Weekly Newsletter. From the Acting Headmistress. Cedarwood Preparatory 7 October Dear Parents

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1 Cedarwood Preparatory 7 October 2015 From the Acting Headmistress Dear Parents Weekly Newsletter It was a treat to join in the braai at the Camp-out in September. The children loved playing with the glow-sticks once it became dark and had great fun roasting marshmallows. It struck me, once again, what a strong sense of community we have at our wonderful school. I would like to say a special thank you to the board members who joined us and particularly to James Else, who drove all the way from Benoni to share in the fun. Thank you to Lara and her dedicated PTA team. We are so fortunate to have you all. The children and staff celebrated Heritage Day by dressing up in traditional dress or South African supporters T-shirts. We had ladies wearing a variety of brightly coloured schwe-schwe outfits and traditional beads and one young man in a Scottish kilt. Please take a look at all our photos on the website. Dave Bester, our new Headmaster who will formally join us in January 2016, spent two days with us this week. During this time, he met the staff and some of the parents at an informal meet and greet session yesterday. Dave has been headmaster of St George s Grammar School Preparatory for ten years and has an extensive knowledge of Inclusive Education. We look forward to having him share his knowledge with us next year. On Saturday we will be holding our Cedarwood Family Fun Day. As this is a day for the family to spend some time together, please join your children and other Cedarwood families to share in the fun. We will start at 10 o clock and finish at 3:00pm. The money raised from the Fun Day will be used for purchasing some additional RAVE- O reading kits. RAVE-O is an acronym for Retrieval, Automaticity, Vocabulary, Engagement with Language and Orthography. The programme aims to: Improve reading fluency and comprehension; Develop vocabulary and grammar; Improve children s memory and automaticity in letter and word recognition. From now onwards we will be sending a newsletter out in the first week of every month. However a Week at a Glance and important reminders will be ed weekly. Take care Sally Luyt 1

2 Friday, 9 October Bandana Day and Civvies day for Spirit & Soul Mini-cricket vs Northsands Artwork for Kids trays etc (08h00-12h00) Saturday, 10 October PTA Fun Day Monday, 12 October College Opens Assembly: 1S Foyer: 5D Tuesday, 13 October Artwork for Kids trays 15h00 Wednesday, 14 October Cricket vs Cedarwood Thursday, 15 October Athletics Northsands Friday, 16 October Bic Road Show - 12h15 Swimming Panorama Monday, 19 October Assembly: 1W Tuesday, 20 October Drama Extra-Mural 18h30 Thursday, 22 October Close for Half 12h00 Tuesday, 27 October Open after Half Term Foyer: 6F Friday, 30 October Mini-cricket vs Hillkruin Swimming Trinity Little Falls Saturday, 31 October Softball Cedarwood Monday, 2 November Assembly: Grade R Tuesday, 3 November The Travelling Book Shop visits Wednesday, 4 November Cricket vs Cedarwood The Travelling Book Shop visits Next newsletter issued Your child s artwork on trays, cutting boards etc. Have you placed your order? 2

3 From the Sports Desk While it may have been some time since we really sat down to chat about sports, there is not much to write home about, as they say. We have been hectically busy on the sports field with some cricket matches and an athletics meet. Before I delve into the exploits of our teams, allow me to address a few issues. During this time of the year we cannot avoid having to think about the issues that have to do with the end of the year. In particular, we need to start thinking about the Sports Awards Assembly. May I remind those parents whose children received trophies last year to ensure that they are returned so that they can be issued to other children? In addition, allow me to address the perennial issue of swimming, both during lessons and also for extra murals. Our swimming season for the third term only gets to start in mid- October. From a planning point of view, I am sure you will agree that it makes sense to start with the swimming after the mid-term break. This also allows us to effectively conclude athletics and allow those children who would like to participate in both athletics and swimming to do so without any hindrance. As far as the in-class swimming is concerned, the reason for starting after the mid-term break is to allow for assessments to be concluded during the first half of the term and also to help to bring a structure to the swimming sessions, as these lessons are used to prepare for the end of year inter-house swimming gala. Last week was a very busy week on the sports field. We hosted two cricket matches and an athletics meet. On Wednesday, we played Hillkruin Montessori School for a senior cricket match. We played well and won the match by 64 runs. Cedarwood school would like to take their hats off to three boys, Jordan van der Westuizen, Joshua Richardson and Callum Lucas who score 68, 34 and 28 runs respectively. On Thursday, the athletics team hosted a meet between Northsands, Hillkruin and Cedarwood. We all ran very well and won the meet with 600 points followed by Northsands with 450 points and Hillkruin s 397 points. On Friday, the junior cricket team hosted Hillkruin Montessori School and won this match by 24 runs. We would like to say well done to all the boys and girls that took the time to represent the school in the different matches. Cedarwood is truly lucky to have you. This week, the cricket teams travels to Northsands Learning Academy on Wednesday and Friday for senior cricket and mini-cricket. We would like to say good luck to everyone who will play in the matches. Remember what an honour it is to represent the school. Till next month, have a wonderful time on the sports fields! Coach Oliver 3

