Headmasters Message

Start off by Making your Bed

I always enjoy chatting to the girls in assembly and giving them a different message every week. The first assembly this term was no exception. On this occasion, I played a YouTube video to them of a speech given by US Navy Admiral William McRaven to the 2014 University of Texas graduating class. As I only played them an excerpt, I asked the girls to go home and download the full nineteen minute version and to watch it together with you parents. I promise you that it will make a wonderful dinner time conversation as you discuss the various issues which the video raises.

The essence of the speech was Admiral McRaven using his experiences of 36 years before while he was training in 1967 to be a navy SEAL – which, even though we hear the name regularly on TV, probably few of us realized that it stands for Naval Sea Air and Land Team. The speech contains the life lessons he learnt in his SEAL training which are relevant to all of us – regardless of gender, ethnic or religious background or social standing. The struggles of life are common to all of us but the lessons we learn from them, will stand your daughters in good stead throughout their lives.

My excerpt to the assembly was only six minutes long but it contained four vital lessons which undoubtedly will last much longer than normal dinner time conversation.

• ‘If you want to change the world, start off by making your bed’. If you can’t do the little things right, then how can you be entrusted with the big things?
• He told us about the ocean swim which the SEALs had to undergo in shark invested waters. ‘The world is full of sharks, do not back down from them’. There are many ‘sharks’ waiting to pounce on our teenagers which cannot be ignored. They need help in handling them.
• He gave us stories of what they had to undergo in their six month training made worse by instructors continually exhorting them to go for the easy option and to give up. ‘Nothing matters except the will to succeed. Measure a person by the size of his heart not by any other trappings.’ For our girls, these ‘trappings’ are branded clothes, money, cell phone….
• He described how in a moment of extreme stress, one person started singing and eventually they were all singing. ‘One person’s positivity changed everything’. This is, of course, a choice. We can choose to be negative or positive. Our choice will affect those around us. If we can influence ten other people positively and they influence ten other people and then they influence ten others….. then you literally can change the world. You can certainly change South Africa.

The other six points? You will have to watch the video with your daughter.

Happy talking.

Keith Richardson

New Principal Update

Interviews for the position of the new Principal of Springfield took place during the holidays. In spite of many hours spent on these proceedings, it was not possible to make an appointment. The process continues.

Weekly Inspiration

Transformation Activities in Cultural Week

The Cultural Week is an annual event at Springfield that is organised in collaboration with Amasiko Portfolio and the House Captains and the It traditionally consists of workshops related to cultural expression and cultural inter-house competitions. This year, the inter-house Sports matches that are usually played in the final week of the second term and two Outreach slots were integrated into the programme, resulting in a week of holistic co-curricular education. The experience of these activities may provide a vision for the way in which these final days of each term are created in line with Springfield’s vision of educating the whole child.

In 2019, the Amasiko Portfolio expressed a wish to transform the workshop element of the week, which traditionally has focused on superficial and rudimentary skills, into meaningful engagement sessions on issues related to race, language, culture and religion - the four topics that form the basis of their work within the school. Under the leadership of Sadia Majal, the portfolio organised a slot titled “Get Cultured,” in which Springfield pupils were given the opportunity to express themselves on a range of issues, which included responses to racism and the experience of LGBTQ teenagers in the form of protest poetry, talks on “Afrikaaps” and “Misperceptions of Islaam,” and a short lecture on sexuality and gender identity. What was remarkable about this session was the manner in which the pupil-viewers responded to and engaged with the issues that were presented to them, as well as the manner in which the pupil-presenters themselves invested in their presentations. The response from pupils in discussions following this session was that it was a vast improvement on the previous iteration of the workshops, as now they were able to engage in issues that really meant something to them. It is also interesting to note that despite the opportunity to take part in an international film being available to the student body, the attendance on these days improved when compared with previous years.

