WYNBERG GIRLS’ HIGH SCHOOL

NEWSLETTER NEWSLETTER

Also available on our website : MAY 2014 www.wynghs.co.za

Dear Parents EXEMPLARY ACHIEVEMENT!

Several months ago, Fairlady magazine asked us to participate in a survey they were undertaking. Of the 25,000 government schools in , they used the Department of Basic Education's list of the top 100 schools that received the high- est Bachelor Pass rates (eligible to attend university) in the matric 2013 results and asked all these schools to complete their survey. The results of the survey were published in the June edition of the magazine and we are pleased to be named in this alphabetic list of top schools. These schools were then ranked according to various criteria (I have recorded some of our survey responses in italics after each criterion):

Academics (30% of score) - the Bachelor pass rate (95.6%), the Diploma pass rate (3.3%), the number of matrics who received four or more subject A's On the evening of 23 April, the University of (42), the number of Grade 11's who progressed to matric (176 of 178), and Stellenbosch honoured those

the number of Grade 10's who received an A for Mathematics (25 of 177) schools with an exemplary achievement, based on the 2013 Matric results. We are Number of subjects offered at Matric level (10% of score) - 15 subjects very proud that Wynberg Girls’ High is one Extramurals and Support (15% of score) – especially: of these schools! Mrs Shirley Harding received a certificate on behalf of Wynberg Sport portfolios (aerobics, athletics, cross country, diving, hockey, indoor hockey, from Professor Russel Botman, Rector and hockey 5's, karate, netball, road running, squash, swimming, synchronised Vice-Chancellor of Stellenbosch University. swimming, tennis, walking, waterpolo), Cultural portfolios (afritwin, art, capstone, chess, choir, culinary arts, current affairs, dance, debating, drama, environment, film, marketing film crew, MSA, WELCOME TO WYNBERG mountain/hiking, photography, public speaking, Ubuntu, Music ensembles - A warm Wynberg welcome vocal, baroque, brass, flute, marimba, saxophone, string, guitar, clarinet), to Mrs Shaheema Marlie Outreach portfolios (weekly academic outreach with Zimasa school, sandwiches who has come to teach CAT and fruit for Capricorn Primary; Termly collection of bread tags for wheelchairs; to Mrs Furstenburg’s classes Annual collections of dog food, used clothing, books; Wynberg individual while she is away. We are learners winners of the prestigious Amy Biehl Youth Spirit award in very grateful to her as she is 2010/11/12, winners of the Rotoract Shield for community service 2012 & a busy mom to Siddeeqah 2013, Interact, Grade 10 community service, Cansa Relay for Life) (Grade 12) and Nuraan (Grade 9) and still a Leadership programmes (Grade 11 camp, learner leadership programme, grade permanent member of AmIT Consulting. 10 seminars, class captain and charity reps training, School Council seminar) Counselling (2 clinical social workers, academic counsellor, peer counsellors), and tutoring (several subject clinics, peer tutoring and academic support. WOOL FOR WONDERS Calling all knitting enthusiasts! The Facilities (15% of score) Wynberg. Old Girls' Union, in conjunction School fees (15% of score) with the Cape Community Newspapers, The teacher learner ratio (15% of score) Number of learners (943) / number of have started their annual Wool for full-time educators (51) Wonders Campaign where baby jerseys & beanies are knitted and provided to Well done to the Wynberg girls for achieving a place on this list and for what they charities. Completed garments should be do in so many different areas of the school. I am very proud of them and of the delivered to reception by 1 September. teachers who give so much to achieve this level of excellence. Patterns are available from the school or on their website (www.wynghs.co.za) It is interesting and exciting to note that 17 of the top 25 government schools are and will be published in the girls' only schools. I trust that this information supports your decision to send your Bulletin. daughter to Wynberg. We certainly hope that she is taking advantage of the many Donations and/or sponsorship of wool opportunities available to her! are welcomed. Should you wish to donate to this worthy cause please email Warm regards Hilary Mills: [email protected] or Shirley Harding phone 021 764 2200. WINDWORX FANFARE DEBATING The Junior and Senior debating teams were faced with serious opposition at Windworx Fanfare took place at WBHS on High School on Monday 5 May. Unfortunately neither team was Saturday 17 May. It is an annual show- successful but both received excellent adjudication. casing of wind bands from around the In the final round of peninsula. The Windworx Fanfare is not a the Rotary Debating competition or an eisteddfod but an League, both teams opportunity for musicians to share their debated against talents. Performances are commented on Reddam. The junior by adjudicators who give positive and team, Megan Ingram, negative critique. The combined Wynberg Aashiqah Regal and Girls' and Boys' High Concert Band Aqilah Regal, narrowly lost after putting up a performed beautifully under the baton of Natashia Young, Thandeka Chakanyuka, Jordan King, good fight. The seniors Colin Besaans (coach), Thaakiyah Ryklief & Lisa Abrahams Mr. Catzavelos, their dedicated maestro. proposed the motion The evening ended with thunderous This house would legalize all recreational drugs. Thaakiyah Ryklief, Jordan King applause for a performance by the mass and Lisa Abrahams presented a well-structured argument but could not band of 250 musicians. persuade the adjudicators to agree with them.