4 The PTA Corner Fun Day 10th October am 3pm We look forward to seeing you at the Fun Day this weekend! There will be wors rolls, chicken pregos, delicious pies, sloppy joes, ice-cream, popcorn, cooldrinks, craft beers, wine.. whew, the list is endless! Please note that we will have some Halaal pies available for sale. There are so many things for the kids (and adults!) to do on the day, please come and join us and invite your friends! We are raising money for reading kits for the classrooms and therapy rooms. We hope to raise R87,000 to buy all the reading kits we need so it is really a wonderful cause. This is an event we have once in 3 years so please come and support us! Dawn Schmitz has worked tirelessly to put this event together and has done an amazing job well done Dawn! Camp-out 19th September 2015 Thank you so much for all the families and staff who attended the annual Camp-out this year! We were much luckier with the weather this year so we ll continue to have this event in September to try to avoid the rain in future. Best regards, The PTA team laraweissenberger@yahoo.com or Urgently Seeking Advertising Please Help... The Cedarwood Year Books (one prep and one college) are where all your memories for the 2015 year can be found and look back on earlier days over the years to come. It is time to make your mark, while assisting us in making this publication possible. Each and every parent is a member of a corporate company and all companies need advertising to function. Please see if you cannot assist by having your company purchase advertising space in this full colour, high gloss publication. Advertising costs are as follows: Quarter Page: R950, Half Page: R1800, Full Page: R2900. Kindly contact Mrs Schmitz on dschmitz@cedarwoodschool.co.za to place your ad. 4

5 Family Fun Day 10 October Our Family Fun Day is around the corner, and promises to be a fantastic day of fun in the sun. Just a few pointers to ensure that everyone is in the loop: The fun will start at 10h00 and end at 15h00 please note that this is a compulsory event, and we are closing school a day early in December to compensate for the additional day. This is a FAMILY Fun Day, please do not just drop your children off we would like to see all family members and there is something for everyone (please see our flyer at the end of this newsletter). We will be working with tickets throughout the day, and these can be purchased from the main table outside the hall. Please ensure that all indemnity forms are returned to school by Thursday, 8 October. Your child will receive an arm band so that we can easily see that they have a signed indemnity. Raffle sheets were distributed last week, and these are also due back at school on Thursday, 8 October. We are still trying to secure our biggest prize and hope to have this confirmed very shortly. Please sell as many tickets as possible. We will have awesome lucky spot prizes running throughout the day, please purchase your lucky ticket number from the ticket table for only R10. You can t win it if you are not in it! Please ensure that your child brings their swimming costume, as we have a giant water slide available. Please also use lots of sun block before you come to school. I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone for all their hard work in making this day possible; ground staff, staff, management, the PTA members, parents and all our sponsors. Without you, this day would not be happening. See you all on Saturday! 2014 Trophy Winners Please could all 2014 trophy winners return their trophies to school. We are preparing for prize giving and need to have the 2015 names engraved. Thank you Cedarwood was thrilled to welcome Mr Dave Bester to the school for a two day visit on Monday and Tuesday. Mr Bester is our new Headmaster of the Prep School and will commence his duties in January Mr Bester enjoyed meeting all the staff and pupils on Monday, as well as an informal meet and greet with the parents on Tuesday morning. We wish Mr Bester all the best in his new post and look forward to him joining us in January. 5

