NEWSLETTER - Friday 1 June 2018

Graeme College’s Vision Statement “To strive for excellence by developing all to their full potential.”

NEWSLETTER - Friday 1 June 2018 “It takes courage to live your dreams and bounce back up when you have been knocked down. Your dreams give you the energy and inspiration to live a great life.” ~ Justin Langer We spend a lot of time, in the staffroom and class, discussing ‘Organizational Culture’ or simply “the way things are done at Graeme”; or what drives the behaviour of individuals in a team or group at Graeme College. One of the more highlighted media topics lately has been the erosion of that type of culture in the Australian cricket side over the last decade. Compared to the change in the New Zealand rugby culture, we could not find two complete contrasts in world sport right now. Justin Langer was recently appointed the new Australian coach which is, no doubt, a step in the right direction. Langer was one of the key members in a virtually unbeatable cricket side of the 90s and, more importantly, a team that seemed to have a strong and positive culture. His appointment reminded me of one of his books, ‘Seeing the Sunrise’ which has an interesting and applicable story to share in a Graeme College newsletter. He gets the title from a life lesson, and one that he continues to carry with him. Langer, as a young boy, struggled with a fear of heights. His grandfather woke him up very early one Saturday morning and dragged him reluctantly out of bed. They travelled to a construction site with a 20-storey structure in progress. Straight away, Langer talks about an inner panic growing as he remembered his grandfather promising to ‘cure’ his phobia. After they passed the first floor, Langer suggested that they were high enough, but his grandfather replied with the cliché we all know: “You won’t be cured unless you face your fear front on”. Langer talks about his heart thumping in his chest, along with the usual physical responses attached to a phobia but still he obediently, although reluctantly, followed his grandfather up higher. By the time they got to the fifteenth floor, Langer described it as “demons crawling around his mind, gorging themselves on his fear”, while crawling on all fours and holding on to the walls. He reached the top floor; stomach churning and almost overcome by nausea. His grandfather calmly said, “I want you to muster all the courage you have and walk over to the edge.” After a lengthy debate about trust, Langer eventually crept, standing straight up, towards the edge. His grandfather told him to hold on to the wall and look down. After what seemed like an eternity he did, and then scurried back from the wall on all fours ready to get sick. They sat and discussed how he felt about looking down. Then his grandfather told him to stand again and walk back to the edge, this time listening to his voice commands carefully. As he dragged himself reluctantly towards the edge for the second time, his grandfather said, “Justin, this time don’t look down. Look up.” As he raised his eyes, he saw magnificent red, orange, pink and apricot colours of the rising sun. Langer recalls: “It was as if I’d never seen a sunrise before.” It took a touch to break him from his trance, and again his grandfather asked how he felt. His feelings were written as follows: “I wasn’t crawling on the ground like a scared baby. I was standing upright, feeling relaxed and cherishing the moment. Instead of being afraid for my life I felt secure and safe, free of the nightmare that had been haunting me such a short time before.” His grandfather put him arms around him and said: “You must always look where you want to, rather than where you don’t want to go. By looking down at the ground all you were seeing was the long fall, a heavy landing and the pain that comes with such a fall. If you can learn to always look where you want to go – in other words, look at the sunrise rather than the ground below – then you will find that all of your fears will disappear.” Later in his career, faced with all sought of fears, Langer often controlled those fears and demons, reminding himself of his grandfather’s words: “See the sunrise, son, see the sunrise.” Gregg van Molendorff

ACADEMIC

SENIOR SCHOOL EXAMINATIONS – 28 May to 15 June From Monday 28 May, the Grade 10 – 12 learners will commence with midyear examinations. They must be seated half an hour before the exams begin and must bring with them the appropriate stationery (in a clear plastic sleeve). No borrowing of stationery will be permitted. The Grade 8 and 9 learners will commence examinations on Tuesday 5 June. They must report to the senior school quad every morning at 07h30. They will be released for the day when they have finished writing. JUNIOR SCHOOL EXAMINATIONS – Wednesday 6 June to Friday 15 June On Wednesday 6 June, the Grade 4 – 7 learners will commence with midyear examinations. They must report to the junior school quad every morning at 07h30 and the academic day will end at 12h45 during this period. School will continue as normal from Monday 18 June to Thursday 21 June. END OF TERM 2 Graeme College will close for the mid-year break on Thursday 21 June. ALL learners are expected to attend school as teaching continues until 13h30 on Thursday 21 June. 2018 GRADE 7 ASTRO QUIZ Our Grade 7 AstroQuiz team (Maxwell Farouk, Mark Porter, Yolani Jimmy and Patrick Allan) have blazed through the first three rounds of this annual competition, walking in the footsteps of other great Graeme AstroQuiz teams that have gone before (one small step for man… etc.!). In the latest (third) round held at Victoria Primary School on 24 May, the team tied in first position with Port Alfred Primary. We’ll add some extra rocket fuel to the engines for subsequent rounds, and power on ahead of the competition! Watch this “space”!

