WYNBERG GIRLS’ HIGH SCHOOL
NEWSLETTER NEWSLETTER
Also available on our website : APRIL & MAY 2011 www.wynghs.co.za
Mrs Harding, Dear Parents a very proud granny, with A colleague recently gave me an article from The Independent (UK) of 6 her brand new May 2011. The article “The Truth about Talent” explores Matthew Syed's grandson, suggestion that we are foolish to believe that excellence is only for the few. Luke. Full article available at: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/education/schools/the- truth-about-talent-can-genius-be-learned-or-is-it-preordained-2279690.html)
The nature (inherited characteristics) vs nurture (what we teach our children) argument has raged for centuries and it is not my intention to enter it. However, every article that gives cause for thought and reflection about how we can improve education at WGHS and support and encourage our girls at school and at home, has merit.
We often refer to a child as being talented: someone who excels in maths, sport, drama, music etc. because they are naturally talented in that area. The article asks us to look at the other side of the coin – how much do we adults encourage or dampen a child's ability to achieve in any area, or do we, sometimes inadvertently, rob Wynberg them of the incentive to work hard and the belief that everyone has the ability to be successful? Welcomes
Particularly interesting, in the context of school, was the Ms Noeline Faller experiment which took place with a Maths test. Those who did who has joined the well, were praised with: “ Wow, you must be really smart!”, English Department. while the others were praised for their effort: “Wow, you must We wish her a long be really hard-working!”. In further tests, the 'hard-working' and happy stay here. group chose harder tests and succeeded in raising their scores, while the 'smart' learners, praised for their inherent intelligence, chose easier tests (to keep their high score) and, in the final equal standard test, scored less than those who were hard- wynberg weddings working. It seemed in this experiment that praising They may not be intelligence can harm motivation and performance. It is royals, but their possible that excellence in a field is not hard-wired in the brain weddings were – it emerges through practice and hard work. just as special. Ms Serfontein & With the second term examinations upon us, it is important to Ms Dickerson remember that we, teachers and parents, have the power to each married their encourage excellence by allowing every child to believe that Prince Charming Mr & Mrs Furstenburg they can achieve, that hard work and practice always pay off. during the holidays. What your daughter believes about herself will influence almost We all wish them many happy years together. everything she does. If she believes that success in the various facets of life is all about talent, possibly a talent she Mr & Mrs Mostert does not have, she will not be inspired to work hard and practice. However, if she knows that hard work and practice brings rewards, she will be inspired to reach for the stars.
An interesting article. An answer to the age old argument? No . . . but it makes us think, doesn't it?
Warm regards Shirley Harding PRINCIPAL term 1 pillar awards kirsten - 1st term winners! Kim Mentor, Head of Kirsten, with the House Cup.
Congratulations to Kirsten - first term house cup winners. Congratulations to Ye Ji Jung (Culture), Jamie de Klerk (Academic), Sunel Groenewald (Sport) and Kiara Ramklass (Service) for winning tara notcutt excels again! these prestigious awards. Tara Notcutt (ex-WGHS prize-winning theatre model bridge-building competition director) has done it again! She has been invited to the Kristen Nieuwenhuys, Lincoln Theatre Centre Kiara Ramklass & Directors’ Lab 2011 and will Meghan Daniels be jetting to New York for 3 represented WGHS weeks in June/July. The Directors’ Lab is an at the annual bridge- annual event which runs 10am-10pm, six building competition days a week, involving intense, run by the SA collaborative workshops and rehearsals with Institution of Civil 70 directors from around the world. Tara is Engineering. They only the 3rd South African and one of the spent most of the day youngest participants ever to have been designing and build- invited! While she is away, three shows that ing a bridge out of she has directed will be heading to the long thin pieces of National Arts Festival in Grahamstown. wood and then watching it buckle under the weights placed upon it. At the weigh-in, their bridge took 45 kg maths before it broke, putting them ahead of 7 other schools! Well done, girls. On 14 April, the annual UCT Mathematics Olympiad took place. Each year UCT invites 15 students from each grade at each school to take part in the Grade 10 dance Olympiad either in pairs or individually: this year 75 Wynberg girls took part. We hope they all do well. Melissa Kube
maths relay
Jenna Busse, Ye Ji Yung, Laylah Ryklief & Kiara Ramklass.
