Prep School news - 18 September 2015

Good luck, Springboks! Rugby World Cup supporters 2015
Dear Parents, Staff and Pupils
At the end of last term Mr Davies and I were fortunate enough to attend the
International Confederation of Principals Conference in Helsinki, Finland.
Helsinki is a beautiful little city with a population of around 600 000 people. For
over 150 days of the year, it is pretty much in darkness and can experience
temperatures as low as -30°C!
The Finnish education system is arguably the most progressive education
system in the world today and they are leaders in most of the global
assessments such as TIMMS and PISA.
Keynote speakers included: Pasi Sahiberg (Invisible learning: Hidden features
of a successful education system); Alf Rehn (A critique on designing thinking
organisations); Vanessa de Oliveira Andreotti (Ethics and global citizenship);
Eduardo Andere (From learning to motivation); Andrew Cole (The Wallace
Foundation and how effective principals lead change); and finally Olive
Mugenda (Transformational leadership and governance). There were also
numerous break-away sessions to share ideas on various educational issues.
The day before the Conference we attended a presentation by one of the
Education lecturers at the University of Helsinki, Mr Jari Salminen. He gave us
a comprehensive history of Finland’s educational reform process. He also
shared a few of his concerns about the future of education in Finland.
After the Civil War in 1918, schooling was made compulsory and a school was
built in every community in Finland. By 1932, 92% of the population was
educated.
During World War II Finland’s cooperation with Germany resulted in a
significant influence on their educational system. After the collapse of the
Soviet Union and the integration of Europe there was also a significant
emphasis placed on education.
Numerous libraries were built throughout Finland and with parents support and
‘buy-in’ of the importance of education, children were encouraged to read. In
fact it became an accepted norm for every child to read the newspaper every
day.
Monday 21 September
Book People
09h00-15h00
Media Centre
JP Matinée
14h00-15h00
Auditorium
SP Soirée
18h00-19h00
Auditorium
Tuesday 22 September
SP Sports Awards - By invitation only
07h25
Auditorium
Book People
09h00-15h00
Media Centre
Wednesday 23 September
Proudly South African Civvies Day
Prep School closes early
12h00
Thursday 24 & Friday 25 September
College closed
Monday 28 September to Friday 2 October
JP Readathon
Tuesday 29 September
SP Assembly - Grade 4T
07h25
Auditorium
Thursday 1 October
Open Day
09h00-10h00
Function Room
The State is primarily responsible for the educational process in Finland. It
pays for tuition, stationery, textbooks, reading books and a hot meal every day
from grade 0 to matric.
The few private schools that do exist are subsidised (over 65%) by the State
and hence are obviously not fully independent in terms of their ability to do
things their own way.
The Fins believe that the main reason for their success is attitude. They use
the Finnish word ‘Sisu’, which loosely translated means grit, tenacity, a
determination never to give up. It is hard living in Finland and as a result they
have developed this ‘Sisu’ - in layman’s terms, what doesn’t kill you makes
you stronger!
The strong emphasis on education has made the actual teaching profession
extremely well respected and sought after. Last year, 1783 students applied to
study the five-year Master’s degree in Education. After a memory test and
various listening skills tests, only 120 were accepted into the programme. All
graduates are placed in schools and are essentially guaranteed a job for life.
One of the reasons why it’s a job for life is because there is absolutely no
quality control of teachers or of schools. Teachers are presented with the
curriculum and are expected and trusted to teach it. Schools are similarly
trusted to do what is expected. There is no external monitoring in terms of
curriculum, standards, assessment or methodology.
According to Salminen, this educational freedom is a double-edged sword and
could be a detrimental factor in terms of maintaining educational standards in
the future. He also believes that if the students are not given an opportunity to
voice their opinions about what is working and what is not, that the system
could lose its relevance in the real world.
Essentially the system is similar to ours in terms of running from grade 0 to
grade 12 or matric. However, in their system the pupil can choose an
academic or vocational path for grades 11 and 12. The academic option leads
into a standard university and the vocational option enables a pupils to attend
a polytechnic university. All schools in Finland are co-educational.
There were a significant number of South African delegates and government
officials in attendance at this Conference, all hoping that we could bring back a
silver bullet to resolve the problems we are facing in education, but this was
not to be, for numerous reasons:
 Firstly in Finland, they only have about five million people in comparison to
our 60 million in South Africa.
 Finland is somewhat socialist in nature and there is very little class
difference.
 Everyone pays their taxes without fear of corruption and therefore all
taxpayers’ money is spent on critical services such as education.
But there certainly are many lessons that can be learnt:
 The Fins believe in collaboration, creativity and trust based on
responsibility, professionalism and equity.
 They believe that the people with whom you study are as important as
what you study.
 They do not believe that digitalised technology is the ‘be all and end all’. It
is, rather, just one more tool to use for educating children.
 There is a strong belief that the curriculum does not make or change a
school; teachers do that.
 The attitude and values all start at home.
 Although many of the schools have a Lutheran background, there are very
few church-based schools. Religion, values and morals are expected to be
taught at home and school is for learning. The church, the army and
politics should not influence schools.
