WYNBERG GIRLS’ HIGH SCHOOL

NEWSLETTER NEWSLETTER

Also available on our website : www.wynghs.co.za

AUGUST 2011

Dear Parents

I have just returned from the International Confederation of Principals' conference which is held every two years, this year in Toronto, Canada. The conference theme was “Leading Student Achievement: An International Odyssey”. What a privilege it was to listen to the international educational experts and learn from over 2000 delegates from every continent.

Returning from a conference is always the beginning of the real journey of learning. I returned with several ideas and a suitcase of books and notes from all the keynote addresses and workshop sessions. Now the work starts: to impart this knowledge to the staff of Wynberg, to take ideas from other districts around the world and re-work them to suit our educational system, to analyse areas which need to change, and to use the new thinking about change strategies to correctly drive that change. Part of that analysis must be with parents, and plans are already in process to invite interested parents to a Sport Strategic Planning workshop. We hope that parents will take advantage of these types of interactions as a place to voice their ideas and suggestions.

Some interesting observations from the conference :

◘There is concern and emphasis on numeracy and literacy levels in most educational districts around the world, with various methods used for improvement

◘Technology does not replace pedagogy – good teaching will always be the basis of successful learning.

◘Embracing technology is important: the use of interactive

white boards, cell phones, social networking, etc. all have their place alongside the teaching which must take place.

◘Family involvement in children’s education is a prerequisite for them reaching potential.

◘Connecting personally with every student overwhelmingly contributes to each student's success.

◘How do we reward originality - the ability to think creatively and independently? Most systems ask us to reward mastery - doing the same thing better and better.

◘By far the majority of schools mentioned the problems they faced as a result of cyberbullying which takes place outside of school hours but has a significant impact on the school campus.

◘Sessions on leadership, change, the culture in the classroom, the bystanders’ contribution to bullying, engaging every family and student success contributed to a stimulating and enriching conference.

I am very positive about our school, and my task, together with the SGB, management team, staff, learners and interested parents, is to identify the priorities for change, to align resources to these priorities, and to continue, with the team, to lead WGHS at the cutting edge of education, always preparing students to

sttake their place in the fast-changing 21 century.

It is wonderful to have a management team so committed and so able to take the lead, and my thanks go to Mrs McEwen, Mr Burrell and the rest of the management team for leading the school during my absence.

Warm regardsShirley Harding

MEGHAN DANIELS WINS AMY BIEHL YOUTH SPIRIT AWARD 2011

On 29 August, i

awarded the Amy Biehl Youth Spirit Award 2011. There were four finalists and each was asked to outline his or her project. Meghan explained that her project was inspired by a challenge to initiate a Community Action Project, issued at a Leadership Conference she attended. From this was born the Ilizwi ("voice" in Xhosa) Photography Club. Meghan interviewed and selected 10 students and for ten weeks her students have been using their cameras to document issues within their community. Last night they accompanied her to the award ceremony at the CTICC, and celebrated their teacher's achievement. In what was obviously a pivotal moment for Meghan, she told us of an exchange that she had had with one of her students:

Meghan: "Won't you pass that camera to me quickly, please?" Student: "What did you just say?" Meghan: "I said, 'just pass me that camera, please' "Student: "That is not a camera, that is my weapon - my weapon

of change!"

n a wonderful ceremony, Meghan Daniels was

Meghan’s very proud mom, Gaynor, Meghan & Rehana Odendaal who won this award last year.

Wynberg is immensely proud of you, Meghan, and celebrate with you this significant award. What an achievement!

The voices of the Ilizwi Photography club members are powerful and their photographs can be seen on the following website: http://ilizwiphotoclub.tumblr.com/

Wynberg wishes EID MUBARAK to all our Muslim families

NEW LEADERS 2012

SCHOOL COUNCIL

Back: Samantha Burnell (Wellesley), Kristen van Graan (Kirsten), Taryn Beattie (Copenhagen), Sinako Bovana (Silverlea)Middle: Laylah Ryklief (Service), Lauren Footman (Sport), Rayne Callaghan (Head of School), Thabile Myeza (Head of

RCL), Kiara Ramklass (Culture), Saarah Coenraad (Academic)Back: Amy Clayton (Cavanagh), Courtney Fritz (Waterloo), Micaela Schiava (Apsley), Tayla van Blerk (Constantia)

RCL 2012

Ferial Fortune (Gov.Body Rep.) Ayesha Arend (Secretary), Kristen van Beek (Gov. Body Rep.)

