WYNBERG GIRLS’ HIGH SCHOOL

NEWSLETTER NEWSLETTER

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

NOVEMBER/ DECEMBER 2013

FAREWELL,

CHARLENE PALMER

Dear Parents

Another year draws to close and again we reflect on the good experiences and the challenges of the year so nearly past. When I look back on 2013, I see many young women of Wynberg who have conquered challenges - their own, those that were family related or those of the society in which we live. And, I see young women who have conquered these challenges, who can be extremely proud of how they have risen above the problems of life and have seen them as opportunities, not as insurmountable obstacles.

Driving home during last week, I was struck by the lightness around me - the sun, the clear sky of summer. It gave me a feeling of positive hope for the future and I wondered how many of our school community view life in this way. Many families have been through difficult times during the year and the school, too, has faced challenges, yet summer gives us hope that there is something different, better, just around the corner. I certainly hope, as we enter this period of festive cheer and holidays, that this will be true for every Wynberg family.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank every parent who has contributed to our school this year. Your support - by working in the school, providing flowers for the public areas, your positive talk in the community, your remembering of us in your thoughts and prayers - these have been the cornerstone of our school’s and our learners' success this year.

2014 will no doubt bring new challenges and I am grateful to have a staff complement who are excited and positive about the future of education and, in particular, WGHS. It will be a fantastic year!

I have thanked parents for their support - Wynberg girls, I thank you for always giving us a purpose for doing the job we do. Without your fun and interaction, Wynberg would not be the wonderful place that it is.

For those who celebrate, our very best wishes for a Merry Christmas. For all our Wynberg families, we wish you a wonderful time with your daughters at home. Our very best wishes for a wonderful New Year that will bring positive hope, prosperity and love to all the members of the very special families who are part of our wide Wynberg community. We look forward to a fantastic 2014 - travel safely during these holidays and may life be good to each special Wynberg family member.

Warm regardsShirley HardingPRINCIPAL

A valuable member of the Afrikaans Department, Ms Charlene Palmer, has decided to spread her wings to the Eastern Cape in a Sport Administrative capacity. She was a constant, in the Afrikaans Department, and bridged the gap between the

English-speaking girls and the study of Afrikaans as a subject, beautifully. The girls could relate to her with ease, both in the classroom and on the sporting field - she will be missed, particularly, by her tutor group. What her colleagues will miss most is her gentle, even-tempered nature; her ready smile and quiet good humour. In the true character of her being a language teacher, I could find many more adjectives to describe her, such as stylish, down-to-earth, approachable and hard working. We bid her farewell in the hope that she may find happiness and fulfilment in her new career! Mooi loop, Charlientjie! Ingrid de Waal

CONGRATULATIONS . . .

to Ms Octavia Petersen who got married on 5October and will henceforth be known as MrsAhmed. She is seen here with her new husband, Mr Farouk Ahmed.

Congratulations too, to Ms Kelly Croxford, who announced her engagement to Mr Gary Davids this weekend.

MORE WYNBERG

FOND FAREWELLS

ANNA

WILSON

Kim Raad has been with us for a number of years and the music depart-ment in general and the Jazz

KIM RAAD

section in particular, are not going to be the same without her! The jazz section has grown hugely under her guidance. She has taught the improvisation classes from grade 10 to 12, the jazz band, and given saxophone tuition. She has worked with passion and dedication and quickly established herself as a valued member of this department. We have enjoyed our time working with her, and know she will make a success of her studies in the Netherlands. We wish her much happiness in her future endeavours.

PRIZE-GIVING: SOME OF THE SPECIAL AWARDS

It’s hard to believe that Anna’s time with us has come to an end. We shall miss that Aussie accent (even though she tried so hard to cultivate a South African one!) and her unflagging enthusiasm for all tasks given to her. This die-hard Queensland Reds rugby supporter was a true ambassador for her country, and was always happy to talk about her life back home, whilst embracing all that WGHS, Cape Town and other parts of Southern Africa had to offer. Hostel boarders are the girls who have got to know Anna most closely, but everyone at WGHS will have been touched by Anna, and we shall miss her sense of humour, and her ability to add a bit of Aussie spice to any conversation: who will ever forget her courtside commentary of the staff tennis tournament? Go well, Anna; we hope that your 4 kg journal chronicling your GAP year at WGHS provides you with many precious memories of your time spent with us.

