Dear Parents
We are into the home straight and there are just 22 sleeps to go before school shuts down for the December holidays.
As our lives get busier and we try to cope with all there is to do before the end of our academic year, remember to breathe deeply, to smile and to take the time to enjoy this particular age and stage of your children‟s lives. Life is in the habit of flashing by and all too soon the children will be grown and gone to High School and almost beyond this marvellous, active, enthusiastic yet dependent stage.
Enjoy it whilst you can!
Staff News
You will have received my letter regarding the resignation of Mrs Riemen Kemink. The search for her replacement is well underway and we will let you know as soon as we have finalised an appointment.
Mrs Sandra Edwards will also be leaving us at the end of the first term in 2013. Mrs Edwards is looking at a number of opportunities including Extra Maths lessons and teachers workshops. Mrs Edwards has brought great kudos to our school especially in chairing the ISASA Maths teachers Shared Assessment Committee. She is a great loss to Beaulieu Prep and she will be sorely missed by the staff and children alike. We wish her only the best for the future and take some comfort from knowing that she will remain close by.
Congratulations to our own Mr Glen Hewitt who has been selected to play for the Oppenheimer XI on their tour to Port Elizabeth this weekend. Way to go, Mr Hewitt!
Warmest congratulations to therapists Mrs Sami du Sautoy and Mrs Anna Evlambiou and to Mrs Carmen Renshaw (Grade Two) who are all expecting babies. The Beaulieu Prep family is expanding rapidly once more and we are feeling blessed at the prospect of these tiny new additions.
Nursery School
I am delighted to report that Plan C has been very well received and that to date we have had only 4 withdrawals out of an intake which is 72 pupils strong. Work on renovating the existing Art block at Beaulieu College, and constructing the playgrounds, is already underway and we have invited new parents to view the facilities on 27 November. Although the new facility will be complete towards the middle of December, we feel that parents will be able to get a good idea of what BeNS will be like by that time.
Work on expanding the existing Grade 0 facility at BPS will begin soon too, although we are mindful of the need not to disrupt the children‟s activities in the run up to year end.
Academic Achievements Beaulieu Prep has once again proved it strength on the academic front.
We recently received the results of the annual Olympiads.
Our Grade Threes entered the Conquesta Olympiad and their results are as follows:
- Maths: Diamond Award (81%)
- English Language: Platinum Award (94%)
- Life Skills: Platinum Award (98%)
Congratulations to Mrs Patrick and Mrs Judge and to all the Grade Threes on their superb results.
The Olympiade Academica:
Our Grade Fives wrote the isiZulu paper for English medium pupils. We received:
- 5 Platinum Awards
- 21 Gold Awards
- 16 Silver Awards and
- 5 Bronze Awards
Congratulations to Mr Mgijima and our Grade Five pupils!
National Science Olympiad
For the tenth time in eleven years, we have had at least one grade of children in the top three in the country in the National Science Olympiad.
I am very proud to announce that our Grade Fours were placed third in the country (1098 pupils in 78 schools wrote the paper). Congratulations to Miss Tamaryn Smit and her budding young scientists on this wonderful achievement.
Our Grade Fives were placed second in the country (1467 pupils in 93 schools wrote this paper). Our Grade Sixes were placed third in the country (1733 pupils in 101 schools wrote this paper).
In Grade Seven, Jordan Ackermann was placed second overall out of 1978 pupils in 110 schools. What an astonishing achievement! We are inordinately proud of Mrs Kemink and the many bright young science minds at Beaulieu Prep.
Uniform (Blazers)
KBUS, the uniform shop at Beaulieu College, has asked us to remind parents about their blazer special which runs for the month of November. (Details on D6). This would be a good time for current Grade 3, 4, 5 and 6 parents to purchase blazers as these will become compulsory wear, on occasion, from January 2013.
In Conclusion
How lucky I was earlier this term to attend the national Heads‟ Conference in Durban. We are usually bombarded at the conference with technical information like new research on brain function, which has its place of course, but this time we were treated to hearing „significant‟ people talk. People who are significant, rather than successful, do things which benefit the lives of others (usually less fortunate).
A spontaneous and resounding standing ovation for an address which I shall never forget went to Dr. Imtiaz Sooliman the founder of the NGO called The Gift of the Givers.
Since its inception, The Gift of the Givers has distributed R750 million of aid in 33 different countries, including South Africa.
Whilst the public generally associates their work with disaster response and management, the organisation now has 24 categories of projects, which include bursaries and scholarships for tertiary education, agricultural self-sustainability, water provision, entrepreneurship and job creation, establishment of primary health care clinics and medical support to hospitals, winter warmth and supply of new clothing and shoes, provision of housing, and care of the physically and mentally challenged, orphans and the elderly, to name just a few. They also innovated the world‟s first and largest containerised mobile hospital in Bosnia. The Gift of the Givers‟ motto is “best among people are those who benefit mankind” and, accordingly they serve all people irrespective of race, religion, culture, political affiliation or geographical location.
The Foundation has received 74 awards to date, including 4 from Heads of State, which recognise the significant humanitarian contribution they have made. Dr. Sooliman (when he is not involved in disaster relief around the globe), lives in Pietermaritzburg. What an entertaining and inspirational speaker!
We also heard from Tich Smith (former South African cricketer turned addict) who has regained control of his life in the most powerful way and who continues to make a daily life changing impact in the lives of thousands of underprivileged children in our country.
We were introduced to a teenager who has lived her formative years in abject poverty and who has suffered the harshest abuse and who will against all odds write her Cambridge A level exams this year. Completely astonishing!
Finally, we heard from Braam Malherbe an extreme adventurer and conservationist who has made it his life‟s mission to fight poaching, environmental irresponsibility and the destruction of our precious natural resources. In 2006 and again in 2008 (against our country‟s top medical and sport experts‟ advice), Braam Malherbe and running partner David Grier, achieved two world firsts – by running the entire length of the Great Wall of China, a distance of 4218 kms, at a pace of a marathon a day for 98 days, as well as the entire coastline of South Africa, a distance of over 3200 kms. The expeditions raised in excess of R2.5 million for Operation Smile, an international charity organisation providing corrective surgery for children born with cleft lip and cleft palate disfigurements. More than 700 South African children have had their lives changed by surgery to their faces.
I was blown away by the significance and magnitude of the actions of just one or two human beings and feel challenged by Braam to DO ONE THING (DOT. in order to make a positive difference for our planet and to do something about which our children can smile!
I wish you all a happy final few weeks and look forward to chatting to you as we support our children through this busy time of the year.
Warm regards
MRS N. HILLEN
HEADMISTRESS
