Micklefield School

Term 2, 2019 Newsletter

Cooking up a Storm The Grade 1 girls visited Silwood School of Cooking and spent a wonderful morning cooking up a storm! We knead-ed dough, which was nice and messy, we made our own pizzas and baked our own chocolate cakes with sweet rainbow coloured icing! Great fun was had by everyone.

The Grade 0s made beautiful owls using brown paper bags, oil pastels and ink this term. Well done to all the young artists!

Leadership Committee

From the Art Room Rebecca Howie, Loren Douglas-Jones and Jemma Rebe are donating their beautiful fire artworks to the Volunteer Wildfire Services. We hope that the girls’ beautiful artworks will be a tribute to the firefighter’s valuable hard work.

Congratulations to the newly elected Grade 7 Executive

Leadership Committee:

Chairlady : Amy Gordon Treasurer: Rebecca Howie Secretary: Leah Josi Wishing you all the best for the term ahead!

Everyone was excited on Monday morning, because it was CAMP DAY! The dates we were going were 8 - 10 April. We were going to High Africa. We went on a Springbok bus. The drive was an hour and a half. When we got off the bus we met our guides Mr B and Joey. They were really kind. We went to our cabins and then started our activities. My favourite was the climbing wall, even if it was the most challenging. I found it interesting that when we took a night walk it was so peaceful and quiet, not like the city. One morning I woke up to see the sunrise. I did my best with the potjie pot. It was fun and we learnt good skills. I learnt how to make a potjie and we learnt teamwork. I can't wait for Grade 7 when we come back! Written by Lily Yazbek

Gr 4 Camp

Gr 5 Camp On the 3rd-5th of April, the Grade 5 class went to Kidz Get Wild camp. They were so excited, it was a lovely oppor-tunity to grow friendships and work as a team. Mrs Blackbeard and Mrs Dey accompanied the Gr 5s on the camp. The girls were all so very excited as they clambered onto the bus, packed with sweets and treats, and eager to have a little time out of school. When they arrived they met the two wonderful camp leaders, named Sine and Slow, who would be spending the 3 days with them. Everybody was then sorted into their tents. The tents were very luxuri-ous, as they had soft beds, lots of space and warm-water dispensing showers. There were many things to do at the camp, including Movie Night, when they watched a movie called 2nd Chance, swim in the refreshing pool, and hike. Some of the other highlights were the Fashion Contest, the Talent Show, Ga-ga-Ball and The Maze. Gaga-Ball was an exciting game that half of the Grade 5s played. Two teams play against each other, until there is only one team standing. Elise Makin, one of the Grade 5 students said, “We never ran out of things to do, and the food was great!” Morgan Faught, another Grade 5 student said, “It was so much fun, I loved it so much!” Mrs Dey said, “Camp provided many amazing opportunities for the girls to work together and have fun! It was very interesting as a teacher, to watch the class face challenges, experience new things, and grow together. The Grade 5s enjoyed this time so very much, and made many lovely memories at this wonderful camp.” Written by Amelie Bennett and Kira Vassen

Gr 6 Camp Going to camp, having only been at Micklefield for one day, was very scary in the beginning. However, I soon felt comfortable and at ease, because everyone was so helpful and supportive. One of the activities I loved at camp was painting our team banner. I also loved the rafting, but I wished it hadn’t been pouring with rain so we could’ve paddled further. One of the activities I found challenging was building the water filter, because sometimes I felt our teamwork was-n’t great but we managed to pull it off. All the camp facilitators were fantastic and so much fun. The night walk was really fun and it was amazing how many scorpions we saw under the UV lights! Our talent show was awesome and an amazing example of our class’s dramatic talent. Overall, camp was a great experience and a great opportunity for me to get to know the girls in the class. One thing I observed and admired about the class on camp, was that whenever somebody was feeling homesick or sad, there was always someone there to comfort and help them. Written by Abby Macdonald

Blanket Drive Spreads Wings

Bergville Primary School in Bergville Kwa-Zulu Natal is a small rural government school in the foothills of the North-ern Berg. The school got to hear about Micklefield’s 90th Birthday Blanket drive last year through a Micklefield granny and decided to join in!

“Two of the teachers who live at the hostel supervised the knitting usually over the weekends......they even got two of the boys knitting! “It was a lovely project.....we had little girls with needles and wool all over the school! Even if they managed only one square which needed a little darning every child was so happy to find their square in one of the blankets.”

The 6 beautiful blankets knitted by Bergville Primary (two of which are displayed here by the Outreach Committee) arrived at Micklefield this term and will be given to 67 Blankets for Nelson Mandela to distribute this winter.