ELEVATE EDUCATION EISTEDDFOD SUCCESSES! Workshop 2: With the June exams just around On Saturday 10 May, the combined Concert Band the corner, the Grade 11s met for the second played three pieces in the Cape Town Eisteddfod. The of three Elevate Education workshops. The performance was very successful and they were first dealt with how to study; this one focused awarded a Diploma. The Flute ensemble also on time management. The presenter, Shaun, participated on Saturday and was also awarded a returned, and with him, the entertaining Diploma! Well done, Wynberg! stories and witty jokes we’d come to expect. Despite all the jokes, the workshop was very STELLENBOSCH BAND EXTRAVAGANZA informative: girls learned how to balance The WGHS/WBHS Concert band performed on Friday 9 May at the Stellenbosch what they love with doing schoolwork, how Band Extravaganza in the Endler Hall - a wonderful night of excellent musical to make successful study timetables and how entertainment. Among the other performers were the Stellenbosch University to stop procrastinating! Elevate Education Wind Band, Hugo Lampretchs’ Wind Band and Harmonic Brass – a phenomenal dealt with every problem students face and brass quintet all the way from Munich! Both the girls and the boys thoroughly by the end, we all felt much more confident enjoyed playing in the concert as well as listening to the other bands. about the coming exams.

CURRENT AFFAIRS 49 members - an all-time high - attended the Current Affairs Society this week. Many issues were discussed, amongst them the São Paulo water crisis. Citizens face a critical water shortage as water has been rationed because their reservoirs have fallen to record lows - this as the World Cup prepares to kick off! While the water company blames drought, critics say the crisis was avoidable. At the other end of the scale, we discussed the implications of Antarctica’s melting twice as Robbertze Tania photo: fast as it was four years ago, and the Back: M Langeveld, N Eddy, A Dreyer, A Solomons, C Stokes, E Nel, C Joseph consequent rise in sea levels. Front: S MacDonald, X Lardner-Burke, M Anderton, M Harrison

