Date: 28 February 2020 Issue no.: 7

Dear Parent

It takes Earth approximately 365 days, 5 hours, 48 minutes, and 45 seconds, to circle once around the Sun, therefore causing the addition of an intercalary day, called a leap year, every fourth year. This matching up of the seasons to our Gregorian calendar makes us realise that nature does not listen to the laws or conventions of man, but rather that man has made rules to describe what is happening in nature.

Tomorrow, 29 February, is such a special day. It is therefore only apt that we use this “bonus day” in our calendar to promote our wonderful school. Please invite family and friends to pop in and visit us at our Open Day. It promises to be an amazing opportunity to showcase our school with our incredible learners and facilities.

Needless to say, we are engaging with prospective parents on various levels for this event, but most importantly, our learners will be the true marketing material for Curro Aurora. I therefore ask that you help ensure that they show up dressed neatly for the various activities on offer.

We will have learners, teachers and coaches involved in academics, sport activities and cultural activities.

The day promises to be jam-packed with excitement, learning and social interaction.

ALUMNI

If you have been with Aurora, now Curro Aurora, please send an email to [email protected] with your name and surname, the year you completed school, your telephone number and email address – to form part of the Curro Aurora alumni database.

Alumni children save 50% on their enrolment fee and 10% on their school fees.

Also follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/curroalumni Visit our website for more info: https://www.curroalumni.co.za/

GET INVOLVED:

We call on all learners, parents and teachers in the Curro Aurora family to get involved – participate where you can, show interest and help to grow our magnificent school.

Our school is blessed with learners who have exceptional talent evident in the classroom, on the sports field and in the cultural sphere. Please avail yourselves to be included in the multitude of events and activities that are organised – your participation is ultimately what will drive excellence at Curro Aurora.

087 087 7773 | [email protected] | www.curro.co.za 1

SHAVATHON

Our annual CANSA Shavathon will be taking place on 11 March in the three schools on campus in different ways:

PRE-SCHOOL PRIMARY SCHOOL & HIGH SCHOOL:

NO CUTTING Or SHAVING

CURRO AURORA APT (ASSOCIATION OF PARENTS & TEACHERS)

Our APT raises funds for the school and strives to promote school spirit and fun. Although Curro provides for the needs and services of our learners, the funds from the APT provide the cherry-on-top that makes us all stand out.

Our first exciting APT event is the Great Grade Quiz that is taking place on 13 March 2020!

Tickets will be on sale from Josie at Main Reception from Friday, 21 February 2020. Tickets are R100 for adults and R80 for learners, but the good news is that a table of 8 people will cost you only R640.00!

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The ticket includes a meal, but drinks will be sold separately. As it is a family function, no alcohol is allowed.

We would like to have at least 3 teams per grade (24 people per grade) who can take on (and demolish) both Primary School and Castle teams! Come on, High School parents and learners, those awesome prizes are as good as ours!

Please also save the dates for numerous other activities that we have planned to take place over the course of the year.

Term 1 The Great Grade Quiz Friday, 13 March Women’s Day Tea Saturday, 1 August Term 3 Golf Day Friday, 21 August Family Fun Day Saturday, 5 September

The 2019 Yearbook is proudly sponsored by the APT and will be coming soon.

The APT is also sponsoring hoodies for our high school Sound and Lighting Team (SALT) as well as T-Shirts for all our coaches.

Please come and support us in all our endeavours.

We would love to meet you.

GREEN CAMPUS Sabrina Freeman

In the past week, many Grade 11s and Matrics have been working hard on the Green Campus Project, creating more mini recycling bins out of boxes to distribute to all the classes and make our learning environments more eco-friendly.

There has been a great deal of involvement from everyone in both grades, and a lot of effort put in throughout the past week. The Green Campus committee is excited to begin their monthly campaigns in a week and start promoting and raising awareness towards areas of sustainability in which the whole school, and parents, can get involved .

GRADE 9 ADVANCED PROGRAMME MATHEMATICS

Grade 9 AP Mathematics will be on a Wednesday from 13h40 – 14h25. It is free of charge in Grade 9 and there are no assessments for it. We encourage all our eager grade 9 Mathematicians to join. #I’m_Involved.

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WORLD MATHS DAY COMPETITION

Two-and-a-half hours of Mathematical Problem Solving! Of course that classifies as fun!

Learners from Grades 10 to 12 participated in the World Maths Day competition hosted at Northcliff High on 26 February from 18:00 to 20:30. A huge positive parabolic smile to Nicole, Morgan, Ruben, Siphesihle, Erique, Sayhen, Andrew, Oaribile, Vuyo, Tega, Jared, Kayla, Jasmin and Sifiso who did us proud!

It was great to see our learners have fun and rub shoulders with top achievers from several other schools. Well done, Mathemagicians – we are very proud of you.

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COMMUNICATION:

Please note that e-mails cannot always be read or answered immediately as all members of the School Management Team and Grade Heads have a teaching responsibility too. We do try our best to answer as quickly as possible.

