NEWSLETTER 12 DECEMBER 2022

Grade 7 (Mrs. Miller)

What a fantastic last year for these 20 precious souls. It has been a privilege watching them grow! After many adventures this year, I have to say goodbye and watch them soar through their next stage of life. They will all be amazing!

Remember Grade 7's, always make the best of every opportunity that comes your way. 

Sport vs Staff  (Mr. van Tonder) 

St Francis College started a new tradition this year to bid farewell to the grade 7 leavers. The staff were accompanied by a few dad's to fill the spots for a 10 vs 11 soccer match against the grade 7 boys. The soccer match ended 2-1 to the staff with goals from groundsman Elias, Mr van Tonder and Akim Nkomo.

Captained by Coach Marais, the ladies then took on the grade 7 girls in a 7-a-side netball match. The grade 7 girls put on a brave fight but were outplayed by the tall and experienced staff!  The staff vs leavers sports matches provided a fun day of entertaining competition and team building for the staff and pupils of St Francis College. 

Grade 6 Tour (Mrs. Knezovich)

The St Francis College Grade 6 class have just come back the most amazing 2 night Plett Tour. A super way to celebrate the end of exams!!

The tour was packed to the brim with activities and fun. Our itinerary included: Birds of Eden Monkeyland, a 4,5km Robberg Hike, Adventureland and the Puzzle Park.

After 3 days of jam packed fun the Grade 6 class arrived home tired but filled with wonderful memories of a very successful tour.

Grade 4 Camp (Mrs. Slabbert)

What a wonderful way to end the year off. Navigating the skies with Santa Claus the Gr 4s managed to team build, troubleshoot and design great things while helping Santa deliver his presents on time. From rockets to parachutes to rafts, they built them all.  And ofcourse had lots of fun while doing it!! This all happened while camping at Waterberry Park under the watchful eyes of Mrs Slabbert and Mrs Kaunda.

Chess News (Mrs. Slabbert)

The third term was quite a busy chess term. Ryan Marais and Conor Howell represented the Sarah Baartman District Chess Team at the Interprovincial Championships in Queenstown.

We completed the school’s chess league and still await results.

A team of 7 children took part in the Langkloof Bloeiselfees Chess Tournament in Joubertina. Ryan Marais came 1st in the Primary School section and Francis Sacks came 4th. Cade Klinkert came 2nd in the High School section. All the boys played excellent chess.

Interhouse Chess Championships resulted in Musselcracker winning by 2 points. Red Roman and Yellowtail tied for 2nd place.

In the final Prize Giving of 2022 Ryan Marais and Cade Klinkert shared the Chess Trophy for the Top Chess Player ( Gr 6,7) and Gabriel Pearton got the most promising chess player. Conor Howell won the trophy for best Junior Player (gr 3,4,and 5) and Francis Sacks got the most promising junior player.

Foundation Phase Grade 1 (Mrs. Webb)

After a successful and productive year, the grade 1s 2s and 3s were treated to fun outings to tie it all up.

The grade 3s went to the wild side and had a fantastic time on the beach. They were shown some survival techniques and even got a show from a huge seal, who was just a curious as they were.

The grade 1s and 2s went to Pitout in Jeffrey's Bay where they made Christmas wreaths to take home for Christmas. They also had an hour of absolute fun on the Supertube slide. Even the nervous children had a go, after seeing the thrill on their friends faces and never stopped sliding.

We are all sad to say goodbye to our classes as they move to the next grade. All the best, our little ones. We will keep an eye on your progress and development with much interest.

ECD News  (Teacher Eva)

The last day of school, the closing of one door and the opening of another.  We in the ECD would like to thank each and every child for all the warmth, the memories and the learning that we have shared this school year.

To all our wonderful children, we say THANK YOU! For when we teach, we also learn. This past year we have grown together, explored the world around us and made fabulous and exciting new discoveries.  A little bit of each of you will always be with us.  Always strive to be the VERY BEST that you can be!  We are so proud of you and all the wonderful achievements that you have accomplished.

To you mommies and daddies, we say THANK YOU for allowing us to be your child’s teacher and entrusting us with your precious treasure.  It has been a wonderful and rewarding year for all of us and we are grateful for all the love and support you have given to us. May you all have a happy and restful Christmas and we look forward to seeing you all in the new year.

Teacher Eva

Thoughtful Thursday and Ons Tuiste (Mrs. Anderson) 

During the 3rd term our Thoughtful Thursday teamed up with Rotary to collect Golden Oldie Santa Shoeboxes for Ons Tuiste, Hospice and other surrounding old age homes.  For 8 weeks, we collected goodies and afterwards the children decorated bags and boxes with special messages for festive cheer. 

On the 19th November, 23 of our pupils went to Ons Tuiste in Humansdorp to handover some of our boxes.  The children all dressed in Christmas regalia and entertained everyone with a musical Christmas Medley.  They then assisted with handing out lunch showing off their competent waiter skills. 

The afternoon ended with our pupils distributing the Christmas parcels and mingling with the residents, which, by the size of the smiles from both residents and children alike, was the highlight of the day.   Thank you to Mrs Brown for practicing with the pupils and for all the parents that helped with lifting.  It was a wonderful and touching experience to watch the generations intermingle. 

What a great start to the festive season.  MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!

News from the Music and Drama Department (Mrs. Brown) 

This term has flown by so quickly.  Possibly because we were so busy with so many different activities. In the drama and music department. it was especially a busy time.

Reflecting back on this term, I can honestly say that all the kids have been extremely wonderful in taking part in all the cultural things we offered.

Our Foundation Phase concert was a huge success.  The grade 0 – 3 classes thrived at being on stage and from comments received afterwards, they would all like to do it again next year! 

The Trinity Guildhall of Music, London exams also took place beginning of November.  We had a few students singing and playing piano exams.  Good results were achieved across the board, with 8 Distinctions and a few Merits.  Well done to all the following pupils for braving this exam.

PIANO

Murray-John Boonzaier                Distinction
Conor Howell                                Distinction
Zoe Harding                                       

SINGING

Zoe Harding                                   Distinction
Hannah Harding                             Distinction
Annabell Oosthuizen                      Distinction
Florence Fleming                            Merit
Hayley Holmes                               Distinction
Addison Shaw                                Distinction
Amy Masterson                              Distinction

I am super proud of them all!

During the last week of school we had a Piano Recital. The audience loved hearing their children play.  We were treated to music from Bach, Beethoven, Schumann, to name a few, followed by  beautiful traditional Christmas songs.

During the same evening, we had our annual Christmas market.  The Choir sang a selection of Christmas songs so beautifully, ending the musical year on a high note.

I hope you enjoy your festive season and looking forward to 2023.

Warmest Regards
Natasha Brown

CALENDAR DATES 2023

Monday 16 January                 ECD to Grade 1 Parent/Teacher meetings in classrooms (time                                                       TBC)
Tuesday 17 January                Term 1 Commences 
Thursday 19 January               AGM, 6pm followed by Grade 2 - 7 parent, teacher meetings
Monday 23 January                 Extra Murals commence 
Friday 27 January                    Family Braai, 5pm
Thursday 23 February             Beach Fun Day, CSF 
Friday 24 February                 Half term - school closed
Monday 27 February               School re opens 
Wednesday 15 March            Grade 7 Leadership Camp (TBC)
Thursday 16 March                Grade 4 to 6 join the Leadership camp (TBC)
Friday 17 March                      Return from camp
Monday 20 March                   School closed 
Tuesday 21 March                  Public Holiday - school closed
Thursday 6 April                      End of term (after school day)

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