Wynberg’s Winning Grade 11's
St Cyprians, Herschel, Immaculata and Rustenburg joined Choreography is an important part of the Dance Wynberg in a hotly contested Maths Relay on 10 May. Many syllabus. Here Natalie van der Merwe and thanks to AMESA for sponsoring the event which we hope will be Samantha de Kock can be seen working on their the first of many. Congratulations to Herschel who were Grade compositions. 8, 9 and 10 winners, and to Wynberg’s victorious Grade 11's. fashion show success grade 8 market day The Wynberg Girls' High School Fashion Show 'Diamonds in the Dust' took place in April in the school hall and was a resounding success! The hard work put in by ‘models’ and organiser, Ms de Mink, really paid off. It showcased over 16 fashion houses and was sold out on Friday and Saturday! Everyone was very impressed by the professionalism shown by all concerned: the stage set up, sound, lighting and choreography. Well done, girls!
general knowledge quiz us graduates NAME GRADE % Congratulations to these past pupils Yashna Garach 12 90 who have recently graduated at Raeesa Brey 12 86 Stellenbosch University: Katrina Lehmann-Grube 11 85 Mary Hartley (’00) MA Khadija Brey 11 85 Anya Hendricks (’05) BCom Hons Sambesiwe Mbatsha 12 85 Liandi Badenhorst (’06) BAcc Hons Alecs Besier 12 83 Haanim Ely (’06) BA T’Nielle Haupt 11 83 Cindy Lewis (’06) BA Hons Melissa Dixon 12 83 Yolandi Botha (’07) BAcc Lauren Gildenhuys 10 83 Katherine Poole (’07) BSc Sport Sc Gabriella Barries 9 82 Judith Roberts (’07) BA Claudia Harrison 10 82 Ashleigh Thompson 8 82 Ameera Conrad 12 82 debating Gabrielle Jacobs 10 81 On Monday 9 May, Wynberg’s Senior Leandre Kleynhans 9 81 and Junior debating teams were in Melandri Naidoo 11 81 action against Plumstead High School Jasmine Kilpatrick 11 81 in the third preliminary round of the Shannon Smith 11 80 Rotary Competition. Each team won Emma Blencowe 10 80 their debate and was congratulated on Zola Mbinda 12 80 the high standard of their debating. Each year the Grade 8's get the Sinako Bovana 11 80 Well done to Thaakiyah Wentzel- amazing opportunity to incorporate Ryklief (junior) and Melandri Naidoo school work with making money! The Constantia 1st, Cavanagh 2nd, (senior) who were each awarded Best Grade 8 Market Day is combined with Apsley 3rd Speaker. Sian Ferguson an U13 hockey tournament for the top girls' schools in the area. The Grade pizza & movie evening 8's have to present a business plan, plus a list of assets, liabilities and other miscellaneous things that a true business entrepreneur needs. The girls then sell their goods on Market Day, which tests whether their idea was economically viable. It also provides the girls with a wonderful opportunity to learn outside of the classroom, something that Wynberg holds very dear to its heart. This year the jazz and marimba bands provided wonderful entertainment while the noise of the market reminded one of the hustle and bustle of the real The money collected from this fund-raiser will go towards the swimming-pool/ economic environment. waterpolo pool conversion. grade 10 braai Peer Guides Kayla Abrahams, spreading easter joy Carryn Peregrino, Donne Daniels In the Big Sister, Little Sister programme, each Wynberg Grade 11 or 12 Peer Guide is teamed up with one of the & Vicky Ross WGJS learners. They meet once a week for a fun session of with Betty, learning activities, the aim being to help them help them- Ms Franke’s selves navigate their way through any difficult circumstance dog, at the they may be facing. Together they undertook a special Grade 10 Easter project. First they had loads of fun creating Easter- braai. egg baskets for the patients at Maitland Cottage Home. They produced beautiful baskets filled with chocolates, Easter eggs and toys, with their own notes to the patients. Then, later on in April, they visited Maitland Cottage and really enjoyed giving the baskets to the patients. A great deal mothers’ day breakfast of care and kindness was shown by the young sisters and a sense of appreciation and joy filled the wards. Everyone left happy, blessed and very thankful for everything they have in their lives.
