News from the Horse's Mouth
Newsletter 38
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Please find the Scripture for the week here.
Stock Shop - New Uniform purchases All pupils needing new uniforms for 2017, especially those going in to Grade 1 and Grade 8 please contact the Stock Shop as soon as possible to secure an appointment to kit out your child.
The diary is open and appointments will be available from 1st November. The Stock Shop will be closed from 10th December up until 12th January. The shop is open in January for top ups and last minute purchases only, and as this is a very busy time we ask that you do not leave full uniform purchases until January as we cannot guarantee stock availability.
Please call the Stock Shop on 031 764 8640 / 082 4601 688 during Stock Shop trading times or email us on stockshop@thomasmore.co.za, and we will get back to you.
Mini craft market at the Carol Service - if you would like to have a stall - please refer to News/Resources category of the communicator to find out more.
Have a great week, |
The Thomas More Education Trust The Thomas More Education Trust is an initiative of Thomas More College and works in partnership with the College. The Trust is registered separately as a non-profit (NPO) and public benefit organisation (PBO) and runs independently of Thomas More College. The Thomas More Education Trust has already seen a number of pupils through Thomas More College and on to tertiary education, as well as a number of teacher interns and assistants.
The objectives of the trust are:
The Thomas More Education Trust offers donors an opportunity to become involved in the upliftment of previously disadvantaged individuals and communities. Donations primarily provide education to previously disadvantaged South African children, but also support Black teacher interns and, in certain selected cases, provide short term financial assistance to existing pupils. The trust is a well-managed, controlled and audited conduit for investment in the future of South Africa through the education of our children.
An investment, made by donors to the Trust, entitles businesses to:
Should you wish to support pupils or teacher interns in need, please contact Claudia Levarelli, the Thomas More Education Trust secretary, on (031) 764 8646 or clevarelli@thomasmore.co.za who will furnish you with all necessary info.
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In concluding our look at the beatitudes we find Jesus telling His disciples that if they live like that they will impact the world around them like nothing before. We too are called to be salt and light to the world around us and with Jesus being our model leader our influence cannot but change the world for the better. So we need to take a stand for Jesus wherever we find ourselves and let our light shine for all to see. Shalom (peace) |
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Road Works: It seems that the dispute between the Business Forum and Ethekwini Municipality has now been resolved as ESOR Construction is now back on the job. This has been a long and frustrating project and hopefully the roadworks in Pioneer Road will have been completed before we return in the New Year. The roofing of the Music School courtyard is now complete. This provides an extremely useful new "dry" function venue which is sorely needed particular with the Mackenzie Centre not being available whilst SP Classrooms are being built. The facility was “tested out” by the Parents' Council who staged their Christmas Party there last week. There was a big storm and we all stayed nice and dry. I would like to express my heartfelt thanks to past parent Craig Mackie and current parent Warren Butler who paid for and erected the structure. We really do appreciate this wonderful gesture. I would also like to thank the Parents' Council who covered the costs of the ceiling installation and the bases of the pillars.  Shane Cuthbertson |
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Education is in a precarious, dauntingly exciting space, the enormity of which I believe is unprecedented. For parents, what we understood by “good education” is a paradigm which is simply fading from that which is relevant. By this I do not refer to values; these are consistent and timeless. I am referring to that which we traditionally would have considered good teaching and learning practices. Our economy is morphing exponentially. Data is being created and consumed exponentially. The “winners” will no longer be those who can consume and remember information the most prodigiously; rather, it will be those who can apply knowledge most effectively and with astute adaptability. Many traditional “jobs” will be (and currently are being) rendered redundant by artificial intelligence. On a number of occasions this year I have reflected on how I feel blessed to be at Thomas More College. My experience of this has been further established in the past weeks as I have enjoyed working with high school staff, the school’s Exco team and the Board of Trustees on how we will ensure that our teaching and learning practices at TMC will fully prepare and empower our children to be proactive, productive and composed citizens within their context of the 21st Century. We are in the throes of piecing together a three-year strategic plan for Thomas More College which will continue to celebrate a tradition of robust academic rigour (the final matric examinations will remain our reality for the foreseeable future), balanced with an explicit teaching and learning of the key competencies our children need for the world in which they (will) live and work. Sir Ken Robinson (Creative