Junior School Dear Parents Having had time to recharge our batteries during Half-Term, followed by an incredible Festival experience, it is time to settle down and get back to the routine of “normal school”. What a privilege it has been to be a Grahamstown resident with all those amazing shows on offer- a veritable cultural feast and one in which our girls participated with alacrity and enjoyment! We welcome back our intrepid mathematicians, Sally-Anne Allsop and Caydn Barker, who travelled with Mrs Timm to Bulgaria to represent Grahamstown at the International Mathematics competition. I would also like to compliment all our EP Squash girls who acquitted themselves very well in their tournaments over the Half-Term break. We are very proud of you all. A number of our teachers were away on courses last week. Mrs Gooden and Mrs Jackson attended the SAALED conference in Johannesburg, Mrs Campbell was away at an Orff workshop and Mrs Allman, at an IT conference. We are looking forward to hearing of their experiences and relevant shared development. Communication If parents have any issues or queries regarding any aspect of school, we ask that you please contact the relevant teacher or me so that we can resolve your problem as speedily as possible. I have an open-door policy and am always happy to assist you wherever I can. It often happens that parents are reluctant to come to the school with concerns, queries or complaints, believing that their daughter will somehow be compromised by such actions. I wish to assure you that this belief is not valid. We are as concerned as you that your daughter’s experience at DSG is happy, fulfilling and that she reaches her full potential in all areas and feedback is always helpful. Sports Uniform Please would you ensure that your girls bring the correct takkies and socks to school. We have noticed an increasing trend in girls wearing brightly coloured shoes and different socks during their sports practices. For everyday school use, takkies should be predominantly white. If it is a sports-specific boot, then some leeway may be given but this needs to be discussed with Mr Howarth. Thought for the week There are many little ways to enlarge your child’s world. Love of books is the best of all.- Jacqueline Kennedy Tracy Laubscher Head: DSG Junior School Newsletter 09 July 2013 HAPPY BIRTHDAY Natasha de Beer 13 July Looking ahead Readathon 16 July - 19 July Next week is the start of our Readathon through which we will be trying to promote reading in various ways. We would be grateful if you could encourage your daughter to read for at least 20 minutes per day. We have moved our Book Character Day to next Friday, 19 May, to give the girls more time to think up something to wear. On Friday 19 July, we would like the girls to come to school dressed as a character from a book. Costumes should be simple and involve a creative rummaging in your cupboards at home! Please do not feel you have to go out and buy anything for this day. Our girls will be reading to the Prep School children as well as doing a number of other reading activities. Guitar groups Please Note Pupils are welcome to continu e with private guitar lessons but, in addition, Mrs Campbell will be holding 2 guitar groups- one for beginners (a ‘4 chord’ group) and one for the more experienced play ers (a ‘more chord’ group!). These will run on Monday during Prep – from 3.15-3.45 (the 4 chord group) and 3.45 – 4.15 (the more chord group) . Current pupils will be sorted into one of these two groups. Girls attending these groups will not be charged, but a sma ll fee will be issued each term if the pup il is hiring a school instrument , and does not have their own. Samson and Delilah Photo graphs The girls had their photograp hs taken during the Samson and Delilah production. These are availab le on a CD at a cost of R10 -00. If you would like to order one or mo re CDs, please would you con tact Mrs Pienaar at a.pienaar@dsgsch ool.com to order your copy. FROM THE SPORTSDESK Squash Seven of our Junior girls participated in the Inter-Provincial Squash Tournaments held over half term. Diana Dixie, Kelly Hobson and Carla Coltman travelled to Pietermaritzburg as part of the EP U13B and C teams. All the girls gave good accounts with the B team, securing Bronze and the C team being placed sixth. This is a very creditable outcome, especially considering that the C team played in the B section! We also had 4 girls, Carina Kemp, Lucy McAdam, Mikayla Eksteen and Zintle Yaka, who represented the EP U11 A and B teams in Pretoria. The girls found the going tough against strong opposition. It was, nonetheless, an important learning curve and there can be no doubt that they gained from the experience of playing at this level. Neale Howarth Junior School Sports Co-ordinator Upcoming Sports Events