Listen to my prayer and hurry to save me. Be my mighty rock and the fortress where I am safe. Psalm31:2

I read an article recently about ‘prayer being the bridge between panic and peace’. I thought that is an awesome piece of wisdom. We often seek help elsewhere before we take our needs to our Lord in prayer. Jesus reminds us that He offers us: "Come to me, all of you who are weary and loaded

down with burdens and I will give you rest. Place my yoke on you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is pleasant, and my burden is light." Matthew 11:28-30.

We need to seek Jesus out and trust Him with our burdens and the promise is that He will give us rest for our souls.  

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The response from the Thomas More community to the East Coast Radio Vryheid water appeal was overwhelming. A total in excess of 1500 Litres was collected in just two days. This was in 1,5 or 5 litres containers, thus amounting to between 300 and 400 bottles. Well done to all those who contributed. Clearly this community cares!

The High School Prize Giving for the 2015 Grade 8 to 11 academic awards took place last Thursday evening. The Hall was a lot fuller than usual, clearly as a result of the fact that that this was the new Headmaster, Dave Wiggett’s first big speech. He did not disappoint and his energy and enthusiasm shone through. It was very reassuring to see that his value system is completely in sync with that of Thomas More College. The highlight of the evening was surely the awarding of the first two Honours Blazers to Karabo Malahleha and Casey Houston.

 

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Since accepting the post of Headmaster in April last year, I followed the school’s progress closely on our website and Facebook page for the remainder of 2015. Just those two sources of information exposed a kaleidoscopic school which celebrates a wide array of activities; however, it was refreshingly clear that the children involved in those activities were the focus of the celebratory attitude.

Indeed, one of my early impressions of this wonderful school is the lengths to which we commit to meet, acknowledge, develop and love each child in the context of their uniqueness. It reminds me of the time my father was about to administer communion to Nelson Mandela, Walter Sisulu and others in Pollsmoor prison. Mr Mandela stopped my father, and promptly asked the prison warder on duty, one Christo Brandt, if he was a Christian. “Ja meneer” was Warder Brandt’s response. “Well then,” said Mandela, “take off your hat, put down your rifle, and come and join us here for communion” – which is exactly what Christo Brandt did.

My father was ashamed and humbled in that moment because he, the man of God, just saw Brandt as an oppressor, a puppet of the regime. Mandela saw the man behind the uniform and the political dogma – Mandela saw a father, a husband. He saw a man. My father saw a label. It changed my father’s perception about his ministry, his relationship with God and his relationship with everyone he met irrevocably.

John Maxwell says: “Instead of trying to cast others in your image, learn to appreciate their differences.” It is my fundamental understanding that it is these very differences that add value to our lives. It is like a symphony orchestra; in fact, Thomas More College is the symphony orchestra. If we only had a brass section, we would simply be a brass band. We would lack the haunting tones of the wind instruments, or the emotional gravitas of the string section, or the punctuated grandeur of the timpani drums and the syncopated rhythms of the percussion section. Then, the real trick is to synergise the various sections to make one magnificent sound that stirs the soul.

In order to do so, the different sections come together under a synergised effort to work towards creating a cacophonous harmony – a wonderful harmony that relies on our very differences. The orchestral vision is shared amongst all the individual musicians in the various sections. Yes, the individual musician may feel that their little part may be insignificant, or that there are long spaces when there isn’t a line of music for their instrument, but when the entire movement comes together, every single part is of critical importance.

Unfortunately, we find ourselves in a country in which mediocrity, one of my pet frustrations, is not only accepted, but sometimes even celebrated. Corruption is both justified and giggled away by those whom should be conducting our collective South African orchestra. Finger-pointing continues to proliferate; our young people are despondent; why should they trust leadership when leadership doesn’t earn it; why should our young people celebrate differences when the leadership relies on differences for their thoughtless, divisive politicking? The Black Eyed Peas’ plea of “where is the love?” becomes concerningly more rhetorical.

