The Journey

Last week I was asked to deliver a paper to a Principals’ Conference and one of the questions I was asked afterwards was really thought-provoking.

‘What would you say is an indication that a school is successful?’

I had to think quickly and decided to plagiarise Professor Tim Noakes who discussed the issue of ‘success’ in his very readable book: Challenging Beliefs.

‘The greatest compliment on earth is to be called ‘Coach’ by those whose lives you have changed. So, if you really want to make my day, don’t call me ‘Doc or even ‘Prof’. Just call me ‘Coach.’

He meant it in the sense that a coach is a bus which takes you from Point A to Point B. It is about the distance of the journey travelled and the lessons which are inevitably learnt along the way which are the real rewards for the Coach. The greater the distance travelled, the more gratifying and fulfilling it is for the Coach. The journey is about making mistakes, learning lessons from them and coming back stronger. Then the Coach can revel in the knowledge that the long journey was worthwhile.

In a school, the destination may well be academic results, the win-loss ratio in sport or leadership positions at school, but even more importantly, it is also about instilling a state of mind that it is on the journey where the real lessons of life are learnt - with the invariable disappointments, setbacks and frustrations. Some of our girls are destined to learn this lesson during the next week when announcements will be made indicating who will be the school leaders in 2020. All the sentiments expressed in the above lines will come to the fore and Coaches (parents and teachers) will be needed to remind our girls that it will not be possible for all of them to realise their ambitions. These goals are not dependent on one moment in time. The coach ride has to continue.

A few days after my talk to the Principals, the All Blacks took a most unexpected pounding from the Wallabies last Saturday. They have a wonderful motto: ‘A Better Human Being is a Better All Black’. I wouldn’t bet against them in the upcoming World Cup as they understand that success is a journey not a destination.

As we journey with our girls through their teenage years, perhaps we too can adapt that All Black motto.

‘A Better Human Being is a Better Springer’ has a great ring to it.

Keith Richardson

Headmaster

“Music speaks what cannot be expressed,

Soothes the mind and gives it rest,

Heals the heart and makes it whole,

flows from heaven to the soul.”

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Last week, on both Tuesday and Wednesday evenings, I had the pleasure and the privilege of sitting in the front row in the Centenary Hall watching the musical performances of all our Junior School girls who take extra-curricular music here at Springfield. I was absolutely delighted by these performances, which showcased the incredible talent and hard work displayed by our girls and their teachers over the past six months. We had the opportunity to hear all the following instruments being played by our girls: piano, violin, cello, viola, harp, trumpet, saxophone, clarinet, as well as voice. The performances began each evening with a string ensemble and ended, on Wednesday evening, with a wind ensemble where teachers joined pupils in producing a fitting final fanfare (enhanced by piano and violin – a wonderful ending!)

I cannot begin to tell you what a blessing you are bestowing on your child by letting her delve into the magical, creative world of music. You are expanding your child’s horizons and enabling her to learn a skill that will remain with her throughout her life. The benefits of what is happening in the Junior School right now will definitely be seen over the next number of years, as we pave the way to subject music, orchestra, jazz band, choir tours and all the wonderful benefits experienced in the senior school for our musicians and singers.

While last week’s concerts did not showcase the group musical activities such as Choir, Marimba Band and Orchestra, these are given other platforms to perform. Our Choirs joined fourteen other choirs from Catholic Schools on the City Hall stage on Sunday 4 August, and on Women’s Day our senior marimba bands performed at Grand West in the Marimba Jam Festival – all of which succeeded in making a truly joyful noise. My congratulations go to all involved.

Music is indeed food for the soul.

