Now faith is the assurance of things we hope for, the certainty of things we cannot see.  Hebrews 11:1

Everyone has questions and doubts about one’s faith and it is the working out of these questions and doubts that our faith can become stronger and continue to grow throughout our lives. As humans, there are many things about God that we will never understand but it is through faith that we can trust that God is the One who has all the answers and knows what is the best for us as Hebrews 11:6 states: “Now without faith it is impossible to please God, for the one who comes to him must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who diligently seek Him”. We need to earnestly seek out God’s will for our lives and leave the rest to Him and we will be sure of a pleasant result.  

A number of small projects have been completed in the last few weeks. The in-sourcing of our two tuck shops is an exciting development. The venues have been painted and refitted and we have introduced new lines. It was quite a rush to get ready and a lot more products will soon be available. These will include lunches with daily specials which can be ordered online. The High School tuckshop will also have “Zapper”, “Skip the Q” online ordering and credit card facilities and the Primary School will also have “Skip the Q” online ordering. We are also trying to ensure that there is generally healthier food on sale. Fizzy cold drinks will not be on sale at first break. We will also soon be installing some new outdoor furniture at the High School tuck shop.

The Akal Pool surrounds have been significantly improved. Additional seating has been installed, adding 66 new seats. The old seats in the parents’ grandstand are being coated as the surfaces were becoming porous. A new walkway and balustrading have been built behind the tea shelter leading to the pupils’ grand stand. This includes a retaining. The dirt road from the pavilion to the music school carpark has been tarred.

We have also upgraded and expanded the walkway from the Savory Field grandstand to the Coffee Shop. The “sleeper” benches are now surrounded by a much more practical surface.

 

As parents, it is of the utmost, critical and urgent importance that we acknowledge and endeavour to understand the significant paradigm shift that has occurred between both the educational landscape and world economy as it was when we matriculated 20-40 years ago, and the one in which our children exist. It is exponentially different, yet many of us will use our own educational experience to inform our expectations of not only our child, but also of his or her school. This is gravely misplaced.

IBM conducted an international survey in 2008 (already almost a decade has passed) amongst 1500 business and industry leaders globally. Some of the key hypotheses that the survey revealed then already were as follows:

· employers are looking for adaptability and creativity;

• pupils must understand their world, their talents, and how to use them to be active, compassionate citizens;

• knowing THAT is far less critical than knowing HOW.

Albert Schleicher (secretary general of the OECD) commented that “Google knows everything. The world economy pays you for what you can DO with what you know.”

All of this talks to an active learning process for our children; a process which is punctuated by discovery, possibility, resilience (no, you don’t always get the subject teacher you hoped for or your friends in the same class or the convenient answer you were looking for, but the sun will rise tomorrow) and a capacity to meet challenges confidently, creatively and with flexibility. Yet again, this leads me back to encouraging parents to allow your children to be scratched by difficulty and challenge; instead of trying to solve their challenges for them, give them time and space to work through the challenges and difficulties themselves. As adults, then, we shift from being the Sage on the Stage to being the Guide on the Side.

Indeed, as adults we must remain supportive and present; that is childhood’s safety benefit. But if we try to protect them from challenge and difficulty, we cripple them for life. Thus, may we be granted the wisdom and courage to allow our young people the space, freedom and opportunity to DO adolescence. In doing so, we’ll empower them to figure out the HOW.  

 

Thank you to all those who attended our Parent Information evening. We trust you found it worthwhile.

It is with much sadness that I inform you that Candice Mordecai-Jones, our SP music and drama teacher, will be leaving us at the end of the term to join her husband who has already left to take up a position in Adelaide, Australia. She has contributed much to our Cultural Department in the time she has been with us. This post is being advertised with the closing date being this week Wednesday. If you know of anyone who may be interested, they can visit the advert on the ISASA website and send CVs to cv@thomasmore.co.za.

Thank you to her and Mrs Ramasamy for the choir camp on Friday which the pupils thoroughly enjoyed.

Parents are welcome to support those children taking part in the Championship Gala tomorrow afternoon. The children need to meet at 16:00, with the gala running from 16:30 to about 18:00. The coffee shop, Café de More, will be open and there will be a mobile tuck-shop, probably near the cloakrooms accessible to the pupils. A supper type of food will also be available to purchase.

All the best to our Grade 7 pupils who have elected to do the Zenith public speaking course, which starts today at 17:30 in the library.

We have a number of staff attending Kagan workshops on social co-operative learning for effective learning and engaging all pupils. A few will be away today and others on Thursday and substitutes have been put into those teachers’ classes. We are privileged at TMC to have active staff development programmes in the best interests of what we do and deliver, so would value your support in this.

Our goal is to develop our children to be confident, happy and well-adjusted children who will cope well in the changing world of tomorrow, as voiced at our info meeting. We also want children to become intrinsically motivated. Children's self-worth develops as an aside from working hard, surmounting frustrations, and overcoming obstacles. Honest praise provides children with the opportunity to gain a realistic understanding of their strengths and weaknesses. In order to feel strong, confident and independent, children must receive truthful valuation. Children, who have grown accustomed to continuous applause, may develop anxiety about their abilities, a fear of failure, a reluctance to try new things, and be ill-prepared to cope with future setbacks.

