St Teresa’s infocus school news, sport, information and events

From the Desk of Elsa de Bod Reflection

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Prayer of the Week

Our Grade 7 to 11 girls finished writing their mid-year examinations

today and I am sure that both the girls and parents are grateful that

this stressful time has come to an end. Our Grade 12s however

have been having block teaching and writing tests during this whole

time and are not facing a holiday but rather something closer to

independent study-leave, as their Preliminary examinations start on

Friday 6 September. Although our Grade 12 girls are stressed and

tired they have shown positivity and grit through a very challenging

year. Without such determination a year like this can be

overwhelming and it has encouraged me look for methods to

improve the perseverance of our younger girls, so that they too may

be able to cope with the stress of the Grade 12 year when the time

comes.

I came across an article which gives a few pointers as to how we

can develop perseverance in our children. Here are a few of the

main ideas from the article. The complete article “How (and Why)

to Teach Kids to Have More Grit” by Jill Ceder is available on

https://www.verywellfamily.com/how-parents-can-teach-kids-grit-

4126106.

Let Your Child Find a Passion: One of the characteristics of “gritty” people is that they are “especially motivated to seek happiness through focused engagement and a sense of meaning or purpose,” so letting a child find his or her own passion is necessary for the long term.

Place Children in Activities out of their Comfort Zone: Give your child the opportunity to pursue at least one difficult thing; an activity that requires discipline to practise. The actual activity does not matter as much as the effort required and the learning experience that comes with it.

Let Your Child Get Frustrated: If your child never has the ability to succeed at something difficult, she may never develop the confidence in her ability to confront challenges. Do not let your daughter quit because she is having a bad day. Allowing your child to give up teaches them that struggling is not part of working hard and if they give up, they will never get to see what greatness could happen if they work hard.

Model a Growth Mindset: In a Growth Mindset, children understand that their talents and abilities can be developed through effort, good teaching, and persistence.

Brainstorm Together: Help her brainstorm strategies when she struggles with something and make a plan of what actions she will take and how she will proceed, but allow her to take ownership of the solution.

Teach That Failing Is Okay: Talk with your children regularly about your own failures, and how you persevered or ways in which you could have been more resilient.

Discuss Effort and Not Accomplishments: The goal of a task is not perfection,. If you intervene constantly, your child will realize that you do not have confidence in her abilities.

Be a Gritty Parent: Show kids that you take on tasks that are sometimes scary, and that you sometimes struggle or fail and then bounce back.

“Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because, having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him.” - James 1:12

JUNIOR PRIMARY

Nut Free Campus

There is a ban on all nuts, including peanuts, peanut butter, Nutella and any products containing nuts, as well as sesame seeds. We have girls who are severely allergic,

not only to eating them, but also to airborne traces of them.

Please ensure that anyone who might pack

your daughter’s lunch is aware of this.

IN THIS ISSUE: St Davids Picnic | Hooked on Books | Mr Meowgi Returns 2 AUGUST 2019

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Dear Lord,

We ask for your peace to cover our children. We ask for laughter and joy to fill their days.

We pray that you would give our children boldness

and courage to face the challenges set before them, with the confidence and calmness that can only

come from Your Holy Spirit.

Thank you for blessing us with these special girls and for the happiness they bring into our lives.

Amen

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Events of the Past Week - Junior Primary

St David’s Picnic

On Tuesday 23 July, the playground was filled with both girls and boys as the Grade 00 and 0 St Teresa’s girls welcomed their counterparts from Grade R at St David’s Marist Inanda to the annual St Teresa’s/St David’s Picnic. It was an exciting day with many adventures and games. Both girls and boys we able to paint, jump, climb, hang, dig, balance, dress-up, play music and make mud pies. The boys and girls also collaborated on a special project. They were all involved in painting and decorating a large cardboard boat. This was gifted to St David’s for them to use. The playground and gardens were filled with the sound of chattering and laughter followed by the sound of silence as they all tucked into a tasty meal provided by the Grade 0 parents. A fun day was had by all!

Montecasino Bird Gardens

For many of the Grade 00 girls, the outing to the Montecasino Bird Gardens on Thursday 25 July was their first time on a bus! There was great excitement as it started up and left from the Aftercare gate. The girls broke out into a spontaneous rendition of “The Wheels on the Bus”. Upon arrival, we headed off towards the flamingoes. “Oh look! It’s only got one leg”, was heard said. Next up was the vivarium with it poisonous frogs and toads. The Tomato Toad in particular attracted a lot of interest. From there it was mongeese, lemurs, pythons, fruit bats and other small creatures. Walking through the bird aviary, the girls enjoyed seeing the scarlet ibis and guinea fowl. Across the bridge they walked past pelican, toucan, hyacinth, macaws and of course the kookaburra. We promptly learnt the song “Kookaburra sits in Old Gum Tree”. After a bite of lunch and playtime on the climbing apparatus, it was time for the Bird Show. After fun-filled, informative morning, we all got back on the bus and enjoyed our journey back to school.