Bergdale Primary have decided to knit blankets again this year for a local outreach programme known as the Bergville Orphans fund. Their area has many child headed homes because of the AIDS epidemic, so it's going to be a project of "children helping children."

Thank you to Bergville Primary School and all their knitters for the beautiful handmade blankets.

The Grade 7 class took part in the 2019 South African Schools’ Shakespeare Festival which took place for a week in May at the Baxter Theatre. The girls performed a 30 mi-nute adapted version of Romeo and Juliette on the evening of 17 May. Their perfor-mance was a modern interpretation, where instead of letters going astray, the messen-gers ran out of data and instead of Venetian masks at the ball, they had emoji masks. Kiera Howard took on the important role of Romeo and Leah Josi made a sweet and en-dearing Juliette. The cast supported the leads with convincing performances and every-one enjoyed the experience of spending a day backstage in a theatre and performing on a professional stage. Deborah Gildenhuys A lot of hard work and effort went into our play, as we had to remember old English words that didn’t even make sense to us. We practised for many hours as this was a big opportunity and we wanted to make good use of it. Victoria van der Watt The change rooms were wonderful! We each had our own chair and mirror which had big lights around them, just like in the movies. Everyone was buzz-ing with excitement and had a lot of fun doing each other’s makeup. Kiera Howard After a quick run through of our play, a modern Romeo and Juliet, we head-ed back to the dressing rooms. After a quick break we started to change for our dress rehearsal. Nerves were flowing freely and the room was filled with thou’s and doth’s. We all got ready backstage, whispering quietly and prac-ticing our lines. After a while everyone settled into the flow of things and really started to enjoy the acting. Cate Lea It was fascinating to watch people from other corners of our city perform Shakespeare plays in their own unique way, ways that we could never have imagined. Amy Gordon Performing in front of the audience was an experience that blew me away! The lights on stage shone so brightly that I think most of us came close to being blinded, but that certainly didn’t bother us. Genevieve Douglas-Jones As people gathered, we peeped through the small holes in the big board, watching the light dance from the projector in the dark theatre, then waited. When we watched from the side, it was more beautiful than any other re-hearsal I’d ever seen us do, the lighting and music exactly right, and so magi-cal, it almost seemed tangible. Arielle Denis We were having the time of our lives and making unforgettable memories. It was like in that moment, there was nothing that could make us separated, we were one. Jemma Rebe When it was eventually time for our performance, we owned the stage! It went smoothly with no mistakes and everyone loved it! The other school’s plays were also exceptional with different interpretations on Shakespeare's work. Dominique Porter It was such a privilege to take part in the Shakespeare Festival and I do feel we performed really well, thanks to our fabulous director Mrs G! Georgia Makin

SA Schools Shakespeare Festival Reflections

A Kaleidoscope of Fun On a gorgeous summer’s day in March the Grade 00 girls set off on their eagerly anticipated first outing – to the Scratch Patch. We had been learning about “Colours”,“Properties of Objects” e.g. hard/soft, rough/smooth etc. and “Materials”– what things are made of. The Scratch Patch was an ideal place to consolidate what we had learnt and to have some fun at the same time! We spent the morning exploring the scratch patch – walking, sitting and lying in the stones and making “stone angels”! The girls enjoyed playing games with the stones too. The girls also had a walk through the display area upstairs - they were fascinated by all the beautiful jewelry and craft items that the stones are used for. We had a wonderful morning of fun - playing and gathering up a bag of stones to take home. Of course, a great deal of time was spent sourcing exactly the right ones! Thanks to the parents for transporting us.

Pet Visitors

The girls loved our Dinosaur Theme and enjoyed imaginative play with the plastic dinosaurs and the various craft

activities. Dinosaurs are not just for boys!

During the Grade 00s theme on Pets, they had a few pets come and visit and had lots of fun making and painting

various pets!

Dinosaur Fun

Lloyd Bristow and his amazing performing dogs entertained the girls with his fun and educational show. His dogs

are taught various skills in safe, fun ways. Throughout the performance, he teaches pet care and ways to play and

train you dogs with small treats rather than punishment. His passion and love for his dogs shines through in his

show. Lloyd says on his website, “Dogs have become my passion. Their energy, dedication and love of life are prev-

alent in my life. I am motivated to the betterment, training, well-being and education of and about dogs. In my

training methods I adopt the attitude of making training fun for both the handler and dog, also positively influenc-

ing both parties to live life with ZEST.”

Lloyd Bristow Dog Show

During Autumn the Grade 0 girls explored the topic of Apples. To finish off the theme they com-

pleted an apple tasting and voted for their favourite apple. Granny Smith Apples came out tops.