But I am full of hope. I believe unequivocally in our young people. I believe that if you are open to celebrating your own uniqueness, and then the uniqueness of others, you will transform our current discordant society to one of spectacular harmony. As a new member of the Thomas More symphony orchestra, I wish to share some hopes I have for the time we will share here together:

· I hope we find ourselves in a school in which education and educators are both highly valued and relevant

· I hope we find ourselves in a school which treats its frailest and weakest members with dignity and respect

· I hope we find ourselves in a school that has played and will continue to play a leading role in transforming and healing our fractured society – I’m sure Alan Paton is still Crying, the Beloved Country

· We are in a job that is NEVER complete: we have been lent this school and the people in it for a period of time. Thus, we are all stewards of Thomas More College and the people therein

· I hope we remain a highly professional staff which brings a rich and robust education to our students and each other

· I hope we have distinguished humanitarians in our school alumni

· I hope we are a school in which every parent is trusting of our professional efforts in the interest of their children

· I hope we are a school where the biggest challenge comes from channelling energy and creativity, rather than trying to ignite them

I believe that tonight’s prize giving is indicative that these hopes are indeed being realised here at Thomas More College. But we will always expect more of ourselves to be collaborators, communicators, critical thinkers and creativity experts.

May we be soloists who are humble enough to recognise the magnificent value our individual music adds to the soloists around us. And yes, sometimes we are out of tune – this is perfectly natural. But, when you are a vested member of the TMC orchestra, the musicians around you will help you adjust and re-align so that you celebrate, once more, the orchestral majesty for which we are all destined. Thus, may we be judged by the manner in which we treat the frailest and weakest members of our family. In this way, once you take your daily leave of this orchestra at the end of matric, you will consciously seek out opportunities to share your music with the world in order to be a humanitarian of courage and integrity.

Sometimes, moms and dads, your children will be scratched by difficulty. Let them be – this is a safe environment to face difficulty and grow as a result thereof – it takes resilience to be a committed, focused and disciplined member of a world-class orchestra. Challenges and obstacles abound, and sometimes our children simply don’t know what to do. But if we, the staff, the senior stewards of that which is good here at Thomas More College, empower your children to know what to do when they don’t know what to do, they will be equipped and empowered for life.

Like Nelson Mandela, let your personal Prison Warder bring out the very best of the music you were born to share with your orchestra members, and then the world.

College, play on.

 

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It was wonderful to see the great turn-out at the parent Information evenings last week. Thank you to those who have offered to serve as class parents this year. Our first Senior Primary class reps meeting will be on Thursday 11 February at 7:30 (till about 08:45) in the Indaba Room.

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.

We are also delighted with our recently received IEB results which the present Grade 7s wrote last year: 31 Bronze awards (60 - 74 %); 17 Silver (75- 89%) and 6 Gold (90-100%). Well done to all recipients and to their teachers.

Our 21 Grade 7 pupils start the 16^th Zenith Course, run by Cynthia Petzer and her helpers, in the library this evening from 17:30 to 19;00 and will run thereafter on Mondays at the same time in the Ken Mackenzie Centre. We look forward to seeing them improve their confidence and speaking ability!

We look forward to parental support at the SP championship gala tomorrow evening at 17:00, as well as at the SP sport matches which commence in full force this week- consult the google calendar for details.

Congratulations to Leanne Grant and all those across the phases involved in enabling us to attain our Platinum status for our Eco-school initiative. As part of a new development in this area our SP and HS children together with children from Kloof, will be monitoring the whereabouts of the rare Kloof frog, in order to try to save it from extinction.  The 1^st enthusiastic group began the monitoring process on Friday 29 January (pictured below).

Wishing you all the best for the full and busy week ahead. 

 

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Thank you to all who managed to get to our Cocktail Party and Information Evening. It was very encouraging to have your support and I do hope this is an indication of things to come.

I came across this lovely poem which really touched my heart and so I thought I would share it with you.

Children Learn what they Live

If children live with hostility,
they learn to fight.

If children live with ridicule,
they learn to be shy.

If children live with tolerance,
they learn to be patient.

If children live with encouragement,
they learn confidence.

If children live with praise,
they learn to appreciate.

If children live with fairness,
they learn justice.

If children live with security,
They learn faith.

If children live with approval,
they learn to like themselves.

If children live with acceptance and friendship,
they learn to find love in the world.

