The thief comes only to steal, slaughter, and destroy. I have come that they may have life, and have it abundantly. John 10:10

Jesus says that He has come to gives us not just life but abundant life. We read from scripture that God right from the beginning in Genesis 1-2, formed us from the dust of the earth and breathed life into us. Therefore God is very concerned about His Creation and how we live our daily lives. Looking at the world around us we can understand why. For we have turned towards things that are shallow and fleeting, wealth, fame and power. It seems that the life that God offers us is being stolen out from under our very noses. For we pursue what the world offers and in its wake leaves us broken, stressed and fearful.

Jesus never promises us an easy life but He does promise us a life filled with meaning, a life full of faith, peace, joy, grace and love. Jesus offers us the best that life can offer through a relationship with Himself.

The Open Day season is upon us and telephone poles are festooned with posters advertising the various schools in our area. In the beginning it was mainly the independent schools that advertised in this way, but it is interesting to see that even the local state schools now have posters up. Thomas More’s Open Days are at 09h00 on Friday (Grade 000 - 7) and at 09h30 on Saturday (High School).

We are extremely fortunate to have such good schools in the Upper Highway and really are spoilt for choice. Compared to the national averages our schools are academically superior. The question must thus be asked as to whether the schools prepare one for the skills needed in the work place. Appropriate academic training will be taken as expected. Skills like those below will make the difference in terms of success in a career:

· Accountability

· Flexibility

· Creativity

· Communication

· Passion

· Problem solving

· Teamwork

· Time management

· Self motivation

 

Leadership is not reserved for the select few. It is my fundamental belief that everyone is born to lead. It is a mind-set that is adopted consciously by every individual in the earnest effort to, once again, celebrate our God-gifted uniqueness.

Leadership is not about public recognition and plaudits. It is not about being given a badge. It is not about hierarchical limitations and titles. And it certainly is not about power, real or perceived.

Rather, leadership is all the time. It is the conscious decision to do the next right thing, irrespective of who is watching. It is smiling at and greeting the person who struggles to fit in. It is picking up that piece of litter, irrespective of who left it there. I shared with our pupils in assembly this morning the account of a janitor at NASA in the 1960s at the height of the “Space Race” between the USSR and USA. During an inspection of the NASA site, one of the dignitaries asked the said janitor who was busy sweeping, “And what is your job here?”

The janitor responded at once: “I’m here to help put a man on the moon.”

All acts of such selfless stewardship, no matter how seemingly small or insignificant, serve a purpose so much bigger than we perceive.

May we continue to strive to develop leaders who are stewards for their time. Our country will benefit significantly.

 

It was encouraging to see how many moms and dads made an effort to attend the “Meet the Heads” session for Grade 6 and 7 pupils and their parents on Friday. We are passionate about our wonderful, child focused school and really believe you will not make the wrong choice by investing your precious child with us. We truly do prepare the child for the path, rather than the path for your child, and the success of our confident past pupils is yet another testimony to this. We encourage you all to attend our High School Open Day this Saturday, 27 February, at 09:30 and to walk the talk with us.

Should you have friends with younger children, desirous of coming to Thomas More, our crèche to Grade 7 Open Day starts at 09:00 on Friday 26 February.

Best wishes to our boy and girl swimmers as they compete tomorrow afternoon in the D & D gala at Kings Park. Thank you to our coaches and to all those transporting and who will be supporting our teams!

I do trust every family has now committed themselves to at least one shift for our Long Walk. This inspiring day is a pivotal part of what we aim to do- stretch children and let them grow and thrive. It is the stuff memories are made of, and the chance to make new friends and prove your worth.

On Thursday this week our class photos will be retaken. May I appeal to you as parents to ensure your child is extra neat on that day and is dressed in full summer uniform- no tracksuits, birthday civvies etc. (unless they change into birthday civvies at break). We value these pictorial memories which go into our annual school magazine.

Wishing you all well for the week ahead.

 

After Half Term and amidst all the exciting events that have been happening, like Valentine’s day, the Sponsored Walk and a show called “Leonard the Lion”, the children have found it quite challenging to settle down to routine activities, good behaviour and Homework discipline. This has also spilled over to our sport practices and matches where we have had to tighten the reins somewhat. My appeal to you as parents is therefore to maintain the boundaries, keep consistency whilst still affirming when necessary so that school and home are both “speaking the same language”. We are also having to clamp down firmly on name calling at the moment, something that has crept in and which is totally against our ethos.

Speaking of our recent show, we were very proud of our Foundation Phase children Jacques Oets, Sebastian Watson and Liam Oets for their wonderful performance in “ Leonard the Lion” along with Damian Watson from the Senior Primary and a young lady from another school. We will be hosting another show from the same performers who very generously perform at no cost to the school but rather to raise funds for charity. Our drive would be to boost our Bread Buddy contributions on the day of the performance as “payment”.

