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Volume 18 ∞ Issue 03 ∞ 27 February 2015

Mrs Karen Gardner was officially welcomed as the new Junior School Headmistress at the Induction Service

which took place on 30 January 2015.

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Out Of The Hat Last year, I ended a Hat Chat article with these comments on failure by Dr Kevin Leman: Failure is a judgement about an event. It is a word used to define a stage. It is not a condemnation of character. It is not a permanent condition. It is not a fatal flaw.

I have been reflecting on the con-cept of failure and believe that it is in the mind or the attitude of the person judging the situation.

Failure can be turned into a positive experience from which to learn a val-uable lesson. It is better to fail while in a school environment where there are people with whom one is comfort-able, and where there is a support system of family, friends and under-standing teachers. Coping with fail-ure is a learning experience.

No two failures are the same but the skill of coping with failure can be ap-plied to different situations. In an article written by Carolyn Gregoire, How to Bounce back from Failure, she summarises how resili-ent people differ from those who be-come paralysed by every failure and setback. She lists seven habits of resilient people: 1. They fully experience both positive

and negative emotions 2. They are realistically optimistic 3. They ‘reject rejection’ 4. They build strong support systems 5. They notice (and appreciate) the

little, positive things 6. They seek out opportunities for

growth and learning 7. They are endlessly grateful.

I t is our responsibility as teachers and parents to allow our children to experience failure while we are there to teach them skills

and strategies to cope with a nega-tive experience. There is not much value in preventing our children from experiencing failure by smoothing the path ahead of them all the time or by defending them when they are in the wrong, no matter how big or small the misdemeanour is. We will not be at our children’s sides while they are at University or in the place of work when they will really and tru-ly need to stand on their own two feet. Coping with, and learning from, fail-ure builds character and resilience; a quality that is very necessary to sur-vival in the real world. Aileen Metherell - Deputy Head

Parents and girls are invited to attend an information evening aimed at Grade 12 learners and their parent/s regarding Stellenbosch University 2016 minimum admission requirements. It is an oppor-tunity to assist Grade 12 learners in their university preparation and to inform them of admission re-quirements, application procedures, accommodation and bursary opportunities. Grade 11 learners and parents are welcome, although spaces are limited.

Dates and venues:

Monday 16 March 2015, 19:00 – 20:30: Durban Girls High School, 495 Lena Ahrens/Manning Road, Glenwood

Tuesday 17 March 2015, 19:00 – 20:30: Westville Boys High School, TSA- Tom Stokes Auditorium, 7 Wandsbeck Road Road, Westville

Thursday 19 March 2015, 19:00 – 20:30: Maritzburg College, The Alan Paton Hall, Princess Margaret Drive, Pietermaritzburg To book your place at one of the evenings, please contact Elrika White by email on svs@sun.ac.za or

fax 021-808 4708 no later than Wednesday 11 March 2015. TWC will take a group to Maritzburg College on Thursday 19 March. Helen Findlay

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I think we were all surprised at how quickly half-term came around! This shows how busy the staff and girls have been.

Tennis matches and galas have kept many girls on their toes, as usually all four squad teams have been involved in galas each week.

W e were proud of our Kids Lit Quiz team who partici-

pated in the Pietermaritzburg round of this event, which takes place all over the world. The importance of reading cannot be overemphasised. Next Wednesday, 4 March, is World Read Aloud Day. Our teachers will be reading to their classes on this day and I would like to highlight a few benefits of reading aloud to your child. (Your Grade 7 daughter would also still love to be read to!)

When you hold them and give them this attention, they know you love them.

Reading aloud shows them that you value books and reading.

It gives you things to talk about together.

Children’s books today are so good that they are fun, even for adults!

Books are one way of passing on your moral values to your chil-dren. Readers know how to put themselves in another’s shoes. It also builds a bond between you and your child.

Every teacher your children en-counter will thank you.

It’s nostalgic! (Remember Brer Rabbit; The Magic Faraway Tree; Little House in the Big Woods)

It motivates children to read for themselves and then to keep reading.

It shows them how we read and how books work.

It develops their vocabulary and language abilities.

It allows them to enjoy stories that are beyond their current reading ability.

Because if you read aloud to them, they may then let you read in peace!

