Term 2 #14 24 May 2019 NewsletterCollege St Andrew’s College To the Andrean Community One of the lesser known ‘beautiful spaces’ at College is a large frangipani tree that grows alongside the north eastern buttress of the Chapel. It is a most beautiful tree, basking in the morning sun, protected by the strong Chapel walls - that “What is a farm but a mute when the cold winds blow it is able to stand firm, not in its own strength, but in gospel?”. the shelter that the Chapel provides. - Ralph Waldo Emerson It is old enough that its roots are deeply planted, that when rains are generous it is able to drink deeply, but in dry times the deep water will sustain it. On the surface it always faces the new morning sun with optimism. Below the surface its roots prepare for the reality that with good days come bad, and it knows to always enjoy the former but to do so in the knowledge that those days of growth will prepare it for the long days of challenge. Inherent in understanding that is the knowledge that, as inevitable as the tough times are, they are transient, for we are made to grow and flourish. Nec Aspera Terrent St Andrew’s College Nec Aspera Terrent WEEK AT A GLANCE The flowers of a frangipani have a beautiful ‘tropical island’ simplicity to them. No fancy stigmas and stamens here, just a simple, well textured flower that beams Friday 24 May: its beauty and somehow understands its most exquisite aroma. Here is a deep 10h00 - Golf vs Selborne (A) understanding of self-worth, not the over-compensating ostentatious brash 10h30 - Hockey vs Selborne (A) confidence that is born of low self-esteem. 17h00 - Debating League (Auditorium) While this part of the school is beautiful in its own way, simply as a beautiful space, it is all the more beautiful because it is an example of, and symbolic of, a Saturday 25 May flourishing space. Hockey vs Selborne College (A) Rugby vs Selborne College (A) When I speak of flourishing, as I often do, this is what I mean – the ability to grow as humans, through good times and through bad, finding individual meaning Sunday 26 May through relationships, courage, leisure, creativity, love, and connections. And as 08h30 - Tennis: Warwick Bailey Cup the frangipani flourishes in the morning sun, so we, by eschewing our biological 09h00 - Grade 8 Espin to Table Farm pre-disposition to focus on the negative, can flourish by building positive emotions, deep engagement, and by finding meaning. Monday 27May Wellness Week And, apart from all the ‘stuff’ of school (we must, after all, achieve grades, maintain 16h10 - Tennis: Senior House traditions, and do all of the good things that make up an average school day), a Matches school will truly flourish when it is able to keep the sparkle in a child’s eye, that he 18h00 - Astronomer’s Club is able to know his strengths, find his passions, and, in himself, be deeply rooted 19h00 - Plato Society and flourish. Tuesday 28 May God Bless 15h15 - Tennis: Junior House Matches Visit: https://my.sacschool.com for Alan Thompson full calendar [email protected] University of Cape Town visit Mr Gcinumzi Haduse from University of Cape Town visited College recently to do a presentation to the St Andrew’s College and DSG Grade 11s and 12s. It was not only informative, but extremely entertaining and he managed to keep the large group of interested students on the edge of their seats. It was a great presentation and our students learned a great deal in a short space of time. We thank Mr Haduse for his effort. www.sacschool.com St Andrew’s College Nec Aspera Terrent ACADEMICS CEMA Awards Merit for MUN Debating: Colours for MUN Debating: Daniel Bradfield James Mackenzie Robert Kirkpatrick Michael Velloza James Mackenzie Africa Matshingana Rowan Rosenberg Jonathan Shema Justin Stoddart Michael Velloza Michael Velloza and James Mackenzie Proficiency Tie Sarah Baartman Chess Congratulations to Chris Poole On the 8th of May five pupils took part in the local Makana Municipality Chess who has attained his Proficiency tournament hosted at Victoria Girls High School. A full day of chess resulted in Ayakha Mahashe and Daniel McAlpin being selected to join a team sent to Tie. compete in the Sarah Baartman District Trials. This tournament took place on Saturday at Humansdorp Secondary School where participants from more than seven different Municipalities and schools sat down to shake hands and open play. Both players managed to come away with two victories out of five rounds. The day was a great learning experience for top players in the St Andrew’s Chess Club. Andrew Stuart- Watson www.sacschool.com St Andrew’s College Nec Aspera Terrent Shakespeare Society of Southern Africa Triennial Conference, Fugard Theatre, Cape Town Delegates from 17 International and 5 South African universities attended this conference, which considered the topic, “Shakespeare and Social Justice: Scholarship and Performance in an Unequal World”. St Andrew’s College and DSG teachers, Mrs Louella Sullivan and Mr Andrew Renard were fortunate enough to join the conference. The undoubted highlights were an address by respected actor John Kani, in which he spoke of his experiences of acting in Shakespeare’s plays and his performance afterwards in Kunene and the King alongside Sir Antony Sher. In all, 32 papers were presented over six sessions at the conference. Andrew Renard, in collaboration with Lauren Schwartz of the United Herzlia Schools, presented the paper, ‘Social Justice and Qualities of Mercy’ in which they considered how Shakespeare created the opportunities to consider concepts of ‘othering’, forgiveness and restorative justice. Their study focussed on the plays The Merchant of Venice and Measure for Measure with strong emphasis on the difference between the justice meted out on Shylock in the former play and Angelo in the latter. As the only school teachers invited to present a paper, they more than managed to hold their own amongst the academics. At the end of the session, the convener Susan Bennett’s first question was whether she could ‘borrow’ some of their presentation to use with her students in Calgary. With the introduction of A Level studies in English Literature and Language, the Session convener Susan Bennett importance of staff attending conferences of this nature cannot be underestimated (University of Calgary), Lauren Schwartz and hopefully the knowledge gained will help our pupils in preparation for these (United Herzlia Schools) and Andrew challenging examinations. Renard (SAC) Grade 8 Study Skills Gwen Johnson has been presenting short course skills to Grade 8 boys since the beginning of Term 2. The workshops cover: Organisational - recap on calendar and use of daily planner to strategically organise for tests and exams; Exam Preparation - summaries, mind-maps and how to answer questions. Espin Armstrong www.sacschool.com St Andrew’s College Nec Aspera Terrent Matric Parents - Supplementary Exams Matric parents and boys please note that currently the position is that the IEB will not conduct a supplementary examination in 2020. Matric Parents The Matric Revision Camp will take place from 8am on Sunday 1 September to 3 September. Most boys arrive on the evening of Saturday, 31 August, to be in time for their sessions on Sunday morning, so please bear this in mind when booking flights. Matric Parents: IEB Matric Exams The IEB has had to make three changes to the year-end Final IEB Matric Exam Timetable. Please see the revised Matric Timetable on the Parent Portal. The following subjects have been affected: • French SAL, Mandarin SAL (changed from Thursday 24 October to Friday 25 October (afternoon session) • Dramatic Arts moved from Tuesday 5 November (afternoon) to Friday 25 October (morning) • Visual Arts moved from Friday 25 October (morning) to Wednesday 6 November (morning) Please update your records accordingly. Grade 9 Parents: Subject choices for Grade 10, 2020 Grade 9 parents and boys are invited to attend the Grade 10 (2020) Subject Choice Information Evening at 16h00 on Thursday 13 June in the Lilla Strong Hall. Please take this into consideration when booking flights. 2018 Matric Parents The Andrean magazine and Matric Certificates are ready for collection for 2018 Matric boys. Please arrange for your son (or yourself) to collect these from Sino Bili in the Administration Building. Current pupils were given Andrean magazines (one per family) earlier this year before the holidays. www.sacschool.com St Andrew’s College Nec Aspera Terrent CULTURAL Youth Music Festival 2019 The annual St Andrew’s College / DSG Youth Music Festival got off to an excellent start on Monday with two superb events. The choir festival was at 16h30 and included eight choirs from DSG Junior, Kingswood, Victoria Primary, St Andrew’s Prep, DSG Senior and St Andrew’s College. There were some startlingly charming and competent performances which bode very well for the future of choral singing in our city. In the morning, the auditorium of the David Wynne Music School was filled with pupils, parents and teachers all listening to young soloists of varying playing levels and instruments. If the bursts of enthusiastic applause were anything to go by, they had a lot of fun! The same thing happened on the Tuesday morning with another round of talented young musicians from nine different institutions sharing the joy of performing the language of music to each other. Special mention must be made of the Bedford Country School that brought so many enthusiastic musicians. Tuesday evening featured an Ensemble Concert at 7pm. This event featured nine different ensembles from eight different schools. Particularly impressive were the Graeme College Leopard’s Voices and the St Andrew’s College / DSG String Quartet.