Adjudicator, Carey INTERHOUSE DRAMA McIntosh, Penny Glover & Jessica Carey McIntosh with, from left, best supporting actors: Amy Hilario & Hannah Fuller; Mesham, best actress best directors: Sara Phiri & Diane Munro; best house play: Sara Bell and Jordan King. JUNIOR CITY COUNCIL PIN HOLE PHOTOGRAPHY Asanda Masoka, Delucia Daniels, Hong-Ju Nam and Normally this is a very Lara Harris have been given the opportunity to difficult project to get right represent WGHS in the Junior City Council (JCC). This but Emily Danielz has put in is a two-year term of office that develops youth a great deal of time and leadership and potential, and focuses on the energy and consulted the betterment of the community. There are 91 high experts and has schools from all over Cape Town involved. At the achieved what most meetings which have taken place, the four girls have others have not familiarised themselves with the other members and managed in the proceedings. Asanda and Lara were selected as Junior past - she has Chairs of two of the city’s sub councils. They are constructed a tasked with meeting senior council members to plan functioning pin-hole camera. The photo on the left is a ‘selfie’ which strategies to meet the needs of the community. The Emily took with her camera. girls realise this is an opportunity to network with similar-minded people and are excited to be able to MINQUIZ work hard for the improvement of South Africa. On 15 May, Cayleigh Brown, Azrah Ismail and Anjali Kooverjee took part in the annual Minquiz. Minquiz, run- ning since 1988, is regarded as SA's premier annual national Science competition for Grade Cayleigh, Azrah & Anjali 12s. It aims to encourage interest in science, Hong-Ju Nam, Asanda Masoka, engineering and technology, especially in minerals and metallurgy, and Delucia Daniels & Lara Harris to promote an awareness of the importance of minerals and metallurgy to South Africa.

On 14 May, the Grade 8’s were privileged to have Hayley McLellan, leader of the “Re-think the Bag” organisation, speak to us. Hayley works at the at the Waterfront and is passionate about saving animals and protecting the environment. She believes that using bags made of material such as cotton instead of plastic, we can help our environment. She explained how plastic bags smell like food so animals mistake them for food and eat them. We saw videos of animals suffocating after eating the plastic. Seals and dolphins get stuck in plastic after swimming through it thinking it is a toy. Animals are very curious creatures and if they see a foreign object they want to investigate it. A human would use their hands but animals use their mouths instead. The worst is that plastic takes millions of years to decompose. We really enjoyed the presentation and learnt a lot from what she had said. She encouraged us to pledge not to use plastic bags any more, to help the environment. So the next time you shop, don’t use a plastic bag, use material bags instead. Saarah Abrahams & Helena Veysey

NO ABDUCTIONS! WHAT IF IT WERE ME! On Friday 16 May, South Africans joined the worldwide condemnation of the kidnapping of schoolgirls in Nigeria, and Wynberg Girls’ High School was no exception. After a minute’s silence was observed, Wynberg girls held banners expressing both their concern and their horror at the abductions. CAPSTONE BONFIRE SERVICE In order to enjoy PILLAR greater fellowship with other Christians at WGHS and WBHS, Capstone hosted a bonfire. Guest speaker, Mike Day, shared his story around the fire about how he came to feel empowered through Christ. Everyone was highly motivated by his testimony and enjoyed further group discussions during the evening. Towards the end of the evening, Newspaper sleeping bags are made every year in order to provide homeless everyone wrote down on a piece of paper people with some protection from the Cape’s notorious winter storms and cold anything that they wanted to cast off in their weather. On 6 May, a committed group of Matric learners who were keen to life, including things that made them feel learn a new skill and to make a difference in their community, made 9 such powerless, frustrated and shackled. The paper sleeping bags which will be distributed in the immediate Wynberg area. was thrown into the bonfire. Feeling much lighter in spirit, participants spent the rest of the evening roasting marshmallows, worshipping SISANDA FOUNDATION FUN DAY and having fun.

WOGU FOREST WALK On Saturday 10 May, the Wynberg Old Girls’ Union hosted a walk in for any women and girls linked to the school. It was a cool wintry afternoon and we walked for an hour, enjoying the natural beauty and a chance to catch up on each other’s news.

