News from the Horse's Mouth
Newsletter 09
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Please find the Scripture for the week here.
Classified - Please remember to visit our Classifieds on a monthly basis to see new advertisers and possible specials. General Tuck Shop reminders to parentsPlease note Online Tuck Shop orders need be placed a day in advance - when placing an order for two children in different phases, please remember to enter their name and grade, and which items are for each child. HS Tuck Shop - soft drinks available at 2nd break and after school only SP Tuck Shop - soft drinks available after school only
Zapper will be available at both Tuckshops and the Coffee Shops from Wednesday 15 March
PS Drop Off Zone Please be mindful when dropping or collecting children - the area along the perimeter of the PS parking area is a drop off zone and not a long term parking space - parking in this area causes a backlog of traffic in peak traffic times - thank you for your understanding.
Have a great week, |
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I was reminded the other day what the difference so often is between God and us: people leave you when trouble comes. However, God says He will be our help in times of trials and what a promise that is. So often in the world when we think we have so many friends but the moment trouble comes they seem to vanish into thin air. Sadly enough people will let us down for we live in a broken world and when they let us down, we need to be forgiving. For even Jesus in His most desperate hour, when He needed His closes friends the most, they had fled. For our hopes do not lie in people but in God: “I lift up my eyes to the mountains where does my help come from? ”My help comes from theLord, the Maker of heaven and earth” Psalm 121:1. Shalom (peace) |
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One of the most effective ways that we can make a difference in the lives of others is to assist them with an education. Our own school is the best product that we can offer. The Thomas More Education Trust provides funds which, among other things provide scholarships to Thomas More College. In partnership with The Matthew Willman Arts Trust, The Thomas More Education Trust has the huge privilege of hosting the first South African exhibition of the photographic collection by past pupil Matthew Willman of his photographs of Nelson Mandela. This exhibition, “A Significant Life” has only ever been on display overseas. It has thus far been in Cincinnati, Munich, Cologne, Berlin, Antwerp, Paris, London, Tromso, Cardiff, Dublin, Regensburg and Sydney. The first South African showing will be from 18 to 21 April in our own Habberton Hall (programmed pictured left). Various events will take place, including a gala evening on Wednesday 19th April. This will be a "good food and wine" event with tasting of the products of Middlevlei and Momberg from the Stellenbosch region. We will be taught some of the finer aspects of appreciating good wine by Ben Momberg who will be traveling up from the estate for our event. Parents will be notified as soon as tickets for this special evening become available. Proceeds will be shared by the Thomas More Education Trust and the Willman Arts Trust. Matthew has kindly donated a limited edition, framed photograph of Madiba, which we are using to raise funds in the form of a raffle draw - these forms will go out during the week to eldest and only children, we look forward to your support in this most worthwhile cause.
If you enjoy glamour, then do not miss out on the “arrivals” for the Matric Dance on Saturday evening. You will be able to watch the couples arrive from 17h20. There is also something for the men as the modes of transport generally include some of the most desirable cars in Durban. Due to time pressures, there will not be an opportunity to view the Hall décor on Friday after school. Viewing will however be possible on Saturday afternoon from 14h00 to 16h00. The new Senior Primary block is nearing completion and will be handed over at the end of March. We will move in during the holidays and the building will be used from the beginning of the second term. The new block will be named after Gordon Burnett who held various positions on the Board of Trustees for many years. Gordon passed away last year after a long illness. The Block provides three additional teaching venues for the Senior Primary as well as a complete makeover of the three existing classrooms. All six classrooms will now have storerooms and outstanding technology facilities.  Shane Cuthbertson |
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What an outstanding evening we enjoyed at school last week Thursday for the inter-house One-Act Plays. I was bowled over by the depth and breadth of performance manifested by many of the young people on stage. Similarly, I felt immense pride about the deftness of the lighting and sound work, along with the understated slickness of the backstage hands. All in all, I must laud Mrs Conradie and Mrs Logan for allowing their charges the space and freedom to explore their respective scripts and to make decisions regarding the staging thereof. This week we celebrate alongside our Grade 12s as they gear up for their Matric Dance this coming weekend. It is always a special event into which much time and thought have been invested. Mrs Brehany, Mrs Wight, Mr Wight, Mrs Moffat and their teams have been hard at work to ensure a memorable, joy-filled event for our Grade 12s. I must also express my gratitude to the Grade 11s on our Matric Dance Committee for the hours of work behind the scenes. Our Grade 9s are busy with “Human Rights' Week” under the auspices of the History Department. Whilst the novelty of it is still fresh, they will feel the burden of being labelled the untermenschen by the end of the week. I will report on this programme of empathy in some detail next week. I wish all our families a peaceful and restful long weekend.  David Wiggett |
