News from the Horse's Mouth
02 February 2015
Newsletter 03
|
Letter from the Editor |
|
|
Please find the Scripture for the week here.
Some points of particular interest in the expanded sections below include:
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
Congratulations Congratulations to Mrs Jagles (FP teacher) on the safe arrival of her step-grand-daughter, Isla Irene Kunst, born on Saturday 31 January, at 14:22pm, weighing 2.7kg.
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
|
| Achievements | Extra-mural Calendars | Academic Calendars | ||
| Week Ahead | Quick Links | |||||||||||||||||
|
 I have told you this so that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have trouble, but be courageous-I have overcome the world!" John 16:33 Watching the news these days one seems to despair on how we as human beings are treating each other. Have we not learnt from past mistakes? Yesterday was International Holocaust Remembrance Day and one would think that from the catastrophe of World War II, which included the Nazis attempt to exterminate the Jews of Europe, in which 6 million Jewish people died, that we would have learnt our lesson. But we haven’t. However, Jesus reminds us of His wonderful promise that in Him we may have peace. Not the peace the world offers but His peace: “I am leaving peace with you. I am giving you my own peace. I am not giving it to you as the world gives. So do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid”. John 14:27. Hold fast to the Jesus’ promise of His peace and let not our hearts be troubled or afraid for He has overcome the world. Shalom (peace) |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
The High School Prize Giving for the 2014 academic year took place last Thursday evening. The highlight was certainly a magnificent address by international photographer and Thomas More past pupil Matthew Willman. Allan Chandler has paid tribute to this in his article in the newsletter. This speech filled us all with pride and was a catalyst for my address the next day in the High School assembly on the symbols in the school badge. Many pupils were completely unaware of the meanings of the icons such as the unicorn, jousting helmet and the Moorcock in the badge. They also did not associate the Motto, “Vincit Omnia Veritas,” with the words “Truth Conquers All,” that every pupil calls out during the awarding of an Honours Blazer. We will carry on with the theme of getting to know the history of the school better by explaining the roles played by the three gentlemen, Dalberg, Savory and Hurley, after whom the school houses were named. We really have much to be grateful for and it is important that we understand the huge role played by the founders of this wonderful school.  |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
I was blown away again on Thursday evening by the sheer joy, passion and happiness at the Grades 8 – 11 2014 Prize Giving. It was a real ‘feel good’ evening capped by a brilliant talk by past pupil, Matthew Willman, who caught the heart and soul of everyone present, including the pupils. The evening again encapsulated the magic and allure of Thomas More College and the humane element that underpins its ethos and existence. Needless to say, I felt very proud as the proceedings unfolded, and went to bed a very happy and fulfilled individual!  |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Thank you for the support for our swimmers selected to swim at the SP Championship gala last Monday evening and well done to our Age group champions and runners-up. Life is about rising to the challenges that we face on a daily basis, and overcoming them. The difficulties we encounter in our lives, build our characters. As parents (and I include myself here too), we need sometimes to allow our children to stand up for themselves, while supporting them in the process, rather than making life too easy for them. We do not want them to be weak, and leave everything to us to handle for them as this does not foster character development. While I am in favour of competing, and believe in winning (but not “at all costs”), I believe equally in participation and enjoyment. We should love our children, encourage them and support them to fight their own battles, and overcome their obstacles. It is nobler to try something and fail than to try nothing and succeed. The result may be the same, but you won’t. (Author unknown) In the same light we are delighted to see a full contingency of pupils signed up for the 15th Zenith Course, run by Cynthia Petzer and her helpers in the Mackenzie Centre for our Grade 7s, which started last Wednesday from 17:30 to 19:00 and will run therafter on Mondays at the same time. Our pupils benefit hugely from this and it not only improves their speaking ability but is a valuable life skill! Thanks to Mrs Steyn for organising the netball coaching clinic on Friday with top Tukkies and Protea netball players – all the participants found the intensive coaching very worthwhile and really benefited from it. We also appreciate the support of the staff and parents for this to take place. May I encourage those who are new to Thomas More or who have not yet attended the highly worthwhile Afrikaans workshops for the Junior and Senior Primary please to make every effort to attend these run by “Juffrou Röttcher” on Tuesday 3 February @ 18:00 (all Grade 2 and new Grade 3 parents) and on the same evening at 19:30 for Grades 4 and 5 new parents- all in the MacKenzie Centre. All parents are, however, most welcome to attend – not only those who are new! These are most informative and offer practical ways to assist your child to improve his/her Afrikaans- a big thank you to Liesel Röttcher for running these for new parents- and those who need a refresher- once again. Well done to our older siblings on achievements attained at our High School prize giving last Thursday. It was especially encouraging to see how many of the Prize winners had their foundation in the Primary School. We congratulate you all, but are especially proud of our own “homegrown” winners! It was also very rewarding to see how well a Thomas More old boy, Matthew Willman, has done and to hear about his life and the fascinating people he has met and who have inspired him. Our first Senior Primary class reps meeting will be on Friday 6 February at 7:30 in the Indaba Room. Thank you to those who have offered for being willing to serve the school in this role. Wishing you all the best for the week ahead.  |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Weekly Achievers - Sponsored by Debonairs & steers – Kloof
Mathletics Congratulations to Drew Leighton on receiving her Gold certificate for Mathletics. Well done Drew.
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
None to report this week. |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
SP Cricket TMPS 1st Team 215 for 7 R Savage 54, J Hooper 31 no, M McMurray 27. Sarnia 130 all out. M Parfitt 3 for 3, Trent Henwood 2 for 18. TMPS won by 85 runs.
HS Cricket
HS Girls' Indoor Hockey 1st TMC 3 2nd St. Mary's 1 2nd TMC 14 Durban Academy 0 U16A TMC 1 St. Mary's U16A 4 U16B TMC 2 U16B Westville 2 U14A TMC 14 St. Henry's 0 U14A TMC 5 U14A Crawford La Lucia 2 U14B TMC 6 U14B Maris Stella 1
FP Tennis Congratulations to Abigail Gouws, who received a trophy for the most improved tennis player for 2014. Well done Abigail.
PS Championship Gala Results Congratulations to the following Champions and Runners-up. U9 Champions - Dayna Deeble and Devon Harwin U9 Runners-Up - Caitlin McMurray and Ryan Browning U10 Champions - Simeï Bekker and Nicholas Bratos U10 Runners-Up - Shannon Wilhelm and Keagan Brand U11 Champions - Amy Ahlschlager and Nathan Riddle U11 Runners-Up - Madison Escreet and Ethan Gregory U12 Champions - Chelsea Layden and Matthew McMurray U12 Runners-Up - Tyla Christie and Brad Ballack U13 Champions - Lola Lee and Brian Riddle U13 Runners-Up - Dale Harper and Emily Wood (tied), and Michael Maclean
SP Netball The SP Netball girls had the privilege of receiving coaching from Jenny van Dyk, the SA U21/Jaguar/ University of Pretoria first team coach and her team on Friday at Thomas More.
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Google Calendars for parents | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
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
"
"
"
"
"