O ur Inter-House gala was a festive event! It was wonderful to see the

swimmers trying their best and not giving up. Perseverance builds char-acter and stamina, qualities we be-lieve are important in our girls. Karen Gardner Headmistress

GRADE RR

TEDDY BEARS PICNIC On Valentine’s Day the Poppets had a fun morning with their Teddy Bears. They brought their picnic blankets and a special snack and enjoyed a Teddy Bears’ picnic in the garden. There was lots of excitement and laughter and they played with their bears in the garden after the picnic. Kerry Timmerman Poppets Teacher

The Junior School Literary Quiz team with Librarian and co-ordinator, Sherrel Michie, are from left to right: Tyla Farina, Clarice van Niekerk, Pranjal Gongal and Lesley Tongoona.

Ilhaam Noorgat. Thandoluhle Duma and Carla Munro.

Katherine and Charlotte Human.

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Wholewheat

sandwich with crispy

bacon, avo, chicken ,

lettuce and rocket

R18.00

Bacon, feta and avo

wrap with basil pesto

R20

Pasta Salad

R20

Horlicks, honey and

banana milkshake

R22

Double chocolate

milkshake

R20

Specials valid

until the end

of term.

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Junior School

SWIMMING We have swum many galas in the past fortnight in preparation for the Inter-Schools gala. TWC hosted a gala on Tuesday 10 February. I am pleased to report that our A team won and our B team held their own in a gala consisting of mainly A team swimmers. Our C and D teams swam at Gert Maritz. They did very well consider-ing that it was the first gala for most of the girls. The majority of the teams, which took part, were B team swimmers. The C and D teams then swam at Clarendon on Thursday 12 February where they were placed third and fourth respectively. Our A team won the Howick Gala. Both the A and B teams then swam at the St John’s gala with the A team winning convincingly and the B team coming 5

th.

Paige Brombacher.

C ongratulations to the girls who swam the Midmar Mile and participated in the

Penguins and the Seals galas. Won-derful results were achieved. A special mention is to be made of Paige Brombacher and Chelsea Wal-den. Both girls competed at the KZN Level 1 Championships. Paige re-ceived 3 gold and 1 silver medal whilst Chelsea received 2 silver and 1 bronze medal. What a wonderful achievement for both girls.

TENNIS Tennis Results TWC vs Cowan House: TWC Open won 32 – 4. U11 Team won 24 – 4. TWC vs Howick: TWC Open won 28 – 8. TWC vs Longmarket: U11 Team won 22 – 6. Gaynor Weir

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INTER-HOUSE GALA

Colourful Moore supporters are L to R: Emily Campbell ‘ducks’ supporting their team are L to R: Bernhard, Georgie Henderson, Hannah Bullock Tayla Kopp, Kate Macaskill and Dhiya Bhagwan. and Fatima Moosa.

Catherine Dent and Zandile Sibiya, keen Crookes supporters.

Prizewinners with Headmistress, Mrs Karen Gardner. Back L to R: Julie Trodd, Mrs Karen Gardner and Paige Brombacher. Front L to R: Jessica Longmore, Jenna Rose Aylward and Abby Daugherty.

Winning House-Captain, Laura Quinn, and Vice-Captain, Katherine Elmer-English, receiving their trophies from Mrs Gardner.

Clarice van Niekerk and Emma Beckett receiving the Spirit Cup on behalf of Moore House.

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Congratulations to Laura O’Donoghue, TWC Old Girl and mother of Poppet, Rachel, on winning the Ladies section of the Dusi, half an hour ahead of the next con-tender. We are enormously proud of her achievement and wish her many more successful years of canoe-ing.

Emma Anderson participated in a SANESA show at Treverton on 7 and 8 February with her horse, Magson. She was placed 1

st in the 90cm

Jumping Class. We are looking forward to more achievements by our equestrians.

Christa van Rooijen: Co-ordinator

Senior School

EQUESTRIAN

CANOEING

Dusi Canoe Marathon A very challenging 3-day adventure for most paddlers but for some, it is a race. Holly Edmonds and Katie Barry spent the Christmas holidays training hard for this 120km Canoe Mara-thon. It was a K1 year, so to be com-petitive they both entered in K1s. For a young girl to paddle and portage her canoe all the way from PMB to Durban takes huge commitment and stamina.

We congratulate them both on suc-cessfully completing this year’s event. Holly was placed 3rd U23 and Katie was placed 4

th U18.

Gemma Lawson did the race with her father, Savannah Mitchell Innes with Mr Willows and Amanda Peake with Mr Griffiths (Mr Willows’ friend). Well done to these girls who did amazingly well. This experience will be of great value to them as there is no canoe race tougher than the Dusi. Day 1 - (42kms)The water level was good but the temperatures in the valley rose to 44 degrees. There are two difficult portages which are more than 4 kms long. Day 2 – (46kms) A longer day with less water which made the paddling that much more difficult. The day ends with an hour long paddle across Inanda Dam which is ex-tremely tiring.

Day 3 – (36kms) A shorter day with many technical and often “boat- breaking” rapids. The last 10kms is “flat water” and very tiring. The finish line at Blue Lagoon is a welcome sight. The girls, their parents and supporters were overwhelmed by the moment.

Congratulations to all who participat-ed and supported the canoeists.

Katherine Barry.

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SQUASH

12 of our squash girls participated in the KZN Preseason Squash Tourna-ment

U14 Sigrid Aargensaard 6

th

Georgie Harries 15th

Sarah Bonsma 16th

U16 Tessa Foster 1

st

Alice Comrie 2nd

Jodie Conolly 6

th

Kate Dunton 18th

Tara Wheeler 19th

Amy-Lea Harris 21st

Lauren Harries 28th

U19 Catherine Barrett 8

th

Luyanda Gumede 16th

Squash vs Howick The squash girls have entered into a boys league. On Wednesday the girls enjoyed a fun fixture against the Howick boys. TWC A vs Howick A Won 12 – 1 TWC B vs Howick B Won 10 - 5 TWC B vs Howick A Won 6 - 5 TWC C vs Howick B Drew 6 - 6 SQUASH TOUR Ten TWC girls travelled to Johan-nesburg over half-term to take part in the Prince SA Junior Open squash tournament. The weekend began with a coaching session with the Parkview Squash Centre Head Coach, Craig van der Wath, which ensured that the girls got off to a confident and focused start. Players from all over South Africa participated in the tournament and thus the standard of play was ex-tremely high and the competition fierce. The TWC girls all fought val-iantly and many proved to be worthy opponents. Special mention must be made of Tessa Foster, who finished the tournament ranked at number six in the U16 age group.

Despite the long drive and the many hours spent waiting off-court, the experience that is gained from com-peting in tournaments such as this is invaluable. The girls certainly learned valuable lessons in terms of sportsmanship, marking, strategy and perseverance. In addition, the weekend proved to be a meaningful

The results are as follows: 1 2 3 4 5 Position

Tessa Foster U16 3/0 3/0 0/3 3/2 0/3 6

Alice Comrie U16 3/0 0/3 0/3 3/0 13

Jodie Conolly U16 3/1 0/3 0/3 3/0 14

Kate Dunton U16 3/1 0/3 0/3 15

Amy-Lea Harris U16 3/0 0/3 3/1 2/3 23

Elizabeth Burchmore U16 3/0 0/3 0/3 0/3 28

Tara Wheeler U16 1/3 3/0 3/0 3/1 33

Lauren Harries U16 0/3 withdrew

Catherine Barrett U19 0/3 0/3 3/0 1/3 28

Luyanda Gumede U19 0/3 1/3 3/0 31

Girls on Squash Tour.

bonding opportunity for the team and coaches. Thank you to Miss Gillon and Miss Lewis for accompanying the team to Johannesburg.

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TENNIS

Congratulations to the following tennis girls who have been se-lected for the KZN Midlands Tennis Teams. They will take part in the Inter-Regional Tennis Tournament in March. U19

U15

Lyle League: TWC 1 vs GHS 1 Won 24 - 3 TWC 2 vs St Anne’s 2 Lost 0 – 27 TWC 2 vs Epworth 2 Lost 0 - 27 Winnie Lowe League: TWC 3 vs Wartburg Drew 3 – 3 TWC 3 vs SJS 1 Lost 0 - 6 Cousins League: TWC 4 vs St Anne’s 5 Lost 2 - 4 Fowler League: TWC 5 vs SJS 3 Lost 0 - 6 TWC 5 vs GHS 3 Lost 0 - 6 Risely League: TWC 6 vs SJS 4 Lost 0 - 6 Risely League: TWC 7 vs SJS 4 Lost 0 – 6 Doubles League: TWC 8 vs SJS 6 Won 31 – 14

Chenéy Firman. Jemma Veenstra. Samantha Yeats. Kirsten Moody.

