Top Achievers for

Term 2

Primary school

Amber Walker 92%

Abigail Steenkamp 91.8%

Mila Cordier 91%

Gabriel Rebelo 88.3%

Liam Knight 88%

Intermediate Phase Gr 4-6

Isaac Verwey 79%

Kayla Roebuck 78.3%

Mersa Ansari 78.2

Sophie Schwarzloh 72.8%

Marlise Klue 71.8%

GET Phase Gr 7-9

Miguel Mckinnon 77%

Jabin Joseph 67%

Seniors Gr 10 -12

Odette Theron 84.1%

Kaylin Klaasen 77.5%

Gerald Lawrence 73.2%

Adriaan du Plessis 71.2%

Justin Kruger 71%

Across the country, every

high school learner is aware

of the process. It’s

unavoidable. It's

undeniable.

Grade 8 initiation.

For reasons unknown to us,

specifically the matric

learners, these new initiates

are terrified of this phase of

their school career. At

Somerstrand College, we

strived to change that. And

this year, we went all out...

Starting on the 16th of

January, our initiates were

our baby whales. Everyone

knows that baby whales

need to swim. However,

due to the intensity of our

drought, our baby whales

had to adapt. They learnt

how to swim on dry land!

Whale calls resounded

throughout the school as

every teacher, leader and

matriculant was greeted

with this original calling. (No

wonder we felt avoided)

During breaks, they learnt

the core values of our

school, as well as skills that

are just as essential to

survive in the big, blue sea.

Like physical fitness and

knowing our school creed.

Of course, there were other

things these ‘whalies’ had

to adapt to. Our school is

unique, and they had to

learn that we value their

unique selves, not clones.

We encouraged this,

together with February's

theme of love, by asking

them to write a unique love

letter filled with the

funniest, cheesiest phrases

to ever float about. The

result was fantastic.

As a learner of Somerstrand

College, you need to be

responsible and honest.

They had to be responsible

and creative, looking after

an egg-baby.

We are proud to say that our

baby whales of 2018 are no

longer babies. They have

come a long way and not

only are we proud of their

progress, but we look

forward to who they will

become.

Moulding our future –

together

Odette Theron

Volume 1,

Issue 1

25th July

2018

SomerStrand News

IMPORTANT DATES:

School Opens:

17th July 2018

National Women’s Day

(Public Holiday):

9th August 2018

10th August 2018 -

School Holiday

Heritage Day (Public

Holiday):

24th September

2018

Marketing at Somerset

West Mall

30th July—5th

August 2018

(Marketing team in

Business)

Matric Exams (Tentative)

3rd—21st

September 2018—

more details will

follow.

Provincial Athletics

Sasolburg:

28th & 29th

September 2018

School Closes:

28th September

2018

Blue Whale Initiation

January – June 2018

Page 2

Pre-School News

Pre-school dates for

next term:

10.04 – School starts

04.05 – Cake sale

21.05 – June assessments

officially begin

22.09 – Winter movie night

29.09 – School closes

What an amazing year so far… the children have adapted nicely to their new class groups and have already grown so much since the beginning of the year.

Let’s take a look at what they have been up to

In the class the children were very busy mastering their skills: painting, drawing, and making delicious treats for Valentine’s day.

They also had great fun mastering their fine-motor skills by threading O’tees onto pipe cleaners☺

Somerstrand College Junior Sports day

At the beginning of the year we had our annual Sports day where the children took part in the 60m sprint as well as a few field events. We encourage them to learn basic skills which will then build their confidence for when they are presented with these sports later on in life. “Learning through fun”

Every child should be

treated as the individual

they are.

The Busy Bees and the Ladybirds were very brave and stood up in front of all their teachers and classmates to do their “Show and tell” about their pet or a pet they wish to have. There were a few nerves, but with a little positive encouragement the confidence slowly grew. Next time they are asked to do a “show and tell”, I have no doubt they will all want to be called up first.

Show and tell – My Pet theme

What a fun day all the

children had…bobbing for

apples, potato-spoon

races, bucket drive. They

all had so much fun

participating in the BIG

SCHOOL event. They

were rewarded at the end

of the day with a self-

made ‘popcorn sheep’

Boere Sports on the field

The Police came to visit

Do you know the emergency

number for the Fire

Department?

107

January – June 2018

Page 3

Walk for Water Walk-A-Thon

. New Staff and children

Every year our school has a Walk-for-water Walk-a-thon to raise awareness to the everyday struggle some people have to face to have access to clean running water.

We would like to send a HUGE thank you to the Busy Bee and Ladybird class as they brought in the most money. Congratulations! Overall the Preschool did the BEST as a section. Well done

“Our aim is to have our

children accidently learn

through having fun in the

everyday activities that they

participate in” Pre-school

staff

Thank you to the van der Merwe family who were there

to join us on the day. We really

appreciate your support. .

Once again, thank you all for an amazing term.

Lots of love Teachers: Lesley, Monica, Annica, Alexandra, Zandri, Mariana, Ethel and Elsa.

.

We would like to send out a very warm welcome to our new Pre-school children as well as our new staff members. Welcome teacher Alex in the Caterpillar Class, Teacher Zandri in the Busy Bee class and Teacher Mariana in the Koala Bear class. We hope that you have settled in nicely and that you will be very happy here with us.

January – June 2018

Page 4

January – June 2018

Page 5

We all wish Ita well on her

new life journey. Her

contribution to our school

and students was

extremely valuable. Ita is

one of those people who

make a positive difference

wherever she goes.

Please look after your

health as we want you to

always visit our school.

To all SomerStrand College Staff, Students

and Parents, a huge bear-hug to you!

Thank you so much for the past 18 months I

could spend with you! We had challenges

and we had a lot of fun. You all are part of a

wonderful school with the best teachers and

a principal with a heart of gold!

Put your hands in our Almighty God and you

will walk in His Light and you will receive the

strength to do your best.

Good Luck for the rest of 2018! You will

always be in my heart!

Teacher Ita van der Ryst

Grade 12. You are an awesome group. I

will miss you. Wish you all the best for gr

12 and your future…

Mr. Frank Stevens

Mr Stevens

With a heart of Gold,

patience to understand

and an ear to listen to

everybody. Mr. Stevens

left his bit to

SomerStrand College,

although he was only

three months at our

school.

We were fortunate to

let him continue with

his dream after a short

notice period.

Teacher Annelize Herbst

To all the students of SomerStrand College,

may the rest of 2018 be a fabulous year.

Blessings

Teacher Liela

May the road rise up to meet you, may the wind be ever at your back. May the

sun shine warm upon your face and the rain fall softly on your fields. And until

we meet again, may God hold you in the hollow of his hand. ~Irish Blessing

Teacher Liela will be

dearly missed for her

soft heart and care.

She is now following

her career in the

corporate world.

Stienie Jansen van Vuuren

Financial Feedback.

Thank you to all our parents for their faithful

payments towards you child/children’s school

fees. This helped the school to achieve success.

At the end of the second term six learners left our

school and we wish them good luck at their new

schools.

On a very positive note –

we enrolled nine new students this term.

A big whale welcome to them!!

Irene Roux

Some know me as Teacher Irene or the

admin lady or even the crazy lady dancing

in tutus and tattoo sleeves screaming - go

team go! I am not a new face at all. I have

been part of the SSC team for over 2 years

now. I have a N.Dip. in Tourism

Management and a Post graduate

certificate in education.

In the 4th Term 2017 I have decided to

exchange the class for the office. The office

gives me a little more “freedom”- from

babysitting an orphan pig, putting plasters

on injured fingers, assist teachers in their

daily tasks and interacting with parents.

The office is like an “all in one” and I am

loving it.

January – June 2018

Page 6

Admin and

Business Office

to our new staff:

Teacher Jill Heuvel (Consumer-, Business

Studies and Technology)

Teacher Marlize Visagie (Grade 4-5 Class)

Teacher Annie Harris (Student from

Wellington College)

Ass Teacher Larissa Horn (Grade 2-3 Class)

Ass Teacher Chane v Wyk (Grade RR & R)

Ass Teacher Keané Lombard (Koala Class)

“I feel like making the

switch was worth it

because I am in a

place where I feel

genuinely happy and

comfortable.”

January – June 2018

Page 7

Hi, I am Faraaz.

I started high school 3

months ago. This is my

first year in high school -

Grade 8. So far, I am

surviving. This is my story

of how to survive:

Making friends

This was kind of hard,

because you need

someone you can trust

and, someone you can

relate to. This took a

HOW I AM SURVIVING HIGH SCHOOL

while, but I survived it.

Work

Let me tell you something:

High school is not easy

work! It becomes more and

harder……Some teachers

are nice…....

Friendly Orientation

That is the worst. You need

to basically be “slaves” to

older grades and do what

they say but, in the end, you

will miss it.

SO those are my tips and

methods on how I am

surviving high school. If

you are new to this or

starting soon, I wish you

“Good luck! “because it

will be a lot of work and

there will be a lot of issues,

but I promise you it will be

the best part of your life

Faraaz Parker

One benefit of using your

newsletter as a

promotional tool is that

you can reuse content

from other marketing

materials, such as press

releases, market studies

and reports.

While your main goal of

distributing a newsletter

might be to sell your

product or service, the

key to a successful

newsletter is making it

useful to your readers.

A great way to add useful

content to this newsletter

is to develop and write

your own articles, or

include a calendar of

upcoming events or a

Where are you from?

What grade are you in? Previous school

attended? And why did you move?

The above are questions to be expected

when moving schools. My first week at SSC

was eventful mostly due to the big change

in environment. I never pictured myself in a

space where I'd be able to write an English

essay and observe the ducks and chickens

from where I was sitting all at the same

time, but now that I've been put in this

position I seem to become fonder of how

calm and peaceful the environment is. It

really is a big difference from where I was

previously located.

My next observation would be the friendly

community within the school. Everybody,

except the cat, at SSC is extremely nice and

welcoming which really contributes to

making one feel at ease. It also feels

good to be able to get along with all

the teachers and learners because of

how approachable all of them are.

Overall, I feel like making the switch

was worth it, because I am in a place

where I feel genuinely happy and

comfortable. I'm glad I was able to

make this change.

-unknown

Look at that

smile!!

Teacher Anschen & Clarkson lead raining

some “horse riders”

I am so shy

January – June 2018

I love pony rides

Page 8

Page 9

January – June 2018

From Gr. 1 to 5 we had a fruitful 6

months in our club.

The first three meetings: 24 Jan; 7 and

14 Feb. 2018, we talked and identified

alien plants on our school grounds, we

removed what we could. We also

weed our gardens around gr. 1 to 3

classes and around the gr. 4 to 5

classes.

The 2 following weeks we worked on

cuttings. We walked through all our

gardens and took various clippings of

plants and put them in water to be

able to observe what would happen.

On 23th March we, as a school, took

part in the World-Wide Water

awareness Day. We as a school is now

fully prepared for water shortages in

our area. With our Walk-For-Water

Walk-A-Thon, we managed to buy

water tanks to catch up our rain water.

During our very short 2nd Term, due to

early exams we, had talks in our

meetings about Local and Global

Plastic issues, with a lot of emphasis on

our world- wide marine life.

We as a school are collecting plastic

caps of all sizes and colours and with

that, we are planning to make a huge

poster, of re-useable plastic, to

welcome all our visitors and remind

them of the dangers of plastic in our

oceans.

We maintained our Platinum status and

were awarded our International ECO

Flag.

Samuel Hartnic’s Spekboom

showed the first roots.

We maintained our

Platinum status and were

awarded our International

ECO Flag.

ECO CLUB SOMERSTRAND COLLEGE

Walk-For-Water Walk-A-Thon

Page 10 January – June 2018

Every Friday after school

we spend an hour with the

animals at our school.

Animal Therapy Club

My name is Rebecca and I want to tell

you about animal therapy at

Somerstrand College.

When I first heard of animal therapy I

thought I was going to counsel and

listen to all the animals’ problems, oh

was I wrong!

Animal therapy is about learning,

caring for and respecting all living

creatures. Who wouldn't like animal

therapy? You get to handle and care

for all wonderful and interesting

animals.

I personally think animal therapy

should be introduced to all schools.

Animal therapy is more educational

than you think. Most children have no

idea of how to take care of animals.

This provides a good education to

those who have little to no experience

with animals.

I am a student in grade 6 and I have a

better understanding of animal care

then most adults do. The animals we

work with include pigs, piglets,

chickens, goats, horses, ponies,

rabbits and ducks.

Those of which all reside within our

school and we have the pleasure of

seeing every day.

I feel animal therapy teaches you a lot!

For example, the best herbs to use for

fly control, proper food groups for each

animal, how to tend to the important

needs of each species, how to handle

different animals, how animals interact

with each other and most importantly

how lucky we are to have these lovely

creatures living among us.

Every Friday after school we spend an

hour with the animals at our school,

cleaning their habitats, learning new

things, giving them food, and most

importantly, giving them love!

I think it's mentally and spiritually

enlightening. Not only is it therapy for

the animals, but most importantly,

therapy for all my classmates and I.

By Rebecca Openshaw @

SomerStrand College Animal Therapy

Club

Drawing by Rubina Aikman Stoddart

January – June 2018

Page 11

#RECIPE FOR THE SWEET- TOOTH

#RESEP VIR DIE SOETTAND, HOMEMADE CHOCOLATE MOUSE

(No eggs, No gelatine)

Whip 150 ml of cream until it makes soft peaks, then gently fold

into the cooled chocolate.

Whip remaining cream and use with fruit for decoration

Melt the chocolate in a bowl of

simmering water.

Heat the milk until boiling and mix in

the melted chocolate.

Leave to cool.

YOU WILL NEED

100 g Chocolate

50 ml Milk

200 g Double cream

Sliced fruit (optional)

Page 12

January – June 2018

Photo Gallery

Arbour day

January – June 2018

Page 13

Get Ready to Win the

Provincial Athletics!

Support us on the

28th & 29th September

2018

as we will be competing in

the Provincial athletics in

Sasolburg.

