Therefore, whatever you want people to do for you, do the same for them, for this is the Law and the Prophets." Matthew 7:12

Last week the History department, organised a Human Rights' week for the school. In which the Grade 9s (and some teachers) were the targets for discrimination and prejudice, as they are currently studying WWII and the Holocaust. The aim being that they would begin to understand the horror that so many innocent people suffered just because they were a different race, religion or creed. The most important aspect of this exercise for me was: Did any of the other Grades draw alongside the Grade 9s to help them? Sadly enough hardly any did, this was also true for what happened during the Holocaust. At Yad Vashem the Holocaust museum in Jerusalem, there is a list of Gentiles (non-Jews) called ‘The Righteous Amongst The Nations’ who saved Jews from being exterminated by the Nazis. There are only about 10 000 people recognised so far, out of a wartime European population of approx. 500 million. Jesus tells us we need to treat people as we would like be treated. Sounds simple enough but in reality we struggle to treat people as we would like be treated and we always seem to have justifiable reasons not too. In John 15:12 Jesus says: "This is my commandment: that you love one another as I have loved you”.  There’s the crux of Jesus message to us: It’s a commandment - we don’t have many options, if we are a Christian - we can’t say no and as a gentle reminder to all of us Easter is just around the corner and we are again confronted by God’s love for us: the cross - that He gave up His life for us.

Things do not stand still at Thomas More College for too long. After the excitement of the Matric Dance last Saturday, we now have the Long Walk ahead of us. The logistical challenge of changing the route has been dealt with and a number of communications have been sent out to the parent body. Marshalls and stop helpers should by now also have heard from their co-ordinators. The children have also been briefed in their various assemblies. It looks like it could be cold and a bit wet on the day. That will in many respects be easier for the walkers as the baking heat that we have had on some previous walks is very debilitating.

The term calendar for the 2018 academic year has now been posted on the website http://www.thomasmore.co.za/index.php?page=TermDates

 

 Thomas More College just continues to produce wonderful memories.

The History Department led our Grade 9s through a deeply empathic learning opportunity last week. Linked to the Holocaust of World War II, all Grade 9s were issued with “untermenschen” papers. There were certain areas of the school which were forbidden to them, and there were extra regulations to be adhered to which limited their Human Rights. As the week wore on, the novelty wore off and many of the Grade 9s became quite introspective about their rights. The week culminated on Friday whereby a million matches were put in a pile just below the Music School. Each Grade 9 was then allocated a number of matches which represented their nearest and dearest, added those to the pile in procession, and then it was lit. The silence that followed as we observed the matches burning – each one representing a human existence – was appropriately haunting and grave.

I must thank the History Department and, in particular Mr Maurice, for spearheading this valuable exercise for our Grade 9s.

Our Matric Dance was simply outstanding on Saturday night. Our young ladies and gentlemen were tastefully glamorous; the Hall was an American Diner wonderland; most significantly, the sense of togetherness that I witnessed amongst the matrics throughout the evening was superb. Again, my sincere thanks is extended to Mrs Brehany, Mrs Bonella, Mrs Coombs, Mrs Wight, Mr Wight, Mrs Moffat, the Grade 11s of the MDC and all of their respective staff teams. It was indeed a most memorable event.

Lastly, I wish to alert all parents and alumni that our first “Homegrown” letter will be emailed out before the end of next week regarding the exhibition at the end of next term. The letter will outline the careers/job description areas to which we are particularly keen to expose our Grade 9s and 11s. This initiative will definitely empower our young people exponentially in terms of positioning them pro-actively to consider the world of work which they are fast-approaching.

I wish you all a wonderful week ahead, and look forward to seeing many of you during the Long Walk.

 

I do hope you all had an enjoyable and restful long weekend.  Thank you to all those parents who took the time to complete the parent survey online as part of our IQAA process. We have come a long way since our last evaluation and were able to use the results of the surveys to be proactive and address several aspects where we were not as good as we could be. We hope to do the same with the results of this survey.

A big thank you to all those parents who hosted boys from Papplewick, our long-standing UK friends. Much fun was had by all and good cricket was played on Saturday resulting in a win for TMC. The boys also thoroughly enjoyed the outing to the Sharks game.

I also know many of our SP pupils popped in to see the Habberton Hall which was transformed into a magical setting for our Grade 12s matric dance. While our girls were blown away by how beautiful the girls all looked (and will probably attend the fashion evening tonight to get a further peek), our boys were enthralled with the different modes of transport. It is always exciting to see our past primary school pupils so grown up!

The inter-house gala takes place tomorrow from 08:00 to about 12:30. Once again parents are most welcome to attend. Children will then be dismissed by their class teachers from their classes after the gala at 13:00 and will be able to go home early. There will be no extra-murals of any kind on Thursday except for rugby squad training for PADSSA trials from 13:15 to 14:45 and tennis matches versus Curro Mount Richmore.