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Well done to all our Senior Primary swimmers for their determination and good sportsmanship at the Boys’ and Girls’ Highway “A” Zone gala last Tuesday. Their results were rewarded by our staying in this zone for next year. Thank you to all the coaches and to the parents who supported. Personally I was thrilled to watch them in action and was impressed by both their attitude and drive. It was most heartening to attend the entire school Outreach Assembly last week Wednesday and to hear from Philip Lanz how much money was raised for those less privileged – this despite the present economic situation and the heat our children encountered on the day making laps more challenging. This money is put to such good use with our vast Outreach programme and certainly makes a difference in the lives of those less fortunate than we are. I was further blown away when two of our Grade 7 pupils, Talayah Chetty and Umika Nathoo roped in a number of their Grade 7 friends and produced a skit at short notice on promoting our Wednesday bread buddy initiative. I do hope our children will personally respond from the heart and get up that bit earlier to make an extra sandwich to bring for a child in the Valley of a 1000 Hills on a Wednesday. While it was disappointing that our Grade 4 and 5 Sunset Proms had to use our scheduled rain date, due to inclement weather, we were blessed with ideal weather conditions on the Saturday. The evening was positively magical and thoroughly enjoyed by all those who attended. This included past and future staff in Mrs Chiles and our new music teacher Mr Sherwin Ganasen and his fiancée. Thank you to all those who came to support and congratulations to those who took part as well as to all those who had the confidence to audition- even if your item was not selected. It was an enchanting evening which showcased a wide variety of cultural excellence. A huge thank you to our Mrs Ramasamy, Mrs Mordecai Jones, Mrs Lizanne Watson and Mr Gary Balarin for all the work done in so many ways to make the evening memorable! Well done to our Grade 7 Zenith Speakers who took part in their Zenith Graduation last night. Our cricketers play their final cricket match of the season against our old travelling friends from the UK, Papplewick, this Saturday, despite it being a long week-end. We trust you enjoy the Monday and Tuesday off and look forward to our Long distance inter-house gala on the Wednesday afternoon we return. Wishing you all the best for the week ahead. Please do take the time to complete the online parent survey per phase. This will help us to take stock of where we are and progress further.  Barbara Taljard |
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Weekly Achievers
Kindly sponsored by Wetrock Adventures - visit www.wetrockadventuresco.za for further info.
IMAS Congratulations to the following pupils who were awarded IMAS certificates: Electra Balidis Conall Steenkamp Connor Harris Ethan Cook Julia van Tonder Jack Bamber Kieran Pearton Liam Theunissen Keegan Hutcheson Matthew Reinecke Alexandra Lutz Erin Simpkins Dylan Thomas Special congratulations to Connor Harris, Ethan Cook and Jack Bamber who qualify to go to India. Well done boys.
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HS One Act Plays Congratulations to all involved in the One Act Plays. Winning Play: Figment - Savory (Directors: Alexandra de Swart, Helen Descoins and Sisekelo Mthethwa) Audience Favourite: Circus - Hurley (Directors: Daniel Shewell, Jordyn Williams, Grace Mayo and Robynne van der Merwe) Best Actor: Guy Vaubell - Hurley Best Actress: Kellen Daniels - Savory Adjudicator Award for Best Choice of Script: The Babysitter's Story - Dalberg (Directors: Kim Jooste, Lindie Crous and Carrie Bennett) Adjudicators' Award for Comedic Acting: Sarah Gonggryp - Savory Adjudicators' Award for Sustained and Developed Character Work: Stephanie Tshuma - Savory
Debating The Junior team consisting of Kellen Daniels, Andani Mashige and Ben Boulle, won their debate against Glenwood 1. Ben received best Speaker. Our Grade 8 team narrowly lost to Curro HCA.
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BMX Well done to Bryce Fuchs (Gr 1) and Levi Smith (Gr 1) who both took part in the finals of the BMX Club Champs on Sunday at Queensburgh BMX track. Bryce placed 3rd in the U7 Novice Class and Levi placed 2nd in the U7/U8 expert class. Both boys rode like champs. Their club (Lahee Park BMX club) placed 2nd in both the A and B Team competitions. Well done boys.
KZN Nippers Congratulations to Dayna Deeble who competed at the KZN Nipper champs. Dayna received 1st in Bodyboard, 2nd in Beach Flags, Beach Sprints and Run Swim Run, 4th in Mali racing board and 4th in the long run. Dayna was also awarded the U11 Female Competitor of the Championships. Well done Dayna.
