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Volume 17 ∞ Issue 15 ∞ 26 September 2014

TWC PARTICIPATE

IN WORLD RHINO DAY

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Out Of The Hat We have had a busy end to a busy term. The Grade 12s coped well with their Trial Examinations and the girls and staff enjoyed Time with Christ Mission week. Seven staff from SUIS joined TWC for the week and they spent time talking to the girls, parents and staff. The theme for the week was Just Be. Please see Pastor Garden’s report further on in Hat Chat. We wish Mrs Marshall all the best. She has exciting (and pos-sibly sleepless) times ahead as she moves to Cape Town and awaits the birth of her second child. We have enjoyed having her on the staff and she will be missed as a colleague and teach-er. I would like to take this opportuni-ty to thank all the parents and members of the community who rallied around last Thursday to help put out fires in the Claren-don area, as well as helping to evacuate residents of Clarendon House and John Peattie House. Many TWC staff members and girls were also directly involved in assisting the residents, and we have received letters of thanks and commendation from them. Although TWC was never in im-mediate danger owing to its posi-tion, we certainly needed to take precautionary measures and it was a relief to see how the com-munity worked together in a time of need.

T he Grade 12 PR, Com-munity Service and Cul-tural Committees organ-ised a soccer fun day as

a fund-raiser for Whizz Kids Unit-ed and the Street Children. This event took place after school on

Wednesday and everyone thor-oughly enjoyed their afternoon. On Thursday afternoon and night we spent time celebrating the contribution and achievements of the Grade 12 girls at the Eagle and Rose Awards Ceremony and at the Grade 12 Prize-Giving. Our guest speaker was Khethi Ntshangase, a TWC Old Girl (1998). She is a jazz songstress and lives in Johannesburg. Khethi has her own record label, Eleva-tors Creative Concepts, and has recorded her second album, Wo-za Moya. I would once again like to thank all the Grade 12 girls for their contribution to the school, and congratulate them on their many achievements.

I have recently returned from the Heads’ Conference held in Port Elizabeth. The theme of the conference was Make

the circle bigger. The conference focused on inclusivity, diversity, the crisis in Government school education and the role Independ-ent schools need to play in order to help solve the crisis. It also focused on the role of Independ-ent schools in the broader com-munity. Owing to the fact that the Grade 12s are entering into their final exams, I am going to focus on one aspect of the presentation by Professor Dugmore. He is the Director of the Discovery Centre for Health Journalism at Rhodes University in Grahamstown, and he spoke to us about the chal-lenges facing students who enter university lacking the necessary skills to actually pass university. Of the students who achieve a university pass in Grade 12 (131 933 Government school

pupils at the end of 2013), 12 out of every hundred pupils will actu-ally get into university, and of those 12, only 3 will pass their degrees in the normal time, and 6 will never get their degrees. Pu-pils coming from Independent schools do have a better track record, but many still don’t get their degrees in the normal time.

T he challenge to schools is to try to ensure that the skills we teach our pupils make them aca-

demically literate and capable of coping with university. The frus-tration for schools is it seems that the blame for the university fail-ure rate in first year is laid on our doorstep, and as one delegate pointed out to Professor Dug-more, perhaps it is time for the universities to look at their envi-ronment, which is often an alien-ating environment for students, and see where they need to make changes. Students enter universities from small nurturing environments, and are thrust into lecture halls of 300 to 700 stu-dents with a lecturer who has no particular interest in them, and in many cases, no particular interest in actually lecturing; they are there to pursue their own re-search. At the conference, we were chal-lenged on many levels by various speakers, but hopefully as we move forward as a school, we will be able to make a difference in our community and in South Afri-ca as a whole. You can rest assured that TWC will continue to develop the skills needed by the girls to excel at tertiary institu-tions and in their chosen careers. Have a good holiday.

