After working very hard and completing their set of June exams, the Grade 7s embarked on another challenging task, to build an owl house! Team work makes the dream work and we cannot wait to see the owl house up at school!

It’s been an inspiring term in the Art Room, with Grades 4 to 7 diving into exciting projects that showcase their creativity, imagination, and growing skills.

The Grade 4s have been busy with hands-on sculpting for the upcoming Kouga Art Competition. Their theme? "Beach and Community Life"—and what a variety of creative sculptures they've produced! Using mixed materials like paper, card, shells, and recycled items, these young artists have brought their coastal surroundings to life in three dimensions.

In Grades 5 and 6, the focus has been on blending techniques. Learners have been painting stunning beachscapes and underwater scenes, learning how to mix colours smoothly and add depth and detail to their work. The calming blues and sandy tones are a beautiful reflection of their hard work and growing technique.

Meanwhile, our Grade 7s have been diving deep into the world of art theory, studying some of the greatest names in art history—Pablo Picasso, Vincent van Gogh, and Frida Kahlo. Inspired by these masters, they’ve now begun their own renditions of "The Starry Night" by van Gogh—but with a twist! Each piece includes a local St Francis Bay influence, making their versions truly one-of-a-kind.

From paintbrushes to pastels, sculptures to starry skies, it’s clear that creativity is thriving at every level. We can’t wait to see what these talented learners produce next!

Woodridge Derby Day – Saturday 17 May

St Francis College pupils were invited to join the Woodridge Derby Day on Saturday 17 May 2025.  Our U9, U11 and U13 Netball and Hockey teams played well.  The scores of the day are below:

U9 Hockey won 4-2 vs Woodridge

U11 Hockey won 2-1 vs Hermitage House

U11 Netball and U13 Netball both lost their games against Woodridge by a close margin. 

Well done to all our players and coaches and also to our supportive parents.

Kouga Primary Schools Soccer Tournament – Saturday 31 May

On Saturday 31 May St Francis College Soccer teams played against St Patrick's and Mzingizi in both U11 and U13 at Sea Vista Primary. Unfortunately, both teams lost their games but gained valuable experience from the day.   Well done boys!

St Francis College will be hosting 4 local Kouga schools for day 2 of the Tournament on the morning of Saturday 26th July.  

Derby Day vs VCS – Thursday 24 July

The much-anticipated VCS Derby Day had to be postponed due to bad weather and is set for Thursday 24 July.  This will be at St Francis College for the U9, U11 and U13 Netball and soccer players.   A tuck shop will be run by our PTA and Grill & Co. will be selling hot beverages and food. 

We have been focusing on the difference between Fiction and Non-Fiction Books and how books can influence us and provide entertainment and contentment.

To develop a love for Reading we have delved into various aspects to make this a reality.

* Choose a book which is age appropriate

*  The storyline should interest you

*  Do not choose a book that is too difficult or too long for what you can cope with

*  Be excited about relaxing with a book

To highlight these points, we had a competition matching the teachers to the current book they are reading or their favourite book.  This was to show that, however busy you are, there should always be a time to down tools and relax your mind with a book you enjoy.

We continue to have fun in the ECD phase, by doing activities relevant to the story we have read and thereby putting meaning into it.

It has been delightful to welcome the babies of the school, The Bumblebees, for the first time, to a story session each week. Truly the highlight of my week!

So onwards and upwards in making books an integral part of our lives, to refresh our thinking, take stress away and be exposed to many varied adventures in the wholesome stories we read.

The first half of the second term has been jam packed with fun, challenges and new experiences.

We began the term by celebrating Mother’s Day where our mothers came and helped us to plant vegetables and herbs. We are watching their progress with interest as they grow.

On the sports field, we worked on our soccer, netball and hockey skills. Our games at break time have become more challenging as we practice these skills. During STEM we made marble mazes and catapults then tested them out. The Grade 2’s had enormous fun acting out Alice in Wonderland. The Father’s Day camp was also great fun. Some of us slept over on the field with our dads. Lastly, we practiced songs which we sang at the Brewery for the Nel family.  

The Grade 1s have made very pleasing progress in all the learning areas this term. Their reading is becoming more fluent and their confidence in working with larger numbers is growing. We started off the term celebrating our wonderful moms and then went on to explore Autumn and everything to do with farming. We discussed the produce we get from farms and made scrambled eggs and bacon. The children did a project on a farm animal, and we enjoyed hearing some interesting facts about animals as they confidently shared their projects. We also had an amazing outing to Woodlands Dairy, where we saw calves and were given a tour around the dairy. We were lucky to have amazing weather and had a lovely picnic underneath the trees. Thank you to the Gutsche family for sharing this beautiful farm with us. We ended our farming theme by making hot chocolate on a cold wintery day! 

As part of our Mother’s Day activities, we made friendship bracelets with our moms and proudly wore them home. Our themes for the first 7 weeks have been ‘Bees' and ‘The jungle’. We celebrated World bee day by learning about different aspects of bees and why they were important to us. We then spoke about the jungle and discussed the different jungle animals.  We went to visit African Dawn where we saw many jungle birds including parrots and a toucan. We also said our orals about the jungle animal of our choice.

