CONTENTS

“May you experience each day as a sacred gift woven around the heart of wonder”

~ John O’Donohue

24 July 2019

Dear Parents

Yesterday morning I had the privilege of playing the organ in our Chapel for the funeral Mass of one of our Dominican Sisters, Sister Kathleen Boner. Our Region Prioress, Sister Francis Krige, gave a very moving eulogy to Sister Kathleen, who had been a remarkable woman – as a Dominican Sister in South Africa, she was a university History Professor who wrote a book, which I have on my bookshelf here in my office, called Dominican Women: A Time to Speak. Another name for the Dominican Order is The Order of Preachers, and in her eulogy to Sister Kathleen, Sister Francis quoted from the speech given by the newly-elected Master General of the Dominican Order, Father Gerard Francisco Timoner, who spoke about all of us in the Dominican family – which includes you and me – being preachers. “St. Dominic formed an order of preachers”, he said. "It is not what we do. It is who we are. Mission is not what we do. It is who we are. And if that is clear, everything will just follow. We are preachers even when we are not preaching. We are preachers even if in our old age, we can no longer speak. We are preachers even if we are not ordained. We are preachers even if we are sick. We are preachers even if we are doing serious research alone in our rooms. We are preachers when we are helping the less privileged. We are preachers. That is our identity."

As the funeral ended, and Sister Kathleen was laid to rest in the graveyard here at Springfield, there was a glimmer of sun shining, despite the rainy weather of earlier in the morning. May this gracious, brilliant and spirit-filled woman, one of our own family, be at peace in her heavenly resting place. We salute you, Sister Kathleen.

May all our girls educated in this Dominican School learn to preach – and, in the words of Sister Kathleen, find a time to speak out and make their voices heard.

I ask you to keep the Dominican Sisters in your prayers.

On Friday this week, we celebrate the feast of St Joachim and St Anne, the parents of Mary and the grandparents of Jesus. On Monday at Assembly we thanked God for all our grandparents who are such special people in our lives. We also spoke about the love and respect we need always to bestow on the elderly. I chose for the girls to sing the hymn This little light of mine at Assembly, to remind them that they are light in the lives of their grandparents.

Alison Dunn

Wearing the Jersey with Pride

It was a very sneaky question which I posed to the Grade 11’s at their Camp last week. At one point, we were discussing what factors would hold them back from having a memorable Matric year. Regardless of the fact whether they would be elected to official school leadership positions, I urged them to take the opportunities on offer at the school - especially to seize the chance of serving on one of the many committees on offer at the school. I presented to the Grade a whole host of leaders who never needed a badge, or a blazer, or braiding to signify to the world that they wanted to make a difference. Ordinary people like Mother Theresa needed no badge, nor did 14 year old Malala, nor did the Suffragettes and definitely not Rosa Parks in her seat at the back of the bus in Montgomery, Alabama.

Taking on causes, learning to to persevere when times are tough, persuading others to embrace the realisation of their vision, will enable them to develop the vital attributes to make their final year of school very special. At the same time, these attributes will prove to be immensely beneficial in their lives ahead.

‘What about our Matric exams?’ asked one girl.

It was then I threw in my sneaky question. ‘What is more important - Matric results or learning to become a good human being?’

She paused and then hesitatingly offered ‘…..being a good human being….??’

Some girls nodded approvingly but by far the majority frowned. They could just imagine parental faces when they were blithely informed that their daughters wouldn’t be revising for exams in October, they would be concentrating on becoming ‘good human beings’.

I put them out of their misery by explaining that it was not an either-or situation. One of life’s essential skills is to learn to put everything in perspective. With good planning and preparation, a willingness to take mentors on board and to listen to their advice, as well as displaying a readiness to delegate, they would set themselves up to experience a momentous and memorable Matric year - the 149th year in the history of Springfield.

With these skills, they would be equipped to return even better Matric results and at the same time to develop a set of skills which would enable them to make a significant difference to their communities in the years ahead.

They would also have earned the right to wear their 2020 Matric jerseys with pride.

Keith Richardson

To all Springfield Parents

As you are aware we embarked on the search for a new Head of School for Springfield in January this year.

The Selection Panel engaged the services of headhunters, Academic Partners to assist us. It is a complex task finding someone of faith who has the appropriate professional qualifications, intellectual acumen, integrity and emotional intelligence to lead a school like ours. In addition, we seek someone with strong leadership skills who can continue the model of excellence at Springfield but who is also able to make it a 'school of influence' as Mr Richardson's challenge to us has been.

After a very thorough and extensive search process, which included interviewing two potential candidates, the Panel offered the position to one of the candidates, who after reflection, indicated that for personal reasons that a move to the Cape was not possible.

Encouraged by Sr Rosemary, we reflected further on the process thus far. Thereafter we decided to engage in a renewed search process as of last week.

What this means is that a new Head of School is unlikely to be in place by 1 January 2020 as we had envisaged. Mr Richardson has agreed to continue holding the reins until a new Head of School is appointed next year.

As Chair of the Selection Panel, I would like to take this opportunity to thank Mr Richardson for agreeing to remain with us. His leadership thus far has made an enormous difference at Springfield. He leads with enthusiasm, integrity and above all, a passion for educating young people.

