St Johns Preparatory School

St Johns Preparatory School Houghton Tel: 011 645 3100/ 087 550473 18th October 2012 Newsletter Number 10

From the Headmaster

A couple of months ago, I wrote an article about the need for our boys to be nice to one another. This is not just about being kind through their actions, but also applies to the way they speak to one another. Our boys are exposed to so many things we never experienced growing up, such as the 24/7 availability of television channels, computer technology and instant communication via cell phones. Without careful monitoring of these devices, our boys can unintentionally pick up bad habits without fully realising it. For example, a character on television or in a movie using bad language may seem cool and funny to a nine-year-old boy, and so encourage him to try out the same language on his peers. Likewise, if a parent uses bad language around his or her son, whats stopping him from doing the same, as he may lack the understanding or maturity to comprehend the seriousness of it and its inappropriateness?

Reminders from the Diary

18/10 HALF TERM Extreme Explorers Hike (UII - UIII) 1st Team Tennis Tour 1st XI & U11A Cricket Tour 2nd XI Cricket Tour 23/10 Headmasters Assembly 24/10 Rock School Practical Exam 25/10 UIII Instrumental Concert UI Camp 26/10 LII & UII Hist/ Geog/ Science Assessments LIII & UIII Geography Assessments St Stithians U13A Waterpolo Tournament LIII Instrumental Concert St Johns Gala UI Camp Returns 31/10 UII Instrumental Concert 01/11 Sports Photographs No Extra-Murals LII Instrumental Concert 02/11 LIII & UIII English Creative Writing UI Instrumental Concert Interschools Gala

We wouldnt allow our Prep boys to have a beer around the house to teach them "responsible drinking; and similarly, I don't believe there is such a thing as acceptable or responsible swearing. The F-word and its ilk seem like they're being used by the boys when swearing is intended for show-off purposes, for lack of linguistic creativity, or to mime a complex situation in a crude way. Sadly in the past couple of weeks, I have to deal with a couple of these outbursts. It is said that in the mouths of children, foul words cause cavities of the spirit, and so in a collaborative attempt to stem this tide, I encourage you to talk to your son and help us to set the boundaries. We dont expect you to be able to protect him from exposure to foul language completely, but we can certainly all work together to help the boys understand the seriousness of using it. We are holding a Parents Information Evening on the 30th October to This problem also extends into the world of technology: it address some of the dangers of using will always be easier for anyone to express unsavoury technology, with tips on what parents comments about another person from behind a screen, can do to help and protect their boys. rather than face-to-face. If you would like to join us, please check the Communicator for further This is also happening more frequently, particularly via details. instant bbm messaging and smsing. I would implore you to monitor what your son is doing on his phone and examine Finally, may I wish you all a fabulous the way in which he is communicating with others. I have half-term break and if you are spoken to all the boys about this issue and have sent out a travelling, please drive safely. Enjoy very clear message as to what is acceptable and what will and cherish the time with your not be tolerated. wonderful sons! Patrick Lees

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Critical thinking skills for boys

I am sure youve often heard our teachers talking about higher-order questions and how this is an area that boys may find challenging at times. The following article provides some useful information as to what these skills involve: Parents can help develop and strengthen their childs thinking abilities at home. Unfortunately, we often ask children questions at the Remembering level, which is the lowest level of thinking. This includes questions like: Who? What? Where? When? Why? These types of questions only require children to use memorisation in order to respond. Blooms Taxonomy is named after Benjamin Bloom, a psychologist who in 1956 developed the classification of questioning according to six levels of higher-level thinking. When children are moved beyond Blooms lowest level, Remembering to the next level of Understanding, they are answering questions which ask them to organise previous information, such as: comparing, interpreting the meaning, or organising the information. Therefore, children are basically just retelling information in their own words, which is not helping develop critical thinking skills. As parents, we want to encourage our children to think for themselves and to avoid peer pressure and fad thinking. We want them to have the skills necessary to listen, analyse and interpret the information that will be a constant part of their lives. Memory and understanding are part of this process, but to succeed in further processing, this flow of knowledge requires higher-level techniques. Here are some examples of how to use Blooms Taxonomy with your son: Most questions asked of children fall in either the Remembering or Understanding level. Parents can move to a higher order in the taxonomy when questioning their son, which are Blooms next four levels. These include: Applying: Ask your son how he would solve a given real-life problem. Ask why he thinks something is significant. Ask him to continue a story or predict what would happen in a given situation. Encourage your son to make a diorama or model of what he learned on a given topic.

