Dear Parents

Staffing 2015A short note to advise you of developments regarding staffing for 2015. It is always our intention to have as little interruption, in a particular grade or phase, as possible. Regretfully, things happen over which we have no control. Who could have foreseen Cecilia Esterhuyse’s unfortunate injury resulting in major back surgery, or Charmaine Warren relocating to the USA at the end of this term? Further, Lé-Ann Böhler, currently on maternity leave, has resigned to be with her son.

Fortunately, Tony North who took over in Grade 00 English since January 2015, continues in Grade 00 English for the rest of the year. Marlene Seyfried currently in Cecilia’s place in Grade 3 Afrikaans is available and now moves to Grade 3 English for the rest of 2015. For the sake of continuity, we always endeavour to appoint experienced teachers who have taught at ESCS before.

As the first term draws to a close, teachers have had feedback meetings with you to discuss the progress of your children where necessary.

I would like to provide a focus for 2015 and ask for your undivided support of this undertaking. Language remains the most essential component of learning and when children struggle with language, it inevitably impacts their progress, preventing them from reaching their true academic potential. We are aware of our joint responsibility with you in the Primary School regarding the equipping of your child’s language base. The ‘Matric’ year starts in Grade 00. In order to write a CIE examination and to cope with tertiary education, it is imperative that your child has

the vocabulary with which she or he can express themselves.

I do believe that you can and do help your children, and without being facetious about this vital tool in learning, I hope that, after reading this letter, we can slowly turn this ‘language anomaly’ around. Here are some suggestions to help your child with language:

Teach and Practise Conversation SkillsChildren learn the pragmatics of language from the give and take of conversations at school and at home. Family dinners, bedtime, and car time are perfect opportunities to practice conversation skills. The way you respond to your child encourages, or discourages, her or him from communicating with you. Take some time each day to listen to your child talk, in full complete sentences, about her or his interests, opinions and experiences at school. Help where vocabulary is lacking.

Continue to Read AloudTeachers will tell you – children love to listen to stories during shared reading time on the mat. Also, encourage independent reading with frequent visits to the library and bookstore. Reading should become a daily routine in all our homes where mother, father, brother and sister all read for enjoyment. By doing this, you are investing in your child’s academic future. Compile a reading list of all the books read.

Teach Your Child the Names for Advanced ConceptsEmotional intelligence develops when children learn to name their feelings. Parents teach values such as respect, responsibility, honour, honesty and fairness and when you

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EL SHADDAI CHRISTIAN SCHOOLPRIMARY SCHOOL NEWSLETTERTERM 1 2015

point out examples of each in your child's life, experiences and the media, it has significance and they have learnt something new.

Play Family GamesFamily games provide the perfect atmosphere for relaxed conversation while building all kinds of useful skills. Take a stroll down the board games aisle at the store of your choice and buy a few games to play this weekend. Some ideas - Outburst, Scrabble, Upwords, Boggle, Scatterwords and Pictionary.

Expand Vocabulary with Computer Learning ToolsChildren love to play games on the computer, and they can learn valuable language skills while playing. Software programs such as the ‘Living Books Series’ (Please asses for age suitability yourself), and many others, teach language skills while they entertain. Websites such as ‘WordCentral.com’ (Please assess for age suitability yourself) can be put in the child's link list alongside his favourite game sites.

Explore New Experiences with Your ChildTravel, museums, hobbies, any new experience that broadens your child's awareness of the world beyond her or his home and neighbourhood, will enhance their

language development. The Internet has given families a quantum leap in opportunities to explore the world from our living rooms. Share your passions and interests and indulge your curiosity about the world with your children.

Lastly, please make use of the ‘drop and go zone’ when dropping your child off in the mornings. It becomes a ‘nuisance’ to other parents when someone parks their car in the ‘drop and go zone’ to walk their child to their classroom or lines. The ‘Hallo and Goodbye Tree’ is an ideal place to say goodbye to your child in the morning and pick up after school.

Also, teachers are not available before or after school for impromptu parent meetings. If you need an appointment with a teacher please communicate via the homework book. Your kind assistance in this regard is appreciated.

School reopens for term 2, on Monday 13 April 2015. Have a wonderful holiday with your children, as you read together and share exciting moments and events from the books you are reading.

DEON

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Discipleship letter to parents Term 1

Junior Primêr

Saalbyeenkoms

In die Junior Primêr Fase het ons deurlopend die teenwoordigheid van die Heilige Gees ervaar in ons saalbyeenkomste. Ons het leerlinge se getuienisse gehoor en ook gesien hoe gebede beantwoord word. Bybelversies is gememoriseer en die woord is vasgemaak in elke kinder hart.

