Dear Parents and Learners
Welcome back and I wish you all the best for the new year. Hope you had a wonderful time with family and friends over this festive period.
Matric results for 2017:
Pass rate: 98.1%
Bachelor passes: 50.4%
Top Students: Brentin Govender, Mohammed Seedat, Suheel Soorajpal, Loveness Chinake, Hannah Francis
We are very proud of them.
Staff matters:
Mrs Krause and Mrs R Jansen have retired and we thank them for their service to Willowmoore High School. We are very glad to welcome new members of staff to Willowmoore for 2018: Mr Mchizwa who will teach Mathematics, Ms Scheepers who will teach Life Orientation, Mrs Khumalo who will be teach Accounting and EMS, Mrs Tsotsetsi who will teach IsiZulu, LO and NS, Mrs Erentzen who will teach Afrikaans.
Two past pupils will be assisting us on a part time basis: I Bagga in the media centre and Z Hussain in the English department. I thank them for giving back to the school in the form of community service while waiting to continue with their education.
Thank you to all parents who have already paid school fees in full. We are glad to say that our finances are in a very good position. Please keep it up.
Athletics gets off to a start from Monday with practices being held each afternoon. We encourage all learners to participate. The Interhouse long distance events competition is on Friday 19th (All athletes to wear sports kit on Friday) and all the other events on Tuesday 23rd (Everybody to wear sports kit on Tuesday). These are normal school days and everyone is expected to attend.
Practices for the house plays and the school show will start soon. Please find out about practice times and get involved.
This year we will try to be conservative when it comes to printing paper. All newsletters, account statements and reports will be sent out electronically. Please ensure that we have the correct, working e-mail address of both parents so that you do not miss out on any information. If you do not have an e-mail address, please request a printed copy of the newsletter or report from the office and come in to collect it.
Newsletters will also be available to learners on their Willowmoore e-mail address while homework and notes and dates of formal activities will also be posted in Google classroom for each subject. Please make sure that you access your mail each week. If you do not have access to the Internet at home, visit one of the computer centres (room 23 or room 45) in the afternoon to access your e-mail and Google classroom for homework.
By visiting the school website, you have access to the Willowmoore High School Google calendar where all the details will be published. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us by phone or e-mail.
We would also appeal to parents not to send cash with learners. We would prefer you to swipe a card or do an EFT transaction. It is safer for all of us.
If you have any old school uniform that is still in good condition, please consider donating it to our second-hand shop as there are many people who make use of this facility.
Parent Meetings – registers will be kept
Grade 12 Parents meeting on Monday 22nd January 2018 at 18:00 is compulsory for all parents and grade 12 learners in full school uniform. This meeting will be held to share our vision for 2018 and what is expected of all parties.
Grade 8 Parents meeting on 26th January 2018 at 5pm is compulsory for all parents as we will give you a lot of valuable information.
Uniform:
Learners must wear correct summer uniform. No beanies or winter scarves will be allowed. The school baseball cap or cricket hat may be worn. The grade 11 and 12 learners should be wearing blazers at all times. Please ensure that the boys and girls’ hair styles are in line with the school rules. The wearing of caps is not an excuse for incorrect hairstyles. Dri-macs are worn in rainy weather only or for sport. Please ensure that your child is correctly dressed for school.
Correct PT kit can be worn on the day that the learner has PT for Life Orientation. The PT kit is the school tracksuit pants/shorts with school T-shirt. Either the tracksuit top or school jersey or dri-mac may be worn for PT.
We have track suit tops available for the learners if you would like to purchase these. The tops match the school tracksuit pants. The tracksuit top is not compulsory. The learners who would like to purchase a tracksuit top need to pay R400 at the accounts office and try on the samples to order the correct size. No orders will be placed unless items have been paid for. Your assistance in this regard will be appreciated.
Reminders:
Litter:
We are addressing the litter in the school. Some learners are just too lazy to put the litter into a bin even if they are sitting right next to it. It is everyone’s responsibility to STOP, PICK IT UP and PUT IT IN THE BIN. Everyone can help and do their bit to keep the environment clean.
Counselling:
All educators are available should you need to speak to anyone. If the matter is sensitive, you may put it in writing to the Principal and the matter will then be forwarded to the relevant person to assist you.
The Heads of Grade assist with discipline and academic problems.
Grade 8 – Ms Kera and Mr Mpiyakhe
Grade 9 – Ms Gallagher and Mrs Jennings
Grade 10 – Mr Brown and Mrs Joseph
Grade 11 – Mrs Russell and Mrs Koboka
Grade 12 – Mrs Chotoo and Mrs Sanders
The SBST member for general counselling is Mrs Kata.
The SBST member for homework sessions in the afternoon is Ms Zerf.
The SBST member for account related issues and the feeding scheme is Mrs Healey.
The Student Liaison officer, Mrs van der Heever, is responsible for general counselling and basic first aid assistance.
The social worker, Mrs Hennessy, is available on referral from one of the above SBST members and she will make an appointment with the learner and/or family.
Road safety:
Do not walk or play in the road. When getting out of taxis, please do not just rush across the road – first check for oncoming vehicles.
Parental details:
Please make sure that we have correct contact cell number and e-mail details for both parents as well as an emergency contact number that is working. You can update your details directly if you are using the Principal Talk app or send an SMS to us or an e-mail.
Willowmoore offers quality education at affordable rates. Please ensure that school fees are paid up to date. Thank you to all the paying parents who make it possible for us to continue our educational programmes and to support all our learners.
Mrs L Sanders
Principal