On Saturday 14 May, Wynberg hosted a Mothers' Day Breakfast, celebrating mothers who always have a great impact on who we become, and who shape our communities. Mothers, daughters, aunts, sisters and grandmothers attended the event in our beautifully decorated school hall and enjoyed a scrumptious continental breakfast. Each guest received a goody bag filled with super gifts and were given the chance to win ‘Big Sisters’ Hannah Brice, Farha Cassim, Amy vd Westhuizen prizes such as perfume and jewellery hampers and and Crystal Smith with their ‘little sisters’ from WGJS. restaurant vouchers. During the breakfast, guests were entertained with wonderful Wgjs EQ Workshop performances by our school Wynberg girls who work in the choir, vocal ensemble and flute Big Sister/Little Sister ensemble. In addition, mothers programme, were invited to take were also given the opportunity part in the Wynberg Girls’ Junior to relax and be pampered with Emotional Intelligence Week. hand, neck and back massages The workshop ran from 17-20 in the school tuckshop, while May and each grade set up a listening to tranquil background music. display, highlighting a particular area related to the raising of awareness of one’s emotions. The Peer Guides’ display was The best part of the morning was a personalised video well-received: everyone enjoyed looking at the pictures and taken of some of the learners present, sharing why they reading our ‘Tips to Raise Self-Esteem in Children'. loved and appreciated their mothers. Many thanks to Mrs Chikte for organising this very enjoyable event. Geography field trips
GRADE 10'S
The Grade 10 geographers went to Signal Hill, Green Point, Sea Point, Camps Bay and Hout Bay. At each stop they looked at the geomorphology of the area so that they now have a better understanding of the underlying geology of Cape Town. The highlight was the lunch break on Camps Bay beach. The Grade 11 geographers’ planned beach clean-up at Hout Bay unfortunately had to be cut short due to heavy rainfall. Their highlight was the boat trip to Seal Island in fairly rough seas and rain. The Grade 11's learnt about Hout Bay's economy and the ocean food chain and ecosystem. The Grade 12 geographers visited the weather office at Cape Town International Airport where they attended a very inform- ative lecture about South Africa's weather. Outside, near the runway, we were shown how a weather balloon is prepared and sent into the atmosphere, and how the computers pick up the information via satellites. The Grade 12's should now have a much better understanding of climatology.
GRADE 11'S boarders visit the national gallery hockey
Kim, Lizl and Quanita taking a corner.
The WGHS hockey teams started the season really well by winning all their matches against Settlers High. 1st Xl 2-0, 2nd Xl 2-1, U16A 2-1, U16B 1-0, U16C 1-0, U14A 2-0, U14B 1-0. Against DF Malan, Wynberg came up against much stronger opposition and this is reflected in their results: 1st XI 0-0, 2nd XI 0-0, 3rd XI 0-5, U16A 0-3, Back: Siphokazi Mcinziba, Jenna Busse, Tahlia Petersen, U16B 1-2, U16C 2-0, U14A 2-0, U14B 1-1. Faith Mdoda, Thabile Myeza In their latest match, the 1st Hockey team had a very good game against Fairmont, who they beat 4-0. Front: Boarder Mistress Dorcas Anguria & Nwabisa Mgquba
interhouse gala INDIVIDUAL RESULTS U14 50m freestyle: Jessica Mesham 50m breaststroke: Sunel Groenewald The Interhouse Gala was held on the last day of the term even 50m backstroke: Sunel Groenewald though it was cold and looked like rain . . . or part of it was as half way through it was stopped because of bad weather. This did not U16 50m freestyle: Ashleigh Samuels put a damper on the spirit shown by the spectators and they were 50m breaststroke: Storm Homan all in fine voice! The results as they stood when ‘rain stopped play’ 50m backstroke: Josie McCann were as follows: Wellesley 1st 89, Apsley 2nd 88, Constantia 3rd 84, Kirsten & Silverlea tied 4th 67, Cavanagh 6th 58, Copenhagen U19 50m freestyle: Sharne Dicks 50m breaststroke: Sharne Dicks 7th 52 and Waterloo 8th 35. 50m backstroke: Sharne Dicks
wbhs choir festival