Wednesday 18 JULY U13A Hockey and U13A Netball versus Sweet Valley (DSG) (CT Touring Team) Saturday 20 JULY Hockey and Netball versus Woodridge (Away) Thursday 25 JULY Inter-Schools Trail Running (KC) (Originally dated 24 July in calendar) Saturday 27 JULY Greystone House Duties 046 - 603 4337 Monday 8 JULY Miss Sarah Cullin - 073 985 1498 Tuesday 9 JULY Miss Danica Coetzee Wednesday 10 JULY Miss Jordan Mortymer - 079 950 0332 Thursday 11 JULY Miss Jordan Mortymer - 079 950 0332 Friday + Weekend 12 JULY Miss Jordan Mortymer - 079 950 0332 Greystone News The Half-Term week was a welcome break from routine for the girls in Greystone. They were very home for a break. Last week, however excited to be going ing to a vibrant and buzzing Graham , the delight of returnchanges evident in town during the stown was palpable. The National Arts Festival are always a reason for excitement amo year was no different. The Village ngst the girls and this place to spend hours combing throGreen was a wonderful the amazing things on sale. The finaugh the tents to see all l festival event for the Greystone girls this weekend was a visit to the funfair, where they couldn’t get enough of the exh ilaration of the rides. Angie Gooden House Mistress Hockey versus Westering (Away) Tuesday 30 JULY U13 Hockey versus VP Thursday 1 AUGUST U10 and U11 Hockey versus VP s Trip B ulgarian Math A Night in Mumbai 14 September 2013|18H30 for 19H00|Nonie Mullins Hall Enjoy an authentic Indian evening with your friends! R150 per ticket for a 3-course traditional Indian meal. Live entertainment & Cash Bar & Auction Tickets are available from Fiona Williamson 082 378 7854 | [email protected] International Maths Competition – Burgas, Bulgaria participated in the InTwenty nine countries from all over the world to 5 July in Burgas, June 30 from held n etitio ternational Maths Comp tion only and invita by is n Bulgaria. Participation in the competitio of which was one teams eight send to h enoug South Africa was lucky Anne Allsop Sallygirls, DSG a team from Grahamstown. Two Grade 7 Baart and Kieron by joined were and ed select and Caydn Barker, were Sebastian Paton from St Andrew’s Prep. flew to Johannesburg Our adventure started on 28 June when the team we finally landed in trip, our half-h nd-anine-a and, after a very long l of Bulgaria, where capita Istanbul. From there we flew to Sofia, the the city. We enring explo and lag jet any over g we spent a day gettin ecture and archit the ciated joyed visiting some very old churches, appre led for travel we day next The city. sting intere this learned more about to be going was n etitio comp five hours by bus to Burgas where the onal traditi by tained enter were we ony cerem ng held. During the openi hes! speec Bulgarian dancing and listened to numerous bar, the ruins of a 5th The next morning, we were off to visit to Nesse century ancient city. where we had a From there, we visited a rural settlement in Bata, rians from many Bulga the of chance to look at displays showing the life etition was the comp the as bed to early was it years ago. That night, next day. dual and one as part The Grade 7s had to write two exams–one indivi challenging, our team of a team. Although the sums were extremely . That evening, the proud us did and acquitted themselves very well al evening; the cultur the in rm perfo to e chanc a had ries count different of our famous one to e routin dance a South African team performed oza. songs, Mend shops in Burgas and The next day, we were given time to explore the going to the closing e befor oon aftern the to have a bit of down-time in our Grade 9s from of one , Kroon las Nicho . giving prize and ceremony s and Sally-Anne effort his for merit a ed St Andrew’s College, was award The overall winteam! n mstow Graha the from ver achie top was the the Philippines while ners for the Grade 7 year group (key stage 2) were the Grade 9 year for title hip pions cham the with away d Japan walke group (key stage 3). for our exhausted but On Friday, our long journey back home started on Sunday afternoon home d arrive finally We . pupils of group excited ts. paren rtive suppo to an expectant group of very g skills developed Not only have Caydn and Sally-Anne’s problem solvin to make friends them ed enabl has ience exper their but ly substantial and to learn team a as work to , world the with children from all over have benefitted from girls our of er numb A ry. count host our about Caydn went through, attending some of the training Sally-Anne and with higher order ssfully succe more deal to them g werin empo thereby . questions in the years to come tunity to express Mr Simon Kroon and I would like to take the oppor mstown team Graha the know to g gettin been has it re pleasu what a together. trip our of ries memo happy and we will take away many Eunice Timm