                                                Dorothy Law Nolte

Wishing you all the best as we immerse ourselves in the busyness of the first term.  

 

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2015 IEB Core Skills Results

Well done to the following Grade 6 pupils (2015) who excelled in the IEB Core Skills Tests which took place last year.

Weekly Achievers 

SP Drama

Congratulations to James Cleland who received a distinction for his LAMDA acting monologue exam. Well done James.

HS Debating

Both Senior teams won their debates and received very positive feedback from the adjudicators.

TMC 1 won their debate against Hillcrest High and Nicholas Leisegang was given Best Speaker.

TMC 2 won their debate against Brettonwood 1 and Morgan Lee received Best Speaker.

FP Equestrian

Congratulations to Ruby du Plessis who has been working hard at her show jumping.  She earned three rosettes at a training show this weekend, including first place for the 30cm class.  Well done Ruby.

SP House Captains

Congratulations to the following children who have been selected as our 2016 House Captains:

Savory Captains - Isabella Vellaman & Brad Ballack

Savory Vice Captains - Chelsea Layden & Ben Dedekind

Hurley Captains - Tanna Petzer & Matthew Davey

Hurley Vice Captains - Ashton Nicholas & Jared McArthur

Dalberg Captains - Stephanie Tshuma & Matthew McMurray

Dalberg Vice Captains - Dani Rockey & Michael Sim

HS Boys’ Water Polo

Thomas More U14A 0 Clifton U14B 15

Thomas More U14A 2 Clifton U14B 12

Thomas More U15A 8 Clifton U15B 7

Thomas More 2^nd Team 0 Clifton 3^rd Team 14

Thomas More 1^st Team 3 Clifton 2^nd Team 6

Thomas More 1^st Team 5 St. Charles 1^st Team 1

HS Girls' Tennis

Thomas More U16A 11 Kuswag 1^st team 17

HS Girls’ Indoor Hockey

Thomas More U14B 5 Fatima U14B 3

Thomas More U14B 3 Danville GHS 3

Thomas More U14A 3 Maris Stella U14A 1

Thomas More U16B 4 Gelofte U16A 1

Thomas More U16A 8 Westville GHS U16A 0

Thomas More 2^nd Team 0 Curro Hillcrest 1^st Team 3

Thomas More 1^st Team 2 Durban GHS 1^st Team 3

Thomas More 1^st Team 5 St. Mary’s 2^nd Team 1

HS Cricket

St. Charles U14B 153 all out (Henwood 3/13, Nyandeni 3/24). Thomas More U14A 100 all out (Hooper 53 no). TMC lost by 53 runs.

St. Charles U15B 175 all out. Thomas More U15A 30 all out. St Charles won by 145 runs.

St. Charles U16B 118 all out (Courtney 5/26, Price 3/14). Thomas More U16A 96 all out (Price 38, Olivier 22). St Charles won by 22 runs.

Thomas More 1^st Team 150 all out (Wiborg 33, Davies 32), (Sean 3/22). St. Charles 2ndTeam 112 all out (Matthew 4/25). TMC won by 38 runs.

Thomas More 1^st Team 114/3 (Wiborg 55). Kloof 1^st Team 112/8 (Rajgopowl 42) TMC won by 2 runs.

Cycling

2016 KZN Track Championships (raced over 2 days & different race lengths)

U12 Boys - Keagan Brand (Gr 3) = 3 Silvers & 1 Bronze medals

U16 Boys - Reece McCallum (Gr 8) = 1 Gold; 1 Silver and 1 Bronze

U16 Girls - Courtney Smith (Gr 10) = Top U16 girl over all events

2016 SA XCO Cup 1 @ Mankele Mountain Bike park

U16 Youth Girls - Tiffany Keep (Gr 10) = 1st

Pro Elite Mens - Devon Smith (Gr 12) = 24th (this is a fantastic result as it was against the top Men 19 -29 yrs old in the country - Well Done Devon)

Cian Leveridge (Gr 10) had the opportunity to race in the Australia National XCO mountain bike series during the holidays. This was great international experience and he managed a 15th in Canberra; 9th and a 7th in Pemberton in their U17 age category.

Well done to all cyclists.