper; Vice-Captains - Jamie Lamb and Matthew Human Hurley: Captains - Lola Lee and Michael Mclean; Vice Captains - Dale Harper and Kenton Griesel
Cricket Cricket vs Clifton College Clifton 1st XI 349/9 (M Montgomery 130, Z Paruk 59, J Harker 4/62, L Matthews 3/65)
Thomas More U15A 65 all out (M Noorbhai 4/25)
Thomas More U15B 100 all out
Clifton U14A 149 all out (A Chetty 37, Kriegisch 3/19, Edmonds 3/33)
Clifton Under 14B 92 all out (Luvumo 39*, Muller 3/12, Vergeer 3/16)
Girls' Indoor Hockey U14A Indoor Hockey Tourn at St. Mary’s TMC U14A 2-0 Kloof U14A TMC U14A 2-1 Hillcrest U14A TMC U14A 3-3 Fatima U14A TMC U14A 5-0 St. Henry’s U14A Semi Finals: TMC U14A 1-2 St. Mary’s U14A U16A Indoor Hockey Tournament TMC U16A 0-1 Kloof U16A TMC U16A 1-0 DGHS U16A TMC U16A 0-1 Crawford LL U16A TMC U16A 1-1 Curro HCA U16A TMC U16A 1-2 Danville U16A
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| Google Calendars for parents | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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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. |
Back to Top
A visit from the MySchool card organisation this morning truly reinforced the sense of community spirit pervading at Thomas More College. For many years we have been the top school in KZN in terms of funds raised through the MySchool card. In 2014 we raised a total of R152 266.00. This amounts to an average of R12 689 a month. In total we have raised R858 382.00 over the years. These funds go into improvement of facilities, thus taking huge pressure off the school charges. We are extremely grateful to the TMC parents for the conscientious way they have supported this project. Long may it continue!
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