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Analyzing: Ask to identify motives or causes from real-life stories. Encourage him to conduct an interview or survey. Have him make a flow chart, family tree or role-play a real-life situation. Evaluating: Ask your son to form and defend an opinion on a subject. Children, especially teens, are pretty good at this one! Example: encourage your son to write a letter to an editor or evaluate a characters actions in a story. Creating: Ask your son to put together several bits of old information to form a new idea, such as, ask him to create, design or invent a new item, proposal or plan. This requires a bit of creativity and the ability to think in the abstract. After asking several higher-level Blooms Taxonomy questions, during various conversations, you will get a feel of your childs ability to think critically. Be patient and give him extra think time to respond because if he is not used to higher level questioning or using his brain for this type of thinking, it may take some time for him to process and be able to respond. Adapted from http://www.exquisiteminds.com/ideaoftheweek/bloomstaxonomycriticalthinkingskills/ Other interesting info: http://blog.learningtoday.com/blog/bid/81992/BloomsTaxonomyAParentsGuide

Margot Long longma@stjohnscollege.co.za

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Individual Achievement

Mind Sports
A strong St Johns Team attended the inaugural SA Schools eSports Championships on 22 September, and despite strong opposition from Roedean, Northcliff, Saheti and Pretoria Boys, managed to win the Warcraft section, come second in the CounterStrike and fourth in the DotA, to emerge as the second placed school in the tournament. Rowan Batzofin pulled off the shock of the day by defeating the favourite, G Isaacs from Saheti, who has been selected to represent South Africa in Korea, to take the gold medal in Warcraft, with Afrika Ndlovu in third place. Because Rowan won all his games in a national tournament, he automatically earned National Schools Colours. The Counterstrike Team of Jason Batzofin, Ryan Stopforth, Daniel Stevens, Joshua Harrison and Merlin Love came second. The DotA team of Matthew Adams, Jesse Stevens, Matthew Davies, Tamlin Love and Ryan Leong put up a massive fight, missing out on bronze in a cliff-hanger against Northcliff. This is the first time St Johns has participated in a schools LAN Championships, and the team did very well to move straight into second position against much more favoured opposition. Well done to all the boys!

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Tennis and Cricket Tour

Cordwalles/Clifton

U11A Cricket Team

First Team Tennis

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First XI Cricket

Golf
Bradley Dunbar represented Central Gauteng in the 2012 Nomads U13 Stroke Play Championships and finished in the top 20 in the country. The competition was held in Nelspruit over three days, with over 90 participant competing. Well done, Bradley!

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Basketball
Wednesday 10th October 2012 St Johns vs St Benedicts Juniors A Won 1 - Drew 1 2nd Team Won 19 - 4 Saturday 13th October 2012 Junior Festival at Dominican Convent Played 4 matches, Drew 2 Lost 2 2nd Team Festival at Sacred Heart Played 4 matches - Won 4 1st Team Festival at St Benedicts Played 4 - Won 4 Juniors B Lost both

Swimming News
Our swimming season has started and our boys have been working very hard in their morning lessons and in the afternoon sessions to improve their strokes, their racing technique and their fitness. The lovely hot weather a couple of weeks ago has warmed the pool and the boys have commented on the pleasant temperature. We swam in our first gala on the 5th October at St Davids. Both the A and the B teams swam in the same gala and there were some excellent performances in both lanes. No results were announced because of the fact that both leagues were swimming together. It was unfortunate that our only home gala had to be cancelled because of the rain on Friday. We look forward to our galas at Pridwin (A25) and APPS (B25) on the 26th October. Two of our boys participated in the Seagulls Short-Course Gala in Durban a couple of weekends ago. Peter Buckle (U1), representing his club, Mandeville Dolphins, and our swimming captain, Mitchel Sinclair (U3), representing Mustangs, participated in several events during the three day gala. Their excellent times at the gala promise to contribute valuably to the St Johns swimming team this season. Aidan Quinn, one of our 2011 vice-captains, represented Old Eds at the same gala and also produced some excellent times. Well done, boys, it is wonderful to have St Johns boys showing what they can do within the swimming community! Lynn Joubert joubert@stjohnscollege.co.za

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St Johns Preparatory School

Chess
1st October
St Johns A vs De la Salle Seniors lost 14 - 18 Juniors won 20 - 12 Overall won 34 - 30 St Johns B vs St Marys Seniors won 30 - 20 Juniors lost 15 - 13 Overall won 45 - 15

Well done to the following boys who won both their games: J West, K Govind, D Stevens, T Grubb, N Moschides, D Louw, D Harding, C James, M Diesel, T Martin, M Hersov, J Hoole.

8th October
St Johns B vs Auckland Park Seniors won 21 - 12 Juniors won 19 - 13 Overall won 40 - 25 Well done to the following boys who won both their games: D Harding, C Leathwhite, M de Gouveia. T Grubb, D Louw,

Well done to all the boys and girls who attended this Chess Match, their behaviour was excellent!

Squash
St Johns C Squash Team participated in the Central Gauteng Junior Squash League. coming first in Section D. Well done, boys!

Matthew Wong (Reserve) , Marc Elliott, Kevin Rowe, Brendan Thomas and Sam Harding (Reserve) Absent :- Nicholas Ching

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4CTea 2012
October 2012 Excellent Maths Assessment Warrick Didloff Braydon Loxton Manga Dlamini Philip Mparutsa Breaking the Plank Record in D & T Taylor Williamson Yaseen Ahmid Kagiso Motau Claude Ayo

Very Helpful Tshego Motau Outstanding Holiday Project Jamie Diesel Michael Diesel

Excellent Spelling Sam Fouch

Good Behaviour and Great Work Ryan Hoffman

Poetry Evening Amu Mashele Hlumelo Mtshali

Zulu Assessment Keane Dooley Musachi Nkanza Christopher Willliams Jamie Diesel Kwindla Mangaliso Manga Dlamini Ntsako Nkuna

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TLC
TLC will be selling calendars for 2013 to raise funds. There are two A4 wall calendars available - one with pictures of TLC kids (below) and one with African wildlife pictures. Calendars cost R175. If you would like to order a calendar please contact Megan Carter. carter@stjohnscollege.co.za http://www.facebook.com/Tlchildrenshome

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On The Night

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Wheres Wally?
The 26th September was a significant day in the childrens, and I suspect, adults book world as well. On this day, the illusive Wally, of Where Wally? fame celebrated his 25th year of existence. Wally is the creation of Martin Handford, whose books consist of a series of detailed double-page spread illustrations depicting hundreds of people doing a variety of amusing things at a given location. Readers are challenged to find a character named Wally hidden in the group. Wally's distinctive red-and-white striped shirt, bobble hat, and glasses make him slightly easier to recognise. In the Prep, we celebrated this day by dressing up as characters from the Wally books. Fantastic prizes of books and bags, donated by Pan MacMillan, were awarded to the best Wally look-a-likes in each class. A (fierce) competition to find 25 birthday candles, hidden around the school, was also held.

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Author Visit
Beverley Naidoo, a South African born, award-winning childrens author, now living in the UK, will be visiting St Johns on Tuesday 30 October to talk about her life and the books she has written. There will be a limited number of her signed books for sale. The following books would be suitable for UI-UIIs:

R180

R100

R200 R80

These titles below are most suited to LIII & UIIIs:

R100

If you would like to purchase any of the above, please send the correct amount, with your sons name and class, and the book titles written on an envelope. These can be handed to Mrs Sulter in the Library.

http://www.beverleynaidoo.com/index.htm

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Emily Gravetts Visit

The Grade Ones to Lower II boys were incredibly lucky to see and hear multi-award winning childrens author and illustrator, Emily Gravett, on her whistle-stop visit from the UK, recently. Having lived some of her adult life as a gypsy with her home being a bus, she held the boys attention with numerous other anecdotes about her colourful life. She encouraged her audience to participate fully in the creation of their own book for which she did the illustrations. Many of her inventive and exquisite books were on sale and she kindly signed them for the boys. Im sure that not just a few boys were inspired by her work and her passion for childrens books. Nicky Sulter HOD Library

Lebone Madalane thanking Emily Gravett

Inter Schools Quiz

Well done to Matthew Collins and Ethan Peters for their participation in the Inter-Schools Quiz at Parkview Senior last week. This quiz is a termly event attended by boys and girls from a number of different local schools. The teams are made up of four pupils, one from each of the various schools taking part. It is a wonderful opportunity for Grade 7 pupils from diverse schools to mix and have fun too. This term the quiz theme was The Seasons and all the questions related to it. Our boys participated fully, answered many of the questions and enjoyed their interaction with other team members.

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Calling all UPPER ONES to

SCARY TALES
Feeling brave? Then come with your family to the Fred England Centre on Tuesday 30 October from 5.30 - 7.00pm.
Dress your scariest. If you look frightfully good, you could win a prize. Bring a picnic supper to enjoy in the gloom.

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Join us as we celebrate our first ever Gourmet Food & Wine Market Saturday 1 November 2012 11am 8:30pm

On

offer from top gourmet specialists will be:

Artisan breads

Homemade cheeses Charcuterie

Delectable pickles & preserves

Heavenly chocolate

Wonderful wines from some of South Africas best wineries Many more tempting treats For the early Christmas shoppers, weve invited a few crafters Please join us for oysters and champagne, a light lunch or dinner There really is something for everyone

Diarize the date now!

The Johannian Club at St Johns College in Houghton

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Notices
iCare
Whilst we hope and anticipate that all boys will feel able to approach their teachers or a member of staff should they feel that something is wrong, we understand that this will not always be the case. Some boys may feel unsure of how to approach a staff member or unsure of what they should say. For this reason we are continuing to use the iCare box, which is now located in Mrs Powells office. We also have an electronic version where boys Pastoral Care can contact the Pastoral Care Team at iCare@stjohnscollege.co.za. The team is hoping that the boys make use of these initiatives to highlight anything that they CARE about at St Johns Prep.

