Have this mind in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: who, existing in the form of God, counted not the being on an equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men; and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, becoming obedient death, the death of the cross. Philippians 2:5-8

With Easter only a month away my thoughts have been on what God has done for us, and for me it’s just so mind blowing that the Creator of everything gave up everything for you and I. It just seems so incomprehensible to my earthy mind that God would do such a thing for us. But He has. His love knows no bounds : “For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor anything above, nor anything below, nor anything else in all creation can separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord”. Romans 8:38-39

Here is God giving up everything for us. But the concern is we live in a world full of self-promotion and selfishness, with an attitude of ‘it’s all about me’. As I read the other day of an old saying: “A person wrapped up in themselves makes a very small package indeed”. We read in Philippians that Jesus humbled Himself as no other person has and spent His earthly life looking after the needs of others. Humbleness does mean to be trampled upon but rather a knowledge of a security in knowing that we have a place in God’s heart. This knowledge enables us to live a life in the service of others and brings us a joy and a fulfilment in our lives that only God can give.

The Long Walk is without doubt the biggest event in the calendar at Thomas More College. 1600 walkers and 700 helpers will combine their efforts in an event that unifies the school like no other. This event truly marks the “Esprit de Corps” at the school. There are no winners! We do not even announce who comes first! This is about every participant setting their own goals and helping others to attain theirs. At this stage it looks like Saturday is going to be a perfect day. Although still 5 days away, a maximum temperature of only 26^oC is forecast, with less than 1mm of rain in the early morning. Long distance and tired feet are certainly a problem on the walk, but heat is the real enemy. Let’s hold thumbs that we do get this promised cooler weather.

The Long Walk Committee has been preparing for this event for many months and the logistics are all in place. We do still however need about 60 more officials to work on the day. We usually have no problem recruiting helpers for the early hours and the morning sessions. It is when the Primary School have finished their walk and we move into the afternoon that we struggle to get volunteers. This is when the walk is really spread out and we have many more kilometres of the course to monitor. We cannot rely only on the High School parents here and I would like to make a strong appeal to anyone who has not yet put their name down to please volunteer in the next 24 hours.

The Open Days for 2017 enrolment took place last Friday and Saturday. Attendance was extremely pleasing and it certainly looks like we will get a fabulous crop of new pupils next year. With the results of the matric re-marks now having been published we explained that there were now 10 pupils with 6A’s, 3 with 7 A’s and 1 with 8. I was very proud to tell the audience that our average subject mark was 68.7% and that over 51% of our symbols were A’s or B’s.  

 

We have much for which to be grateful here at TMC.

I continue to be overwhelmed and inspired by just how much happens here at our wonderful school. Just this last week Miss Venter umpired 9 international hockey matches in Cape Town (pictured right).

Lola Lee scored 54* for our mighty U14B cricket team against Clifton. Our 1st boys and girls polo teams enjoyed excellent performances this past weekend. Our 1st XI Cricket team hosted Reddam from Cape Town on Sunday during which the visitors were made to feel most welcome by the excellent spirit of the game and the wonderful spirit created by our parents on the side of the Luther Field.

Open Day was a wonderful exercise for us on Saturday. Not only were we showcasing our school for our own Grade 6 and 7 pupils and parents, but we are also welcoming outsiders to our campus. I was most proud of the manner in which our pupil team hosted our visitors upon their arrival and during the tours of the campus. Karabo hosted the proceedings in the Habberton Hall with seamless ease, and the performances and speeches were humble, sincere and outstanding.

I see leadership being exercised by our young people in numerous ways. This inspires me.

We have a big fortnight upon us: One-Act plays; the Long Walk; changeover from summer sports to winter sports; Vocal Tenacity's tour; our much-anticipated Hong Kong tour; and, of course, our preparation for the issuing of Term 1 reports. There are four golden threads running throughout these dynamic growth opportunities:

* our parents' commitment to supporting and delivering our pupils to all of these activities;

* our pupils' commitment to growing themselves and others;

* our staff who quite selflessly provide the framework in which all of the opportunities exist;

* our grounds, logistics and support staff who ensure we have the required facilities and amenities to provide these growth opportunities.

Indeed, we have much for which to be grateful here at TMC. 

 

Thank you to all those who spread the word and/or attended our Open Days last week. It is appreciated. Sometimes openings do emerge during the year, so it is good to tell one’s friends never to feel daunted when applying for a place but to be open to the possibility of earlier admissions.

Well done to our swimmers and their coaches for the D & D gala at Kings Park last Tuesday. Thank you boys and girls for your sportsmanship, and to all those who assisted with transport and supported us.