Effective praise focuses on a child's effort rather than on what is actually accomplished. When educators, and parents, give genuine praise that is specific, spontaneous and well-deserved, it encourages continuous learning and decreases competition among students. We need to think in terms of acknowledgment and encouragement rather than praise. Praise helps most when it conveys not only approval but information about the progress a child is making. For example,"You have been trying so hard to learn those new facts and now you know all about it!"

Wishing you all the best for the week ahead. Please remember class and individual photos tomorrow and make sure your child is neatly dressed.

 

Thank you for wonderful attendance at our Parents’ Evenings last week. Your involvement and support is valued and appreciated by us and goes a long way to making the children feel happy and secure. This year we are striving for children who are independent and self motivated. I came across this interesting and very relevant article from Tracy Enright.

Here are some ways that parents can help to foster self motivation:

Encourage Optimism - Have a positive outlook on life – this will encourage your child to do the same. Focus on finding a solution to problems, rather than dwelling on an incident..

Encourage Persistence - Reward effort rather than just success. You will help your child to developthe resilience they’ll need to face failure and to keep on trying until there is a measure of success.

Deal With Failure - Teach your child to accept that sometimes they will fail. Showing them how to lose or win gracefully, will give them the ability to deal with and move forward from, setbacks later in life.

Encourage Interests - Children who have a range of interests will be exposed to different opportunities. Combined with a good work-life balance, this will make the less-interesting tasks they face less demoralising and easier to face.

Celebrate Achievement - Knowing how to celebrate and enjoy success, both their own and others’, will give your child something positive to aim for.

Make Success Possible - Give your child the opportunity to be successful and experience the positive emotions that go with it. Supporting and guiding them will help build the self-esteem that is vital to self-motivation.

Foster Their Interests - Encouraging a child to learn about things that interest them will allow them to better understand the concepts they learn at school, especially if you’re creative about the way you link their interest to learning. Pacing out the length of their favourite dinosaur or measuring ingredients for baking will help them understand size or volume without it feeling like another Maths lesson.

Adapt to Their Learning Style - Some children will sit and listen to new information. Others want to pick things up and use them straight away. Adapting to their preferred way of learning will keep learning fun and not a chore.

By starting early and encouraging your child in the right way, you can help them develop a trait that will be useful to them for the rest of their lives.

Remember to "Prepare your child for the Path, not the path for your child."

Looking forward to a happy and successful term together.  

 

Weekly Achievers 

Will resume next week.

Tap Dancing

Congratulations to the following children who all received Distinctions for their I.S.T.D. Tap Dance examination – Lauren Bigalke, Alessandro Buccimazza, Sarah Clark, Emma Croucamp, Sienna Raath, Tara Saint and Sebastian Watson.

Cycling

The cycling season has already started with Provincial and National events over the past 2 weekends.

This weekend is a schools Track cycling event in Durban and on the 11 February the ever popular Wartburg Classic which has distances for all ages (10 km right up to the 65Km)

Well done to the following TMC pupils for some great results:

KZN Road Champs - Courtney Smith (Grade 11) was 2nd in the Girls U19 Time Trial;  Reece McCallum (Grade 9) was consistent with a 3rd place in both the Road race and Time Trial.

SA Downhill Mountain biking - Cape Town 29 January 2017 -  Keagan Brand (Grade 6 ) rode well on a dry and dusty course to place 3rd in the Sprogs (U13) age category.

Well done to all our cyclists.

Indoor Hockey

Congratulations to Keagan Olivier who has been selected as part of the U16 SA All stars team and will participate in a Quadrangular tournament from 10 - 12 March.  They will be playing against the U19 Boys team and Inland U19 Boys and the SA Senior ladies Indoor team.  Well done Keagan.

1^st Team Cricket

TMC 1^st Team 233/6 (Meikle 55*, Davies 39, Price 31, Murugan 30). Treverton 87 all out (Kriegisch 3/16, Price 3/12) TMC won by 146 runs.

U14A Cricket

Treverton U14A 98 all out (Simon 3/14) TMC 99/1 (Davey 51 no). TMC won by 9 wickets.

U15A Cricket

Treverton U15A 101/8 (Fallet 2/15). TMC 102/6 (Riddle 22, Fallet 20). TMC won by 4 wickets.

Boys' Water Polo

TMC Juniors beat St. Henry's Juniors 8-3.

TMC 1st Team beat St. Henry's 14-1.

TMC U15A lost to WBHS 11-1

TMC 1st Team lost to WBHS 17-5.

Golf

TMC 1^st beat Glenwood 2^nd 6-2

Girls’ Indoor Hockey

TMC U14B drew to Kloof U14A 0-0.

TMC U16B beat Gelofte U16A 5-0.

TMC U16B beat Kloof U16B 5-1.

TMC U16A beat Crawford LL U16A 1-0

TMC U16A drew to Maris Stella U16A 1-1

TMC 1^st Team beat Hillcrest 1^st Team 5-2

TMC 1^st Team beat Crawford NC 1^st Team 11-0

Softball

Congratulations to Jessica-Leigh Nozaic (U15B) who participated in the Inter-Provincial Schools Softball Tournament in Pretoria in December.