Susan Tasker

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School News What’s inside:

* Senior School * Junior School * General * Sport Highlights

Junior School Senior School

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The Lady Principal and Staff

cordially invite you to you attend

the Valedictory Communion Service

to be held in the Chapel

at 10:15 on

Friday 17 October 2014

Please join us for tea before the service at 9:45 at Rosie’s

One, Two, Cha Cha Cha ... On Tuesday 16 September 20 Grade 8 girls had a ballroom dancing social with Maritzburg College. They learned the Ceroc, also known as the modern jive, with a tricky changing places step, and the Cha-cha with an underarm turn. Jenette Reitsma French Teacher

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The Grade 10 (and a few Grade 11) Consumer Studies girls baked cakes for the Sunflower Fund Flower Power cake competition. The cakes were then donated to the Chari-Tea tea garden at the Garden Show last weekend. Two of our girls won prizes - congratulations to Laken Salzwedel and Salma Cassimjee for their prize-winning creations.

Heather Fleming

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Look who’s matriculating this year. Four TWC girls enrolled in 2001 starting in Grade RR.

Erin

Hodgson

Jessica

Koch

Melissa

Driemeyer

Kerryn

Cockbain

Mrs Timmerman

(nee Masson)

Holly Edmonds

(will matriculate

in 2015.)

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SAHISA CONFERENCE 2014 This year’s SAHISA (South Afri-can Heads of Independent School Association) conference was held in Port Elizabeth. The theme, Make the Circle Bigger, challenged delegates on many levels. Inspiring addresses included, The Role of School leaders in creating a more wel-coming and effective learning cul-ture for vulnerable learners; The establishment of Cross-sectional collaborative partnerships to revi-talise education in South Africa; and Succeeding in post school education (and life!): why critical thinking, active listening and cre-ative collaboration are the keys to the kingdom of tomorrow. A resident of Australia, Dr Loretta Giocelli is renowned for her ex-pertise in the field of inclusive school practices. Her work has taken her all over the world, including Aberdeen, Matatiele, Rome and Melbourne. She reminded delegates that the qual-ity of the teacher outweighs all other factors in terms of a child’s learning trajectory. She chal-lenged us to provide safe, sup-portive environments where all students are valued, individual differences are respected and catered for, students from all cul-tures are welcomed, and learning is an adventure, creating inde-pendent, responsible learners.

A nother fascinating ad-dress was that given by Rhodes academic, Pro-fessor Harry Dugmore. I

certainly identified with his com-ment; ‘I don’t think we can ever read enough’. He articulated a number of prob-lems tertiary institutions are ex-periencing with students.

These include: a propensity to describe rather

than analyse, and to offer tau-tologies in place of justification

a propensity towards verbatim reproduction or plagiarism

a propensity to write from a highly subjective viewpoint without depersonalising.

Professor Dugmore’s address highlighted the necessity of teaching critical thinking skills, of encouraging active listening and comprehension. It was good to be reminded of the importance of story / creative imaging, of argu-ment and incongruity. This, he claims, requires agility of mind. His comment that schools should create and encourage disso-nance, laughter, joy and passion made me reflect on some of the best teachers I had. They were people who provoked and en-couraged debate, appreciated that which was quirky or original, demanded much of us and were passionate about their subject. They were also interested in ide-as and life beyond the classroom. Learning was exhilarating and we wanted to do well.

T he Executive Director of ISASA (Independent Schools Association of Southern Africa), Dr

Lebogang Montjane, referred to the ABC of Education as:

A Affirm identity B Build community C Cultivate leadership.

This was a recurring refrain throughout the conference, namely, to consider ways of wid-ening the circle as individuals and as schools in order to transform and enrich society. With regard

to the students in our schools, he reminded us that we should pro-duce servant leaders not entitled leaders. As always, the SAHISA confer-ence provided a wonderful oppor-tunity for intellectual stimulation but also for making and renewing friendships, laughter and even some play. I am most grateful to the Board of Governors for sup-porting our attendance at this annual conference. And I look forward to discussing many of the issues raised by the various pre-senters with staff members.

HOLIDAYS I wish all girls a very happy holi-day! Flick Wright - Headmistress

GREEN TEAM OUTING TO

KARKLOOF CONSERVANCY

Vania Manchev, Megan Macken-zie and Chané van Niekerk.