Contact details of the School Management Team and Grade Heads herewith for easy reference:

Cindy Duma [email protected] Receptionist

Head of High Dion Kotze [email protected] School FET Phase Head Sarah-Jane Olivier [email protected]

Snr Phase Head Donne Valkenburg [email protected]

Head of Sport Adrian Ferreira [email protected]

Head of Culture Saskia Snyders [email protected]

Nicole Webb [email protected] Grade 12 Heads Maria Chou [email protected]

Judy Beeston [email protected] Grade 11 Heads Anita Bornman [email protected]

Janine Tobin [email protected] Grade 10 Heads Wendy Longwitz [email protected]

Kelsey Gallon [email protected] Grade 9 Heads Brendan van Zyl [email protected]

Kyla Hayter [email protected] Grade 8 Heads Warrick Hammond [email protected]

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ENRICHMENT TOUR: EUROPE JUNE 2020

WE HAVE 4 SPACES STILL AVAILABLE FOR THIS TOUR!

Contact Mr Kotze or Mrs Bornman for more information on this amazing opportunity!

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SPORT Mr Adrian Ferreira

SAHETI Festival:

The 1st and u/16 rugby and netball teams participated at the prestigious SAHETI Festival on Friday, 21 and Saturday, 22 February. The playoff matches were cancelled due to the weather, but the pool matches were played. The festival offered the players valuable game time ahead of the season.

Results:

Rugby 7s:

1st: u/16:

Curro Aurora 5 SAHETI School 17 Curro Aurora 12 Highlands North Boys High 0 Curro Aurora 0 Dainfern College 17 Curro Aurora 17 Mondeor High School 10 Curro Aurora 12 Redhill School 12 Curro Aurora 0 SAHETI School 19

Netball:

1st: u/16:

Curro Aurora 3 Crawford College Lonehill 9 Curro Aurora 4 Crawford College Lonehill 10 Curro Aurora 8 Jeppe High School For Girls 7 Curro Aurora 4 Glenvista High School 14 Curro Aurora 8 2 Curro Aurora 4 Greenside High School 6

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Hockey: The second of the Curro Aurora Night Series took place on Friday, 21 February. The u/15 boys played the Curro Academy Wilgeheuwel 1st team and prevailed 4-3.

Curro Aurora has started a Preseason Hockey Night Series, something that will hopefully become an annual tradition at our school. The main aim is to bring schools together before official leagues start and give everyone a chance to play the sport they love in a fun environment. We encourage everyone to please come and support our teams again next week Friday. The tuckshop is open for snacks, drinks and food.

Swimming: We wish the team well at the ‘C’ League Inter-High Gala that takes place on Thursday, 05 March at Delville Pool.

Open Water Swimming: Connor Lipp is congratulated on finishing in 2nd place in the boys 13-14 age-group at the CGA Open Water Championship.

Softball: Summerhill International College hosted Curro Aurora on Monday, 24 February.

• 1st won 12-7 • u/15 lost 7-6

Cricket: hosted the 1st XI on Thursday, 20 February. Curro Aurora lost.

Golf: League results:

@ Royal & Kensington Golf Club: @ Randpark Golf Club

1. Curro Aurora 1. King David Victory Park 2. BSI 2. KES 3. St Alban’s 3. Trinityhouse Randpark Ridge 4. Dainfern College 4. Curro Aurora ‘B’

Kim Turgut is congratulated on advancing to the semi-finals of the ‘B’ division at the South African Women’s Matchplay Championships, played at Royal Johannesburg & Kensington Golf Club.

Street Dance: The dancers participated at St Stithians Girls’ College on Friday, 21 February. The team finished 1st out of 4 schools. Individual results:

u/14 girls: u/16 boys: u/18 boys: • Okuhle Scheepers: 3rd • Jared Rypstra: 1st • Siphesile Mahlangu: 1st • Tanaka Paradza: 2nd

u/14 boys: u/16 girls: • Luvo Ntanga: 1st • Munashe • Lethu Ntlanganiso: 2nd Dombodzvukou: 2nd

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Please find the High School sports programme for Monday, 02 March until Saturday, 07 March 2020.

Date Sport Opponents/Hosts/Event/Venue Time Wed 04/03 Boys’ Hockey @ Crawford College Lonehill 15:00 Thu 05/03 Swimming ‘C’ League Inter-High Gala @ Delville Pool 11:00 Fri 06/03 Street Dance @ High School 15:00 Fri 06/03 Boys’ & Girls’ Curro Aurora Night Series 15:30 Hockey (1st) Sat 07/03 Rugby, Netball @ 08:30 & Hockey Sat 07/03 Cheerleading @ Curro Aurora 09:00

CULTURE Mrs Saskia Snyders

Curro Create From Broadway to Bird Street

Ciara Rudman (Grade 10) all packed and ready to go! On Friday, 21 February 2020, Ciara (along with other Curro learners) left for Stellenbosch.

Ciara was selected as one of the 22 talented learners across the country and Namibia who will be performing in this year’s Curro Create musical: From Broadway to Bird Street.