Lihle Ndita, Dominique Jacobs, Robyn Schippers Jessie Leverzencie, Azraa Conrad, Beth Petersen

GRADE 9 GRADE 8

GRADE 10GRADE 11

Rayne Callahan, Sinako Bovana (Vice chair), Thabile Myeza (RCL Chair)

ATHENA MEET AN ASTRONAUT

On Friday 29 July, the Athena Society attended a programme of the Scifest Africa Outreach Project. The Athena society consists of the top twelve academics in each grade and the aim is to offer the group a variety of enrichment opportunities. The highlight of their visit was listening to a talk entitled 'Living and working in space' by a former NASA astronaut, Dr Don Thomas, and having the opportunity to ask him many questions afterwards. Our girls came back to school enthusiastic and inspired. With hard work they too will reach the stars!

Back: K Bell, C Phillips, L Gildenhuys, T Haupt, K van Aswegen, N Esterhuysen, Dr Don Thomas, K Ramklass, J Davids,

Mr P Bodenstein, L Allie, J Cosentino, NHadskinsMiddle: J Hawkridge, K Brey, C Katzef, G Steel, S de Kock, E Blencowe

Front: L Mitchell, S Coenraad, N Veldsman, L Powell

ENGLISH OLYMPIAD 2011

The results of the 2011 English Olympiad have arrived and there are several girls to be congratulated. Carly Katzef, Yashna Garach, Lauren Gildenhuys, Melissa Kube, Miengah Abrahams, Emma Blencowe, Tarryn Beattie, Kate Bell, Claudia Harrison and Anna Jacobs all received Silver awards; Saarah Coenraad, Nicole Winter, Sarah Curry, Khadija Brey, Melandri Naidoo, Julia Cosentino and Zola Mbinda received Bronze awards; and Meagan Eddy and Sian Ferguson were awarded Merits. Congratulations again to all of these girls !

On 4 August, the their final choreography practical. Students are required to compile a journal of their thought processes as they develop their pieces, explaining

Grade 12 Dance girls performed

The Grade 12 Dance girls, Ashley Kay-Hards, Tessa Suttle and Chelsea Endley, were very luckyto have dancer, choreographer and artistic director of Cape Town City Ballet, Robin van Wyk, spend teaching time with them last week. They are preparing for their final Dance prac exam and Robin’s

input was, as always, to the point (pun!) and inspiring. His prolific dance knowledge and wise advice was soaked up by the Grade 12's.

ROBIN VAN WYK

MASTERCLASS

FINAL

CHOREO-

GRAPHY

EXAM

WBH MATHS RELAYOn Monday 24 July, Wynberg Boys’ High held their annual Maths Relay which was attended by over 400 students. Jin-Ah Roh, Carryn Joseph, Saabira

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Ash

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Saab

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Car

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Swart and Ashleigh Dreyer - one of t won the Grade 8 section of the Relay - a real feat for WGHS!

he Grade 8 teams -

what their dancers were like to work with, what happened at rehearsals, and why the music and costumes had been chosen. On the night of the performance, It may have appeared perfect to the audience, but backstage was a scene of quick changes and a few quiet disasters. However, the evening was enjoyed by the audience and the examiners, and that is what matters. To sum up: "Choreography has helped us to develop an eye for editing and it has taught us how to work with people and how to make them work with us.” Ashley Kay-Hards

Mrs Shapiro & her Grade 8 Danceclass help to lay down the specialfloor for the final dance pracs.

RECIPE FOR A HEALTHY LIFE

The Grade 8 Life Orientation girls were asked to create a recipe for a

MIDDLE EAST HOLIDAY

such as the only seven-star hotel in the world, the Golden Market, 'Burj Kalifa' -the tallest tower in the world,

'Burj Al Arab' -

Dubai Mall and Palm Jumeirah - the man-made island shaped as a palm tree. fun, ate food which we couldn't pronounce and made friends with people from all over the world. Mieshqah & Nicholas

Despite the scorching temperatures, we had loads of Nuraan

We spent 3 weeks in Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Jordan and Israel. We travelled from the holiest cities in Islam, Christianity and Judaism, to sand and more sand in Petra, to the beautiful modern architecture in Dubai. The drive from Medinah to Mecca was 6 hours long. Driving through a desert for that long gives you plenty of time for reflection. After that we flew to Jordan and spent a night in Amman before driving to Jerusalem, where we visited the Al Aqsa Mosque, the Dead Sea and the town of Jericho, the oldest city in the world. When visiting Palestine I realised how lucky I am to live in a country like South Africa. You can never truly know how good or bad a situation is by seeing things on the news or hearing them on the radio. When you're walking through a town and it’s evident what it has been through, you can’t turn down the volume or change the channel. In Dubai we visited landmarks

WOMEN’S MONTH @ WGHS

The women at WGHS have joined the rest of South Africa in recognising August as ‘Women's Month’. Wynberg has first hand experience of women’s strength, bravery and courage. We also know that many women are robbed of their dignity, pride and respect by abuse and rape. One of the ways the Service Pillar felt that we could show support of women who have survived this kind of trauma was to create Care Packages.