Tatum Chalk.

Amy Smith, Kimberley Lewis, Yashka Rabichand with Maeve Miranda in front.

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GRADE 3 CHICKS

In recent weeks, the Grade 3 girls delighted in watching

the progress of chicks in incubators in their classrooms, during a

theme on Growth.

Jenna Goddard holding a chick.

Jessica Longmore and Sarah Stewart weighing their chick.

GRADE 4 VICTORIAN

DAY

VISIT TO MBUBU CRÈCHE

Paige Mackenzie playing with children. Erin Sutton, Mpanga Kheswa, Erin Muirhead and Yolisa Khanyile enjoyed looking after some ba-

Lerato Mokoatle. Jordyn Kopp.

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Time With Christ Week

is a week during which we focus a little bit more of the school life on Christ. This year we celebrat-ed a mission week led by the SUIS (Scripture Union Independ-ent Schools) team. The team took chapels, assemblies, cell groups, and classes from Grade RR through to Grade 12. This year’s theme was Just be which allowed the girls to be challenged in different ways, such as Just be you and Just be present, focus-ing on not living an anxious life. The annual SCA (Students’ Christian Association) camp was also held at Em’seni in Winterton where the girls were further chal-lenged Women of the Word, studying Stories of Delilah, Miri-am and Tamar.

Xavier Moran (National Director of SUIS and previ-ous chaplain of TWC) spoke to staff about their role in our chil-dren’s lives as they are part of the ‘family’ that the children grow up with. On Friday morning he also shared trends that he has experienced with regard to the world our children are living in. His words of encouragement were well timed as parents shared difficulties that they are currently dealing with. Lisa-Claire Garden

Matt Lewis leading the Poppets through an adventure – they’re about to jump on their ponies to freedom.

The SUIS team: Richard, Matthew, Jess, Siobhan (TWC Old Girl), Coral and Steven.

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Senior School

The following girls are congratu-lated on their selection for the Pietermaritzburg Invitational Ath-letics team that will compete at the prestigious Grey College Meet in Bloemfontein next term. Jemma Fox: U14 High Jump Georgia Baytopp: U15 High Jump Kirsten Moody: U16 1500m Caitlin Militz: U17 High Jump

Tennis Championship A high-spirited and hugely com-petitive championship final was played between Samantha Yeats and Chenéy Firman last Wednes-

ATHLETICS

TENNIS

Jemma Fox Georgia Baytopp

Kirsten Moody Caitlin Militz

day. The girls played the best of three short sets in extreme heat. The match took two hours to complete. Chenéy was in full control of the first set, winning it 6–1. Samantha changed her game plan and took advantage of the base-line attack. Long rallies at an intense pace and with ex-treme back court angled preci-sion were played by the two pro-vincial players. At 5–5 in the sec-ond set the girls went to a tie breaker and Chenéy managed to close the match, winning 7–4.

This was indeed a fantastic final ending a good tennis season. The third term leagues have come to a close. Congratulations to our U19A and our Doubles 1 teams who won their respective leagues.

Samantha Yeats and Chenéy Firman.

U19A League U19A Team 1st out of 6 teams U19B League U19B Team 3rd out of 7 teams U15A League U15A Team 2nd out of 7 teams U15B Team 7th U15B League U15C Team 5th out of 5 teams Doubles Doubles 1 1st out of 6 teams Doubles 2 3rd out of 7 teams

The Indoor Hockey season start-ed with a festival of fixtures against Grace College and How-ick High School. The teams grew in strength and composure during the day’s matches. The teams look forward to their league matches next term.

HOCKEY

TENNIS U11A vs St John’s: TWC drew 14 – 14 U11B1 vs Scottsville: TWC won 16 – 12 U11B2 vs Clifton: TWC lost 8 – 20 Open B1 vs Wartberg: TWC lost 10-18

Junior School

GYMNASTICS Congratulations to Kimberley Lewis who has been selected to represent KZN at the South Afri-can Gymnastics games taking place in Cape Town from 8 to 11 October.