Please could parents of choir children be aware that because Mrs Ramasamy, Mrs Mordecai-Jones and Mr Balarin will be taking our choir to the Hillcrest Easter festival on Tuesday evening the 28^th of March, they will only be available for interviews from 15:30 to 17:00, otherwise please make an alternate time to see them bearing in mind that the 28^th is Mrs Mordecai-Jones’s last day. (She leaves for Australia on the Wednesday).

This Saturday is our compulsory Long Walk, which is taking place at school this year, starting at 08:00 for the SP. Children need to be in their classes at 07:30 to register and collect their bibs. Mr Graham Hooper has sent out detailed correspondence in this regard and has communicated much with the children in assembly this morning. Only those who have registered will be allowed along the track to avoid congestion, but there will be many opportunities in the loops the pupils are walking to show support for them and to encourage them. Walkers will however not be able to deviate from the route and will need to use toilets provided and food on route. Thank you to all those assisting on the day. Should you not have offered your services and still be willing to assist please do contact Rae at school.

You will be notified when the first term interim reports are available for downloading online through the parent portal, but this is likely to be around 14:00 on Monday 27^th March.

Wishing you all the best for the short, penultimate week ahead.  

 

Weekly Achievers 

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

Ballet

Congratulations to Leah Allen who was one of 2 girls selected to represent KZN at the Cecchetti International Ballet Competition held in Johannesburg. Leah was one of only 6 South African girls at this competition. Congratulations on your remarkable achievement.

Debating

Our Senior Debating Team (Nicholas Leisegang, Jordan Pieters and Sarah Gonggryp) have won their fourth debate in a row. They competed against Brettonwood yesterday afternoon and won convincingly. Our youngest speaker in the team, Sarah Gonggryp, was awarded Best Speaker.

Equestrian

Congratulations to Milla Douglas who competed in her very first horse jumping show and was placed 3rd.  We are very proud of her. Well done Milla.

SP 1st Team Cricket vs Papplewick

TMPS batted first and scored 144 all out – Tyrelle Reddy 79

Papplewick 68 all out – Liam McKinnon 5 for 20

TMPS won by 76 runs

SP Swimming Gala

Highways A gala held on the 17^th March @ WBHS

1^st Highbury/St. Mary’s

2^nd Westville Senior Primary

3^rd Curro HCA

4^th Winston Park

5th TMC

6^th Atholl Heights

Independent Girls' Schools' Gala @ St. Mary’s DSG

1^st St. Mary’s DSG

2^nd Our Lady of Fatima

3^rd Maris Stella

4^th Crawford La Lucia

5^th Durban Girls’ College

6^th St. John’s DSG

7^th TMC

Swimming

Congratulations to Björn Beker who competed in the Minilympics Swimming Champs at Kings Park short course pool.  Björn was awarded two bronze medals for 25m freestyle and 100m individual medley, one silver for 25m butterfly and a gold medal for 25m breaststroke.  Björn also competed in the KZN level 2 champs in the long course pool.  He had to swim in an older age group and still did very well.  He received a silver mdeal for the 200m breaststroke and also qualified for level 3.  Well done Björn.

SP Tennis

TMPS vs Hillcrest Primary

We won by 36 games to 9

Our congratulations to Ashtyn Cason who took part in the UGU South Coast Tournament this weekend. This forms part of the TSA (Tennis South Africa) ranking. Ashtyn won the Girls U12 Doubles and was Runner up in the Girls U12 singles.

SP Toppies 'n Tots

Winners – Jason McGarry and James Cleland

Hacker Award – Julian McKenzie

Freshee Award – John Bratos

Boys' Longest drive – Brayden Doran

Girls' Longest drive – Lexi Horwood

Boys' closest to the pin – Daniel Upton

Dads' closest to the pin – Andrew Reed

Track Cycling

Congratulations to Courtney Smith who has been chosen to represent South Africa at the African Continental Track Championships taking place in Durban this month. Well done Courtney.

HS Girls' Hockey

TMC 1st team vs Crawford NC - won 4-0

TMC 1st team vs Epworth - lost 1-4

TMC U16A vs Epworth - drew 1-1

HS Boys' Hockey

TMC 1st team vs Crawford NC - drew 1-1

TMC U14A vs Clifton - lost 2-0

TMC U16B vs Clifton U16C - lost 3-1

TMC U16A vs Clifton - lost 4-0

TMC 2nds vs Clifton 3rds - lost 1-0

TMC 1st team vs Clifton - lost 5-1

PADSSA Hockey

Congratulations to the following girls who have made the PADSSA Hockey teams:

U14A: Ile Bothma, Stephanie Tshuma

U14B: Ashleigh Du Plessis, Chelsea Layden, Isabella Velleman, Danielle Rocky

Non-travelling: Tyla Christie

U16A: Nicole Phipps, Courtney Sim, Alex Hanger, Kayleigh Du Toit, Gemma Weeder, Carmen Vicent, Cassey Balarin, Lola Lee

U16B: Andani Mashige, Alexa Vicent

U18A: Robyn Phipps, Hannah Robinson

U18B: Kim Lerwick, Tatum Olivier

Non-travelling: Lexi Reeves