Rifqah Francis, Mieshqah Nicholas, Mrs Moerat, Mrs Francis and Nuraan Nicholas at the Mount of Mercy.

Each package contains a toothbrush, a tube of toothpaste, a bar of soap, a cloth and a pack of sanitary towels. They are wrapped up in a brown paper bag and decorated by the Wynberg Girls' High Interact Club.

healthy life and to present it to their class. 8G are seen having fun with their presentations.

The whole school contributed to this service pillar initiative and we made over 250 packages! They were delivered to Women’s Crisis Centres in Khayelitsha and a Church in Mitchells Plain over the weekend of 12-14 August. Wynberg in general and the Service Pillar in particular subscribes to the belief that it is through little acts that huge change can be effected. Kristin Nieuwenhuys

EQUAL EDUCATION

Equal Education started this term when 46 students from our Afritwin partner school, Zimasa Community School, spent two hours at Wynberg getting to know the girls who will be tutoring them this year in English and Maths.

The Great Debate : 23 August saw several learners from Zimasa visit Wynberg for a debating workshop. The WGHS debating society, led by Sian Ferguson, gave a crash course in debating to the Zimasa learners and some Wynberg girls who had not debated before. The 'newbies' watched a mock debate on arranged marriage, received a guide book compiled by the debating society, and then flexed their fledgling debating muscles when they got the opportunity to take part in their own debate. On 30 August, the newly trained Wynberg debaters will travel to Zimasa to debate against them. The topic is: “Which is better- single-sex or co-ed education?”

Rayne Callaghan Yashna Garach & Raeesa Brey

KFM COMES TO WYNBERG

Stephen Werner, Charmaine Noy, Jeremy Harris, Shirley Harding and Ryan O' Connor

Ryan & the girls!

Those amazingbreak-dancers!

The Kfm Breakfast show was broadcast live at Wynberg Girls' High on the morning of 23 August. The atmosphere between 6:30 and 8:00 was more like a carnival than the start of a school day, as staff and girls gathered around the mobile studio. Apart from the excitement of members of our school being featured, there are a number of connections with Kfm which make the radio station very important. Two of our past pupils - Charmaine Noy and Lauren Manuel - are part of the breakfast team, and surf reporter Deon Bing is father of our 2010 Head of Sport, Hannah Bing. It was wonderful hearing Charmaine Noy interviewing Mrs Harding about the commitment of our school to service, and two of our Matric girls, Raeesa Brey and Yashna Garach, smashing the GK Teen records. Staff and girls were united in celebrating their victory and their winning R500 each. Rayne Callaghan, who wrote to Kfm to tell them about Women’s Month at WGHS, was interviewed next. She spoke about our sandwich drive, the making of Care Packages, the peer tutoring and Big

Sister programme. She spoke of Afritwin and our relationship with Zimasa and of the thousands of jerseys made for Nazareth House. There were groans of disappointment when school began, and girls had leave the music and the celebrations to report for their lessons. Afterwards there was a special assembly, where Kfm reminded us of the Lead SA initiative which is a personal call to every person to make a difference. You choose how. We all have a responsibility to make the world a better place. It could be something as simple as smiling at a stranger, or as huge as fighting to further the rights entrenched in our Constitution. Each act makes a difference.

INTERSCHOOLS NETBALL

The annual PGSGU Interschools’ Cross-Country was held at Riebeeck Park and hosted by St Cyprians. In the U14 event Lauren Jonathan competed against her WP team mates and finished in 2nd place. Wynberg faired best in the U16 age group where they finished 4th. Overall Wynberg finished in 5th position.

The annual PGSGU Interschools’ Netball tournament was held at Rustenburg and produced a day of very exciting matches.

The U19 results were as follows : they beat Rustenburg 10-8, lost to Springfield 7-12, lost to Herschel 4-5, beat St Cyps 9-6, beat Sans Souci 17-2 and finished in 4th place.The U16s finished in 2nd place: they beat Rustenburg 9-6, lost to Springfield 7-4, lost to Herschel 5-8, beat St Cyps 8-7 and beat Sans Souci 7-4. Injuries to key players meant the U14s

were below their usual strength but they nevertheless finished in 3rd place: they lost to Rustenburg 6-7, beat Springfield 8-5, lost to Herschel 5-8, lost to St Cyps 6-13 and beat Sans Souci 10-1.

DEBATINGOn 3 August, in the semi-final round of the Rotary Inter-schools competition, the juniors debated against Bishops. They proposed the motion that ‘Immigrants should have to pass a language test as a prerequisite to citizenship.’ It was a really impressive debate and was followed by much discussion from the floor afterwards. Wynberg won and was through to the final round against Springfield. This final round took place on Monday 15 August. Wynberg proposed the motion that ‘This house would support legalising the public shaming of criminals by their communities’. They put up a good fight and really did us proud but were narrowly beaten by Springfield. We are extremely proud of this team for making it through to the finals in their first year of debating. Congratulations to Junior and Senior debating teams for being invited to participate in the Western Province trials, and especially to Lisa Abrahams who attended further trials.

Thandi Wiltshire, Ms J Kunze, Thaakiyah Wentzel-Ryklief, Lisa Abrahams, Natasha Young

INTERSCHOOLS

CROSS-COUNTRY

We received 2500 jerseys, and counting, from our generous community in support of the Wynberg Old Girls’ Union ‘Wool for Wonders’ Baby Jersey Knitting Project which was run in conjunction with the Constantiaberg Bulletin. We received many emails and calls from the public wanting to get involved and assist, and they certainly did! Thank you to all who took the time to knit little jerseys, beanies and blankets and deliver them to our school. We are overwhelmed with the response and support and hope to continue this amazing project in the future. The organiser of the Little Angels NGO, thanked Mrs Harding “. . . for the wonderful box of knitted jerseys. With wintery conditions still prevailing especially in rural communities, these are a monumental blessing. It is certain that every one will endure long and hard use for years to come! “

WOOL FOR WONDERS TOPS 2500!

Shirley Harding, Chantel Erfort (Editor), Diedre Schultz (WOGU Chairperson), David

Russell (Nazareth House), & Dee Cawcutt (WGJS Principal)

Constantiaberg Bulletin

LA ROCHELLE DERBY

In what has become an annual event, the derby against La Rochelle took place recently. There were many exciting encounters - on the sports fields and elsewhere - and it is a shame that there were not more Wynberg supporters! The final results are as follows:HOCKEY: The 1st team won 6-0, the 2nds lost 0-2 and the 3rds drew 1-1. The U16As won 2-1, the U16Bs lost 0-4 and the U16Cs lost 0-1. The U14As drew 0-0 and the Bs lost 1-2.NETBALL: La Rochelle convincingly won every single match and are to be congratulated. The U19As lost 9-51, U19Bs 10-30, U16As 8-26, U16Bs 12-17, U14As 10-18, U14Bs 12-21, U14Cs 2-29, U14Ds 3-16.

SQUASH

On 8 August Wynberg played against Kings-wood College from Grahamstown and lost 1-3. On 12 August they played against Wester-ford and won 9-6 in a very good match; and on 19 August the 1st team lost 1-3 to Herschel while the 2nd team beat Westerford 4-0. These were the final matches of the season. Interschools will be played on 17 September at the Western Province Cricket Club.

U14 matches were played on 11 August against Herschel. Both games were very close, the U14As losing 7-9 and the U14Bs winning 14-12. On 15 August, Wynberg won all of their matches against Springfield Convent. The U14As won 24-9, the U14Bs won 14-12, the U16As won 23-4 and the U16Bs won 34-5! Very well done, girls!

NETBALLHOCKEYOn 13 August, Wynberg played hockey against Herschel. The 1st team lost 0-1, the 2nd team won 2-0 and the 3rd team drew 1-1. The U16A team drew 2-2, the U16B team won 2-1 and the U16C team lost 0-1. The U14A team lost 0-1 and the U14B team lost 0-4. On 20 August, Wynberg played against Westerford: the 1st team won 5-0, the 2nds won 2-1, the 3rds drew 0-0, the U16As drew 0-0, the U16Bs lost 0-2, the U16Cs lost 1-5, the U14As drew 0-0 and the U14Bs lost 0-1. And finally, on 27 August, Wynberg played Bergvliet and won all their matches: 1sts 7-0, 2nds 4-0, 3rds 2-0, U16A 5-0, U16B 1-0, and U16C 1-0. The U14s did not play.

SQUASHWynberg won 3-1

CHESSLa Rochelle won 5-0

U14 netball players

Junior debaters discuss strategy while Kauthar Abrahams thinks

about her next move.

The 1st Hockey teams

DEBATING: Wynberg won the junior debate with Thaakiyah Wentzel-Ryklief winning Best Speaker; La Rochelle won the senior debate.

CROSS-COUNTRY

On 17 August, the Wynberg Girls’ and Boys’ runners took part in a cross-countryrace in Tokai.

J McCann, J Steenkamp, K Wagner & E Petersen

The Ubuntu Society participated in a cultural evening at Rhenish Girls' High on 17 March. They were joined by the Wynberg Boys’ Xhosa Choir and performed absolutely wonderfully, taking Rhenish by storm!

UBUNTU SOCIETY

STAFF WEAR ‘EINSTEIN’

HAIR AS PART OF

MATHS WEEK

From top, clockwise:Mr Burrell, Mr Hunter, Ms Keegan, Mrs Nel

Mrs Lee, Ms Thomas, Mrs McEwen