We know that it was not an easy decision for him to continue at Springfield given his commitment to the Principals' Academy. So we extend our thanks to him and his wife, Pippa.

Finally, thank you to all staff who continue to work extremely hard to provide a holistic education to all Springfielders and of course thank you to you as parents for entrusting your daughters to our care.

Yours Sincerely,

Judith February

Chair: Selection Panel

HELP NEEDED! We are still needing help with the (Sandwich) Roster for Term 3. If you are able to assist, please put your name down on the roster outside the Secretaries’ Office. Many thanks to all who assisted in the past.

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DATES TO REMEMBER

Friday 26 July PTA Cake Sale will be hosted by the Grade 5, 6 & 7 on outside the Centenary Hall. Please remind the girls to support it by bringing spending money with them

Friday 26 July: Grade 1 and 5 Chapel Mass at 09:00. Parents are welcome to attend.

Monday 29 July SENIOR PRIMARY CHOIR: 2 Rehearsals on Monday,

7.45 sharp - 8.45 AND 2.30 - 3.30. BOTH ARE COMPULSORY

Wednesday 31 July: Grade 3B – Outing to Carmelite Convent.

Friday 2 August: Grade 2 and 4 Chapel Mass at 09:00. Parents welcome to attend.

Friday 2 August: Junior Primary Quiz Night.

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Please find Tuck Shop Weekly Family meals on this link: weekly meals order form

Anxiety and Resilience

Thank you to our parents and staff who braved last nights storm to attend the talk by clinical psychologist Tanya Vollenhoven on “Anxiety and Resilience.”

Anxiety is probably the most prevalent global mental health issue at the moment. It plagues all ages and backgrounds and there are many questions surrounding this topic – why is it so prevalent, what are the causes, how do we manage it etc….. unfortunately no-one seems to have the exact answer.

Tanya had a really interesting and unusual take on it - that we shouldn’t see anxiety as bad or that something is wrong with us/our children. It is a healthy response to fear but, with fear, we often get caught in the fight/fight/or freeze reaction and this is where our little ones unravel.

Tanya normalised anxiety and made us an audience feel that it’s okay to feel anxious, that life and our response to it doesn’t have to be perfect. We need to be a little gentler on ourselves and on our children and slow down and think more carefully, respond more slowly and connect more mindfully.

Her main points were:

1. The goal isn’t to eliminate anxiety but to help our daughters manage it.
2. Don’t avoid things just because they make your child anxious - avoidance will make them feel better in the short term but reinforces anxiety over the long run.
3. Respect her feelings, but don’t empower them. Wait for the storm to pass before talking to her about how she is feeling. The message you want to send is “I know you’re scared and that’s okay, and I’m here, and I’m going to help you to get through this.”
4. Don’t ask leading questions. Encourage your child to talk about her feelings but try not to ask leading questions - “Are you feeling scared about the test today?” To avoid feeding the cycle of anxiety, only ask open ended questions: “ How was school today? “ What was the most fun thing you did at school today?”
5. Don’t reinforce her fears: “yes Maths is a difficult subject” rather “ Your teacher won’t teach you things that you can’t cope with - you’ve got this - you can do this!!”
6. Encourage her to tolerate her anxiety - “It will pass, you are not going to feel like this forever.” Let her know that you appreciate the work that it takes to tolerate anxiety in order to do what she needs to do.
7. When we are afraid of something, usually the hardest time is really before we do it. Try to keep the aniticatory period short - e.g if your child is scared about test, don’t start talking about it two hours before - you are going to get them more keyed up. Shorten the period to a bare minimum. Tanya explained that we experience fear and excitement in the same center in our brains so shifting the feeling from fear to excitement could help - pump up the music, air punch, do a boogie - it might help...
8. The way that we role model managing our own anxiety goes a long way in teaching our children - they are so perceptive and are watching and imitating us constantly. Emotions are contagious - this doesn’t mean that you can’t be anxious but be mindful of how you to speak to your friends etc about the stress that you are under and how you are dealing with it. Try to model healthy ways of handling anxiety.

If you would like me to arrange a talk on something that you feel is appropriate to us as a community, please let me know. I would really value your input.

Email me on gcloete@springfieldconvent.co.za

Keep warm

Love

Gabby Cloete

Take an interest in your child’s online world

Talk to your child about what they’re doing online. Take an interest in their interests and consider co-viewing or co-creating with them from time to time.

Ensure you’re familiar with your child’s favourite apps or websites. Find out how they work and what they’re getting out of them.

These two websites have easy-to-read summaries of popular sites, apps, and social media:

• Office of the eSafety Commissioner
• NSPCC Net Aware (UK Site)

(Remember, you’re in charge. At the end of the day, remember you’re the parent. Set boundaries and consider using filtering software and parent controls on devices (but be aware that this is only part of the solution)

As South Africans we shared in a beautiful and tangible celebration of our very own South African icon, Nelson Mandela on the 18^th July at Springfield in our Junior School. Each Grade from Pre-School to Grade 7 identified an active outreach theme and then focused on creating an action to the theme. Below is a synopsis of the events and activities that took place on Mandela Day: