Keep your lives free from the love of money, and be content with what you have, for God has said, "I will never leave you or abandon you." Hence we can confidently say, "The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can anyone do to me?" Hebrews 13:5-6

This scripture has been playing on my mind for a number of months as it deals with the issue of being content. “Contentment " means “desiring no more than what one has” or to be “satisfied”. If one is content with what one has and has no desire for more, then greed and covetousness would no longer be a problem. Paul wrote that "...godliness with contentment is great gain." 1 Timothy 6:6.

The above scripture gives us the key to be content. God has promised never to leave or forsake us. With Jesus at our side what can people do to us (1 John 4:4) as He reminds that we are of greater value to God than the birds and flowers, if He cares for them how much more will He care for us (Matthew 6:25-32)? In Matthew 6:33 Jesus tells we need to put God’s will first in our lives and as sure as He made “little green apples” the rest will follow. He will provide for what we need.

The Sponsored Walk was certainly not blessed with ideal weather last Friday. Temperatures were well into the thirties and it was a tough challenge. The Long Walk and Sponsored Walk have however prepared our children to take on difficult tasks and there was a wonderful spirit. Funds raised at this event support our whole Outreach program. We do not commit any school fees to Outreach so I do hope that sponsors give generously to this cause. We really are very fortunate and it is vital that our children see that their efforts can make a big difference to those communities that have very little.

Recent assessments have shown an encouraging improvement in South African Mathematics and Science results -

The Human Science Research Council released results of the 2015 TIMSS (Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study) at the DBE (Department of Basic Education) Conference Centre on 29 November 2016.

TIMSS is an international assessment of the Mathematics and Science knowledge of fourth and eighth grade students around the world.

Thirty-six countries participated in TIMSS 2015 at the Grade 8 level and three countries at the Grade 9 level (Norway, Botswana and South Africa). Of the learners who participated in TIMSS 2015, 65% attended public no-fee schools, 31% public fee-paying schools and 4% independent schools.

South Africa is the second lowest country with the following average scale scores:

• 372 in Mathematics; and 371 in Science.

It is worth noting however that South Africa has shown the biggest positive change, with an improvement of 90 points in Science and 87 points in Mathematics.

In TIMSS 2015, the Mathematics scores and standard errors for the different school types are:

• public no-fee schools 341 (3.3) points;

• public fee-paying schools 423 (10.0); and

• independent schools 477 (11.5)

For Science the average scores are:

• public no-fee schools 317 (4.2);

• public fee-paying schools 425 (11.9); and

• independent schools 485 (11.8)

It must be noted that 36 countries represent a small sample of the world. I would like to think that many countries with low standards of education prefer to avoid international benchmarking exercises such as this. Perhaps we are not quite as close to the bottom as is often stated. Certainly the independent schools are out performing the state schools by a large margin.

 

Leadership simply cannot be defined as one thing; it isn’t. And in our ever-morphing society, leadership finds expression in a myriad of ways and contexts. I’ve attested before that I believe every child is a leader in one form or another. Similarly, though, so is every teacher.

Yesterday, Mr Mike Russell – Head of Bridge House in Franschoek in the Western Cape – led a staff workshop on Leadership. He guided the staff through a variety of tasks, discussions, and both self- and collective-reflection episodes. We also looked at innovation in education, the values and vision required for moral and decisive leadership, and explored the critical status of trust as a precursor for effective and dynamic leadership. It was an excellent workshop and I look forward to many of the themes covered becoming manifest in due course here at Thomas More College.

This Saturday we host our annual Open Day. I am looking forward to hosting not only our own Grade 7s and their parents, but the scores of visitors too to experience our wonderful campus and atmosphere. In advance, I want to thank the staff and pupils who have bandied their efforts together in preparation for a wonderful day for our visitors to the high school. Once again, I can unashamedly share with you the pride and joy I experience as being a member of this school community.

In closing, please be on the lookout before the end of term for our “Homegrown” invitation to parents and alumni. We are looking to cover particular “themes” for this year’s Homegrown Exhibition (i.e. Design Technology, Entrepreneurship, Professional careers, Information Technology etc.). Thus, when the invitation is forthcoming, I am looking forward to an enthused response.

Have a wonderful week.

 

Thank you to all those Grade 6 and 7 parents who made the effort to attend the Heads’ talk on Thursday morning in our hall. I do know many of you are already committed to TMC for your child’s High School path or already have a sibling at TMC so know much of what is on offer. Education is dynamic, so our product is also constantly improving and evolving. As such, we do encourage you to attend our High School Open day this Saturday at 09:00 to find out more and experience it for yourself. We truly believe we offer MORE and equip your child MORE for the world of tomorrow.

We hope that you had an enjoyable mid-term break and spent some quality time together as a family and are reinvigorated for the rest of the term. Those who are new to TMC should also have received or be receiving some feedback from your child’s class teacher as to how your child is settling in. Our Grade 4s receive an interim report, which will go out today.

A reminder that from today until Thursday we are doing eye screening where we have received your permission to do so. Should you not have responded and see the need for this, please notify Mrs Vosters cvosters@thomasmore.co.za in the AEU asap

It was great to see our youngsters enthusiastically completing laps in our sponsored walk on Friday; many accompanied by, or urged on by parents and/or High School pupils. On the initiative of the MLC (Matric Leadership council) the Senior Primary grade walked the first lap with the High School grade which would be their MLC group when they are in Grade 8. This type of unity across the school is so heartwarming. I also thoroughly enjoyed seeing our pupils warmly give encouragement, hugs and support to others. Most pupils made every effort to walk as many laps as possible, despite the heat! – all for a good cause! We hope this will raise a bumper amount for our worthy Outreach programme. Please do return your forms indicating how much money can be debited to your account.

Please do remember our important Open Days this week: Friday for the PP, JP and the SP and Saturday for the HS, all starting at 09:00. We would love you to encourage your friends who may be interested to attend.

Wishing you all the best for the busy week ahead. Please note that the D & D gala next week Tuesday (28/02) is at King’s Park and not at HCA, starting at 13:00. 

 

 What an incredibly hot day the Sponsored Walk turned out to be! This certainly didn't deter the children from doing their best and some very pleasing results were achieved with everyone participating enthusiastically. Thank you to all parents who managed to turn out for this festive day and walk with your children.

It is hard to believe that we are at half term and at the end of February already! It felt like I was Christmas shopping just the other day.The second half of the term promises to go by just as quickly with many items to keep us busy. So far, the children have really settled well to the demands of the term and participation in sport is pleasing.

Our Grade 1s begin sport after half term and this is always a testing time for parents as the children are tired after a full day at school - this will pass and you will have your cheerful sausage back in no time once they also get into the swing of things.

Last year our Grade 3 children wrote an International Benchmarking Test in English, Maths and Science through an Australian testing mechanism. This was the first year we have participated in an international test and we did so with a little trepidation, not knowing what to expect. Needless to say, we were unable to teach to the test, so the children were not prepared for the tests in any way, except for the routine teaching that they had received. However, the recently received results from these tests have made us incredibly proud of our children's performance. Our Grade 3 children scored comfortably higher in all 3 papers than South African schools as well as International schools with the accolades of distinctions, higher distinctions and honours being achieved in all subjects by a number of pupils. The academic content of these tests was way above that of the government ANAs and in analysing the data, proves that our children are being taught to think and to solve problems. Well done Grade 3 teachers and children!

Colin Powell: "There are no secrets to success . It is the result of preparation, hard work and learning from failure."

 

Weekly Achievers 

Kindly sponsored by Wetrock Adventures - visit www.wetrockadventuresco.za for further info.

Debating

The Seniors (Nicholas Leisegang, Jordan Pieters and Sarah Gonggryp) won their debate against Holy Family College. Nicholas was awarded Best Speaker. Well done to all speakers.

Scouts

Jethro McKenzie received his Leaping Wolf badge. It is the highest award that a Cub can achieve. He has since "gone up" to Scouts and is working on his advancement badges there.  Well done Jethro. 

Karate

Connor Harris received two gold medals (one for kata and one for kumite) in the JKA Provincial Championships held on Sunday.
He has been selected for the JKA KZN team that will participate in JHB for the JKA Nationals on 19/20 May.
He will also be representing KZN in the World Karate Federation Nationals to be held in Durban on 3/4 March.