The aim is to provide the boys with an alternative avenue to voice their feelings around whatever may be on their minds. This extends beyond the reporting of just peer difficulties (such as bullying) the aim is to further enhance the quality of the St Johns experience. All notes placed in the box or sent via email will be treated confidentially and actions instituted where possible.

We ask that you encourage your son to make use of the iCare initiative so that we can make his day all that he hopes it can be. Hugo Meirim meirim@stjohnscollege.co.za

AFRIKAANS TUITION Is your son struggling to communicate in Afrikaans or having difficulty mastering the basics of the language (oral or written)? I am qualified to assist in both of the above areas and would be available to provide the necessary tuition between 15:00 and 18:00 on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays at St Johns Preparatory. Tuition will be provided on either a one-to-one basis or in group situations, lessons will last for an hour. Progress will be regularly monitored and pupils will be expected to perform certain tasks and complete basic written assignments. Tuition fees for individual lessons are R250 per hour and R150 per hour for group sessions. Should you be interested in the above, my contact details are as follows: Graham Carroll Tel : 011 534 1224 Fax : 011 534 1225 Cell : 076 858 9420 E-mail : carroll@stjohnscollege.co.za

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Notices
Art club and extra classes
From the beginning of next term, Mr Poco is starting an Art Club (for LIII and UIII boys) and extra art classes for junior boys. Senior boys are encouraged to join the Art Club on Tuesdays from 14h00 -15h00 or Thursdays from 15h00-16h00. Juniors may arrange extra art lessons with Mr Poco at alternative times and on alternative days. We hope to see the senior boys joining the Art Club to create various exciting art works with mediums they do not normally use in class, such as print making, photography, oil painting and many more. This will be a fantastic opportunity for any boy who wishes to develop his art skills. For further information e-mail Bruno Poco on poco@stjohnscollege.co.za

Extra Maths Lessons

Individual tuition offered
Mrs M Hauptfleisch Call 011 442 1854 083 256 7714

Mr R MacIntosh has written a book Maccey A Quest for Freedom A story of a teacher and his dog Published by Cobblecrab Publishers Parents who would like a copy are asked to contact Mr MacIntosh on 076 529 5529 Copies can also be ordered through the publishers:

info@cobblecrab.com R100 per copy

Italian Language Lessons

Small age appropriate classes and individual tuition offered outside school hours at St Johns. Experienced mother-tongue graduate teacher using communicative method of conversation, maintaining cultural ties for solid IEB foundation. Contact Lisabetta on 082 682 2859 or Lisabetta@iafrica.com

EXTRA MATHS LESSONS

Lower III & Upper III boys in Mrs Jean Clarences classroom Every Thursday 14h15 - 15h00 All Welcome

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Learn, Try, Stay and Care

Over the years as Ive sought out ideas, principles and strategies to lifes challenges, Ive come across four simple words that can make living worthwhile. First, life is worthwhile if you LEARN. What you dont know WILL hurt you. You have to have learning to exist, let alone succeed. Life is worthwhile if you learn from your own experiences negative or positive. We learn to do it right by first sometimes doing it wrong. We call that a positive negative. We also learn from other peoples experiences, both positive and negative. Ive always said that it is too bad failures dont give seminars. But that information would be very valuable we would learn how someone who had it all then messed it up. Learning from other peoples experiences and mistakes is valuable information because we can learn what not to do without the pain of having tried and failed ourselves. We learn by what we see, so pay attention. We learn by what we hear, so be a good listener. Now I do suggest that you should be a selective listener, dont just let anybody dump into your mental factory. We learn from what we read, so learn from every source; learn from lectures; learn from songs; learn from sermons; learn from conversations with people who care. Always keep learning. Second, life is worthwhile if you TRY. You cant just learn; now you have to try something to see if you can do it. Try to make a difference, try to make some progress, try to learn a new skill, try to learn a new sport. It doesnt mean you can do everything, but there are a lot of things you can do, if you just try. Try your best. Give it every effort. Why not go all out? Third, life is worthwhile if you STAY. You have to stay from spring until harvest. If you have signed up for the day or for the game or for the project see it through. Sometimes calamity comes and then it is worth wrapping it up. And thats the end, but just dont end in the middle. Maybe on the next project you pass, but on this one, if you signed up, see it through. And lastly, life is worthwhile if you CARE. If you care at all you will get some results, if you care enough you can get incredible results. Care enough to make a difference. Care enough to turn somebody around. Care enough to start a new enterprise. Care enough to change it all. Care enough to be the highest producer. Care enough to set some records. Care enough to win. Four powerful little words: LEARN, TRY, STAY and CARE. What difference can you make in your life today by putting these words to work? By Jim Rohn