The Grade 0 and 00 girls were treated to a day full of The Wonder of Science. They got to make

their own snow and glitter slime as well as exploring many other fun

science experiments involving solids, liquids and gases.

We are Going on a Bear Hunt and We are Going to Catch a Big One!

The Grade 0 girls made their own maps and went on a real bear hunt.

To everyone's delight the Teddy Bears were picnicking in the cave and

they invited the girls to join in.

Autumn Delights

The Grade 7 Marimba Girls were invited to perform a solo item and participate in a massed item at the annual Cape Town Marimba Festival 2019 at the Baxter Theatre on Friday 26 April.

The festival is a joint venture between the Cape Town Big Band Jazz Festival and Woodworx Marimbas, with the funds raised going to the Cape Town Big Band Jazz Festival to fund community pro-jects in the Arts.

Participating schools were Edgemead High, Edgemead Primary, Herschel High, Forres, Rustenburg Girls’ High, Pinelands High, Ned Doman, Mountview High, Manenberg Secondary, Seamount Prima-ry, Amawolseley, Music Works, AISCT, Reddam House Constantia, Parklands College, St Joseph’s Marist College, Groote Schuur High, Handevat Marimba Band. The girls were astounded at the exceptionally high standards and electric energy of the performing bands. Their behaviour, excitement and excellent performances did Micklefield proud! A special thank you to Woodworx Marimbas who went the extra mile in assisting us to participate in this memora-ble event.

2019 Marimba Festival

The Micklefield Recorder Ensemble participated in the Cape Town Eisteddfod on Tuesday 7 May. They played two pieces: Beethoven’s Allegretto and a Minuet by Boccherini. The adjudicator’s report included many pleasing com-ments. His favourite piece was the Minuet which he referred to as a “crowd pleaser”.

The Cape Town Eisteddfod

Inter-Continent Learning

Grade 4s enjoyed a wonderful outing to the Irma Stern Museum where they got to enjoy the paintings, sculptures and bright colours of the artist’s home.... and copy their favourite artwork.

The Grade 4s learnt about conti-

nents, oceans and islands this

term. They linked up with their

classmate Sienna in South Ameri-

ca, to learn a bit more about the

differences between South Amer-

ica and Africa.

Gr 4s visit the Irma Stern Museum

Grade 2s get Busy The Grade 2s had a busy and productive term. A lot of fun was had on the outing to the Hout Bay Museum and River. Here they are seen (right) having some water-fun, looking for frogs, pond-skaters and various other river animals at the Disa River in Hout Bay.

They were given the opportunity to go on a tour of the Polar Ice-Cream Factory in Epping. The girls were amazed at how much work has to go into producing one chocolate-strawberry ice-cream!

They also had their very own special voting day in class - be-cause, "why can't children vote for something too?"

Knysna Hockey Tour Our Open A Hockey girls went on tour to Knysna at the end of the first term. They played 13 matches over the 3 days, winning 12 and drawing 1, scoring 38 goals and only conceding 2! The girls were excellent ambassadors for Micklefield, both on and off the field.

Butterflies in my Stomach A creative writing piece written by Abby McDonald (Grade 6) We rounded the corner, the textured rubber wheels fitted to our bikes, connecting softly with the ground. There in front of us loomed the steel bridge, stretching imposingly across the stormy river. I followed cautiously behind my aunt, my uncle behind me, as she effortlessly floated through the pounding rain and ascended the bridge. As I neared the metal structure, I could hear the slate constantly clattering beneath what seemed like hundreds of mo-torbikes frantically crossing the steel bridge. Frenzied butterflies were going psychotic in my stomach and my heart was thundering in my chest; it felt like it would pop right out and splash into the river below. ‘The river below!’ I thought with fear. My eyes drifted over the rusty railing lining the rickety bridge, staring down at the ferocious waters, the pouring rain joining in with the current. Time seemed to slow, my heart skipped a beat and my fingers froze in fear as the motorbike passed me, ever so slightly scraping my legs. Terror rushed through me as my bike wobbled on the thin metal patchwork below me. The humid air brought beads of sweat to my fore-head, the rain still pelting down onto all the people adorned in colourful plastic ponchos, filling the three metre wide steel paraphernalia, known as the bridge. I breathed a sigh of relief as I felt the bridge slowly descend under my wheels. I saw the dilapidated buildings, the rice paddies and water buffalo, the vegetables and fruit on the roadside, but that was all a hazy blur. I slowed to a stop next to my aunt, feeling dizzy, my mind whirring with images of the rickety bridge and motorbikes zooming across in masses. Then I snapped back to the present, my heart every so often pattering faster, the rain streaming down my face and the variety of smells entering my nose. All I cared about though, was that I was safely across the steel bridge.!