Well done Connor.
 

SP U10 Cricket vs St Henry's

St Henry's 46/8

Nathan Valentine 3o 2r 3w

Connor Mackinon 4o 16r 2w

James Evans 4o 3r 0w

TMC - 47/7

Brunton Bigalke 15*

TMPS won by 3 Wickets

SP Cricket vs Kloof U10B

TMPS went in to bat first and we scored 107/4 after 20 overs.

Our top batsmen were Aiden Smith 25 not out and retired and Josh Fitzpatrick 19 not out and retired.

Kloof then went in to bat needing 108 to win after 20 overs, they managed to score 63/4 after 20 overs. TMPS won by 44 runs.

SP U11A Cricket vs St Henry's

Thomas More batted first and scored 120/4 in 20 overs

Ryan Browning 62 not out; Alex Jackson 9 not out; Bryan Ireland 12; Max Buchan 10

St Henry's scored 58 all out in 20 overs

Phila Nkosi 4 overs 7/5; Max Buchan 2 overs 6/1; Miguel De Freitas 2 overs 7/1 ; Ryan Browning 2 overs 4/0, Brayden Doran 1 over 0/0,

Adam Gray 2 overs 5/0; Ross Hoffman 1 over 0/1; Jason Reed 2 overs 7/2; Aphiwe Manci 1 over 5/0; Connor Mackinnon 2 overs 12/0. Thomas More won by 62 runs.

BMX

Congratulations to Bryce Fuchs (Grade 1) for taking part in his 1st BMX race in PMB this past Sunday. Bryce managed to hold a steady start out the gates. His Lahee Park team mates are very proud of him. Well done Bryce. Levi Smith (Grade 1) placed 3rd in the final moto of the day, and is now racing against a full gate of U7 and U8 boys. Well done Levi. Lahee Park managed to clinch 1st place in the B team scoring, and 2nd in the A team scoring. The next BMX Club points race takes place at Lahee Park on Sunday 26 Feb.

FP Swimming

Congratulations to Keira Browning on achieving her level 2 times for the following strokes:

50m & 100m freestyle

50m & 100m breaststroke

50m & 100m backstroke

50m & 100m butterfly

This is an amazing achievement.

Surfing

Congratulations to Sam Daniel (Grade 8) who has been selected for KZN surfing and will be attending Grom Games in PE in March.  Well done Sam.

HS Golf

TMC 1^st Team lost to Gelofte 2-6

HS Girls’ Tennis:

TMC 1st Team beat New Forest 28-8

HS Girls’ Indoor Hockey

TMC U14B 0 Northlands U14A 4

TMC U14A 1 Danville U14A 2

TMC U16B 0 St. Henry’s U16A 1

TMC U16A 1 Fatima U16A 3

TMC 2nds 3 Hillcrest 2nds 2

TMC 1^st Team 4 DGHS 1

HS Boys’ Water Polo

TMC U14A 4 Kloof Junior 2

TMC 1^st Team 18 Kloof 1

HS Girls’ Water Polo

TMC U14A 12 Kloof Junior 2

TMC 1^st Team 14 Kloof 1

HS Cricket

TMC 1st Team 160/4 (Blythen 68*, Murugan 36). Pinetown 48 all out. TMC won by 112 runs.

TMC U14A 101 (Brimelow 23). Pinetown 61 all out (Rhind 4/16). TMC won by 40 runs.

TMC U14B 119/1 (Govender 28*). Kloof 26 all out (King 6/10). TMC won by 93 runs.

TMC U14A 220/1 (Brimelow 85*, Davey 82*). Kloof 66 all out (Dedekind 4/3 hat trick). TMC won by 154 runs.

Kloof U15A 227/7 (Nkosi 3/34). TMC 44 all out. TMC lost by 183 runs.

Kloof 2nds 227/4 (Buchanan 2/30, Masondo 1/24). TMC 97 all out. TMC lost by 130 runs.

Kloof 1st Team 162 all out (Davies 3/52). TMC 163/8 (Olivier 51, Blythen 30). TMC won by 2 wickets.