Junior School

28 October 2020

Quote

"The future is not some place we are going to, but one we are creating.

The paths to it are made not found, and the activity of making,

changes both the maker and the destination..."

~Philip Adam

Preschool News

Dear Parents

Following on our theme of our beautiful City of Cape Town, we have been learning all about the various fauna and flora of our country, and our responsibility to conserve and protect it. This inspired Mykah-Grace’s granddad, Roger Barry, to create this wonderful representation of “saving our oceans” for the girls in Mrs Ruscoes’s Pre Reception class.

You all know how excited we were to discover a pair of owls had taken up residence in our play ground during the months of lockdown. Well, we are even more blessed now to discover that they have made a nest at the top of our palm tree and have a beautiful, fluffy chick. Daddy owl even visited inside our classroom last week, during our theme on birds, to observe that we are teaching the girls the correct information about his feathered friends.

October is also “Animal Rescue” month, as it is the birthday month of St Francis of Assisi, a lover of animals. Thanks to the kind generosity of the Preschool parents, R1200 was raised for the SPCA. The girls, and teachers, had great fun dressing up as animals last Friday. This money will be added to the amount raised by the Junior School and delivered to the Cape of Good Hope SPCA in Grassy Park.

The Covid-19 restrictions caused all tertiary education to be postponed, but we are now happy to announce that the ECD level 4 and level 5 training has resumed, and wish our teaching assistants, Erica Thomas, Tobela Gladile and Nicole Da Silva, all the best with their studies over the next 18 months.

DIANE VILJOEN

Head of Preschool

Preschool News and Pictures continued📸

Junior Primary

Dear Junior Primary Parents

This past weekend Mrs Murray and I had the pleasure of spending time with twenty four Grade 3 pupils preparing for their First Confession. The atmosphere of the retreat was joyful, peaceful and refreshing. The wonder of experiencing the faith of children is such a blessing. The beauty of teaching at a faith based school remains a treasure and the reason why we can celebrate the richness of 150 years of Dominican education next year. These young people, entrusted in our care, have futures brimming with hope and purpose. The foundations laid in your homes of values aligned with our ethos is magnified in the daily encounters in the classrooms, playground and corridors of our school. As we draw closer to the end of this academic year it always allows us time to ponder with gratitude to the past year and live in anticipation of what awaits. Soon we will bid farewell to our Grade 3’s as they transition from Junior Primary to Intermediate Phase whilst we get ready to welcome our reception class of 2020 into Big School, commencing Grade 1 in 2021. Life propels us into a cycle of constant change, of acknowledging the old and envisioning the future. One feels a mixed bag of emotions and the holistic journey we promote and foster cannot be experienced without absolute trust

This year with all its challenges and difficulties has presented many moments of real joy and I’d like to thank you for entrusting your children to our care. The loyalty of staff throughout the year has been phenomenal.

With joy in my heart, I acknowledge the collegial spirit of staff and parents forging an authentic partnership of trust and respect. Growth and process cannot be realised with a trust deficit. If that is prevalent then we need to work really hard to repair it.

MISS STUBBS

Head of Junior Primary

Congratulations to the girls who made their First Confession on 27th October 2020.

Fr Manuel and Fr Jackson administered the Sacrament of Confession

Senior Primary

Conversations and Connections

In order to create a trust culture within our school community, one needs to begin by fully comprehending the essence of what trust is. Trusting someone means that you think they are reliable, you have confidence in them and you feel safe with them physically and emotionally. Trust is something that people in a relationship can build together when they decide to trust each other. Consistency, Compassion, Communication and Competency - are valued as the four pillars of trust. These pillars are vital in building a trusting relationship and cannot operate in isolation.

Building trust is a process. The process begins with the Principal who is seen as the ultimate trust-builder. This flows to the teachers. It is the trust between teachers, teachers and pupils, parents and pupils and parents and teachers. To rely on trust allows us to deal with school accountability for decisions and learning which take place. An example of this, is how ably Sister Kathy Gaynor, has facilitated many powerful and structured conversations in recent months that have occurred in a supportive environment. A priority in building trust is to invest time in nurturing these relationships. Trust is the most essential element in building relationships and improving learning. Thus, the end goal is for us all to achieve a mutual sense of respect, understanding, appreciation and support of decisions made for our school community.