Klas en Uitreik

Johannes 3:16 het weer nuwe betekenis gekry en is een van ons kern bybelverse vir hierdie kwartaal. God se liefde vir ons is soveel groter as wat ons kan dink. Elke leerder kon in die uitreik na die ouetehuise hul geloof in aksie wys. Die leerders het weer besef dat dit soveel beter is om te gee as om te ontvang.

Algemeen

Ons het met swaar harte van ons geliefde Juffrou Charmaine afskeid geneem. Ons gaan jou mis tannie Charmaine, maar ons gun jou die wondelike vooruitsig en toekoms saam met jou aanstaande. Geseende Paasfees

Monica Gerber, Junior Primêre Departement

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Senior Primary

Character Qualities

Our Umbrellas focus for the term has been Fellowship with God. Under this focus we concentrate specifically on God is Creator, God is Love and God is Wise. We have integrated these character qualities of God into all our subject areas as we have learnt more about Him and have been challenged to be more loving and wise in our actions and daily decisions.

Appreciation Day

We had much fun on Appreciation Day with the Senior Primary focus being on South Africa – it was great to see just how much we appreciate our history, culture, people, sportspeople and all the beautiful places in our country. The teachers were tremendously blessed by the lovely notes and flowers that the children brought from home.

Assemblies

We started off our year welcoming the new families to our school and listening to Uncle Deon giving us a big picture for 2015. Urban Edge school outreach group visited us for an assembly and we had much fun with very lively worship. We also spent time learning how to listen to God from one of ESCS’s very first pupils.

Oom Thys from Open Doors spoke about the persecuted church. We were shocked to hear that far more Christians have been persecuted in Africa in the last year than anywhere else in the world. Even though this news doesn’t always reach the media, we need to stay focussed and commit to praying for our fellow believers in Africa.

Clayton Nel gave us insight into what wisdom is and how to desire and ask for wisdom from God. We were challenged to look carefully at our lives and examine the consequences of unwise choices and resolve to ask God to help us make wise decisions.

Outreaches

Grade 4A visited Jack and Jill Pre-school and blessed them with one-on-one attention, games and Bible stories. Grade 4E visited Green Pasture Retirement Village and presented a programme of lively worship and spiritual input special one-on-one meeting and prayer time with the residents.

Grade 5 and 6 met their new Alpha Primary buddies and shared with them about Creator God, making wise choices and the consequences of unwise choices.

A big thank you to all parents involved in providing lunches for the Alpha children on outreach days – you are much appreciated.

Camp “Valued”

The highlight of the term for Grade 5 and 6 was our Discipleship camp. This year’s theme was based on Deut. 14:2 “for you are a people holy to the LORD your God. Out of all the peoples on the face of the earth, the LORD has chosen you to be his treasured possession.” The children learnt much about themselves, about how they work in a team, about the importance of team work, about conquering fear, about valuing themselves and others and so much more. A huge amount of fun was had by all, despite the mud challenges and high walls!

Karen Maberly

Discipling Head

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Camp fun 1. Outreach in action.

Camp fun 2. Camp fun 3.

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Cultural activities

MDD (Music, Dance and Drama)

The first term started with the grades practicing different scenarios, improvisation and concentrating on dialogues. We are looking forward to the second term when we start practicing for Honouring Night 2015. The

texts for the actors were handed out during the last week of school. The Primary school speakers and actors will receive their scripts in term 2. We look forward to a productive term 2 as we once again fail not to honour God for His many blessings. I pray that this year above all we will not lose sight of this truth, that we are blessed to be a blessing.

Marinette Cilliers

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Eisteddfod and Extramural Drama

The Extramural drama classes has grown consistently this year. We are busy preparing our pupils for the poetry section for the Tygerberg Eisteddfod as well as different reading groups. I want to motivate all pupils to please memorise their words. Regular practice at home is absolutely essential. If we do not have to concentrate on lines during our lessons, we can focus on skill development, articulation and projection exercises during the drama classes. You can do it!

Marinette Cilliers

Chess

Chess started off with a bang this year. There are 44 players from Grade 0 to 6. They attend practices regularly and are all keen to improve their skills. I would like to thank all the parents who encourage their children.

I cannot stress the fact enough that chess develops many skills such as self-discipline, social skills and logical thinking, which improves concentration as well as a logical approach for Mathematics and also exercises their logical and sequential thinking skills.

We are extremely fortunate to have the Willenbergs, Craig , Glen and Ashley. All these coaches make an effort to make the lessons interesting and challenging. We are especially

proud of our little Grade 0‘s who are making good progress.