KZN Cricket Congratulations to the following boys who have made it through to the final round of U13 PADSSA Cricket trials: Nathan Riddle Imani Motsoahae Tyrelle Reddy Well done boys.
Congratulations to Umika Nathoo who has been selected for the U13 PADSSA Girls' Cricket Team. Well done Umika.
Swimming Congratulations to Naomi Smith who placed 3rd in the Butterfly race at the Seals Club Maritzburg gala. Well done Naomi.
Karate Congratulations to Connor Harris for being awarded a silver medal in Kumite at the SA Karate Champs. Well done Connor.
SP 1st XI Cricket vs Crawford Crawford 97 all out, Shepstone 3 for 17 TMPS 99 for 6, Reddy 20 TMPS won by 4 wickets
SP U10A Cricket vs Crawford U10A TMPS - 46 Crawford - 50/4 Connor Mackinon 3 overs 7 runs 2 weeks TMPS lost by 6 wickets.
SP U10B Cricket vs Crawford Crawford went into bat first and scored 72/6 after 20 overs. TMPS then went into bat needing 73 to win after 20 overs, we chased down the runs within 16.4 overs. We scored 73/6 after 16.4 overs. Our top batsmen were: Snqobile Ndawo scoring 11 Adam Essey scoring 13 James Harrison scoring 9 Dhruv Kalicharan scoring the winning runs as he came in to bat. There was great running between the wickets but unfortunately these were team runs as were the byes and over throws and running off no balls. The communication between the boys was spoton. TMPS won by 4 wickets.
SP 3rd Team Cricket vs Crawford Crawford batted 1st scoring 42 all out J. Cleland 3 overs 4 runs 3 wickets E. Ferreira 3 overs 5 runs 2 wickets Z. Lawrence 2 overs 0 runs 2 wickets M. Scott 3 overs 8 runs 2 wickets TMPS batted 2nd scoring 43 for 3 wickets in 8 overs Thomas More 3rds won by 7 wickets
SP 4th Team Cricketvs Westville TMPS batted 1st scoring 38 all out Westville batting 2nd scored 39 for 3 wickets D. Upton 3 overs 17 runs 2 wickets Westville won by 7 wickets
KZN Climbing Bouldering A League: U15 Boys' Faran Steenkamp 2nd U17 Boys' Brendan Kuhnert 3rd, Josh Munstermann 1st U19 Boys' Rowan Hendry 3rd, Daniel Bentley 2nd U19 Girls' Amy Freeman 2nd B League: U17 Boys' Ben Robbins 2nd, Joel Robb 3rd U17 Girls' Lindie Cross 1st U19 Boys' Ryan Loubser-Goldblatt 1st Thomas More College came 2nd overall. Selection for the Nationals in Cape Town: Jenna Bentley Amy Freeman Faran Steenkamp Brendan Kuhnert Keshav Gounden Daniel Bentley Joshua Munstermann
Equestrian Congratulations to Tyler Jelf who rode Curlin's Cousin with 3 clear 1m showjumping rounds and was placed in both 1m High School show jumping classes riding for Thomas More in SANESA Qualifier 2. Well done Tyler.
HS Girls’ Tennis TMC 1st Team vs Reddam Umhlanga – lost 10-18
HS Boys’ Hockey TMC U14A vs Glenwood U14B - drew 1-1 TMC U16A vs Glenwood U16B - won 4-2 TMC 1st Team vs Glenwood 2nds - won 1-0
HS Girls’ Hockey TMC U14A vs Voortrekker - won 3-1 TMC U14A vs The Wykeham Collegiate - drew 0-0 TMC U14A vs Epworth - lost 1-0 TMC U14A vs St. John’s - lost 1-0 TMC U16A vs The Wykeham Collegiate - drew 0-0 TMC U16A vs St. Anne’s - drew 0-0 TMC U16A vs St. John’s DSG - won 1-0
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“God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble” Psalm 46:1
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Outreach plays an important role in the education of pupils at Thomas More College. It is not just about giving of goods or funds. Our
Outreach programme is about fostering a sense of empathy in the pupils of Thomas More College. Where possible we do Outreach by engagement with the community. Like so many things in education, pupils are initially involved with activities like outreach because they have to be. They then often end up becoming more involved because they enjoy it and feel a sense of self-worth. They find that they can make a difference in the lives of people who are less fortunate. At our
Sponsored Walk assembly last week we heard that the Sponsored Walk raised R185 000. Except for some requests for donations to specific charities, the sponsored walk funds will cover our Outreach funds for the year. This is in fact a very small amount in comparison to what we spend on ourselves as a school.
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