Our new crèche facility, the Thom Teenies was officially opened by two of our exceptionally supportive and proud TMC past pupils, Melanie Küster and Gary Green and the building was blessed by our resident Chaplain, Reverend Martin Easson. If you haven’t seen the facility yet and are interested for your little ones, please pop in and visit.

A reminder that we are open for 2017 Foundation Phase applications and will be screening Grade 0 applicants from 1^st of March onwards. We look forward to having our younger little siblings join us.

Joan Bester, our Aftercare teacher, leaves us at the end of this week to join family in Gordon’s Bay. We thank Joan sincerely for her wonderful service to the school for the past 16 years and wish her well in her new home.

Have a wonderful week.

 

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Weekly Achievers 

HS Debating

TMC 1 won their debate against Kingsway and TMC 2 lost to DHS.

Dancing

Isabella Terblanche, Sarah Simpson and Grace Dry competed in a Freestyle Dance competition last weekend. There were many competitors from all over the country that attended for the Prix d'Exellence Awards. Isabella and Grace won 1st prize in the pairs Freestyle, and Isabella went on to win 2nd and 3rd place in her age group (12-15) for the solo dances. Sarah won her age group (11 years). Well done girls.

Swimming

Congratulations to all our pupils, parents and staff who took part in the Midmar Mile.

Equestrian

Congratulations to Rachel Kerdachi who competed in the FEI Children's International Classic Gold Tour.  Rachel was thereafter selected to take part in the Final of this series which took place in Belgium this month.  There were a total of 28 competitors from 14 countries.  The event took place at Sentower Park, Oppglabbeek (Belgium). 

Rachel has been competing on ponies but in this final international, riders are expected to ride horses and what makes it more challenging is that it is an unknown horse. The host nation athletes bring two horses with a draw determining which of their two horses they will ride and which one will be in the draw for the international riders.

Rachel was privileged to draw an awesome chestnut called Talounabab K Z which was loaned by Belgium rider Thomas Thometschek. The international riders are given a very short time to get know their horse but Rachel coped extremely well. She placed 11^th in the first qualifier, 18^th in the second qualifier which meant she had enough points to participate in the final. Rachel placed 11th overall in the final, which left South Africa in 6th position.  Rachel would like to thank Chad Cunningham who coached and assited her in Belgium.  This is an outstanding achievement and we are exceptionally proud of Rachel.

Rock Climbing Bouldering Results

Ziyanda Mchunu 3rd U15
Josh Munstermann 1st U17
Keshav Gounden 3rd U17

Zunaid Valodia 1st U19

Charles Young 2nd U19

Kim Dawson 3rd U19
TMC won the Top School Trophy

Cricket - TMPS 3rds vs Highbury 4ths

TMPS 61 runsall out - J. Bartman 25 runs

Highbury 62 runs for 1 wicket.Highbury won by 9 wickets

Grade 2 Cricket

Lost to Highbury

Lost to Hillcrest

Lost to Kloof

Grade 3 Cricket

Lost to Northdene 

HS Girls’ Tennis

TMC U16A 8 Kuswag U16A 12

Girls’ Indoor Hockey

TMC U14B 5 St. Mary’s U14C 0

TMC U14A 4 Westville GHS U14A 1

TMC U16B 3 Maris Stella U16B 5

2^nd TMC 4 2^nd Durban GHS 2

1^st TMC 4 1^st Ashton College 5

HS Girls' Water Polo

TMC U15A 6 U15A St. Henry’s 6

1^st TMC 3 1^st St. Henry’s 0

TMC U16A 4 1^st Port Shepstone 4

HS Boys’ Water Polo

TMC U15A 11 U15A Port Shepstone 3

1^st TMC 18 1^st Port Shepstone 2

HS Golf

1^st TMC 4½ 2^nd Clifton 3½

HS Cricket

TMC 15A 156/9 (Kriegisch 63, Blythen 53)

Howick U15A 98/8 (Rossouw 3/6)

Match Abandoned

TMC U15B 135/2 (Maree 69 n.o.)

Westville U16E 103/9 (Munian 5/21)

TMC won by 32 runs

2^nd TMC 80 all out (Reece5/26)

2^nd Howick 81/6 (Devlin 40 n.o.)

Howick won by 4 wickets

1^st Howick 79 all out (Wesley 3/6)

1^st TMC 83/3 (Wesley 42 n.o.)

TMC won by 7 wickets  

TMC U14A 117 (Mbanjwa 37; Atlee 4/9). Howick 118/4 (Pike 30).

Howick won 6 wickets.