Alison Dunn

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POP SINGING SIGN-UP

• Cost: No Charge for the remainder of 2019
• If there is enough interest, these classes will be included in the music programme for 2020
• No student may change from a current music teacher to attend these classes

Student Name____________________________________________________________Grade___

Parent Name__________________________________________________________________

Parent Email: _________________________________________________________________

Staff Development

Last week, Mr Geoff Quinn, Mrs Kirsty Tromp and Mr David Fick attended a workshop titled “Breaking Down the Silos,” which focused on inquiry-based cross-curricular learning design. The course, which was presented by Lindsay Wesner of Teach Learn Innovate, transferred the skills of developing learning modules in Grades 8 and 9 that are relevant and focus not only on cross-curricular learning but also on cross-curricular assessment. For example, one group created a unit themed on the relationship between development and natural resources that covered content in English, Natural Sciences, EMS and Drama, finding meaningful links in the subjects and presenting them in a manner is relevant and inspiring to young minds. As the Head of Academics, Mr Fick will look for opportunities within the Grade 8 and 9 learning spaces to build - in collaboration with our academic staff - experiences such as this.

South African Mathematics Team Competition

The South African Mathematics Team Competition is coming up and there are five girls who have been selected to take part in the Western Province Mathematics Team Trials. This selection was based on the performances of these girls in the various UCT Mathematics Competitions. The girls selected to attend trials are: Grade 8 - Sua Sung Grade 11 - Morgan Naidoo, Nina Holling, Mikaela Hughes and Michelle Jung We wish them well for the trials on the 24 August.

Know-how Study Success Workshops

There are still spaces available for Britha Padkin’s Know-how Study Success Workshops, which runs for the first time at Springfield this Saturday, 17 August from 09:00 - 13:00. A repeat of the workshop will take place on 24 August. The four-hour-long programme for this workshop covers topics that are relevant to all subjects, including speed reading, comprehension skills, concentration skills and techniques for improving memory. The aim is to improve the confidence and motivation of pupils engaged in the learning process. If you still wish to sign up your daughter for this course, which costs R750, please contact Britha Padkin directly on 082 772 4104 for further information. The venue for the workshop is Room 21 and participants needs to bring a novel, a pen, a calculator and their own refreshments.

Public Speaking

Wynberg Girls public speaking competition: Helen Forbes (Grade 12) and Giorgia Mann (Grade 10) attended a public speaking competition at Wynberg Girls’ High School on Wednesday, 7th August. They had to deliver a 5-7 minute prepared speech on the difficult topic of “Land” and a 3-5 minute unprepared speech. Giorgia won the prepared speech competition and Helen won the unprepared division.

Debating

The Springfield Junior debating team won the Rotary quarter finals at UCT last night, opposing the motion "This House would force prisoners serving life sentences to work for the State without compensation." They ran a case arguing that this would be a form of slavery and in violation of human rights that should be honoured, even in the case of people who have committed terrible crimes. Morgan Leak, Angelique Cohen and Kate Thomas all spoke brilliantly. We wish them luck for the semi-finals. We also wish our girls who will be competing in the Provincial trials this weekend (Kate Thomas, Morgan Leak, Rachael Muller, Olivia Fuller, Alexandra Bouch, Cara Ronan and Rose Mitchell) the best of luck.

Kaapse Eisteddfod Results (3 - 5 August)

Blood Clinic

Springfield ran a highly successful blood clinic on Tuesday, 30th August, exceeding our target of 1000 lives saved since 2017. We have saved 1056 lives! 28 pints were donated, 9 new donors signed up and 26 donors were deferred. Thank you to all the parents and students who gave a pint to save 3 lives. The next blood clinic will be on Tuesday, 22nd October from 12.30-3.15. Please save the date.

Dance

Jemma Thomson, a student of Colleen Kitching, received a diploma for a group dance, who won the finals and a diploma for her solo character dance, and first runner up in the finals in a recent dance festival.

NETBALL

Results vs Fish Hoek Results

U19A 18-53 U19B 12-13 U16A 9-28 U16B 9-29 U16C 18-6 U15A 1-7 U14A 7-27 U14B 2 - 23 U14C 9-4

This last week all the Netball teams played matches against Fish Hoek. It was a tough afternoon of Netball but all the teams continued to persevere no matter the outcome. Well done to the u14C and u16C teams who won their matches. These were the last league matches of the season and we want to thank all the girls for their hard work and determination! We encourage all supporters to come and watch the inter schools Netball on the 24th of August!

CROSS COUNTRY

Last week Wednesday, 7 of our cross country runners participated in the Table Bay Zonal Championships. As always, all of our runners ended within the top 10.