Yeukai ChambaIlse Davids Trophy:Most Outstanding Sportswoman

Dana Arries1961 Matric Junior Copenhagen Trophy: Sportsmanship

Lara HarrisMain Trophy:Best All-Rounder Grade 9

Kirsten SchultzEllen and Sara Goldstone Cup Achievement under difficult circumstances

Hong Ju NamMozart Cup:Best Junior Music Pupil

Rachel Suttle1961 Matric Trophy:Service and Commitment in Cultural Activities

Emilia GaisieBryce Trophy:Service and Commitment to School & Community

Stacey Goliath Class of 1952 Honour Plate:A pupil who, by action, word or deed, has upheld the school motto "Honour Before Honours".

Azrah IsmailDaphne Jaaback Trophy:All-round Excellence in Physical Science

Asanda MasokaLouw Cup:Good Fellowship Grade 9

GRADE 111st Azrah Ismail, 2nd Anjali Kooverjee

3rd Thaakiyah Ryklief

GRADE 101st Nicole Wentzel , 2nd Ashleigh Thompson

3rd Natalie Winter

TOP OF THEIR GRADE

GRADE 91st Dana Arries, 2nd Razaana Manuel,

3rd Meg Anderton

GRADE 81st Jessica Stephens, 2nd Parina Naidoo,

3rd Katherine Nicholls

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P Radford, C Rice, L Goliath, Mr D Machado, N Maneveld, N Valley, Mrs N Moerat, Prof Serge Haroche, D Pema, L Moodley, A Brown, T Petersen, L Martin, R Francis, T Kendon

Some Science girls and teachers were lucky to attend a lecture by Nobel Prize-winning physicist, Prof. Serge Haroche, at UWC. Professor Haroche was awarded the Nobel prize for his ground-breaking work on measuring and manipulating individual quantum systems.

AS LEVEL HISTORY GIRLS OFF TO WRITE THEIR FINAL EXAMRhiannon Murray, Thandi Wiltshire, Leandre Kleynhans, Cayleigh Brown, Siddeeqah Marlie, Vega de Vries, Schael Igwe, Elsa Nel, Thaakiyah Ryklief, Rebecca Crowie, Saskia Hadskins,

Caitlin MacGregor, Nikiwe Xhakwe

AS LEVELS HISTORY

TYGERBERG EISTEDDFOD PRESTIGE CONCERT

WYNBERG MEET NOBEL PRIZE-WINNING

PHYSICIST: SERGE HAROCHE

The International Tygerberg Eisteddfod held its Prestige Concert on 31 October. Six Wynberg girls were invited to attend:

Best Girl (14 Years): Natalie WinterBest Duet (13 Years): Emma & Samantha MartinBest Trio (14 Years): Natalie Winter, Gabby Makohliso & Erin LamoralMusical Solo: Georgia Bailey (who was also asked to perform and was accompanied by Mr Claasen.)

Georgia Bailey, Erin Lamoral, Gabby Makohliso, Natalie Winter, and Sam & Emma Martin

GUYS ‘n DOLLS

Wynberg is proud of Ms Lindsay Wills (far left) who

has been part of the Guys and Dolls production at the Artscape.

CAPE TOWN

YOUTH CHOIR

As reported earlier this year, Hlumelo Marapula was selected to be a member of the CT Youth Choir. With them she has toured and performed in towns all along the Garden Route, and appeared on the show “Imizwili” on TV.

Excellent news is that after 6 months in the choir, Hlumelo has been awarded a solo spot!