On Saturday, 17 May, WGH & WBH learners spent the morning with 24 children from Capricorn Primary School at the Claremont Congregational Church. Exciting games were followed by a talent show! The ideas from the children were truly impressive, as were their performances. Certificates and prizes were awarded to all who participated. Pizza and juice were enjoyed outside in the sun. A big thank you to Sisanda for their excellent organisation, and Mrs Roux for giving us this rewarding opportunity of making a difference in some children’s lives. This Mikayla Gray, Diedre Schultz, Catherine Gray, was outreach in the true sense of the word. Nikki Carberry, Hilary Mills

CLOTHING COLLECTION Eco for Africa textile recycling is an organisation that sources unwanted clothing and shoes and supplies it to budding township entrepreneurs, many of whom were previously unemployed. Apsley Cavanagh Constantia Copenhagen Kirsten Silverlea Waterloo Wellesley

Back: B Draper, S Homan, Eco for Africa representative, N Barnett, M Guthrie, S Grever Front: Y Parker, T Ryklief, T Warrin, L Abrahams, J Joshua BLUE ROUTE FLASHMOBS

It was an open secret that WGHS would be doing something pretty spectacular at the Blue Route Mall on Saturday 17 May. Firstly the Grade 12 dancers caught the crowd’s attention with their escalator warm-up and routine. Next, the Vocal Ensemble performed their medley of songs followed by the Jazz Band. It was clear that Blue Route Mall shoppers enjoyed this excellent Wynberg entertainment!

GRADE 12 DANCERS VOCAL ENSEMBLE

JAZZ BAND

Flora Bottoman; Nandi Basson; Nhadia Gustavo; Taylor Kirkby

WATERLOO HOUSE HOSTEL We have many groups/committees in the hostel. Each group has a hostel Mom or Boarder Mistress as a mentor and a group of hostel girls volunteering their talents and time, and each group works for the good of the hostel. The Wolking group came about because of a poster at the time of Madiba’s death saying: “Madiba, we will carry on walking!”. The word “wolking” is a combination of walking our journey in Madiba’s footsteps and working each day for 67 seconds to better someone’s life by word and deed.

On Wednesday night, the Wolking group, wrapped in duvets and with a delicious mug of hot chocolate, met around a warm fire to listen Flora Bottoman, Nandi Basson, Nhadia Gustavo to the story of Fuzzies and participate in Fuzzy & Taylor Kirkby enjoying their meeting. Week. The concept of Fuzzies is like that of a Secret Santa: one chooses a name out of the hat and undertakes to do “something wonderful” for that person every day for a week. The person being ‘fuzzied’ does not know who is ‘fuzzying’ her. A week later, all is revealed and we each give our person a beautiful, warm, fuzzy pompom. The Wolking group is just one of many in the hostel - Sudila Kasango, we are proud of those who give of their time so willingly to make hostel life active, Sibongile Mtegha, involved and interesting. &Rebecca Francklin GIRLS’ SCHOOLS’ SPORTS & CULTURAL FESTIVAL Wynberg once again took part in the All Girls’ Schools’ Festival – this year hosted by Collegiate in Port Elizabeth. Wynberg included hockey, netball, vocal ensemble, chess, public speaking, tennis and squash teams. There were 20 schools and more than 900 girls participating. The long and tiring bus trip was soon forgotten at the opening ceremony where learners were treated to several performances from well-known national dancers and bands. Collegiate was celebrating its 140th anniversary (yes, it’s older than WGHS!), and various speakers gave us wonderful pointers about managing our school lives and achieving our dreams. Each of the sport’s teams played matches from morning until late afternoon and the cultural groups were also hard at work, rehearsing and competing all day.