The productions and speakers that were brought in during this week also connected with the transformation process taking place at school. On the first day, an Afrikaaps production named Mama was performed by Chenal Kock and directed by Jeremeo Le Cordeur, with choreography by Alfonzo Freemantle and Yaseen Manuel. This was followed by a Q&A about the Afrikaaps dialect and the experiences of the performer, a woman of colour, at Stellenbosch University. On the second day, Buhle Ngaba, who describes herself as a storyteller, spoke to the pupils on a range of topics, including the meaning of Shakespeare to people of colour, the importance of women in coding and the voices of women of colour as authors, performers and theatre-makers. Her inclusion of the pupils in the presentation represented a decolonised version of what a formal speaker might normally offer to the school and was an empowering experience for the pupils.

It is important to recognise the depth of engagement that these activities inspired in our pupils. This year’s Cultural Week represented a significant step forward in a calendar item that had become stagnant and renewed the energy we all need as a school community in order to best carry out our mandate of holistic education at Springfield.

David Fick

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Academic News

Academic Support

Support will be offered to pupils whose results indicated that they are struggling academically in one or more subjects. If your daughter achieved less than 50% for a subject, please expect to be contacted by her grade head or subject teacher. The focus of these discussions with be the strategies and interventions required for your daughter to achieve her best.

One method of support that parents can pursue is the 1-1 coaching programme offered by Elevate Education. This process begins with an expert coach conducting a 60-minute audit of your daughter’s study processes. This information is put in a report that details their exact strengths and weaknesses and identifies the opportunities for fast improvement. The diagnostic is completely obligation free. Please visit the parent portal of the Elevate Education website or view their coaching brochure for all of the details.

Extra English

Extra English lessons are offered during the second break on Wednesdays in Room 2. These lessons are offered at that time as many girls have extra-mural commitments that prevent them from attending in the afternoons. Your daughter’s English teacher may advise regular attendance, but she is also welcome to attend when and if she needs help with a particular concept or skill.

Subject Moderation

The third term heralds the start of Grade 12 subject moderation sessions, during which the pupils’ marks are verified and moderated by the Department of Education. Please encourage your daughter to bring her portfolio pieces to school should they be required for this process.

The oral moderation sessions for the language subjects are also coming up and it is important to note that your daughter needs to be present on this day. The dates supplied so far for these days are 23 July (English), 6 August (Xhosa FAL and SAL) and 13 August (Afrikaans). The date for French is still forthcoming. As the moderation sessions form part of the Department of Education’s oral examination for each subject, pupils must present a medical certificate or appropriate alternative documentation if they are absent on an oral moderation day.

Screening of The Crucible

The Springfield English Department has arranged the license to stream an excellent production of The Crucible which was performed and filmed in the Old Vic Theatre in London. The acting in this version is brilliant, true to the original text and in the past, has made understanding the text considerably easier for our students. As The Crucible is one of the two Grade 12 Home Language English prescribed texts, we strongly advise that all the Matrics come and watch this film. We will be screening it twice: at 17:30 on Monday, 15 July and again on Tuesday, 16 July. Both screenings will be in the Study Hall and will take approximately 3 hours. Girls may come in civvies if they like.

Cultural News

Outreach News

Transkei Zanewonga

15 Springfield girls and Ms. Smit accompanied SACS to the Transkei over the holidays to go tutor at Zanewonga Secondary School. It was heart-warming to see the faces of pupils light up when they recognised some of the girls who went last year as well. Tutoring took place from 8:30 to 14:30 each day and included mainly Mathematical Literacy, Mathematics and Physical Sciences. A need also arose for other subjects such as Economics etc. Sometimes, at the end of the day, the teaching roles would be reversed and the Zanewonga pupils would play games with us such as "Guess the Xhosa word" and a session was also that had the purpose of teaching each other about the daily procedures and culture norms that exist within the different communities.