We have entered two teams in the Western Province School League. One under 9- and one under-11 team. The matches take place on Friday afternoons during the second and third terms. I would like to appeal to parents to make themselves available to assist with transport, should your child be selected for the team.

We want to encourage children who do not play chess to join the Chess Club. It can only be to their advantage.

Chess co-ordinatorMaeve Cronje

Eisteddfod

We have 233 entries in the High-and Primary School for the 2015 Tygerberg Eisteddfod. We entered in many different categories such as Music, Art, Ceramic Art, Poetry Recitation, Group Reading, Prose, Individual Reading, Poetry Writing and Creative Writing.

We appeal to you to encourage and assist your child in preparing for his/her event next term.

Creative Writing takes place during the Second Term and the other categories take place during the Third Term.

Eisteddfod co-ordinatorMaeve Cronje

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SENIOR PRIMARY ACADEMIC OVERVIEW - TERM ONE 2015

The year started off on a high note with the good news that the Grade 6 class of 2014 had scored a 100% pass rate for both the literacy and numeracy systemic testing run by the Western Cape Education Department and we praise the Lord for the firm foundation

provided by the teachers of our school from Gr 00 upwards. Our Conquesta results were equally commendable and congratulations are in order for the 2014 Grade 5 Afrikaans class who reached the Top Twenty Schools Award for both Afrikaans Home Language and English First Additional Language!We are not resting on our laurels for we face the same challenges this year, including the South African Mathematics Foundation

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Challenge / AMESA for Grades 4-7 problem solving next term. We go all out for our principal, Mr Johannes, who is the Regional Organiser, and we also host the final round at our school. Last year we accommodated 380 finalists in one afternoon, but with magnificent teamwork it was a peaceful and pleasurable experience for all concerned.

The teachers one and all were happy to meet “their” new parents at our first parenting evening and expressed their appreciation that we could start the teaching and learning journey on day one of the new term. It makes such a difference to be the recipient of stationery neatly covered and all the requirements met so that the children can face the year with confidence. Thank you again!

We welcomed our ‘new” grade Fours as well as Mrs Sharon Kriek as the Grade 4 Afrikaans teacher.They are transitioning fairly smoothly to the challenges of the Senior Primary and are learning the value of time management. All pupils benefit by this skill and to help them we have introduced a proposed study/project/book report timetable to facilitate planning and this has been much appreciated by our parents. They parent busy little people who have many school and outside commitments such as swimming, athletics, chess, arts and crafts, Vibrant Dance, horse-riding, music in many forms and sometimes extra academic input. Family time and play dates also are important. Our goal in this department is to join hands with our parents as we train our children to become independent learners, able to function academically and still have the time to be a child, a friend, a family and church member with the ability to relax, have free time and to celebrate their uniqueness.

Assessment forms part of the school routine and your child’s school report will reflect this. It is helpful to consult the promotion requirements at the back of the report. Please bear in mind that about a third of the assessment of the first term is based on

revision of the previous year. Our desire is to build a strong academic foundation. Next term, with academics in full swing, all pupils will write a mid-term examination. This examination is primarily diagnostic as it makes sense to stop mid-year and ask, “How’s business?” so that mid-course corrections can take place. There are pupils (and parents) who find this exercise somewhat daunting. Please be assured that the examination timetable is available on the website and at the first parenting evening of the new term, you will receive a handout with the term’s academic activities which will include a revision programme. We will cover the work of the first two terms in this examination. At school our approach is matter of fact – assessment forms part of school life and unnecessary stress affects output. Negative talk is discouraged. A child does not have self-worth because of test or exam marks. We do require a conscientious approach to the stewardship of academic life.

Our Grade 6 Afrikaans Home Language pupils have embraced English as the medium of instruction without a hiccup and we attribute this to the well-planned strategy that exists from Grade 1. The English books they are reading for book reports are on par with their English counterparts, the author Anthony Horowitz being a favourite amongst the boys. Grades 5 and 6 did not have an educational outing this term, the discipleship camp at Simonsberg being our focus. We thank the Gr 4AE parents for providing transport for the history of Durbanville Walkabout. A good time was had by all.

Whilst we look forward to a well-deserved break, we have mixed emotions as we bid farewell to Mrs Charmaine Warren (Overmeyer) who leaves our shores to re-locate to the U.S.A for this new season of her life. We are happy for the Warrens and give thanks to God for providing a Grade 3 teacher who built such a solid foundation and a love of learning in our pupils. Charmaine also spent time in our department as a Gr 5 English for two years and we appreciate her dedication to excellence.