Their first performances will be at this year’s Toyota US Woordfees on the 7th and 8th of March. Break a leg, Ciara! We are immensely proud of you.

Curro CAS Thank you very much to every learner who entered. Your passion and creativity are contagious and we look forward to outstanding results. We are pleased to announce a record number of 130 entries for 2020.

Let the preparations begin!

Each learner who entered must please speak to the respective mentors for individual rehearsal times.

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National Eisteddfod Academy Young Performer Awards

Congratulations to Amber Meikle (Grade 12 2019), Alicia Ferguson (Grade 12), Danielle Bosman (Grade 12) and Hilton Botha (Grade 9) for being selected for the NEA Young Performer Awards competition. Break a leg! You have made us proud.

Watch this space for entries for the 2020 National Eisteddfod Academy.

Marimbas

A musical reminder that Marimba rehearsals take place on Monday afternoons from 15:00 (Group 1) and on Friday afternoons from 14:30 (Group 2) in the Marimba Room (Venus Block). If you have any questions, please speak to Mrs Susan van Dyk or Alicia Ferguson.

Public Speaking

Our public speaking has started with a bang this term! Our teams have been performing exceptionally well, with adjudicators, parents and peers responding positively to our mature and intelligent take on the various topics. Although the competition has ramped up this year, our teams are rising to the challenge, and proudly displaying our Blue Pride!

We congratulate the Grade 9 speakers who spoke on Thursday, the 20th of February, at Northcliff High. Our teams achieved a B and a B+, due to their amazing presentation of the topic. They were applauded for their professionalism and poise, and we wish to thank them for representing our school and for showing our awesome Blue Pride! We wish our remaining teams the best of luck!

Senior Design Exhibition

On Thursday, 20 February, the Grade 11 and 12 Design learners showcased their two-year work projects from 2019, which consisted of a sourcebook, final product/s and concept board each.

Each project is created according to a theme. Grade 10 looked at Corporate Identity, where they had to create a brand identity for themselves with an accompanying product that that reflected their brand and Environmental Design, where they had to create a retail space for a brand of their choice or a brand that they created. In Grade 11, learners start specialising in their chosen field of Design so the briefs become more open ended. Their themes were: “In another place and time, baby,” where they had to look at the

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baby market and “With a little help from my friends”, where they had to design for a welfare organisation.

The learners set up their work in the Cosmic Hall and then had to answer questions based on the design process they followed, set to them by four moderators. Learners had to verbalise their thoughts and ideas as well as defend their design choices concerning materials, construction methods and final direction taken. This teaches learners that the process is malleable, iterative, contextual and personal.

Learners did themselves proud by being able to speak eloquently about their interpretations of the themes and the choices they had made in their process and through the high standard of work delivered during the course of last year.

MATHEMATICS OLYMPIAD

The South African Mathematics Olympiad is the largest Olympiad in South Africa and we would like to encourage our learners to participate. It is voluntary and open to all Grade 8 and 9 learners and any Mathematics learners in Grades 10 to 12. The first round is written on 12 March 2020. The entry fee is R20 and payable to the learners Mathematics Teacher. Please note that participation for Grade 8 and 9 learners is compulsory, but payment for this has been included in their levies. Learners who attain 50% or higher in the first round qualify for the second round which is written on 14 May. It is well known that mathematics competitions generate a lot of enthusiasm and curiosity for the subject. Every participant in the SAMO papers will be challenged by at least one problem and hence his or her problem-solving skills will improve. Problem solving skills can be further improved by carefully working through the solutions of these rounds.

Mathematics National Benchmark Test Training for Grade 12 Learners The National Benchmark Test (NBT) is a set of tests used to assess a learner’s academic literacy, quantitative literacy and mathematical ability in an effort to measure academic readiness for university. The NBTs are split into two 3-hour exams, one is called AQL and the other MAT. AQL focuses on Academic and Quantitative Literacy and the MAT focuses only on Mathematics.

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Universities use the results of the NBTs to determine the extra help/support the learners may need at University. Universities also use the results to decide if a learner’s university application is successful or not. This is why it is so important to prepare for these increasingly important tests. NBT training dates for Maths Gr 12 have been confirmed as follows Saturday 4th April: 08:30 - 13:00 Sunday 5th April: 08:30 - 13:00 Please note that this training is done by an external service provider (Advantage Learn) and our learners have found it extremely beneficial in the past. For more info, please speak to Mrs Beeston, Mr Kotze or Mrs Webb.

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MyHub ISSUES:

Please email [email protected] with a brief description of the problem at hand. This e-mail must please include the name of school (Curro Aurora) and your family code. You should receive a reference number via e-mail. Please use this reference number when following up on the progress of the query. This process is for eBooks, uniform as well as general access to MyHub. New parents will only have access to MyHub 24 hours after enrolment has been finalised.

UPCOMING EVENTS

We urge parents and learners to please read the TERM PLANNERS that have been posted to MyHub. We adhere to these dates as best we can, but where changes are made, we will communicate such changes on MyHub and via our learners.

THOUGHT TO PONDER:

Yours in education,

Dion Kotze Head of High School.

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