"As emotionally tough as it was, this trip opened up our eyes to the extent of how privileged we are and how incredibly lucky we are to live in a house with a warm bed, electricity and running water and to go to a school that has proper classrooms and a roof over the bathroom. The trip was an eye opening and life changing experience!" - Grace Hammond

"Transkei is a beautiful place to be, filled with some of the happiest, hardworking and optimistic people. As well as teaching, we all learnt so much too, about ourselves and the kind of people we want to become. It is an experience that we were privileged to have, and I am confident we managed to leave something behind." - Jemma van den Berg

"The trip showed me the true extend of what needs to be improved in our country in order for change to actually occur. The drive the learners had was absolutely phenomenal. The students had faced such hardships but still they came to class singing, smiling and eager to learn. This will always serve as an inspiration for me and a wake up call for me to acknowledge my privilege." - Nomvuyo Nyoni

Some of the pupils walked more than two hours to the school to receive tutoring, and one boy even walked for four hours. One day, the Springfield and SACS pupils walked back to the Mazeppa Bay hotel, where they stayed during the week of tutoring, which took about 3 hours to complete.

Friday was ended off with a game of netball and soccer before sad farewells and taking on the long road home the next morning.

It was an incredibly rich experience and we look forwards to taking on this project again next term!

Transkei Tyali Trip 2019

Whenever I’ve thought of the Wild Coast in the Eastern Cape, a clear image has always come to my mind: rolling hills of spectacular scenery, pieced together by symbols such as traditional thatched roofs to intricate beading of a rich Xhosa culture. The land and her people have a great story to tell, a deep wisdom and a plethora of wonders to share. I was astounded upon arrival at the beauty that was before me and I could not wait to spend the next ten days amid it all.

Tyali Senior Secondary School, situated in the KwaMaxhama region of the Eastern Cape, was the high school at which 49 pupils from Rondebosch Boys, Springfield Convent, Rhenish Girls, Rustenburg Girls, Herschel Girls and Parel Vallei, along with University and American students, taught for 7 days. The subjects taught w ere Mathematics, Mathematics Literacy, Accounting and Life Sciences for the Grade 11s and 12s. Adults on the trip, including parents and teachers were, Mr Harmuth, Mrs Wasdell, Mrs Rens, Mr Ross, Mrs Flaks, Mr Sampson, Mr Paarman, the du Plooys, the Le Rouxs and the van Rensburgs.

The teaching experience is one that can be summed up by the word “perspective” as the process truly changes the way in which you see learning. I have a newly found level of respect for my teachers as I had to see the syllabus from their perspective. Teaching, I’ve established, is an enjoyable challenge, that requires one to have a thorough understanding of the content, but more importantly, a strong sense of creativity to portray the information from various angles until the person you’re working with understands it comprehensively. We had some invaluable input this year from Debbie Flaks, a learning specialist and academic coach, who accompanied us on this trip, along with her two daughters, Julia and Melissa. She guided us with various techniques of how to effectively teach an individual according to how the brain receives and stores information. The teaching process also helped us all solidify the work we’ve learnt in the first half of the year and especially for Matrics, acted as the most productive revision sessions of the holiday. Truly, Frank Oppenheimer’s famous words "the best way to learn is to teach" were put into practice.

The bulk of the trip was focused on getting through the content of the respective subjects and working through past papers, but it was well balanced by pupils getting to interact with different members of the community, through visits to the clinic, old age home and homes of Tyali students.

The weekend was a wonderful time to relax and get to know everyone in the group a bit better. There were optional tours to The Gates, a scenic section where the Qolora River gets hemmed in by sheer cliffs on both sides, providing wonderful cliff jumping opportunities, as well as the trip to visit the local sangoma who delved into various aspects of Xhosa culture and tradition.

We stayed for the teaching period of the trip at Trennerys Hotel. Their hospitality and flexibility with a large group of loud teenagers was incredible. From the amazing variety and excellency of food to allowing us to stay up late to play yet another round of our favourite game “Mafia”, I say on behalf of everyone, a big thank you.