CULTURAL

INTERACT COLLECTION The Interact Club is partnering with IGOG to collect unused or extra educational materials (pens, pencils, crayons, colouring books, puzzles, key cards, etc.). We would greatly appreciate any donations, which could be handed to Miss Dodge or Miss Whitehorn. PROGRAMMING CLUB During the exam period, the Programming Club will run from 12h45 to 13h30 on Tuesday and Thursdays only. Please remember that this is optional and only if you have no other commitments.

SPORT

CONGRATULATIONS Tennis: Bailey Cup Congratulations to the Graeme College Bailey Cup Tennis team who won this coveted trophy for the fourth year in succession on Sunday 27 May. They played against Port Alfred High School, Kingswood College and St Andrew’s Prep/College. Well done to Josiah Still and Andrew Muir (U10), Rhys Wiblin and Murray Tyson (U12) and Mark Amm and Christopher Gleaves (U18) who won all of their matches. The U16 pair (Ethan Richardson and Garwin Dampies) won two of their three matches and the U14 pair (Steven du Preez and Ethan Beyleveld) won one of their three matches. The final score was Graeme College first with 118 games followed by St Andrew’s Prep/College (99 games), Kingswood College (89 games) and Port Alfred High School (24 games). CROSS COUNTRY A number of cross country events have been held in Grahamstown and Port Elizabeth over the past few weeks. Tristan Banfield, Mihlali Mpendu and Cee-jay Porthen have participated and excelled in these events. The results are as follows: 4 May: Grahamstown Cross Country league event held at Miki Yili – Tristan Banfield placed first (Boys’ U16) 11 May: Grahamstown Cross Country league event held at Miki Yili. – Tristan Banfield placed second (Boys’ U16); Mihlali Mpendu placed second (Boys’ U18/ 19) 18 May: Grahamstown Cross Country league event held at Miki Yili. – Cee-Jay Porthen placed first (Boys’ U14) Cee-jay has also completed thirteen Grahamstown Parkrun events this year, with a best time of 21:42, while Mihlali has completed four events with a best time of 23:55. HOCKEY Results: vs Hudson Park HS GC1 XI vs HPHS lost 1 – 3

GC 2nd XI vs HPHS

Fixtures: vs Dale College – Friday 1 June 15h00 GC 2nd XI Rhodes 16h00 GC 1st XI

lost

0–1

Rhodes

GC U15 vs HPHS 16h15

GC U15A

lost

0–2

SAC Astro

Fixtures: vs Queen’s College – Friday 8 June 16h30 GC U15A Queen’s 17h30 GC 2nd XI All players will be staying over in Queenstown. SENIOR RUGBY Results: vs Hudson Park HS – Saturday 26 May GC U14A vs HPHSU14A won 38 – 8 GC U15A vs HPHS U15A lost 24 – 38 GC U16A vs HPHS U16A lost 10 – 27 GC 3rd XV vs HPHS 3rd XV won 27 – 26 GC 1st XV vs HPHS 1st XV won 17 – 5

Queen’s

18h30

GC U14B vs HPHS U14B GC U15B vs HPHS U15B GC U16B vs HPHS U16B

Fixtures: Saturday 2 June vs Hoërskool Nico Malan Time A Field Time B Field 08h30 GC U14A 08h30 GC 4th XV 09h30 GC U15A 09h40 GC U16B 10h30 GC 3rd XV 10h50 GC U14B 11h40 GC 2nd XV 11h50 GC U15B 12h540 GC U16A 14h00 GC 1st XV JUNIOR RUGBY Results: vs Fort Beaufort & St Mary’s – Saturday 26 May GC U9A vs Fort Beaufort won 34 – 10 GC U11A vs Fort Beaufort won 26 – 5 GC U13A vs Fort Beaufort won 22 – 17

GC 1st XI

lost lost lost

17 – 48 17 – 27 0 – 26

GC 2nd XV vs HPHS 2nd XV lost

22 – 25

Queen’s

The bus for the U14A and eight U14B players will leave Grant House at 05h15. The remaining buses will leave at 05h30. Players travelling by bus MUST be at Grant House 15 minutes before their departure time.