Events of the Past Week - Junior Primary

Honeydew Mazes

On Tuesday 30 July, the Grade 2’s had an aMAZing outing to the Honeydew Mazes. The girls spent the morning exploring their sense of direction and figuring out riddles throughout the maze. They had to work in teams to reach all five gardens in the maze and there were many shouts of excitement throughout the activities. After successfully completing the maze, the girls played with the numerous outdoor games on offer at the venue. The morning was topped off with a delicious ice-lolly treat. Very tired, but happy girls boarded the bus to return to school, with many having a snooze on the bus after their exhausting morning.

Events of the Past Week - Senior Primary

Hooked on Books

The Senior Primary girls were treated to their annual visit from Hooked on Books on Monday 29 July. The girls were enthralled with moments of suspense and excitement aplenty. Some of the girls even got the opportunity to take to the stage and help with the production. Our avid readers are now dying to get their hands on the books that were presented.

Events of the Past Week - Senior Primary

Book Character Dress Up Day

On Thursday 1 August, the girls continued to enjoy their book themed week with a dress-up day. The girls were very creative and dressed up as their favourite book characters. There was a great vibe on the playground as the girls shared their book choices with each other.

The Little Mermaid Rehearsals

The final preparations for our production of “The Little Mermaid’’ are in full swing. The girls have been putting the last touches on their costumes, and technical rehearsals in the Hall have been going well. We can’t wait for everyone to see the magic of ‘’The Little Mermaid’’ on stage next week!

Awesome Achievements - Junior Primary

Kelly Lees, Ishvara Skozana and Adrienne Sales on receiving their Dinky Yellow belts in karate (left

and middle).

Faye Greenberg on receiving her Blue Belt 2 in karate (right).

Alexa Cave for completing the Like-to-Bike mid-duathlon which involved a 1km run, 5km trail ride and a

further 500m run (left).

Emma Gallant-DaSilva for her participation in the 5km Walk the Talk (middle).

Micaela and Daniella Munzer on receiving Honours in their Juvenile Freestyle Dance Test (right).

Congratulations to:

Awesome Achievements - Senior Primary

Njabulo Vilakazi for performing so well in her Rhythmic Gymnastics Competition.

Awesome Achievements - High School

National First Additional Language Olympiad

Congratulations to the following girls for participating in the National First Additional Language Olympiad. The average achieved was 64%. We are very proud of them for doing so well.

Grade 10 Caitlin Steyn Grade 11 Verity Hindson

Ami Janse van Rensburg

Busisiwe Khumalo

Natascha Liebenberg

Ruvimbo Masimba

Danielle Phillips

Robyn Shearer

Abigail Skinner

Savannah Versace

Grade 12 Holly Heinzelmann

Jessica van As

Congratulations to:

Other News - High School

Mandela Day Outreach

We would like to express our sincere gratitude to our School Community for the generous donations in sanitary pads for our campaign for Mandela Day. The Pad Princess received an incredible 108 packets which will be distributed to young women with the aim of keeping girls in school.

Volunteers Needed

The Johannesburg Garden Club is looking for 24 volunteers to help at an Open Garden on the weekend of 5-6 October. All proceeds go towards Johannesburg Child Welfare. 12 volunteers are required for Saturday 5 October and 12 volunteers for Sunday 6 October. Each day consists of two shifts from 09:30-13:00 and from 13:00-16:30 - essentially 6 volunteers per shift. This is a great way to complete your Community Service hours for the year without having to do too much strenuous activity as you will receive Community Service hours for your contribution, should you choose to volunteer. If you are interested in volunteering, please message Holly Heinzelmann (Grade 12) on 076 557 0726 with your name and the date and shift you would like to do.

Volunteers must be reliable and punctual.

Our School Cat

“Our School Cat”, Mr Meowgi, returned to the school during the Grade 12 Parents’ Evening on Monday 29 July and has taken up residence as if he has never really been away. His owners have been contacted and informed that he has returned safely to the school from his home in Parkview. They have very kindly granted custody of Mr Meowgi to the St Teresa’s School Community, but will receive visitation rights. He is a very savvy cat and we wish him a long and happy life as the most recent addition to the Rosie family.

Upcoming Events - Senior Primary

The Little Mermaid

We are drawing ever closer to presenting “The Little Mermaid”. Tickets for the production are on sale from the office at a cost of R80.00 per ticket. Tickets are selling fast, so book quickly. Seating will be allocated on a first-come basis except for the matinee performance where there will not be reserved seating. Please ensure that you book tickets for the correct performances. Please take note of the following days and dates that each cast will be performing: Yellow cast: Monday 5 August Matinée 14:00 Tuesday 6 August Evening performance 19:00 Green cast: Tuesday 6 August Morning show for JP 10:00 Wednesday 7 August Evening performance 19:00

Upcoming Events - General

Sport of the Week - Junior Primary

Interhouse Hockey

All Grade 3 and Grade 4 Hockey players participated in the annual Interhouse Hockey at Wanderers on Tuesday 30 July. There was an A and a B Team in each of the Houses. Each team consisted of both Grade 3 and Grade 4 play-ers. All games were well contested with the final results being: 1st Lourdes

2nd McAuley

3rd Marian

Well done to all the Hockey girls!