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As a staff we wish you a happy family holiday. May you have the time to make family memories and may your Easter celebration be the high point. Some of our children are attending church camps and are so excited, they can hardly wait. Others are visiting beloved grandparents and all are looking forward to sleeping late. We thank you for joining hands with us this term.

Blessings from the Senior Primary Department.

Pat Swanepoel Head of Department

Sport

We welcomed Marguax Reynecke to our fold this year as the Primary School Sport Co-ordinator. Sport is growing in leaps and bounds evident in the positive sign up for the winter season. We are fielding twelve hockey and five netball teams this season and this

kind of growth requires a major team effort between the school, the players, the coach and the home.

Our netball has taken off and we are now able to field u11 and u12 teams as we eagerly watch their progress this season.

All hockey and netball practices take place on Mondays with netball matches on Wednesday and hockey matches on Thursdays. See you on or next to the sport fields.

Deon

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PRE-PRIMARY DEPARTMENTUMBRELLA FOCUS: FELLOWSHIP WITH GOD

GOD IS A LOVING WISE CREATOR

God is Creator.

The scripture we focused on was:- Psalm 100.3 Know that the Lord is God, it is He who made us and we are His.

When we discussed this character quality of God, it was wonderful to see how the children realized that we all belong to God. The children also realized that Jesus wants us to have a personal relationship with Him and that means spending time with our Saviour and learning to hear His voice. The children learnt to look after God’s creation and all that is in His world, which also includes their belongings. I know that many seeds have been sown into the lives of the children and

we will continue to ‘water’ and trust God for the increase.

God is Love

The scripture we focused on was:- John 3.16 For God so Loved the world that He gave His only son that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.

This character quality of God is always a challenging one. We find as we discuss God’s love and how we must love one another, there comes a time when the children have to put this into practice i.e. learning to play with everyone, obeying the first time, not to fight with their friends, to share and care for each other, to name a few. The children had to learn that negative behaviour is not showing love and that there are consequences to unwise choices.

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However, after the three-week cycle, it is wonderful to see how God is at work in the lives of the children and they blossom knowing that they belong to Jesus and that He loves them and that nothing will ever change no matter what they do. They also understand that Jesus is in them, so when they are fighting with someone or are not being kind to each other, we are also showing this kind of behaviour towards Jesus, which brings change.

God is Wise

The scripture we learnt was:- Proverbs 3:7 Obey the Lord and refuse to do wrong.

Here we discuss obedience, and making wise choices. We discuss first time obedience, following instructions given, to sit and listen attentively without disturbing the other children. This is a continuous work in progress and it is again wonderful to see children learning to make wise choices that honour God.

Again, this is ongoing but God is at work and we are seeing fruit in the lives of the children.

Assemblies

We have a weekly assembly as a department where the character quality is discussed with a bible story and a wonderful time of praise and worship. It is such a blessing to see the children lift their hands to God and learn to experience His wonderful, sweet presence. The children learn to pray for each other, to lay hands on each other and to expect the presence of God.

We award one or two children per class a discipleship badge in assembly each week. This is given to children where we can see God is at work in their lives in certain areas and we affirm them before the others. It is amazing how wearing this badge brings life to children and how they learn responsibility.

Outreach

A reminder for our ongoing outreach programme to the underprivileged. We collect children’s clothes and toys. The donations are distributed to Baphumelele Children’s Home in Khayelitsha, (which is a safe house for abandoned and abused children) as well as to a crèche for deaf children in Worcester as well as to people in Klipheuwel. It is wonderful for the children to learn to bless those less fortunate in this way.

Academics

This has been a busy yet fulfilling term. The children had to settle into school routine and had to learn what is expected of them. They are growing socially and emotionally. Learning number concepts and different mathematical skills, as well as learning new vocabulary which forms the essentials of laying a solid foundation. We regularly read to the children and teach them to use their 5 senses to the fullest, not to just hear but to really listen to every detail in a story, to concentrate and follow instructions given, just to name a few.

Big Splash

We had a very successful Big Splash, which was thoroughly enjoyed by all. It was wonderful to see so much talent among our little ones. All the parent support is always such a blessing, especially to the children, as they get very excited when Mom or Dad can attend a function at school.

Big Wheel Day

This also was a lot of fun and each child loved bringing their bikes and tricycles to school and riding with their friends. It was lovely to see moms and dads relaxing afterwards and getting to know each other in an informal setting.

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Next term our Umbrella Focus is Selfworth, underpinned by the character qualities of God: Truth and Light, Peace and Joy and God is Healer and Forgiver and we look forward to joining hands with you.

Blessings from the Pre-Primary Department

Shirley Stober

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