A feature of the festival was the wonderful sportsmanship shown in every discipline, no matter what the result! The All Girls’ Festival was a thoroughly enjoyable and valuable experience: each of the participants left with new goals and challenges and the tools to achieve them. MATCHES: 10 May HOCKEY MATCHES: 17 May 1st Team: Wynberg lost 0-1 to Rustenburg. 1st Team: Drew 2-2 with St Cyprians. During the first 10 Rustenburg scored early in the game, and when Wynberg did minutes of the game Wynberg had numerous chances to score switch on, they just could not take advantage of their many but it was St Cyps who, against the run of play, were awarded a chances - 7 short corners for and none against! The midfield short corner from which they scored. Within minutes they are to be commended on their solid build up and creation of broke through again and scored their second goal. Valeshka scoring opportunities. Chelsea Manoek was player of the Harku made several brilliant saves to keep Wynberg in the match for pulling off big tackles and creating a number of match and finally, Berzilee Pipes deflected the ball into the exciting counterattacks. back of the net. Late in the second half, Jamie Southgate scored a cracker of a goal off a rebound from the keeper. 2nd Team: Wynberg drew 1-1 with Rustenburg. Players of the match were Valeshka Harkhu and Cara Geere. Teamwork and passing have improved. Tamsyn Gaynor, who 2nd Team: lost 0-2 to St Cyprians. The girls fought hard in the scored the goal, and Vikky Erfort, our amazing goalie, were the first half and dominated the second but lost 2-0. players of the match. 3rd Team: Wynberg won 4-1 against . Goals were U16A Team: Wynberg won 2-0 against Settlers. scored by Logan Coutts and Stacy Samuel, each scoring two. It Demi Steenkamp scored first from a short corner which went was a great game filled with great hockey and funny moments, wrong - funny how this sometimes happens! Settlers had a including Kelly Vermaak running onto the hockey field without few opportunities to level the score but Wynberg’s defense her stick. Well done girls, keep up the great work . held strong. With 10 minutes left, Wynberg put together a U16A Team: Wynberg won 1-0 against St Cyprians. beautiful set of passes down the right and Dani Graney scored. The U16A team dominated the match for long periods of time U16B Team: Wynberg lost 0-9 to Rustenburg U16A’s. and scored through Demi Steenkamp. This was a strong Unfortunately we were not really a match for their A team. performance. Player of the match was Nikiwe Mlumbi. The U16Bs never gave up, though, and although they U16B Team: Wynberg won 2-0 against Milnerton U16As. defended for most of the match, they did have one or two Although we had a lot more possession than the opposition, chances to score. Saarah Smith was player of the match. we had to fight hard to win. Goals were scored by Saarah U16C Team: Wynberg lost 0-6 to Rustenburg. Smith and Amy Arendse. Player of the match was Anne Hall for U16D Team: Wynberg lost 1-4. The U16Ds played a tough her excellent early crosses from the right. game against a stronger opponent. The girls played well U16C Team: Wynberg won 4-0 against Milnerton U16Bs. throughout the game and stayed positive despite losing 4-1. Three goals were scored in the first half of the game, two by The goal was scored by Jess Stephens. Kagiso Jantjies and one by Paula Buchanan. WGHS dominated U14B Team: Wynberg lost 2-1 to Rustenburg. possession and Paula scored again during the second half, Jamie-Lee Crowie scored Wynberg’s goal. aided by Kagiso Jantjies and Emily Symmonds. The team U14C Team: Wynberg lost 0-1 to Westerford. played a structured game, relying on skills learnt in coaching. U16D Team: Drew 0-0 with Milnerton. MATCHES: 23 & 24 May Wynberg played a mixed group of U14, U16 and U19 Milnerton hockey players. The girls played a great game, with a great 2nd Team: Drew 1-1 with Bellville. Wynberg dominated the improvement in their teamwork and communication. Thank first half and Sarah Richter scored our goal in the first 15 you to Logan Patel and Jess Botha for refereeing. minutes but Bellville’s superior fitness enabled them to U14A Team: Wynberg won 3-0 against St Cyprians. equalise. The team will be working on fitness more regularly Wynberg scored in the first half through Kayla Morgan. They to avoid tiredness in the second half of the game. Players of dominated in the second half scoring 2 more goals through the match were Sarah and Vicky Erfort. Jenna Grey. It was a good match played in a good spirit! U16A Team: Wynberg won 2-1 against Bellville. Player of the match was Keightley Walsh. The cold, stormy weather did not stop Wynberg, and although U14B Team: Wynberg lost 0-1 to Milnerton U14As. they conceded the first goal, they soon equalized when Jaymee The U14Bs show plenty of enthusiasm - they just need some Henderson scored. In the second half, after a well constructed more focus! build-up, Zoe Koff converted. Wynberg played with a great U14C Team: Wynberg lost 0-1 to Westerford. spirit and unity and fought hard to come back to win. Well done The U14Cs played a great game against Westerford even to Logan Patel, player of the match. though they lost 1-0. Player of the match was Lauren van U16B Team: Wynberg won 5-0 against Curro. Tonder who ran hard throughout the match. The girls played very well considering the howling gale! Goals were scored by Jessica Botha, Jenna Featherstone, Farah Jacobs and two by Megan Gierdien. U16C Team: Drew 0-0 with Bellville U16B’s. The U16C's held their own against a strong U16B Bellville team. The fact that no goals were scored against them is testament to Wynberg’s determination and strong defending. U14B Team: Wynberg won 1-0 against Bellville. Demi Fester was player of the match. U14 C Team: Wynberg won 5-0 against JG Meiring. A scrappy first half produced 1 Wynberg goal - 4 more were added in the second half when the team played together and passed well. NETBALL SAILING Congratulations to our Western Cape and Western Province Netball stars! Firstly, super well done to Yeukai Chamba who made the Western Cape team, for the second year in a row! Congratulations too, to Jenna Grey (U14), Zoe Koff & Vuya Puzi (U16) and Asanda Masoka (U17) who were all awarded their WP colours. Finally well done to all the Wynberg coaches and in particular to Mrs Sakeena Williams for these excellent results.