Tragedy hit the choir recently when their dedicated organiser,

Tyler Warrin, Grade 11,responded to Heart 104.9FM’s call to find out how cool Cape Town schools are by nominating Ms Sara Muhl as her coolest teacher. Aden Thomas

COOL CATS @ WGHS

and the Heart Breakfast team phoned Ms Muhl and put her through a fun 60 second quiz to test her knowledge on youth culture live on air. It’s said that the cooler the teachers are, the more they’ll score. Well our cool teacher scored 8 out of 8 and, as the week’s

top scorer, won a R1500 voucher. Wynberg also goes into the draw for a cash prize of R50 000

Ms Muhl

Tyler Warrin

James Thomas, died in the Kenyan terrorist attack. The choir is still planning to go to the World Choir Games in Riga, Latvia, next year, where they will compete against choirs from all over the world.

The Service drive this term was about collecting non-perishable

food for Capricorn Primary School. Kirsten were top, followed

by Waterloo, Cavanagh, Copenhagen, Silverlea, Apsley,

Constantia & Wellesley.

CAPRICORN FOOD DRIVE WELCOME TO WYNBERG!

Earlier this year, Beth Petersen and Cara Clayton went on an exchange to the Tara School for Girls, in Sydney, Australia. Alex Bateman and Stevie Crouch returned to South Africa with them and spent some

Ms Faller with Mkhupuki Ncube (Nsezi Secondary School, Zimbabwe) & Adele Rees from Devonport High School for Girls, in England. They were here with Afritwin to create and imple-ment a collaborative project involving Dance that will be worked on and hopefully completed in the first term next year.

Alex Bateman & Stevie Crouch

AN EVENING OF JAZZ

time getting to know Wynberg and Cape Town.

The Jazz concert in November allowed the musicians to show off their fabulous talents to a very appreciative audience. Our girls looked lovely dressed in their signature orange and black outfits. The evening was also a farewell to Ms Raad – our jazz band founder and conductor, saxophone and improvisation teacher who we have grown to love as a teacher-friend over the years that she has spent at Wynberg. She will be leaving at the end of the year to further her studies overseas. The girls showered her with bouquets of flowers – a fitting tribute to honour her

unforgettable contribution to our music department.

Carla Stokes

ROCK OF AGES

The annual 'Rock of Ages' concert for the elderly took place on 29 November. Several retirement homes in the Wynberg area were

invited to join the festivities. Performances by the Dance society, the Jazz band, the Ubuntu vocalists

and some beautiful Indian dancers were thoroughly enjoyed by all. At the end of the afternoon, Wynberg was complimented on its immense talent and ability to produce a wonderful afternoon’s entertainment.

THE DRAGON: WBHS 2014

MAJOR PRODUCTION

The Wynberg Boys’ High major production next year - “The Dragon” is based on the Camelot story.The final cast has been announced:

Lancelot Dillon Birns Elsa Sinae Collins Charlemagne Micaiah Christopher Mayor Pierre Issa Heinrich Aidan Katzef Cat Simone Neethling Dragon 1 Nicholas Moss Dragon 2 Liam Beardwood Dragon 3 Thandizo Chigona Girlfriend 1 Kirsten Hilario Girlfriend 2 Constance Chiwaula Girlfriend 3 Stacey Goliath 1st Weaver Jarryd Barker 2nd Weaver Rebekah Nathan Hatter Jaryd Philp Warden Paul Vermeulen Child Daniela Alves Sentry Cassie Robbertze Townsperson 1 Pia Sillifant Townsperson 2 Robin King Townsperson 3 Ross Trow Townsperson 4 Connor Jacobs

Chorus Girls: India Babb, Nadine Eddy, Amy Hilario, Erin Kemper, Gabriella Liversage, Jamie Maree, Asanda Masoka, Lindisiwe Mlotywa, Tania Morgan, Havanna Wentzel, Rebecca Prytz, Kauthar Taliep, Bianca Venter, Zara Wichman, Natalie Winter