 Play is very important to the Fins and the amount of physical exercise and
free time, they believe, is a huge factor in their success. After each 45minute lesson they take a 15-minute break. Children should be moving,
interacting and learning with and from one another at all times. They have
in fact come up with a wonderful new phrase: “Sitting is the new smoking!”
 Success in Finnish education is about attitude (attitude and respect from
teachers, parents and students), collaboration, creativity and play.
PA Family Golf Day
Book now to be part of this fun
inaugural family event!
Pair up with family members for an
afternoon of fun! Whether you’re a
scratch golfer or starting from
scratch, bring your father, mother,
son, daughter, brother, sister or even
granny - we’d love to see you there!
Date: Sunday 20 September 2015
Venue: Dainfern Country Club
Tee-off: From 12h00
Price: R220 pp, incl halfway house
Golf will be followed by a casual
dinner. To book please email Joanne
Lund at [email protected]
and enjoy a wonderful afternoon of
fun for the whole family!
MySchool Card
MySchool Card
The MySchool Card programme
Issue 1
raises welcome funds for the PA and
16 April 2014 - it is so
our outreach programmes
easy to use, too!
If you are new to our school please
contact Jacqui to arrange a card for
you. Contact her at 072 290-0601 or
by email at [email protected].
You can use your MySchool card at
any Woolworths or Engen shop,
McCullagh & Bothwell, Walton's,
Jonny’s Restaurant, Café Frappé as
well as Club Travel. Remember:
'Every Swipe Counts'. Click here to
learn more about this programme
Newsletter Classifieds
The Classifieds section in the
Dainfern College newsletters is a
wonderful way to advertise goods or
services to our community. The
Classifieds appear in all three of our
weekly newsletters and rates are
highly competitive.
Please contact Leanne Ford on 082
900 7390 or email her at
[email protected] for further
information.
JOANNE LUND
Chair of the PA - 083 308 8828
Website links:
About the PA
The Conference most certainly confirmed for me that we are on the right track
in terms of our educational philosophy and methodology in the Prep School. It
also provided me with a number of ‘take-away’ ideas that I have already
started to share and discuss with our teachers.
There will not be a newsletter next week as the College is closed on Thursday
and Friday. Have a wonderful long weekend next week!
Darrel Webb
Principal: Dainfern College Preparatory
Term 1
Start:
07h25: Wednesday 13 January
Close:
10h00: Friday 8 April
Half Term:
12h00: Thursday 18 February
Return to School:
07h25 Tuesday 23 February
What’s happening at Dainfern College
Proudly SA Civvies Day - Wednesday 23 September 2015
To celebrate Heritage Day next week there will be a Proudly South African
Civvies Day on Wednesday 23 September. Pupils may wear supporters’ gear
or traditional outfits as we celebrate our heritage.
Early closing time for the Prep School: Wednesday 23 September 2015
As the College is closed on Thursday and Friday next week, the Prep School
will close at 12h00 on Wednesday 23 September and there will be no
extramurals. The High School and Admin department will close at the normal
times.
Book People visit
The Book People will be at the Media Centre next week. Come and see their
amazing selection of books. Credit/debit facilities will be available.
 Monday 21 September 2015: 09h00-15h00
 Tuesday 22 September 2015: 09h00-15h00.
Tea with the College Executive
We invite all Dainfern College parents and stakeholders to attend the meeting
to be held in the Function Room when the College Executive Committee will
give feedback to interested parents. Two meetings have been scheduled so as
to accommodate our working parents:
 Wednesday 7 October 2015 at 07h30-08h30 – Function Room
 Thursday 8 October 2015 at 18h00-19h00 – Function Room
PA Ladies Lunch 2015 - Saturday 10 October
Book now for the annual Ladies’ Lunch, to be held this year at Col’Cacchio at
Dainfern Square on Saturday 10 October 2015 at 12h30. The theme is ‘Life is
beautiful’ and the cost is R350 per person. See the advert at the end of the
newsletter for further information.
Change of date: Grade 1 2016 Parent Information Talk
Please note that we have had to change the date of the Grade 1 2016 Parent
Information Talk when the current Grade 1s present their 'Children's Guide to
Dainfern College' project to the parents of the current Grade 0s. This will now
take place on Tuesday 10 November from 07h30 to 09h30. Please diarise
this change - further details will be communicated closer to the time.
Beating Bullies programme
On Tuesday we launched a trial programme called Beating Bullies. This is an
online anonymous platform for pupils in Grade 4 to 7 to be able to report
incidents of bullying. Although we do not have a bullying problem at our
school, incidents of bullying do occur. We want to take every precaution to
ensure that every child feels safe and is happy at school. Ms Pettit and Mrs
Odendaal will be reading the emails and replying to the pupils. Pupils can still
talk to Mrs Odendaal or their class teacher about any other problem.