Many of us feel as though we have reached capacity regarding navigating the change and upheaval of our lives that Covid has invited this year. We know how change has invoked fear and uncertainty in us for the unknown. However, despite this, we have soldiered on and learned grit and resilience. Therefore, let us embrace the next change that we face with regard to the shuffle within the Senior Primary department for next year. I urge you to have faith, trust and respect in the decision makers and role players in their professional educational capacity. We value the conversations and connections we make between pupils, parents and staff always mindful of engendering a trust culture based on the four “C’s” mentioned above.

We are all excited and are looking forward to the fresh start and new beginnings in the Senior Primary phase in 2021. Thank you in advance for being willing to trust and support us in our endeavours in ensuring that your daughter experiences an excellent educational journey while at Springfield.

KAREN SMITH

Head of Senior Primary

Counsellor's Corner

Dear Parents

As we slide towards the end of the year, we are starting to prepare the girls for the transitions that they go through as they exit one grade/phase and enter another.

The Grade R classes visit the “big school” in the next week or 2 to have a look at their classrooms and spend some time with their new teachers - we are all very excited to welcome them into our fold

The Grade 4’s have been giving talks to the Grade 3 classes of what to expect when they go into Grade 4 next year. They are filled with enthusiasm and exciting stories - some snippets are: "The Grade 4 teachers are the best ever!" , "It’s fun being able to play on the big field and you feel really grown up being around the Grade 6 and 7’s", "It’s so interesting having Content (History/Science/Geography)and we get to do really cool projects and experiments!". Their enthusiasm is contagious - so cute!

Miss Dunn, Mr Meehan and I have been working with a group of Grade 7 students on Transformation and I’m often in awe of how knowledgeable, opinionated and passionate they are about progress and change. I feel proud that this strong and feisty Grade has passed through our hands and that they are ready to go on to high school - what a special group of young people they are.

Naturally with all change, some nervousness and anxiety is to be expected. Please keep in mind that anxiety is contagious and if you are stressed about the changes, your child will be too. Try to be calm and centered in your approach and if your daughter tells you she is scared about the coming changes. Try not to say “Why are you scared?” or “There’s nothing to be scared about!” but rather “It is scary to start new things…. You are worrying about some stuff?” and then listen to her worries and help her find ways of dealing with them. As parents, all of us want our children to be resilient and to be able to cope with the tricky things that life will throw them. We can’t protect or shield them from these, but rather help them to find their inner brave and push through. As we have learnt over and over again this year, you and they will find your/their feet on the other side and come out stronger and wiser for it .

As always, should you have concerns or need assistance, please email me on gcloete@springfieldconvent.co.za.

With warm regards to you all

GABBY CLOETE

Junior School Counsellor

Tech tip

💻Tech Pearl of Wisdom for the week

Tech Tip #44

4 Handy little tips this week...

1. Reverse Search an Image in Google Chrome: In Google Chrome, right click on an image and press ‘S’ at the same time. When you reverse search an image, you’ll potentially be able to see where that photo originated from.

2. Clear Your Cache in Seconds: Quickly clear your cache by pressing Ctrl + Shift +R. This will also refresh your page!

3. Go Back in Time: Are you looking for something you were working on days ago? Just press the Windows key + Tab. That will open a timeline of your recent activities in Windows.

4. ACCIDENTALLY TYPE WITH THE CAPS LOCK BUTTON ON? Highlight the text and hit ‘Shift + F3’ and it will change anything from uppercase to lowercase and vice versa. (this only works if the F-keys are not shared with other characters)

Kindest regards,

MERRILL VELENSKY

Junior School IT Teacher

Art - September 2020

SPORT

PSi Cape Town offerings Oct-Dec 2020.pdf

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