JULY AUGUST SEPTEMBER 1 SU 1 WE

Marketing at Somerset Mall

1 SA

2 MO 2 TH 2 SU

3 TU 3 FR 3 MO

Matric Exam (Tentative)

4 WE 4 SA 4 TU

5 TH 5 SU 5 WE

6 FR 6 MO 6 TH

7 SA 7 TU 7 FR

8 SU 8 WE 8 SA

9 MO 9 TH National Women’s Day

9 SU

10 TU 10 FR School Holiday 10 MO

11 WE 11 SA 11 TU

12 TH 12 SU 12 WE

13 FR 13 MO 13 TH

14 SA 14 TU 14 FR

15 SU 15 WE 15 SA

16 MO 16 TH 16 SU

17 TU School Opens 17 FR 17 MO

18 WE 18 SA 18 TU

19 TH 19 SU 19 WE

20 FR 20 MO 20 TH

21 SA 21 TU 21 FR

22 SU 22 WE 22 SA

23 MO 23 TH 23 SU

24 TU Term Test Start 24 FR 24 MO Heritage Day

25 WE 25 SA 25 TU

26 TH Parent meeting – report card discussion

26 SU 26 WE

27 FR 27 MO 27 TH Matric Farewell Old Cape Café

28 SA 28 TU 28 FR School Closes

29 SU 29 WE 29 SA

30 MO Marketing at Somerset Mall

30 TH 30 SU

31 TU 31 FR

January – June 2018

Page 14

Term 3 Calendar 2018

Physical address

Koala Kidz t/a

Somerstrand College

Postal address

Gustrouw Road

Gordon’s Bay

7140

Anschen du Plessis

Yours-in-education

From the office:

Dear Parents/Guardians and Students,

Academic advice for exams/assessment

results

As educators we have experienced the

second term as a difficult; but satisfying

one! The exams were calm, collective and

in control. I hope that you as parents

experienced the same at home.

We, as parents often stress more from a

distance as we feel out of control for the

inevitable; this is that our child/ren will

sometimes achieve but other times will

not succeed. Leaving us vulnerable; as we

are the ones to pick up the little pieces.

Hopefully to make a collage leaving our

youngster better equipped for what the

future may hold. This takes courage and

a plan. I would like to try my best to

advise parents as to what they can do to

feel a bit more in control and to make a

difference.

Student-Teacher-Parent-Planning for

Term 3: The winter-cold-weather is very

inducive towards studying planning and

education and to add to this is the light

drizzle of rain pouring down on Gordon’s

Bay. It just adds to the feeling of

understanding that we are extremely

fortunate “to be” and to use the

capacities that we are given. Planning

and preparation for the new term has

already started while educators marked

every students’ work…sometimes looking

for marks. Reflection of how we are

going to better ourselves; our student-

results and how are we going to excel

learning in all regards. We would like

parents to be part of the planning and to

be at the student-parent-teacher-

meetings the first Thursday of every new

term. During these meetings students

participate in goal-setting. The school

will contact you, if we feel that it is

necessary for you to attend; but please

feel free to request a meeting.

Too often students and parents

experience the academic environment

as threatening; especially if academic

underperformance takes place. If only

we can convince our parents and

students to work with their school and

highly motivated educators. This will

change the mindset of students so that

they experience overwhelming care,

since a substantial amount of highly

qualified people are there to

accommodate them in whatever they

may be need. This leaves them

emotionally secure and ready to tackle

the difficulties that life may give them.

The secret lies in the Pod of Whales.

Exam results are given with only one

goal in mind - to ensure a better mark in

the future! – For you and your child to

do self-inspection. Ask yourself these

questions: What was right (Remember

to tap yourself on the shoulder) What

went wrong. What worked and what did

not? Why did it work or not? Do some

research by asking your child some

questions.

You will be surprised to hear how many

children are struggling with intense

anxiety during exam time and do not

sleep well because of stress during this

time. You need to understand your child

to be able to help. Have

a supportive/educational approach

rather than emotional and angry one if

your child does not perform well

academically. Remember a low mark is

already punishment enough and an

embarrassment!

Study Method Course: The school will be hosting a study method course during the first two weeks of school in the third term. We hope to get all the students actively involved in this. Now is also the time that all our years of

planning, involvement and support are

paying off: OUR FIRST MATRICS EVER IN

THE HISTORY OF GORDON’S BAY ARE

DOING THEIR FIRST PRELIM-EXAMS IN

SEPTEMBER. My wish for them is to

experience this exam as collective and in

control…. we’ve heard rumours that they

are looking forward to leaving school. No

guys…not going to happen yet – SSC

wants to hold on to your valuable

presence… for a little longer.

Thank you, parents, we do appreciate all the help in moulding a better future together. Our youngsters do eventually grow up.

Contact details

Phone 021 856 2644

E-mail:

admin@somerstrand.co.za

We’re on the Web!

www.somerstrand.co.za

January – June 2018

Page 15