SWIMMING Please note that swimming has officially begun. We will be hav-

ing swimming in the first week of next term. During the swimming season we seem to have many girls who are ill or unable to swim. I would like to ask for your support in letting your children swim as much as possible. Your help in this regard will be greatly appreciated. Gaynor Weir

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BASKETBALL EPW VHS ALEX SJS GHS ST A TREV Grace/

MSC

OVER-

ALL

U14A Lost 13 - 6

Won 22-2

Lost 24 - 8

Won 8 - 5

Lost 31 - 17

Lost 21 - 12

W2 L4

U14B Won 13 - 2

Won 24 - 5

Won 8 - 2

Lost 6 - 3

Won 16 - 12

W4 L1

U14C Lost 12 - 6

Won 9 - 2

Lost 23 - 3

W1 L2

U15A Lost 13 - 10

Lost 17 - 16

Won 11- 9

Lost 33 - 17

Lost 11 - 2

Lost 15 -13

Won 16 - 3

W2 L5

U15B Won 24- 5

Won 6 - 1

Won 20 - 5

Lost 16 -2

Won 17 - 16

W4 L1

U15C Lost 9 -7

W0 L1

U16A Won 18 - 12

Won 59 - 5

Lost 10 -6

Won 16 - 5

Lost 20 -11

Lost 10 - 9

Won 59 - 0

W4 L3

U16B Lost 12 -11

Lost 21 -9

Lost 33 - 5

Lost 20 - 9

Won 16 - 6

W1 L4

2nd Lost

12 - 4

Lost 16 -13

Lost 14 -12

W0 L3

1st Lost 17 - 14

Won 84 - 11

Won 22 - 21

Lost 27 - 24

Lost 37 - 17

Won 13 - 10

Won 17 - 8

W4 L3

SOCCER Soccer vs Wembley College Grade 11 pupils, Sesetu Hol-omisa and Sibulelo Jolwano, offi-ciated at the technical table be-tween Wembley College and TWC. This is what they had to say “It was a crisp, cool Thursday afternoon when TWC’s 1st team soccer girls warmed up for their last match of the season against Wembley College. From the start of the match, impressive skills were demonstrated by midfielder, Cailin Harries. She executed a top-class shot at goals and scored the first goal for TWC. The professional manner in which the girls communicated on the wide green field resulted in excel-lent defending. There was great excitement when Sindi Gubula manoeuvered the ball between the opposition and scored the second goal. TWC’s keep-er, TK Zungu, was ex-tremely calm under pres-sure and made some good saves. Nicole Alder scored the third goal for TWC. Throughout the match, spectators found them-selves questioning whether they were watching a Man City game or an amateur

high school match. This captivat-ing match inspired anti-sport ac-tivists such as we, the commen-tators, to consider taking up this sport.”

Soccer season wrap up: More than 35 girls showed a keen interest in soccer this sea-son and a total of 14 matches were played. A pre-season warm -up match was played against St Nicholas. This gave the coaches an opportunity to see the girls in a game situation and to try differ-ent combinations. Throughout the season, both the junior and senior teams played with enthusiasm and the stand-ard of play improved consistently as the season progressed. The practices were well attended and the “home” fixtures attracted a considerable number of enthusi-astic supporters.

A total of 13 girls were chosen for the Midlands soccer trials. Eight girls were selected for re-spective uMgungungdlovu teams.

The Junior team played 6 match-es, won 2 and lost 4. There were a few players, namely Bettina Salomo, Tessa Lategan, Jessica Hirschowitz, Rachel Springate and Jodie Alport who showed consistent improvement during the season.

The Senior team played 8 matches, won 2 and drew 2. As the 1st team goalie, Thokola Zun-gu was effective when clearing the ball out of her goals. Megan Attwood and Bianca-Leigh Jones played a key role in the defence. The forward line played well to-gether and girls like Samantha Lategan, Sindi Gubula, Nicola Brill and Megan Manley were consistent performers.