GC U11B vs St Mary’s U11A drew GC U13B vs St Mary’s U13A won

12 – 12 25 – 5

Fixtures: Saturday 2 June vs Grey Primary Time Martin Field Osborn Field Pautz Field 08h00 GC U9A vs GP U9A GC U13C vs GP U12C 08h50 GC U11C vs GP U10B 09h40 GC U11A vs GP U11A GC U13B vs GP U13C 10h30 GC U13C vs GP U13D GC U11B vs GP U11C 11h20 GC U11D vs GP U10D 12h10 GC U13A vs GP U13A Buses depart from Grant House at 05h45 and should arrive back by 15h45. Players must travel in their rugby kit and school tracksuit. If a player does not have a school tracksuit, he must travel in his full school uniform – including blazer. Practices: June Exam period All junior rugby practices (U9 to U13) will have practices from 14h00 to 15h15 at their normal venues. This does not affect the Rugga Rugby practices, which will continue as normal. JUNIOR TENNIS Results: vs PAHS - Thursday 31 May GC U11B vs PAHS U11A lost by 6 games

GC U13B vs PAHS U13A

won by 24 games

Practices: June Exam period There WILL be normal practices for all teams during the exam period.

GENERAL SUPPORTER JACKETS Parents are reminded that they may still place orders, and pay for GC Supporters jackets, at the Reception Office. The cost of these jackets is R420 each. Please note that Graeme can only place a minimum order of ten jackets. At the moment, six have been ordered. Yours sincerely

G VAN MOLENDORFF DEPUTY HEADMASTER

JUNE 2018 SENIOR EXAM TIMETABLE DATE Monday 4 June Tuesday 5 June Wednesday 6 June Thursday 7 June

Friday 8 June Monday 11 June

GRADE 12 Accounting 09h00 – 12h00 History P1 14h00 – 16h00 Life Sciences 14h00 – 16h30

GRADE 11 Mathematics P2 09h00 – 12h00 Maths Lit P2 09h00 – 10h30 English P1 (Lang) 08h00 – 10h00

Visual Art P1 08h00 – 11h00 CAT P1 (Prac) 08h00 – 11h00 Music Prac

Visual Art P1 08h30 – 11h30

Mathematics P1 09h00 – 12h00 Maths Lit P1 09h00 – 11h00 Mathematics P2 09h00 – 12h00 Maths Lit P2 09h00 – 11h00

Accounting 08h00 – 11h00 Geography P1 08h00 – 11h00 Geography P2 12h00 – 13h30 Physical Science P1 09h00 – 12h00 Business Studies 09h00 – 12h00 Music P1 (Theory) 09h00 – 12h00 Music P2 14h00 – 15h30

GRADE 10 Physical Sciences 08h00 – 11h00 Business Studies 08h00 – 10h00 Afrikaans P2 (Lit) / isiXhosa P2 (Lit) 08h00 – 10h00 Visual Art P1 08h30 – 10h30

GRADE 9

GRADE 8

Natural Sciences 08h00 – 10h00

Mathematics 08h00 – 10h00

Technology 08h00 – 09h30

EMS 08h00 – 09h30

English P2 (Lit) 08h00 – 10h00

Geography 08h00 – 09h30 History 10h30 – 12h00

Life Orientation 08h00 – 09h30

Mathematics 09h00 – 11h00 Maths Lit 09h00 – 11h10 History 09h00 – 11h00

English P2 08h00 – 09h45 English P4 10h30 – 11h45 Life Orientation 08h00 – 09h30

Creative Arts 08h00 – 10h15 Afrikaans P2 & P4 /isiXhosa P2 & P4 08h00 – 09h30

JUNE 2018 JUNIOR EXAM TIMETABLE DATE Wednesday 6 June Thursday 7 June Friday 8 June Monday 11 June

GRADE 4 Maths 1 English Language Afrikaans Taal Maths 2 Geography History

GRADE 5 Maths 1 Art Maths 2 isiXhosa English Written Work History Natural Sciences Afrikaans Begrip

GRADE 6 English W.C. History Maths Life Skills Afrikaans Skryfwerk English Language & Comprehension

GRADE 7 Maths 1 Tech Natural Science isiXhosa English W.C. Life Orientation EMS Afrikaans Opstel & Stelwerk