I would like to greatly thank Mr Harmuth, Mrs Wasdell and Mrs Rens for all your meticulous organisation and guidance before and during this trip. You all really made us feel assured and motivated to contribute our fullest selves on this trip.

I am also very grateful for the vibrant group of Cape Town students I was with. With us coming from different all boys and all girl schools and with many of us not knowing anyone from other schools prior to the trip, everything was made even more interesting. I feel that our group dynamic worked very well from the beginning, right until the end and that we’ve definitely started friendships that will last for a very long time. This was a once in a lifetime experience and we took the opportunity with both hands. Memorable moments for all of us, I’m sure, were all of our singing sessions, beach swims and rounds of darts along with playing pool, table tennis or beach soccer. But the one that tops them all is undeniably the beach bonfire night. However, let us never forget the legendary Steffalbert, “AMBER!”, the Dutch classic song “Helikopter” and that Gary indeed, is always the “Mafia”.

And above all I’d like to thank the students of Tyali Senior Secondary School. At the closing ceremony it was stated by the head prefect that you’d hoped we as Cape Town students had learnt something from you in return. Had it not been a formal event, I would have loved to raise my hand and immediately responded with an emphatic “Yes! We have learnt so much from our days spent at your school!”. There are so many things that come to mind, yet if I must narrow it down to just three, I’d say three words: home, humility and hope.

Tyali students taught me how to welcome a group of people, make them feel special and at home, with their warm smiles and lively welcoming on our day of arrival. Tyali students taught me to be humble, with their countryside lifestyle comparatively different and demanding to my city lifestyle. There was never a day I heard a student complain about the kilometres he or she had to walk or run to get to school or the early hours of the morning he or she had to rise to cook breakfast for their family and then get ready for school. Finally, Tyali students taught me what hope looks like in a modern South African context. Hope rises in situations like these, when the youth of South Africa come together from different backgrounds and engage with each other over a common medium i.e. education.

From an outsider’s point of view, the Transkei Trip of 2019 may seem like just another outreach project, but at heart, it was a mutual exchange of tangible and intangible gifts that will linger in the hearts of all who were involved, for years to come. Along with the words of this unforgettable song sang to us on our day of our arrival:

“Look at the mountains

Look at the sea

Take your time

And just look around”

BY Alexa Olwethu Msakiwe

Wolmart Afrika Cape Town:

GPS: -33.98382995190626, 18.474626541137695

Tel no: 021 837 1442

Email: wolmart.capetown@gmail.com

Directions / Address:

115 Imam Haron road (formerly Lansdowne road)

Claremont

Cape Town

Contact Person: Ari

Please let us know if you would be able to assist in sowing together these squares to make the blankets by filling in the following form by Friday12 July, so that we can order in advance: They can be handed in at the office or placed in the Outreach donation box at the Outreach board. https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdIkbB_8xWvYTahlM2D-xOum1zLXzvTPZcEh6SmRIZLrHq-0g/viewform?usp=sf_link

Kind regards,

Ms. Smit, Ms. Moodie and the Outreach Portfolio

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Sports News

Welcome back to another exciting sporting term. During the June Holidays we had a several girls participate in various tournaments, championships, and sporting programmes both nationally and internationally. Please inform us of all your daughters’ school and non-school sporting results or participation so we can share her achievements with the Springfield Community.

The week ahead:

Friday 12 July

Hockey fixture vs Edgemead @ Springfield @ 16h00

Saturday 13 July

Hockey Fixture vs Edgemead @ Springfield @ 08h00

Monday 15 July

Netball Fixture vs Glantaf Girls (UK) @ Springfield @ 16h00

Hockey Fixture vs Glataf Girls (UK) @ Springfield @ 17h00

Netball Fixture vs Wynberg @ Wynberg @ 16h00

Wednesday 17 July

Cross Country race @ Westerford @ 16h00

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Springfield Senior Comedy Evening Dinner

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Reminder: Check the Senior School Calendar below and remain updated using the D6+ APP

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