Congratulations to Sarah-Jane Deary who represented South Africa at the African Sailing Championships held in Algeria. Although Sarah-Jane is only 13, she competed Yeukai Chamba, Jenna Grey, Zoe Koff, Asanda Masoka & Vuya Puzi in the U16 section and came 3rd overall!! Well done! MATCHES: 22 May against . U16A Team: Wynberg lost 15-6. SANESA Although the game looked promising for Wynberg, Fish Hoek caught up and eventually went ahead. The best defender was Erin Slater and the best Attacker, Zoe Koff. U16B Team: Wynberg won 12-8. Although the first half score had Fish Hoek leading 8-6, Wynberg came back in the second, winning the game 12-8. The best defender was Tayab Harrison, the best attacker Carrie Scheller, and the best shooter, Lulethu Mthana. U16C Team: Wynberg lost 5-8. The first half was extremely tight and the score was 4-4 at half time. Then Fish Hoek’s defence went into top gear and Wynberg Abigail only scored 1 more goal. Wynberg’s best Kempster attacker was captain, Lara Harris, the best on Lane defender was Olwethu Lusaseni, and the best Detroit shooter was Natasha Claasen. Express U14A Team: Wynberg won 14-7. Wynberg played at an incredible pace, with Abi did Wynberg proud in the SANESA qualifier held in Stellenbosh. Her results very accurate passing, and lead 7-5 at half in the various classes were as follows: Abi came 1st in Show Jumping & Working time. Wynberg kept their composure in the Riding, 3rd in Working Hunter & Dressage, and 4th in Equitation. This beautiful second half and restricted Fish Hoek to only 2 photo was taken by Claire Henderson. more goals while they scored another 7! The best attacker was Lupiwe Poswa, the best defender was Lwazi Mpofu-Mketwa, and the CROSS-COUNTRY RUNNERS best shooter was Tyla-Rae Hogan. U14B Team: Wynberg lost 2-4 ENJOY Wynberg started nervously and both teams’ defence players worked overtime in the first half. In the 2nd half, Wynberg allowed silly mistakes to get the better of them, but played well right to the last whistle. The best defender was Jade De Villiers, the best attacker was Sarah Van Zyl, and the best shooter was Ashley Timms. U14C Team: Wynberg won 8-2. Although both teams played strongly, Wynberg’s confident attitude saw them winning in the end. The best shooter was Sibo Mtegha, the best attacker was Carin Ryklief, and the best defender was Tasneem du Toit.