APSLEY 4th 5th 4th 3rd 3rd

CAVANAGH 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 2nd

CONSTANTIA 2nd 4th 1st 2nd 1st

COPENHAGEN 5th 7th 8th 1st 2nd

KIRSTEN 6th 3rd 5th 3rd 7th 5th

SILVERLEA 4th 6th 6th 2nd 6th

WATERLOO 3rd 1st 2nd 5th 4th

WELLESLEY 7th 7th 7th 1st 5th

4th

2nd

1st

7th

6th

3rd

8th

HOUSE QUIZ 1 QUIZ 2 QUIZ 3 QUIZ 4 QUIZ 5 FINAL

GENERAL KNOWLEDGE TESTS: FINAL RESULTS

Front: S Igwe & Ms P GloverBack: Leandre Kleynhans (92%), Rhiannon Murray, Claudia Harrison, Ms Edna

Peck (examiner), Carla Mathyse (93%), Sinae Collins & Stefanie Simons

SPEECH & DRAMA COLLEGE OF SA

Wynberg’s Speech and Drama College of SA exam results were truly amazing! For the first time, every candidate was awarded Honours (85% and over). The Grade 10 programme consisted of poetry and a monologue; Grade 11 - poetry, prose and a monologue around a theme; Grade 12 - a comedic Shakespearean monologue, prose from a 20th Century South African novelist and a classical lyric.

Students from the Young Americans College of the Performing Arts visited Cape Town and spent part of that time in the Aileen Currie Hall at Wynberg where they ran a 3-day workshop. They set out to encourage music in schools - in SA and the rest of the world; to train young people in performance; to share insight and understanding of different cultures; to strengthen character and develop self-esteem, self-worth and self-discipline. At the end of the workshop, they and the Wynberg participants put on a concert in the Aileen Currie Hall.

YOUNG AMERICANS WORK-SHOP

CONSUMER STUDIES:

GRADE 10 & 11 PRAC

Once againthe 10s& 11s produced

eye-catching and delicious cakes and bakes!

GRADE 9s ENJOY AN

ITALIAN BREAKFASTOn Monday, 4 November, the Grade 9 Italian lesson took the form of a breakfast. Breakfast in Italy is a little different from what we're used to in South Africa – no egg and bacon – and so the girls were able to enjoy a typical 'colazione italiana' which included cappuccino, fruit juice, yoghurt, pastries, biscotti and cake and, of course, the obligatory Nutella, with some soothing Italian music in the background.

Learning about a country, its history, culture, food and people provides important back-ground when studying a language, and after two years of studying Italian at school, it was fitting that the girls should end off by sampling Italian culture in this tasty way!

GRADE 10 LIFE SCIENCES PRAC The Grade 10 Life Sciences learners completed their first practical examination on Wed 27 November. Each of our 144 girls spent one hour in one of the laboratories during the course of the morning. They were examined on some

of the practical work that they had covered in various chapters during the year, e.g. food tests and chemistry, the skeleton, ecology, plant work and graph skills. At one of the stations, each learner was directly observed by one of the teachers, while they completed the required task – a nerve-wracking experience, resulting in many trembling hands!

On Friday 1 November, musicians

from WBHS and WGHS performed at

the John Baxter Amphitheatre.

The variety of acoustic tunes and different performers kept the

audience captivated and resulted in rave revues. The performers

included groups such as Triplet: Carla Stokes, Elsa Nel and Lauren

McDonald; Topdeck: singing duo - Simone Daniels and Shana-Joy

Jansen, Georgia Bailey, plus many other solo artists and other newly formed bands.

SIMPLY ACOUSTIC

The annual Tenterden Christmas party took place on the 2 December. It was an energetic afternoon spent sharing the joys of the festive season and the blessings of Christmas with children from Tenterden, Place of Safety. Children pinned the hat on Santa', dug for buried treasure, popped balloons and got their face painted. They all thoroughly enjoyed themselves, and, at the end of the afternoon sat eagerly under the Christmas tree while eager helpers assisted Santa Clause in presenting each child with their own Christmas present. Such a grateful smile from such loving children will not soon be forgotten by the volunteers.

Santa’s Little Helpers

INTERACT GIVES TENTERDEN

A CHRISTMAS PARTY

The event provided a performance opportunity for many students not previously

known for their musical ability.