 We had a lot of fun making autumn pictures using finger painting and creating garden pictures and making insects out of egg boxes.

In the classroom, we have started to learn how to write in cursive, we have begun to read Afrikaans pieces and are writing longer stories. During practical maths, we learnt about capacity and measured water into different containers. We are now learning to tell the time.   

We have had an exciting seven weeks filled with loads of learning. We kicked off the term with the theme “Sustainable living”, focusing on “Reduce, Reuse, Recycle”. The children created toys of their choice using recyclable materials which they had brought from home.

We have also learnt about the life cycles of various insects, frogs, birds, reptiles and mammals, culminating in a theme on African wildlife. We spent a week comparing the physical features, habits, behaviors and body adaptations of domestic cats versus wild cats, in preparation for our incredibly valuable outing to Simbonga Game reserve. Here we learnt about some of our indigenous African wildlife and their adaptations to their habitat, and we learnt how to identify antelope by their spoor and droppings. A huge highlight of our visit was an informative tour through the wild cat rescue sanctuary, led by our most wonderful, knowledgeable and passionate guide, Lauren. The children came away from this outing with a renewed respect and awe for our amazing environment and a determination to uphold our responsibility to be good custodians of all life on our planet.

As an exercise in research, speaking and listening skills, the children prepared and delivered orals on animals that they feel match them in some way, either in appearance or in character. It was lovely to see the growth in these skills, as well as in their growth in self-confidence from the first term to present.

The academic challenges in class are increasing, with the introduction of new genres of reading books, higher order phonetic structures and spelling patterns, more intricate mathematical problem-solving challenges, and with using some higher structured language skills. They are also being challenged to write in cursive as much as possible as we transition from script to cursive in all their books for term 3.

The first half of Term 2 has been full of fun, learning, and hands-on adventures! Our little ones have been busy with exciting science experiments, messy play, otter discovery, and overall joy!

We also got our hands dirty in the garden – planting seeds, watering plants, and watching them grow. Gardening has been a great way to learn about nature while having fun outdoors.

Mother’s Day and Father’s Day were truly special. The children made beautiful crafts and shared sweet stories about what makes their parents the best!

Thank You!

A big thank you to the De Lange family for the lovely new Grade 0 playground – the children love it! And heartfelt thanks to all our parents for your continued support, encouragement, and care. We appreciate you!

With love,

The ECD Team 💛

Contact our school office to enquire about our new class opening in the ECD!  We invite families with children who are 18 months and older to make an appointment to view our beautiful, nurturing school! We look forward to welcoming you to our St Francis College Community. 

The Grade 3 to 7 pupils are putting on a performance at the newly renovated St Francis Links Clubhouse for their concert this year.  Not just two performances but three!  We would like to open up our show to the wider St Francis Community to showcase our local talent and enjoy an evening of entertainment. Buy your tickets now from the office or via the D6/STICITT app.

A very big thank you to all the generous donations towards Thoughtful Thursday. The Shekinah Soup Kitchen is so grateful for all the vegetables and soup ingredients which go towards pots of soup to feed those in need during the cold winter days

A big thank you to WIMPY Jeffrey's Bay once again for sponsoring two milkshakes every week to be won at our lucky draw for those children donating items to the soup kitchen.  Well done so far to, Kaitlyn Nel, Mila Meyer, Taylor Thornton, Johnathan Kennedy, Nathan Reynolds, Maya Kotzé, and Neve Kotzé!

The Grade 7's will be hosting another fun movie evening for the Grade 0 to Grade 3's in the second term.  Tickets available from STICITT on the D6 App or from Lucy in the office (cash/card). 

Great teamwork and effort from all grades! Grade 5 Pizza Garden Theme below.

Every week, students in Grade 4, 5 and 6 step outside the classroom and into something truly special – our School Garden.  For one hour each week, the garden becomes their learning space, a place where hands get muddy, minds stay curious, and real-life skills take root.

This term, the excitement centred around our Grade Garden Competition. Each grade was given a garden bed in the first term with the challenge of growing a productive, edible, attractive garden which represented a chosen theme.  This year the themes chosen were Grade 6 – Day and Night, Grade 5 – Pizza Garden Theme and Grade 4 – Enchanted Island.  Students planted bok choi, leeks, onions, spinach, rocket, kale, aubergines, tomatoes, and many other seedlings into their beds. Their beds were carefully planned, thoughtfully planted, and lovingly tended each week.

It was amazing to see the creativity, teamwork, and effort from all the grades.  Each class bought something unique to their patch. In the end, the Grade 5 class was crowned the winners – well done.

Alongside gardening, students also learnt a practical and fun new skill: basic knot typing. 

We are incredibly lucky to have this green space as part of our school. The garden gives the kids a chance to slow down, connect with nature, and learn by doing. It’s not every day you get to grow your own food at school – and even taste the rewards!

Thank you to the dedicated parents who assist in the garden – from weekly pop in’s to presenting interesting topics to the kids.