This coming Saturday, 5 March, is our Long Walk, which is always such a special day of camaraderie and pitting yourself against yourself. I want to share an article by the well-known Nikki Bush, entitled “Loving your fear”. The core message is that change is difficult, no matter what it is. There is so much to get used to. There is much to fear that is new. But with fear, comes growth. Many fears are ones we all experience. They vary from not being fit enough, to not fulfilling our potential, to not getting the marks needed to take the next step in life, and so on. These fears can make us grow, galvanising us into action and energizing our lives. The article ends by saying, “I love my fear.”

In a book by Don Greene called, Fight your Fear and Win., he states that in essence, there are times when we need to walk into our fears to conquer them and grow instead of running from them. In our striving to keep our children happy, we often allow them to walk away from difficult and challenging situations, instead of up-skilling them and encouraging them to be victorious. There is a time and a place for children to get hands on experience at ‘doing the hard yards’.

When kids get the opportunity to overcome something through their own personal experience they grow in leaps and bounds, in ways you cannot imagine and could never orchestrate if you tried. True confidence and self-assuredness is only truly discovered and ‘owned’ in the moment of actually facing challenges and triumphing. Life responds to our expectations – let us all rise to its challenges! In the words of Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Neither you nor the world knows what you can do until you have tried…

One of our roles is to help our children to embrace their fear and to see the value in it.

The week ends with our legendary, character building Long Walk, on Saturday 5 March, where we hope to face our fears and see most of you at the finish line! (Please refer to Phase letters which have detailed information about the Long Walk. Also ensure comfortable worn-in walking shoes, lots of sunscreen and liquids en route, especially for the SP at the start as the first water stop is a distance away.) IF you have still not volunteered your services and are available to help, please contact Rae Griesel asap- we do still need support. All the best…..

Wishing you all well for the week ahead.  

 

Weekly Achievers 

Debating

TMC 1 won their debate against Eden College and Morgan Lee got Best Speaker.

TMC 2 won their debate against St Henry and Jordan Pieters got Best Speaker.

Karate

Congratulations to Connor Harris and Jason Staples who both took part in the Karate Provincial Champs last week.  Jason placed 1st in his category.  Connor placed 2nd in his age group.  Both boys will go on to compete at National Champs in March.  Well done boys.

SP Swimming

Congratulations to our swimmers who partcipated in the D&D B Zone Gala at Kings Park.  Our girls placed 2nd and the boys 8th.

Congratulations to Björn Bekker for his achievements at the KZN Level 1 Swimming Championships.  Björn received gold medals in the 50m and 100m Breastroke; Silver medals in the 50m and 100m Freestyle, 50m Backstroke and a Bronze medal in the 50m Butterfly.  Well done Björn.

Schools Track Cycling in Durban

Great riding by Courtney Smith (Gr 10) and Joshua Clipstone (Gr 9) at this past weekends KZN Schools Track cycling series, kept TMC in second place for the event. The next event is on the 28 May and it would be great to have more TMC riders racing for that top school position.

SA XCO Cup series at Helderberg Farm, Cape Town

Hot, dry and fast competitive racing was the order of the day on Saturday for Keagan Brand (Gr3) 12th, Travis Stedman (Gr8) 5th, Mitchel Potgieter (Gr8) 13th, Cian Leveridge (Gr10) 15th andTiffany Keep (Gr10) 1st, at the National mountain bike Cross Country race.  Keagan Brand (Gr 3) then competed in the National Down Hill event on the Sunday and was placed a well deserved 2nd.

Grade 3 Netball

TMC 1 beat Winston Park 5-0

TMC 2 drew with Winston Park 1-1

TMC 1 beat Hillcrest 1-0

TMC 2 lost to Winston Park 1-3

U9A Cricket vs Hillcrest

On Wednesday our U9As played their first hardball match of the year vs Hillcrest. After winning the toss TMC chose to bat, which ended up being the right decision. Openers James Evans (22*) and Luke Patterson (9) got the team off to a solid start. James looked the part carrying his bat throughout the innings and showing good maturity. He was ably supported by Brunton Bigalke(14) and Tahyesh Naicker (12) to help TMC post a score of 108/4. What was particularly impressive was the running between the wickets that enabled the team to steal a good few extra runs to boost the total.