On 12 May, many school choirs - junior and high schools - sang at the Wynberg Boys’ High Choir Festival. Also taking part were the Welsh Male Voice Choir and the surprise choir of WBH teachers. Each choir sang a few of their own songs and then took part in a mass choir item at the end. The Wynberg campuses also sang a combined item. Wynberg Girls' choir performed two items - The Click Song and Dancing Queen - and didn’t they do well! Afterwards Ms Opperman gave them her trademark approval signature: four snaps in a Z formation!!. It was a rewarding evening and even though it only ended at 23:00, everyone thoroughly enjoyed it. wp netball sports colours badminton Huge congratulations to Anelisa Athletics: After winning Gold May, who has been selected into Half Colours in the team event, the U16 Western Province Netball Kamilla Johnson Michelle Edwards, squad. Also to Yeukai Chamba Junior Certificate scooped another two who has been selected into the WP Lauren Jonathan Gold medals in the U14 squad. Well done, girls! Indoor Hockey: African Badminton Half Colours Championships held in Quanita Bobbs Morocco. In the team Micaela Diedericks competition, she Kim Mentor helped South Africa Belinda Plaatjies beat Nigeria 3-2 in a Olivia Rodseth breathtaking final, and Swimming: in the individual event, she won both mixed and Half Colours women's doubles titles. “I’m unsure how many titles Sharne Dicks I've won in this competition, but this was a fantastic Ashleigh Samuels win for South Africa over Nigeria in the team event. Anelisa and Yeukai Synchro Coming back from being 2-1 down to win 3-2 makes Half Colours the victory even sweeter,” said Ms Edwards when interviewed after the final. karate Jessica Hawkridge Congratulations Junior Certificate to Yumna Isaac, Sunel Groenewald synchro Waterpolo who has been Congratulations to Jess Hawkridge who competed in Full Colours selected to and won a medal at the Level 1 and 2 Synchro Mymoenah Gamiet represent South championships, and to Sunel Groenewald who was Half Colours Africa at the 7th in the WP Youth team which won the overall Olivia Adams Commonwealth Provincial Trophy - the 1st time in 20 years that WP Lizl Everts Karate Champs has won it. Natalie Zeelie in Melbourne, Past pupil, Emma Manners-Wood won the duet and later this year. Congratulations to all team section at Nationals which secured her a place these girls. at the World Championships in China later this year. diving cricket Congratulations to Kamilla Johnson, Grade 11 who has been selected to participate in the U19 Girls’ Cricket Winter Squad training.
western province hockey
WGHS is very proud to have no fewer than 13 hockey players who have been selected to represent various WP teams which will participate in various tournaments in the June/July holidays.
On 29 March, the Interschools Diving competition was held at WGHS. Wynberg was represented by: Cailin Rice, Teneal Webb, Sarah Curry, Pia Sillifant and Tessa Suttle. Each diver had to perform 5 dives. Some of the dives the Wynberg girls performed were front tuck, inward tuck, back tuck, reverse tuck, back straight and forward 1 ½ somersault. The girls competed against divers from Herschel and Springfield. In the Back row: Stephanie Lopes-Stuart (U16 South), Olivia Rodseth (U16A), U15 Section, Teneal Webb was 3rd, Quanita Bobbs (U18A), Zahra Dollie (U16A), Carly Alexander (U18B) Pia Sillifant 4th and Cailin Rice 5th; Front row: Chelsea Lassen (U16B), Zoe Woodman (U16B), Erin Prince and in the U18 Section, Tessa (U16 South), Cara Geere (U16B), Kim Mentor (U18A), Micaela Diedericks Suttle was 5th and Sarah Curry 7th. (U18B), Belinda Plaatjies (U18A) and Valeshka Harkhu (U14 South) wool for wonders
ynberg Girls’ High School’s Old Girls’ Union, Win partnership with the Constantiaberg Bulletin, is launching the “Wool for Wonders” jersey knitting challenge.
The aim is to produce as many jerseys as possible for the babies at Nazareth House. The campaign was officially launched at the WOGU AGM on Monday 23 and will run until the end of July - so plenty of time to knit during the holidays!
Jerseys can be delivered to Mrs le Roux in reception at Wynberg Girls’ High. For more information contact Jehan Chikte on 021 764 2200 or email [email protected]
BABY JERSEY KNITTING CHALLENGE
Use approximately 2 balls of double knitting wool Tight knitters use 5mm needles. Loose knitters use 4.5mm needles
Cast on 44 stitches
Work 18 rows in Knit 2, Purl 2 = rib (i.e. 2 plain stitches followed by 2 purl stitches, repeated).
Work 30 rows stocking stitch (1 row plain, 1 row purl).
Cast on 20 stitches at the beginning of the next 2 rows. At the same time, change to Knit 2, Purl 2 (rib) for the sleeves.
Rib 22 rows.
Next row: Rib 29 stitches, cast off 26 stitches, then Rib 29 Next row: Rib 29 stitches, cast on 26 stitches and then Rib 29.
Work 22 rows in Rib.
Cast off 20 stitches at the beginning of the next 2 rows.
Work 30 rows stocking stitch.
Work 18 rows Purl 2, Knit 2 = Rib
Cast off in rib and sew together.