1ST DAY1ST DAY1ST DAY
2017 BEGINS!
The Horse's Mouth
Thomas More College
News from the Horse's Mouth
 19 January 2017
Newsletter 01
Letter from the Editor

Please find the Scripture for the week here.

    Some points of particular interest in the expanded sections below include:
  • Shane Cuthbertson, Dave Wiggett, Barbara Taljard & Deni Hornsey - together welcome all pupils and staff back to school, in particular all new pupils and staff joining us.  We wish you all a wonderful 2017.
  • Dave Wiggett shares the successful 2016 Matric results.
  • Barbara Taljard shares upcoming events within the Senior Primary, as well as reminding parents that sport begins on 23 January.

For new parents, please familiarise yourselves with the icon's below; here you will easily be able to access Academic, Cultural and Sporting Calendars, for each Grade or Phase, as well as the extra-mural calendars in each phase.  Please also take note of the quick links below on the right.  These will give you ease of access to the Classifieds, Lift Club, Communicator as well as parent and student portals.

Communicator - please update the channels applicable to your child/children.

Wishing you a wonderful year.

Editor Picture

Have a great week,
Kim Hooper
Marketing Manager

LW

 

Achievements   Extra-mural Calendars   Academic Calendars
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Upcoming Events  Quick Links


Whole School Events Calendar
 
Scripture for the week
Scripture

How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, “Your God reigns!”

A very warm welcome back to everyone especially to those who are new to the school. I hope and pray that you had a restful and blessed holiday. This scripture tells us of the good news of God’s great love for us and again in the New Testament Jesus reminds of this love and care for humanity: "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has annointed me to tell the good news to the poor. He has sent me to announce release to the prisoners and recovery of sight to the blind, to set oppressed people free, and to announce the year of the Lord's favour” Luke 4:18-19. That’s good news and I pray that this year will be a year of the Lord’s favour will rest not only upon our own lives but also the life of this school.

Shalom (peace)
God bless
Rev. Martin Easson
Chaplain
measson@thomasmore.co.za
Whole School News

Welcome back to what I am sure will be an exciting and productive year. I trust that you are all rested and ready for the challenges that lie ahead.

I would like to extend a warm welcome to all those families who join Thomas More College for the first time this year. This is a warm and embracing school and I hope that you will thoroughly enjoy your time with us.

We also welcome a number of new staff members:

High School:

Wesley Maurice (History), Staci Carter (Business Studies), Scott Drew (Maths and History), Berne Edwards (CAT and Sport), Kathryn Couzens (English - 1Yr), Lindokuhle Ngcobo (TK)(Intern – Lab Assistant)

Senior Primary:

Caroline Jooste (Grade 6 - 1Yr), Daniel Smith (Intern), Casey Barkhuizen (Intern), Barry Thatcher (Intern)

Foundation Phase:

Elsie Roux (Afrikaans), Nompilo Mkhwanazi (Grade 3), Shayleen Rudd (FP Intern), Carol Mqadi (Teacher Assistant), Lea Cloete (Teacher Assistant), Promise Cwele (Teacher Assistant).

We were delighted with the schools 2016 IEB Matric results. There was a 100% pass rate and the school achieved 240 subject distinctions from only 125 pupils, at an average of 1.9 A's per pupil.

13 of our 17 subjects were above the IEB national averages and 9 of the 17 subject averages were above 70%. The average Subject Average was 70.29%, compared to the IEB average of 68.38%. This was particularly pleasing as these are the top performing private schools in the country.

Sadly our long term friend and benefactor, Peter Savory, passed away during the December holidays. Peter was the brother of our founder headmaster, Robin. Although he had a successful career and many responsibilities, Peter and his wife Anna maintained a passionate interest in the welfare of Thomas More College. For more than 50 years he kept up regular contact with the school and paid many visits to the campus. The Savory family were generous benefactors with large contributions to projects like the Robin Savory Pavilion, the Joan Savory Art Block and the Primary School  Savory Media Centre. We will never forget his kindness. May God give him eternal rest and the family the strength to bear the great pain of this great loss.

We break up on 31st March which makes this a longer term than last year, when we broke up as early as 18th March. Easter can vary considerably from year to year as it is determined by the first full moon after Equinox.  

 Shane

Shane Cuthbertson
Executive Principal
scuthbertson@thomasmore.co.za

High School News

It is with an expectant sense of excitement that I welcome all members of the Thomas More College family back to school. I know that all of you will join me in extending an especially warm welcome to all our new families in the high school this year.

My theme for 2017 is “Building tomorrow’s community today”. Our pressing challenge remains; we are educating and preparing our young people for a world that is changing exponentially in a fairly staid education system. Whilst all we ever have is the NOW, it is prudent and pro-active to equip our children with skills, values, knowledge and experiences which will help them in their world both now and tomorrow. I look forward to sharing more about how we intend to unpack and work towards realising this theme at Thomas More College this year.

