Children are a blessing and a gift from the Lord Psalm127:3.

During the holidays I read a marvellous little book called “Children’s Letters To God” which I will be sharing with you over the next couple of weeks. The kids without knowing it are amazingly insightful and witty about the things of God. Here is one which is from an unknown child:

Dear God

It rained for our whole holiday and is my father mad! He said some things about you that people are not supposed to say, but I hope you will not hurt him anyway.

Your friend...But I am not going to tell you who I am.

and.....

Dear God

Thank you for the baby brother but what I prayed for was a puppy.

Joyce

What glorious rain! After a really long wait, it was an absolute pleasure to be "cold and wet" this weekend. While it was obviously disruptive, the rain was most welcome and we can only hope that it has brought some relief to the desperate drought in the country. Unfortunately the wet weather has meant the postponement of the High School athletics to Wednesday. The Senior Primary athletics on Saturday was washed out although most of the individual events had been completed.

Traffic congestion in the past week has surely tested everyone's patience. The roadworks seem to be going ahead at a rapid rate however, but it does mean that the traffic flow changes from day to day. Unfortunately with +/- 1230 pupils arriving every morning there is little that we as a school can do to help. Two of our minibuses already operate on the Hillcrest breakfast run and even if we deployed the other four, we could only transport 60 pupils, which is less than 5% of the total number. Thank you to everyone for your patience. Hopefully the end is in sight. 

 

I was deeply inspired by Mr Belman’s Assembly today. It moved me palpably, and my effort to transfer his message into action will be an earnest, conscious one on my part.

In short, Mr Belman impressed it upon our High School community that we have the choice to impact those around us positively. The choice (and opportunity) to do so is ever-present, and it costs us nothing to do so. He then challenged us to move out of our “comfort bubbles” (our immediate group of friends) and seek out those lacking in joy, companionship or happiness to make a positive impact on their lives. This is a consciousness not driven by pity or sympathy, but purely because we can add value to anyone at any given time. It is a choice we can all choose to make. It reminded me that seemingly small gestures on our part can have a profound, life-affirming effect on another. THAT is power. Can we change the world? Of course we can, one act of empathy at a time…

I would like to take this opportunity to wish Travis Stedman, Tiffany Keep, Cian Leveridge, Mitchell Potgieter and Reece McCullum an excellent Cycling trip to Ireland. I know they will gain valuable experience as they compete against many international riders.

I also want to thank the Parents’ Council for the inordinate amount of work that has gone into the planning for the Country Fair. This group of volunteers works exceptionally hard to build the “gees” (such a great word!) and funds for our school. I look forward to seeing you all at the Country Fair on Saturday.

In closing, I must laud the HS staff on the outstanding (and spirited) manner in which they tackled our “Staff Synergy Session” this past Friday. Craig Bullock of Danceweb Studios (assisted by his son Jed, and my daughter Jaime) choreographed the HS staff to perform a 2-minute HipHop routine. Whilst we were pushed to the limits of our ability to remember that much choreography, we certainly had a laugh and a giggle. High School staff, what a bunch of spirited champions you are! Thank you.

Stay warm this week, and take extra care on the roads whilst this weather prevails.  

 

A quick reminder:

· Grocery items for Country Fair (and tombola item if not already brought) - due tomorrow- Civvies Day

· Raffle sheets due in this Wednesday 27 July- some super prizes to be won!

· Merit assembly- this Wednesday from 07:30- ± 08:15/30 in the Habberton Hall. Parents welcome to attend.

Thank you to those parents who attended our track events on Friday and those who braved the elements to attend our field events on Saturday, which sadly were rained out, although we did manage to get through many events. We do however thank God for the rain and pray for more to break the drought. The Champion of Champions race will hopefully be run at a break when we get the opportunity and we will then let you know when our athletics Prize Giving will be to enable you to attend should you wish to.

Thank you to those parents who supported us by hosting children from Somerset House against whom our 1^st team boys and girls played hockey on Wednesday last week. Your hospitality is appreciated.

Please remember that Saturday is a compulsory school day with our Country Fair. We are also still looking for helpers to assist at the various grade stalls and sincerely thank those families who have already committed either mom or dad, or both to supporting us.

A reminder that the following week there are interruptions:

• Wednesday 3 August- election day- no school
• Friday 5 August – no school for Primary pupils (All PP, JP and SP teachers are on the Proudly Primary teachers’ conference.)
• Monday 8 August- school holiday
• Tuesday 9 August- public holiday- national Women’s Day

Wishing you all the best for the full week ahead. Stay warm! 

 

Barbara Taljard
Primary School: Headmistress
btaljard@thomasmore.co.za

Weekly Achievers

will resume next week.

HS Senior Marimba Band

The HS Senior Marimba band are due to participate in the International Marimba and Steelpan Festival at Tom Newby School in Gauteng this weekend.  We wish them all the best for the competition.

Cycling

SA Mountain Bike Cross country and Downhill championships were held on the last weekend of the holidays in Pietermaritzburg. TMC was well represented with many of the team riding across different ages. Well done to all who competed the tough and challenging course.

Cross Country - SA Champs:

Anvia Bredenkamp (Gr 7) = 6th Sprog

Travis Stedman (Gr 8) = 2nd Sub Junior

Mitchel Potgieter (Gr 8) = 12th Sub Junior Dean Gregson (Gr 8) = 17th Sub Junior Reece Mc Cullum (Gr 8) = 30th Youth Cian Leveridge (Gr 10) = 10th Youth Courtney Smith (Gr 10) = 3rd Youth Tiffany Keep (Gr 10) = 1st Youth Devon Smith (Gr 12) = 10th Elite

Downhill & Enduro:

Keagan Brand (Gr 5) = 2nd Sprog, 3rd KZN Downhill Champs & 3rd KZN Enduro Champs

HS Girls' Soccer

TMC U14B 2 Kloof 1

TMC U14A 0 Kloof 0

TMC U16B 2 Kloof 4

TMC U16A 4 Kloof 0

TMC 1st Team 0 Kloof 0

HS Boys' Soccer

TMC 1st Team 1 Ashton International 1

TMC 1st Team 1 Eshowe 1

TMC 1st Team 1 Eshowe 2nds 0

TMC 1st Team 0 Felixton 2

Equestrian

Congratulations to Jemma Daniel who has been placed 1st Overall Junior Novice Champ in SA as a result of winning the Dressage SA Challenge.  Well done Jemma, a super achievement.