Rachel Taylor. Yasha Nair. Jodie Conolly.

SWIMMING

Jemma Fox recently participated at the Level 1 Champs. She received a bronze medal for 50m breast-stroke, 4

th for 100m breaststroke and 9

th for 50m but-

terfly. Well done.

Independent Schools Invitation Gala On Wednesday 11 February the TWC swimming team participat-ed in the Independent Schools Invitation Gala hosted by St Anne’s. Our swimmers had the opportunity to compete against the top Durban schools. It was a hard day in the pool for the TWC team and even though we finished 6

th in the gala our U14 swim-

mers still managed to set two new records in the backstroke and breaststroke relay events.

Inter-House Swimming Gala Excitement filled the air on Wednesday 18 February as it was yet again time for the Inter-House Swimming Gala.

The House-Captains did an excellent job organ-ising their teams and getting them motivated for the event. Staff and parents were entertained by some top level swimming and singing.

Thank you to Mrs Lisa Meiring, mother of Swim-ming Captain, Chelsea Meiring, for being our guest of honour for the evening. Chelsea Meiring and Emma Huxtable are com-plimented on the records they broke on the evening. Crookes House proved to be the strongest swim team and most spirited House on the day. They walked away with the Spirit Cup and the Bed-ford House Trophy for the Winning House. Chelsea Meiring: U17 Butterfly 30,94s, U17Breaststroke 34,62s and Freestyle U17 28,07s.

Emma Huxtable: U14 Breaststroke 35,63s .

Crookes: U15 Medley Relay 2:28,50.

Junior 100m Freestyle Champion: Catherine Royden-Turner

Jo Jeffrey Trophy for Senior 100m Freestyle Champion: Chelsea Meiring

Hastings Trophy for the Open Individual Medley: Chelsea Meiring

Bowman-Edgar Trophy for style in all 4 strokes: Chelsea Meiring

Tom McKenzie Trophy for Junior Victrix Lu-dorum: Catherine Royden-Turner

Janine Anderson Trophy for Senior Victrix Ludorum: Chelsea Meiring

Inter-House Spirit Cup: Crookes

Becker Relay Trophy: Crookes

Bedford House Trophy for the Winning House: Crookes.

1st Crookes 179 2nd Moore 138 3rd O’Brien 96 4th Campbell 77

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24 very excited girls and 3 staff members hopped on the bus to go to Durban to board a flight to Cape Town. The Grades 10, 11 and 12 Sports Science pu-pils had a very busy schedule. This included:

The Sports Science Institute: where they had a comprehensive tour conducted by Morne du Plessis.

Stellenbosch University Sports Science de-partment: where they visited a biokineticist, and a sports researcher and experienced ‘kinderkinetics’ first hand.

Stellenbosch Sports Academy: They toured the facility and then did some reaction testing with Dr Sherylle Calder. This day proved to be the busiest but the most exciting as many girls got the chance to see the varie-ty of career options available within the sports indus-try.

O ther outings included Robben Island, Table Mountain, watching the South African Men’s Hockey team play against a Dutch team and an underground tour under the Castle in the

storm water drains.

Debby Bird

SPORTS SCIENCE TOUR to CAPE TOWN

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SPLASHING OUT AT TWC!

The Grades 10 and 11 Sports Science pupils at The Wykeham Collegiate school were involved in a com-munity outreach initiative helping Grade 2 children from Haza Primary in Merrivale to learn how to swim and survive in water.

W ith the number of drownings that occur in South Africa we feel it is essential to teach as many children as we can. This project started when our school bus driver, Mr Phillip Ndlovu, approached me. He has two sons at Haza Primary and he was concerned that so

many children cannot swim. He asked if we could help. With the approval of their headmaster and parents, as well as the support from our Lady Principal, Miss Tasker, we bussed 15 very excited pupils to our school. 7 TWC pupils were available to help. They have all completed their Learn to Swim course through Swimming South Africa and are qualified to help begin-ners.

T he children started off very nervously but by the end of the session were happily putting their fac-es in the water and trying to float. After the time in the pool they were spoilt with tasty hamburg-ers and chips that were very kindly donated by Boulder Creek Spur at the Midlands Mall. They

will come back for another session when they will be taught the actual swimming strokes. Debby Bird