It is with much pride that we congratulate the cohort of 2016 on their outstanding matric results. Significantly, these results were achieved in a school which does not have traditional entrance examinations as others do; we meet the child and strive to assist him or her to unearth their unique, highly individual selves whilst stretching them unapologetically. I share with you herewith some information regarding our matric results:

80-100%

70-79%

60-69%

50-59%

40-49%

No. of pupils

17

42

37

23

6

% of grade

13.6%

33.6%

29.6%

18.4%

4.8%

GRADE AVERAGE AGGREGATE: 68.7%

TOTAL SUBJECT DISTINCTIONS: 240

The following pupils achieved 4 or more distinctions:

8 Distinctions

7 Distinctions

6 Distinctions

5 Distinctions

4 Distinctions

Jason Galt

Amy Davis

Grace Baker

Morgan Lee

Amy Balarin

Stephanie Hollocks

Savannah Graham

Michaela Meyer

Emily Higgit

Karabo Malahleha

Joshua Gray

Tiyana Ramchunder

Grace Norman

Dylan Thwaits

Sinegugu Mfeka

Matt Robbins

Justin Ross

James Ross

Summer Robertson

Anneke Steyn

Kelsey Tiegs

Zunaid Valodia

Luke Turk

Annie vd Westhuizen

Luke Waltham

Stephanie vd Westhuizen

Carla Zan

11 pupils came within the top 1% of candidates nationally on one or more subjects:

Jason Galt; James Ross; Dylan Thwaits; Stephanie Hollocks; Morgan Lee; Amy Davis; Karabo Malahleha; Luke Waltham; Savannah Graham; Joshua Gray; and Tyler Leighton.

Jason Galt was also included on the IEB’s Outstanding Achiever’s List (top 5% nationally in 6 or more subjects).

We are proud of all of our Grade 12s and the manner in which they created a positive year of memories despite the challenging nature of the year. It speaks to the incredible character and resilience of the entire TMC community.

On that note, I wish every member of the Thomas More community a robust, dynamic and blessed 2017.

 

David Wiggett
High School Headmaster
dwiggett@thomasmore.co.za

Primary School News

All families are warmly welcomed back to Thomas More College. We trust all our new families will soon feel quite at home in our friendly and nurturing school family environment. We do strive to have open communication channels, so trust we shall have a good relationship with you as partners in your children’s education.

It is great to have all our Thomas More teachers back with us. In the Senior Primary, we warmly welcome Mrs Caroline Jooste, who did a locum for us last year while Mrs McCreedy was on maternity leave in the second term. Mrs Jooste will be taking a Grade 6 class for Maths and English this year.

In addition, we welcome a few new SP interns, namely: Mr Daniel Smith in Grade 5 and Ms Casey Barkhuizen in Grade 4. We believe they will add value to our phases.

We look forward to sharing more information with you at the parent information evenings coming up shortly with the Senior Primary evening being on Tuesday 24th next week at 17:30 in the Habberton Hall followed by class visits. The evening should end at about 19:45. We urge you to be there for the entire evening as Mr Brimelow would like to address you in more detail about sport in the Senior Primary, and there are other important aspects we need you to have heard and understood. We trust therefore you will make every endeavour to attend. Please also diarise the Parents’ Council AGM for Wednesday 8 February at 17:30.

Please note that Senior Primary sport commences on Monday 23 January. We would also really appreciate it if you were able to get your child to school by 07:15 so they can be in their classes by 07:20 to collect what is needed and get organized for a 07:30 prompt start to their academic day.

Should you have any concerns or misgivings about anything, please consult first directly with the staff member involved, whether it be the class or subject teacher or sports coach or co-ordinator. Subsequent to that, especially with regard to general academic and school matters, consult any of the grade heads, or relevant Heads of Department. However, please avail yourself of the correct channels of communication first before referring matters to them. As the Headmistress of the Primary School, I also practise an “open door” policy, so do avail yourself of this should needs arise, especially after trying the other channels. We also value positive feedback, so would appreciate you contacting us when you are delighted about something and when we wish to celebrate goals realized and progress made. The school e-mail addresses of staff are also on the communicator for your convenience.

All of the Primary School staff and pupils congratulate our High School on the excellent matric results once again. Well done to all staff as such results start from grass roots and are built on from year to year. We are indeed delighted with what has been accomplished!

With God’s grace and blessings, we look forward to a happy, and fulfilling first term. We ask Him to continue to guide and lead us and our precious charges to fulfill His purpose in all we undertake, while remaining centred on each and every individual child. To a joyful and successful term… 

 

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

Academic Achievements

Weekly Achievers 

Will resume in the 3rd week of Term.

Cultural Achievements

None to announce at present.

Sporting Achievements

None to announce at present.