Schools) identifies these core competencies as Critical Awareness, Creativity, Composure, Citizenship, Communication, Collaboration, Curiosity and Compassion. Arguably, many good teachers and subject departments already encompass a number of these competencies in their current practice; however, the need is now dire to make the teaching and learning of these competencies explicit. It is critical that education is no longer a mandatory experience that “happens to” children; no, it must be a process in which they are actively engaged in order to build their own learning power. I certainly am most excited and buoyed by our planning and look forward to sharing our thoughts and planning with you in the coming months. In closing, I wish our Rotary Exchange Students a wonderful experience as they head to distant shores in the December holiday. They will be embracing foreign cultures whilst sharing our rich South African culture with those whom they meet. Off to Austria are Daniella Turner and Kellen Holton; Michaela Hardstone is off to Italy; and off to Germany are Kendal Scott-Moncrieff, Reece Stedman, Tommy Grant, Samantha Moller and Daniel Shewell. We wish you all an exciting, rich and dynamic experience with your respective hosts.  David Wiggett |
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As we enter the season of Christmas, let us remember its true meaning, that God gave His only son to be born as a baby who would eventually die on the cross for us that our sins may be forgiven. In this hectic time, as we draw to the conclusion of the year, let us take this message to heart and in all our dealings with others, do so in humility and love, guarding against hurting anyone by our words and deeds. We encourage all of us, as partners in our children’s education, to ensure that our children abide by the values we have instilled in them and to help them to be more tolerant, not quick to anger and kind in their dealings with others, just as God would have us be. Let us also enter into the spirit of giving and make Christmas special for those less fortunate than we are. We ask you seriously to consider blessing our support staff with Christmas hampers (it is not too late to donate items) and also to make up a love box/es if at all financially possible, to give to some child who would not otherwise receive anything for Christmas. Once again sincere thanks to those who have contributed or who are still contributing. Our last cricket matches of the season take place this coming Saturday. Thereafter all extra-curricular activities end with none for the rest of the term. Please remember our annual, Sports and Cultural Awards next Friday evening (2 December) at 6pm in the Habberton Hall, is a compulsory school event for the children and the staff where we also look forward to parental support. The children will meet in their registration classes at 17:15, and their Registration teachers will lead them into the Hall at 17:45. Thank you too to all our teachers, specialists and coaches for your contributions over the year in sport and culture. Not only do you attain high standards, but you also succeed in getting many children to participate and represent our school in sports matches and cultural events, in keeping with our ethos. Thank you also to our parents for assisting with transport and for your loyal support at sport and cultural activities during the year. Please can you remind your children to hand their text books in on the arranged dates. Best wishes to you all for the week ahead.  Barbara Taljard |
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With so few weeks to go and so very much to do, who would have thought that we would be entertaining the stress that comes with change? But….. we are! Hopefully these will be the last few of our “change” announcements for this year! Hazel Dlamini (Grade 00 Purple assistant) will also be moving across to the Crèche. We now also wish Penny Rimmer God’s richest blessings as she takes up a post at Livingstone Remedial School, teaching Grade 7s. Penny started as our Foundation Phase Sports Co-ordinator 13 years ago and then moved on to teach Grade 3s. She has a passion for sport and our natural environment and this has always been evident in her creative teaching. We thank Penny for her service to the school. At the same time, we are very excited to be able to tell you that Miss Nompilo Mkhwanazi is our newly appointed Grade 3 teacher for 2017. Nompilo has been a Grade 3 Teacher’s Assistant for the last 7 years, whilst studying a teaching degree for the past 4. Not only has she kept the teachers on their toes as far as admin and organisation is concerned, but she has been fully involved in the grade in every manner, as well as in teaching children in Small Group time and teaching classes when teachers are absent. As we rush headlong to finish the year off sedately, please remember we still have our Grade 0 “Come Watch Me Swim”(date changed to Thursday this week, because of the weather), Class and Reading Mums Teas, Carol Service on Sunday 4th December and Grade 3 Final assembly which we still hope to see the relevant audiences and participants at. Wishing you a wonderful week, full of joy. Chris McCandless - Alexander Supertramp: “The joy of life comes from our encounters with new experiences, and hence there is no greater joy than to have an endlessly changing horizon, for each day to have a new and different sun!”  Deni Hornsey |
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PS Weekly Achievers
Mathletics Congratulations Elisabeth du Buisson for achieving her Gold Mathletics Certificate and to Keira Browning for achieving her second Mathletics Gold this year . Wonderful.