6 Bandana Day & Spirit and Soul Fund Raiser Dear parents, On Friday, 9 October, Cedarwood will be celebrating Bandana Day to support the Sunflower Foundation. Bandana s can be purchased from any Pick n Pay store. As part of the good will day, we will also be holding a civvies day to support Spirit and Soul Rescue Centre at a cost of R10 (or more should you wish to donate extra to this worthy cause). Looking forward to a day of helping those less fortunate that us. Cedarwood Preparatory Drama Class presents The Velveteen Rabbit Adapted by Janet Dancer When: On stage on the 20th October 2015 Time: 18h30 The Drama Extra Mural Groups in the Foundation and Intermediate phases will be joining together to present the story The Velveteen Rabbit, adapted by Janet Dancer. This promises to be a wonderful production which will take place on the 20th of October at 18h30 in the school hall. All children need to be at school by 17h30 6

7 Tired of the clutter in your house those things that may be worth something to someone else and you could use the extra cash? Looking for something, but can t find it? Perhaps a short piece about your small (or larger) business might get you that extra clientele. Why not advertise in the Cedarwood Classifieds! It s cheap, easy and well distributed on a monthly basis. Simply contact Mrs Schmitz on dschmitz@cedarwoodschool.co.za for more information. Our next issue will be distributed on 1 November, so don t delay, get your info through today! Cedarwood Community Service Spirit & Soul Spirit (Spirit and Soul). We named our stables after him because he has a soul of an angel and has healed and helped so many children! John was called out to go and look at Spirit by owners who were going to put him to sleep. Spirit was imported from the USA for a lot of money and he is a Grand National Champion. He injured his leg and the doctors at Onderstepoort said it was a bad kind of arthritis and he was useless. When John got there he looked at Spirit and immediately told them to load him into his horse box and bring him home. John worked on Spirit, who is now a beautiful healthy boy and he loves his outrides. He adores people and especially children. He is our most gentle horse and we use him as a therapeutic horse for children that need some love and care and simply some fun! The happy ending.. Spirit is alive! He is very spoilt! And a very, very happy horse. Claire is the famous I can see clearly now! And is the apple of Viv s eye! Claire came third in the Durban July and was born with a defective eye, which they had to remove when she was a little filly. Despite that she still came third, but then the race horse association disqualified her as horses with disabilities were not allowed to race! This was heart-breaking for her. She worked so hard and loves running fast! The owner decided just to leave her and Claire was found in a swimming pool! They called John to help and after more than a days work he finally got her out! They were going to put her to sleep but she came home to us. She was terrified, and was as thin as a rake. All you could see was bones! Claire is now a fat and healthy horse. After a lot of love, teaching her that she can trust some humans she has so much love to return! We can even lie on her and have a good rest, and she will not move! Oh and her favourite snacks are lemon cream biscuits! 7

8 Dear Parents of Cedarwood School I will be running a half a marathon on the 21st of November in Ficksburg to raise money for a little boy from Shofar church who is very sickly, he has Pulmonary Hypertension. If anyone would like to take part in the race or give a donation towards his medical treatment costs please contact me or see the banking details below. There is a Facebook page for people to follow the Race for Eben Cherry festival.. Bank account details: YOU CAN EFT - This is EBEN's ACCOUNT: Capitec Savings account: Branch code: Your help will be much appreciated! Kind Regards Lizelle Faul Notable Notes from the Office A reminder that a written three month minimum notice period is required should you be planning to leave Cedarwood. Please ensure that all payments reflect a beneficiary ref of only your child s name and surname and not the account code as errors are being made when using this reference; and we cannot trace payments. All accounts needs to be settled, in full, by 1st November 2015 or be subjected to signing an acknowledgement of debt before school closes for end of year Thank you, in advance, for your understanding in the above matters. Parent Assistance A huge thank you is extended to Caitlyn Peché who offered wonderful training on the 2nd of October to the Foundation Phase parents on using concrete apparatus in mathematics. We had a full house and the parents really enjoyed it :) Lizelle Faul will be offering the next training session on how to help your child with their homework on Friday 30 October in her classroom from 13h15 14h00. We look forward to seeing you all there... 8

9 Grade 5 & 6 Camp 9

10 PTA Camp Out 10

11 Heritage Day Celebrations 11

12 Grade 2 visit to the Bird Park 2 October 12

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