The Campus of Schools held their ”Celebration of Carols” Service on 29 November. The congregation joined in the singing of well-loved carols. The WGHS choir, as usual, sang beautifully!

CAROL SERVICE

GRADE 8 ATHLETICS

MATRICS DONATE SHOES In what has become a lovely Wynberg tradition, started by Rayne Callaghan and the Class of 2012, when matrics finish writing their very last paper, they donate their school shoes to students elsewhere who need them.

Rayne Callaghan, Laylah Ryklief & Saarah Coenraad (Class of 2012) organising the shoe collection.

Catherine-Jane Paulse, Jamie Reizenberg, Sarah Mesham & Aneeqah Rasdien, happy that their exams are finally over, hand over their shoes. The Rural Child project were delighted with the large collection of shoes and school bags.

The Grade 8′s blew off some post-exam steam in the first ever Grade 8 Athletics Day, organised by athletics coach, Mrs Williams.

INTERHOUSE SPORTS

The Hockey, Netball, Soccer & Waterpolo teams & supporters paraded in their house colours. The house war-cries and chants echoed across the campus as passion & enthusiasm reigned supreme! And the winners were . . . . WYNBERG!

HOCKEY: On 29 October, Wynberg played the Alleyn School, UK.

Wynberg displayed great initiative and skill from the start and

Alleyn were under tremendous pressure but no goals were

scored. Wynberg continued attacking in the second half: Nicole

Alexander took a shot at goal, which bounced off the keeper’s

pads and Jamie Southgate finished the movement , rewarded

with a goal for her quick-thinking. Just two minutes before the

final whistle Amina Williams scored a second goal and a minute

later Chelsea Manoek laid off a brilliant ball to Berzilee Pipes

who scored the 3rd. Players of the Game were Chelsea Manoek

and the captain, Erin Prince.

ALLEYN SCHOOL, UK : MATCHES

The U19’s took a while to get into the game and trailed by 3 goals

1ST HOCKEY TEAMS

U16A NETBALL TEAMS1ST NETBALL TEAMS

WATERPOLO: The Wynberg girls played a brilliant game, scoring a massive 14-0 win and giving them a

huge confidence boost. They played really well as a team. Goal-scorers were Christine Abrahamse, Natalie

Zeelie, Chelsea Lassen, Kirsten Roodman, and Mishka Malgas.

in the 1st and 2nd quarters. Shooters, made it difficult to catch up. The game ended with a score of 32-15 to Allyen - well deserved. Wynberg’s player of the match was Christin Sands.

Sasha and Kirsty Duncan, really gave it their best, but Alleyn’s strong defence

On Saturday 9 November, Nicole Rinquest participated in the Ashanti Mile swim and clocked a time of 38min 40sec, thus achieving 2nd place in the U19 category.

SWIMMING

At the WP Sanesa awards evening on 25 October, awards were handed to those riders who had achieved highest scores in their disciplines. Chelsea Tillett and her horse, Howling Wind, were awarded 2nd place for showing.

SANESA NEWS

Top: U19B: Chelsea Lassen

& Natalie Zeelie;U16B: Mischka Malgas;

U15A: Christine Abrahamse

Bottom: 15B: Erin Slater & Demi Steenkamp;

U14B: Melissa Makinson &

Caryn Stevens

WESTERN PROVINCE WATERPOLOOn 7 November, an internal diving competition was held at Wynberg. There were 13 competitors and each diver did four dives. It was wonderful having so many girls participating and even better seeing the personal improvement of each diver. The top five positions went to the following girls:1st ~ Katherine Nicholls 2nd ~ Joanne Krohnert 3rd ~ Pia Sillifant 4th ~ Sam Martin 5th ~ Caroline Enslin Congratulations to all the girls who participated.

DIVING

KatherineNicholls

great sportsmanship and skill on the netball court. Before they played the match, Alleyn gave the U16s a badge with their school emblem as a thank you gift, which was really special.

NETBALL: On 30 October, the Under 16A netball met their Alleyn counterparts. Unbelievably, after a long match of 4 quarters, the game ended in a 26 all tie! It was a very exciting game and both sides showed