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None to report this week.
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KZN Cricket Congratulations to Lola Lee who has been selected for the KZN U19A Women’s Cricket Team. Well done Lola.
SP Boys' Water Polo vs Highbury U11B vs Highbury U10A Lost 1 - 8 U11B vs Highbury U10B Lost 2 – 7 U11A vs Highbury U11B Won 8 – 0 U11A vs Highbury U11B Lost 2 – 7 TMC 2nd vs Highbury 3rd Lost 1 – 3 TMC 1st vs Highbury 2nd Drew 5 – 5
SP Girls' Water Polo vs St Mary's & Maris Stella U11A vs St Marys U11A Won 7 – 2 U11A vs Maris Stella U11A Lost 1 – 8 TMC 1st vs Maris Stella 1st Won 5 – 1 TMC 1st vs St Marys 1st Lost 1 – 9
SP 1st Cricket Team vs Atholl Heights TMC 167 for 9, M Sim 53, H Brimelow 22 Atholl Heights 168 for 8, M McMurray 3 for 18 Lost by 2 wickets
SP 3rd Team Cricket vs Winston Park WP scored 95 in 20 overs S. Moodley - 4 overs for 9 runs taking 3 wickets TMPS scored 93 in 20 overs C. Gamble scoring 25 runs Winston Park won by 2 runs
SP U11A Cricket vs Atholl Heights TMPS batted first and scored 171 all out Nikolaos Bratos 46, Jared Christie 24, Liam Theunissen 21 and Ethan Harris 20 Atholl Heights scored 122 all out Ethan McCormick 6overs 21/4; Sam Renard 5overs 21/1; Ethan Harris 2 overs 8/2 ; Ben Shepstone 4 overs 22/1; Jono Daniel 1.1 overs 4/1 TMPS won by 49 runs
TMPS U10A Cricket vs Atholl Heights Atholl Heights131/9 in 30 overs TMPS 127 all out (Ryan Browning 30, Ross Hoffman 27, Max Buchan 17) Atholl Heights won by 1 wicket. This was such an exciting game which could have gone any way! Well played team.
Rugby Congratulations to Ruairi Valentine (Grade 2) on being awarded a medal for participation in rugby. Well done Ruairi.
Judo Congratulations to Angela Staples who won a gold medal at a judo competition. Well done Angela.
U9A Cricket vs Highbury TMC were bowled out for 20 runs. Highbury won the game by 8 wickets.
U9B Cricket vs Highbury Highbury made 107/7. Then the rain came down & the match was called off.
Grade 2 Netball Tournament TMC 1 vs St. Mary’s won 2-0 TMC 1 vs Atholl Heights lost 0-8 TMC 2 vs Northdene lost 0-4 TMC 2 vs Forest View drew 0-0
Grade 3 Netball Tournament TMC 1 vs Forest View won 1-0 TMC 1 vs Hillcrest lost 0-1 TMC 2 vs Atholl Heights lost 2-4 TMC 3 vs St. Mary’s lost 0-2 TMC 3 vs Winston Park won 3-0
Grade 1 Mini Cricket vs Curro HCA - won vs Winston Park - lost
Grade 2 Mini Cricket vs Gelofte - lost vs Atholl Heights - won vs Winston Park - lost
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"You are the salt of the world. But if the salt should lose its taste, how can it be made salty again? It's good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled on by people. You are the light of the world. A city located on a hill can't be hidden. People don't light a lamp and put it under a basket but on a lampstand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before people in such a way that they will see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven”
Matthew 5:13-16
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