Wynberg Girls' Junior School News
Newsletter 3
10th Feb
Dear WGJS Family
This is the month of love, for showing that we care about each other; husbands, wives, partners, friends, children, parents, colleagues, in fact anyone who is important to us, our happiness and survival! As Valentine’s Day falls on a Sunday, at WGJS we will celebrate on the 15th of February. VALENTINES’ DAY AT WGJS On Monday 15 February, the girls are requested to wear red, pink or white, or combinations of these colours. They may wear denims as long as they have a top representing one of the appropriate colours. On this day, they will be sending “friendship” messages to one another which will be delivered by “Valentine Fairies”! They are reminded to bring R5 for civvies. WGJS COMMUNICATOR – Mr Payne Nearly 150 parents have registered on the Communicator in the first three days. Thank you for the fantastic response. We will endeavour to keep you updated with school news as often as possible. If you have not registered yet, please do so as soon as possible. If you have any questions you may email Mr Payne at deputy@wgjs.wcape.school.za REMINDER: E-LEARNER REGISTRATION FOR GRADE’S 4 AND 7 WGJS has recently become a registered e-Learner Centre and our computer lessons are aimed at allowing our learners to have the opportunity to achieve an international certificate in computers. Last year all our Grade 4 and 7 learners were successful in showing that they had the knowledge required to achieve this certificate. We are hoping that this year ALL our Grade 4 and 7 learners for 2010 will register to allow them to achieve the basics before moving onto the ICDL international certificate in high school. Additional information about this course can be collected from Miss Adams. All we require from our parents is a once off course fee of R60 which is sent to the ICDL Foundation and can be paid at the school’s finance office before the 31st of May. This fee is essential to your daughters ICT education as they are required to complete online tests and will then be prepared for the next step in the ICDL. Your daughter can only start these tests once this fee has been paid. GRADE 1 CLOSING TIME As from Monday 15th February the Grade 1 learners’ will be dismissed at 13h00 from Monday to Thursday and at 13h30 on Fridays. SUMMER SPORTS DAY Summer Sports Day has been postponed until 5th March 2010. The venue for this event will be the Wynberg Boys’ High School fields. CLOTHING SHOP – Mrs Law Please note that children are not permitted to eat or drink while they are in the shop. This rule applies even when they are accompanied by a parent. We thank you for your co-operation in this regard. MUSIC DEPARTMENT – Miss Leonard Screening of musical: The music movie date has been postponed. This will take place in the second term on the afternoon of the 30th of April. Soiree: On Thursday, 18 March we are hosting our first music concert of the year. This event will take place as a Soiree – with tables set out and finger snacks served. Parents may choose to buy 10 tickets (a table) for friends together, or separate tickets that will be placed at tables. Tickets for the Soiree are R50 and available via the class teachers from 1 March – this includes the light finger dinner. Guests are welcome to bring their own beverages. The Junior and Senior choirs will perform, as well as our music staff. FROM THE LIBRARY – Mrs Baerecke - “WE ARE A READING SCHOOL”. Last night, Ashleigh Thompson, Grace Brain, Beth Petersen and Nazeera Loonat took part in the annual “KIDS’ LIT QUIZ”, hosted by New Zealander, Wayne Mills. Now for the REALLY exciting news – our girls came first! There were 27 teams; Springfield came second and Bay Primary was place third. We are extremely proud of our young ladies, who now fly to Pietermaritzburg for the South African finals. The World Finals will be held in Edinburgh in August. The “R1-a-book” sale held last week was a sell-out! Another one will be held later in the year. All Grade 4 to 7 girls will have done their prepared reading within the next few days and I have enjoyed listening to them. I would like to encourage them to expand their vocabulary by having a dictionary close at hand whilst reading. With guidance from both school and home, they will learn to choose age-appropriate literature. “The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you'll go.” [Dr Seuss] PA/FUNDRAISERS AND EVENTS CO-ORDINATORS – Lyn Makinson Friday 29th January was like no other day, as very excited young girls and their parents eagerly awaited the end of the school day in order to get back to school to pitch their tents, set up for evening, braai their boerewors, be pleasantly entertained and overall have a fantastic time with family and friends at Wynberg Girls' Junior. The weather was perfect and as the evening wore on, we could hear the sound of our children running, laughing, singing and just having a great time. Our ever popular "Fire Spinners" certainly did not let us down as we were all enthralled by their talent. When the evening drew to a close, everyone made their way to their tents for a well-earned rest and the camp-site was peaceful. The sounds of our Egyptian Geese woke many to the aromatic smells of coffee and muffins! Families prepared to pack up and look forward to returning to this famous site once again, next year. To everyone who joined us, thank you for your support. We are certain that you had a great time and we look forward to your company once again next year. GOVERNING BODY BY- ELECTION This is a further reminder about the By Election which takes place on Tuesday 16 February at 18h30. We need to replace one member of the SGB whose daughter has now left the school. Currently, we have one co-opted member who is prepared to stand for office but obviously, this is an open election and should you wish to nominate a particular person whom you feel has the expertise we may require, please follow the legal procedures. Nominations forms are available at the secretaries’ office. It is a legal requirement that we have a quorum of 15% of the total number of children present at the school, represented by the parents, at the By-Election before we may proceed. Therefore I appeal to you to make every effort to attend and avoid us having to wait another 30 days for a second attempt! The elections are swiftly conducted and the meeting is usually concluded without any delays. DATES TO REMEMBER: February 10-12 Grade 7 camp 15 Valentine’s day at school 16 Individual photos 17 Individual photos 19 SU Day March 2 Summer Sports photos 5 Grade 1 Cake Sale 5 Summer Sports Day 5/6 Choir Camp 9 Inter-schools swimming gala 10 Inter-schools Tennis 12 Extra-murals end 13 Under 13 Hockey tournament 15 Reports to be handed out 15/16 Parent interviews 16 Inter-schools diving 17 Music Soiree 21/22 Human Rights Day and Public Holiday 26 School Closes IN CONCLUSION “Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today and creates vision for tomorrow” (Melody Beattie) Contemplating everything that’s wrong or bad in our world affects you emotionally and takes you places you don’t want to go. There is a wonderful alternative called gratitude. The moment that you express gratitude for anything, it is like tuning your emotional state to a different station; you unlock the negatives and your focus moves to something that makes life worth living (even if it is just for that brief moment). The more you practice your gratitude, the more you’ll experience those wonderful fulfilling moments. I challenge you today to count your blessings (no matter how small) and express gratitude in some way – thank God and thank others – you can even reflect in your mind on how “lucky” you are for having food, clothing, email, a car and so on. I know you can do it but will you? Christo Spies Best wishes W M CONDIE (MRS) PRINCIPAL