Hillcrest went in to bat with challenging run rate of 5 an over. Liam Oets and Connor Mackinnon took the new ball. Hillcrest where soon blown away with an accurate spell of bowling from Liam and man of the match, Connor who took 5 wickets for 1 run in his 3 overs. The players were all granted at least one over with everyone pitching in to bowl out Hillcrest for 51. It was a real team performance beating Hillcrest by 57 runs. We were very impressed by their first ever hardball game and let’s hope they can build from here. A mature performance for their first game.

Grade 2 & 3 Gala @ St. Mary’s

5 x 2^nd places

7 x 3^rd places

5 x 4^th places

7 x 5^th places

3 x 6^th places

7 x 7^th places

4 x 8^th places

2 x 9^th places

Grade 2 Mini Cricket

Beat Highbury

Beat Hillcrest

Grade 3 Mini Cricket

Lost to Northdene

SP 2nd Team Cricket vs Hillcrest

Hillcrest – 182/6

TMC – 136/6

TMC lost by 46 runs

Jarryd Penny - 35 runs

Jared McArthur - 28 runs

Ben Dedekind - 4 overs, 22 runs, 3 wickets

SP U11B Cricket vs Highbury
Highbury batted first and scored 115/2
Kgaogelo Mashiloane 3 overs 16/1
Thomas More scored 80/7
Keagan Brand 18 and Kieran Pearton 10 not out
Thomas More lost by 35 runs

SP U11A Cricket vs Highbury
Highbury batted first and scored 127 for 3
Luke Bartlett 2 overs 9/1, Blaine Dunbar 4 overs 18/1 and Ethan McCormick 18/1
Thomas More scored 85/7
Liam Theunissen 33, Ethan Harris 20
Thomas More lost by 42 runs.

SP U11A Cricket vs Northdene

Thomas More batted first and scored 55 all out
Northdene scored 61/3
Nikolaos Bratos 4 overs 2/1, Ethan McCormick 4 overs 13/0, Jarred Christie 1 over 1/0
Thomas More lost by 7 wickets

SP U11A Cricket vs Parklands

Parklands batted first and scored 207 for 7 in 30 overs

Jonathan Daniel 3 Overs 14/1, Ethan McCormick 6 overs 24/0, Nikolaos Bratos 5 overs 25/1, Sam Renard 4 overs 20/0

Thomas More scored 120 all out

Ethan McCormick scored 68

Thomas More lost by 87 runs

SP U10A Cricket vs Hillcrest

Hillcrest 150/4 in 25 overs (Max Buchan 2/31)

TMC 99/6 in 25 overs (Max Buchan 17 n.o , Ross Hoffman 12)

TMC lost by 51 runs

HS Girls’ Tennis

TMC U16A 2 Umhlanga College U16A 16

TMC 1^st Team 10 Gelofte 1^st Team 10

HS Boys’ Water Polo

TMC U14A 3 Clifton U14B 3

TMC U15A 3 Clifton U15B 7

2^nd TMC 3 4^th Clifton 7

1^st TMC 3 2^nd Clifton 4

HS Water Polo Tournament (Scottburgh)

Boys' 1^st TMC 5 1^st Krugersdorp 0

Boys' 1^st TMC 2 1^st Rand Park 1

Boys' 1^st TMC 2 1^st St. Peters 5

Girls' 1^st TMC 10 1^st Krugersdorp 0

Girls' 1^st TMC 3 1^st Rand Park 1

Girls' 1^st TMC 7 1^st Treverton 2

Girls' 1^st TMC 2 1^st St. Peters 5

HS Girls’ Indoor Hockey

2^nd TMC 1 2^nd Maris Stella 1

1^st TMC 4 1^st Crawford North Coast 2

HS U14B Cricket vs Clifton

Clifton U14C 128/5

TMC U14B 130/2 (Lee 54 n.o.[picture right], Wynne 25 n.o.)

TMC won by 8 wickets

SP Tennis

Seniors vs Atholl Heights won 28-17

Seniors vs Crawford La Lucia won 24-21

Juniors vs Umhlanga College won 21-9 (rain stopped play)

Juniors vs Curro HCA won 25-20

Juniors vs Umhlali Prep won 24-21

Ashtyn Cason participated in a SATA (South African Tennis Association) Tennis Tournament last weekend (The KZN Dunlop Challenge), at Westridge Stadium.

She won the U10 Girls' Singles Section.  Her scores were 9-0 / 9-0 / 9-0 / 5-4 and she won the final on Sunday 6-1.  Well done Ashtyn.

Equestrian

Congratulations to Alex Ric-Hansen who came first in the 90cm accumulator class on her pony, Why Not, at the Shongweni Showgrounds this weekend. Well done Alex.