Sport of the Week - Senior Primary and High School

Hockey

The Grade 4 and 5 Teams enjoyed participating in their respective Grade Festivals on Saturday 27 July. The Grade 4s played at Brescia House and each Team played three closely-contested matches. The Grade 5s played at St Andrew’s and were fortunate to play five matches. We did well to score 5 goals during the morning.

Sport of the Week - Senior Primary

Interhouse Hockey

Interhouse hockey was held on Wednesday 31 July at Wanderers.

In the Grade 3 and 4 Section, the results were as follows: 3rd McAuley 6 points

2nd Marian 7 points

1st Lourdes 9 points

In the Grade 5 and 6 Sections, the results were: 3rd Marian 0 points

2nd Lourdes 5 points

1st McAuley 7 Points

The combined results were, therefore, as follows: 3rd Marian 7 points

2nd McAuley 13 points

1st Lourdes 14 points

Sport of the Week - Senior Primary and High School

Hockey

Well done to all the girls who have represented St Teresa’s on the hockey field recently.

We played matches against Assumption on Friday 26 July. The Grade 4s lost 1 - 2 in a very close and exciting match.

Grades 5, 6 and the combined 6/7 Team all won their matches and scored a total of 16 goals for St Teresa’s to 0

goals for Assumption.

Dates to Diarise

THE WEEKLY SPORTS PROGRAMMES ARE AVAILABLE ON THE MOBILE APP.

JP: juniorprimary@stteresas.co.za SP: senior-primary@stteresas.co.za HS: stteresas@stteresas.co.za

AUGUST 2019

Saturday 3 Ububele @ 07:15-12:15 “The Little Mermaid” Full Dress Rehearsal

@ 08:00-13:00

Ububele @ 07:15-12:15

Monday 5 Parent/Teacher Consultations (Grade

1-3) “The Little Mermaid” Matinee

Performance @ 14:00 Grade 12 Block Teaching

Leadership Development (Grade 11) Return of Exams

Tuesday 6 Parent/Teacher Consultations (Grade

1-3)

“The Little Mermaid” Evening

Performance @ 19:00 Cross Curricular Teaching (Grade 7-8) Subject Workshops (Grade 9) University and Careers Workshops (Grade

10-11) Block Teaching (Grade 12) Ambassadors 2018/2019 leave for Australia

Wednesday 7 Parent/Teacher Consultations (Grade

1-3)

“The Little Mermaid” Evening

Performance @ 19:00 Cross Curricular Teaching (Grade 7-8) Subject Workshops (Grade 9) Night Market Workshops (Grade 10) Physical Sciences Practical (Grade 11) @ 12:15-14:00 Block Teaching (Grade 12) House Play Rehearsal @ 12:00

Thursday 8 School closes @ 11:00-11:30 (Grade 00-0) 11:30-12:00 (Grade 1-3) Children not collected by 12:15 will be

sent to Aftercare

Report Distribution (Grade 4-6) School closes @ 11:00

Interhouse Music Term 2 Awards Assembly @ 11:00 -12:00 Science Lessons (Grade 12) @ 12:00-

16:00 School closes @ 12:00

End of Term 2

Friday 9 Woman’s Day Public Holiday

SEPTEMBER 2019

Monday 2 Matric Lesson Week Sun City Tennis Tournament

Tuesday 3 Matric Lesson Week Sun City Tennis Tournament

Wednesday 4 Matric Lesson Week Sun City Tennis Tournament

Thursday 5 Matric Lesson Week Sun City Tennis Tournament

Matric Geography Outing @ 09:00-15:00

Friday 6 Matric Lesson Week Sun City Tennis Tournament Matric Prelims Start

Saturday 7

Sunday 8 Ambassadors 2018/2019 return from

Australia Monday 9 Matric Prelims

Tuesday 10

Wednesday 11 Start of Term 2

Extra Murals Start CS KZN Sports Festival (Grade 7) House play rehearsal @ 14:45-17:00 Grade 9 Parents evening @ 16:00-18:00 Grade 9 Subject Choice information

evening @ 18:30 Thursday 12 CS KZN Sports Festival (Grade 6) CS KZN Sports Festival (Grade 7)

Grade 7,8,10 & 11 Parents Evening @

16:00-19:00 Friday 13 Spring Day Civvies

Spring Day Civvies Mass @ 07:45 CS KZN Sports Festival (Grade 6)

CS KZN Sports Festival (Grade 7)

Alumni Mass and Cocktail Party @ 18:00

Saturday 14 CS KZN Sports Festival (Grade 6) CS Grade 11 Leadership Day CS KZN Sports Festival (Grade 7) House play Rehearsal @ 08:00-12:00