Eva Odendaal
School Counsellor
2016 Easter Holiday:
(Encompasses Human Rights Day 21 March; Good Friday - 25 March;
Easter Sunday - 27 March; Family
Day - 28 March)
12h00: Friday 18 March
Return to School:
07h25: Tuesday 29 March
Term 2
Start:
07h25: Tuesday 3 May
Close:
10h00: Friday 5 August
Half Term:
12h00: Friday 1 July
Return to School:
07h25 Monday 11 July
Public Holiday:
Thursday 16 June (Youth Day)
School Holiday:
Friday 17 June
Term 3
Start:
07h25: Monday 5 September
Close:
Tuesday 6 December:
10h00 - Preparatory School;
21h00 - High School
Half Term:
12h00: Thursday 20 October
Return to School:
07h25 Tuesday 25 October
Public Holiday:
Saturday 24 September (Heritage
Day)
Eskom Expo for Young Scientists 2015
Congratulations to the following Grade 7 pupils who participated in the Eskom
Expo for Young Scientists. The competition is designed to encourage pupils to
engage in scientific activities and extend themselves beyond the curriculum.
The achievements of pupils are as follows:
Gold Medal: Stephen Browne
Silver Medals: Declan Burgess, Jordan James, Emma Mulcahy
Bronze Medals: Kyra Killops, Matthew Pretorius, Ockert van Stryp
Certificates: Tlou Duba, Sean Fitzsimmons, Jenna Kimber, Bianca Pitt
Congratulations to Stephen Browne for being the youngest participant selected
to represent the Johannesburg Region at the International Expo. Stephen has
built a 3D printer and used it to make a functional prosthetic hand.
We wish him all the best for the competition.
Nikki Candy
Head of Science
Values Award
The Values Award this week goes to Marcus Rutsito in Grade 4S for SelfDiscipline: For perseverance with his classwork and in his preparation for tests.
Kidi’s Korner
Last week’s question: What is the perimeter of a square whose sides are
13cm long?
Last week’s answer: 52cm.
JP Sportswoman of the Week
Jessica Sage for participation and
improved ball skills in Tennis.
JP Sportsman of the week:
Akshay Narayanan for participation
and improved ball skills in Tennis.
SP Sportswoman of the Week:
Gaby Gait-Smith for qualifying for
the SA Cross Country Champs,
taking a big tumble during the race
and demonstrating much tenacity to
finish in 5th place.
SP Sportsman of the week:
Michael Gait-Smith for his
tremendous run in the SA Champs.
This week’s question: Together two acute angles form a right angle. If the one
angle is 37°, how big is the second angle?
Kidi Ramollo
Head of Mathematics
Monday 21 September
Golf
14h00
Dainfern Country Club
Extramurals
Our facilities are once again buzzing with enthusiastic youngsters all trying to
be the best they can possibly be. As mentioned previously, this is a very busy
but short term. The next few weeks are committed to Athletics with the season
concluding on Wednesday 21 October with Prestige Athletics. Please ensure
that children attend all practices.
A reminder that there are NO EXTRAMURALS on Wednesday 21
September as the Prep School closes at 12h00 for the long weekend.
Golf
Our team of golfers played their first nine-hole tournament with St Stithians at
Bryanston Country Club on Monday afternoon, 14 September. It was a privilege
for our players to experience this beautiful course and on such a warm spring
day. Some of our golfers played better than others but that is always expected
with golf - being out with fellow golfers and having fun is also what it is all about.
Congratulations to Emerson Bam on his gross stroke score of 40 and Charles
Rose-Innes who scored an admirable 44 strokes. Well done to all the boys.
Monday 28 September
Golf
14h00
Dainfern Country Club
Wednesday 30 September
Athletics meeting
14h00
De la Salle
Bus departs at 12h45, returns at 17h30.
Website links
JP Extramural Timetable
SP Extramural Timetable
High Performance Centre
Hockey Coaching
“I am an athlete. I may not be the best, but that is what I strive to be. I may
never get there, but I will never quit trying” - Anonymous
Tessa Shellard
Deputy Principal: Sports & Extramurals
Sport
Athletics
ENVIRONMENTAL QUOTE
FOR THE WEEK
Team
Opposition
Result
A League Meeting 1
Redhill
1st
Dainfern College
2nd
Beaulieu
3rd
There's so much pollution in the
air now that if it weren't for our
lungs there'd be no place to put it
all.”
Robert Orben
Do you have a business in the area or have something to
sell? Advertise in the Dainfern College Classifieds.
For more info contact Leanne:
[email protected]
Tutoring in Fourways!
 Experienced team of tutors based in the Fourways area.
 We tutor Grades 1- 12.
 Specialists in Maths and Science and we tutor all other subjects.
 We also offer study skills and advanced learning skills courses.
 Discounts available
For more information:
www.straighta.co.za | Tel. 074 1 TUTORS (888 677)
Email: [email protected]
SWIMMING
LESSONS AT
SCHOOL!!
Private swimming
lessons start again
in the heated pool
at Dainfern College
on Monday 14
September 2015.
To book your
child’s place or
find out more, call
Debbie on 082 337
8499.
DAINFERN COLLEGE CLASSIFIEDS
DISCLAIMER:
Dainfern College makes no warranties
or representations and bears no
responsibility of any nature concerning
goods, services or otherwise
advertised here. All advertisements
displayed are accepted for publication
in good faith.