First team celebrate their victory.

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The third term has seen an encouraging growth in TWC’s Canoe Club. The season began with approximately 10 girls attending the training sessions every week. By the end of the term, this number has grown to more than 20. One of the many highlights was the achievement of Katherine Barry who was a member of the winning U18 K4 boat at the SA K4 Champi-onships. It was a 16km course involving three 200m portages. Seven girls entered the first river race of the season which was a 20km race on the Tugela River. Katherine Barry and Holly Edmonds teamed up in a K2. Linda Sithole and Amanda Peake entered with Mr Willows in the school’s new K3. Cailin Harries, Hannah Moor and Gemma Lawson entered with their fathers. The long sections of flat water were a good test for the girls at the start of the season.

T WC organised its first ever canoe race on Saturday 16 August. It was a new race on the Inter-School canoeing calendar. Teams comprised either three or four pad-

dlers. A 4.5km route in a relay format was marked out on the Upper Umgeni River. This provided lots of variety for the competitors. TWC had 12 girls taking part. The U18 team, comprising Sarah Har-ries, Emma Moor and Holly Edmonds, came 2nd and our U14 team, made up of Gina Holdsworth, Olivia Wright, and Caitlyn de Valence, came 2nd. On Sunday 18 August TWC entered 8 girls into the Upper Umgeni Canoe race hosted by Umvoti Ca-noe Club. It was Amanda Peake’s first river race in a K1 and Caitlyn de Valence paddled with Mr Wil-lows in her first river race. Both girls gained valua-ble river paddling experience. Holly Edmonds was placed 1st U18 and Katherine Barry was 2nd. Six girls entered the Inter-Schools race held on the Upper Umgeni River. This stretch of river is ideal for beginners and incorporates flat water, a weir and numerous small rapids. Holly Edmonds came 2nd U18, Katherine Barry 5th U18 and Gemma Law-son 9th U16. We congratulate Gina Holdsworth who completed her first river race in a K1. Six girls have entered the Fish River Canoe Mara-thon to be held on 10 and 11 October. In prepara-tion for this demanding event the girls entered the Ngwenya Canoe Race which is the first 18kms of the well-known Dusi Canoe Marathon. There are some technical obstacles on the route, namely Earnie Pearce Weir, Witness Weir, Mussons Weir, Low Level Bridge, Taxi Rapid and the final hurdle is a huge drop over the Motor-X-Weir. Holly Ed-monds teamed up with her Fish partner, Katherine Barry and they both excelled despite the tricky conditions.

CANOEING

Caitlyn de Valence, Lesley Jung with Mr Willows.

Paddlers at the Umgeni River.

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The Wykeham Collegiate Grade 11 pu-pil, Yasmin Rousset, representing KZN in the Young Rider Show Jumping Team took part in the National Championship in Gauteng recently. There she was crowned the National Champion and Victrix Ludorum in the 1,1 m class.

Emma Anderson and Magson participat-ed in the Discovery KZN Eventing Champs at Shongweni last weekend. It was Emma's first proper 80cm cross-country course and she did well placing second in the 80cm class. Emma has also been invited to attend the SANESA Nationals for KZN 70cm Show-Jumping.

EQUESTRIAN

Gemma Lawson gained valuable experience paddling with her fa-ther in a K2 and Amanda Peake paddled this stretch of river for the first time with Mr Barry. Les-ley Jung and Caitlyn de Valence teamed up with Mr Willows in the K3. Although very nervous, the girls started to relax once they had safely negotiated Earnie Pearce Weir. Valuable experi-ence was gained by all.

WATER POLO

Yasmin Rousset.

Emma Anderson.

TWC played a pre-season game against Hilton Col-lege on Tuesday. The Seniors played against a very strong Hilton College Junior team. In the first half, the girls managed to keep the score at 1–2. In the next half the boys came back firing and took the game 9-2. TWC’s Junior team took advantage of their tired oppo-sition, who had just finished their match against the seniors, and won the match 6-5.

Gina Holdsworth.