Dear Parents and Learners
Congratulations to Mr M Mpiyakhe who has been appointed as the Head of Department for Technical Subjects at Willowmoore from 1 August 2017. We wish him well in his new capacity.
We say good bye to Mrs. W Sanders as she moves with her husband to the UK from the beginning of September. Thank you for the time you have given to teaching at Willowmoore High in the EMS and LO Departments- and for the role you played in Girl’s Hockey, camps and catering for events. The establishment of the post of Student Liaison Officer was developed to include LSEN testing, counselling and general learner support and care. We thank you from the bottom of our hearts. We wish you Bon Voyage.
Mrs N van der Heever has been employed to continue with this good work. We welcome her to the staff of Willowmoore High School.
Thank you to the many students from UNISA, Wits University and UJ who have come to learn and taken up the challenge of being an educator.
Well done to M.Pillay for coming third in the District for the grade 8 Mathematics Olympiad 2017.
As we come to the end of Women’s month, I remind all of you to take care of the women. Please be aware that just holding onto an arm without permission could get you into trouble. Learn to respect each other.
52 Learners and 15 staff members went on the Grade 11 camp to Parnassus Farm in the Magliesberg for 3 days. Learners got to know one another and participated in a range of activities from physical to creative to intellectual. Thanks to the staff for giving up valuable time and to the Parnassus staff for wonderful catering. It was a fun weekend.
Some upgrades around the school took place during the holidays – thanks to all that were involved!
Parents are encouraged to see that their children eat a healthy breakfast in the morning. Far too many children are coming to school, stopping at the vendor and eating sweets and chips before school. This is not nourishment, but increases their sugar intake and makes them more hyperactive. Please help us to help your children concentrate in class. Eating a healthy breakfast can ensure this.
Thank you to the parents who are becoming aware of cellphone addiction. The phones should not be in the room with the children overnight as they are tempted to answer messages at all hours and do not get enough sleep. A developing brain needs at least 8 hours of good sleep to be able to concentrate and solve problems throughout the day. Also, children use this as a platform to organise fights, drugs and collective bad behaviour. As parents, you are allowed to check cell phones and find out who the contacts are. Check the photographs – you may be very surprised at what your child gets up to. Take action before they get into trouble.
A number of children are telling their parents that they are staying for extra lessons but are in fact hanging about school with friends or girl/boyfriends. This is leading to unacceptable behavior and needs to stop. Please check with us if you are unsure about where your child is in the afternoon. We need to get them involved in extra-mural activities, but they also need to be fetched on time.
A group of Grade 10 and 11 learners are hard at work learning to program a Lego Robot for a competition in September. Good luck.
PACE career – is an online questionnaire that will be conducted during one lesson in the Computer Centre. The results will give an indication of which subjects should be taken for the FET phase of schooling. All grade 9 learners who have contributed more than
R70 to the fund-raising will be considered first. If you still want to contribute to the fund- raising efforts to make up the balance to R 70, please pay at the Accounts Department by the 5 August 2017.
We are collecting items for Santa Shoe Boxes for the Christmas period and Project anti-freeze. Please bring any donations to the homeroom teachers and they will be moved to a safe place from there. Items such as dry products, tinned products, oil, maize meal, face-cloths and toothpaste . will be warmly accepted. Any small change can be put into the tins in the homeroom classes to be donated to Ezesondlo.
Wool will be available from Mrs Naidoo for those who wish to start knitting squares towards making blankets. Scarves were knitted by the Rangers and given away to the needy. Marimba, inspirational talks and good food were all part of the day to inspire young men to be men with good morals and a caring attitude towards women. Part of the day was dedicated to mentorship.
Reminders:
Request for learners to leave school early:
A letter of request addressed to the Principal should be presented at the Information Office before school, except in the case of an emergency e.g. death in the family. The request will be processed and the learner will be called at the end of a lesson where possible. All learners need to be signed out and an exit slip must be obtained from the Information Office before the learner will be allowed to leave. If someone other than the parent is fetching the learner, we will require a letter from the parent giving the person permission and a copy of that person’s ID.
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 sent to the relevant person to assist you.
Head of grades assist with discipline and academic problems.
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 feeding scheme is Mrs Healey.
The Student Liaison officer, Mrs N 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.
Uniform:
Learners can wear correct winter or summer uniform for September depending on the weather. Beanies and scarves are not needed on warm days. The school cap 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. Please ensure that your child is correctly dressed for school.
Road safety:
Do not walk or play in the road. When getting off taxis, please do not just rush across the road, check for oncoming vehicles.
Items available from school:
School kit bags – R100
School golf shirts – R130
School cricket hats –R60
Please pay at accounts office.
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 programs and to support all our learners.
Mrs L Sanders
Acting Principal