Dear Parents
LOST PROPERTY AND LITTER
At the moment there seems to be more lost property and litter than usual and we are addressing this. Some of it is their rushing to play and then doing so until the very last minute that they can. We take two angles on this; the one is respect, respect for one’s belongings, the environment and those who bear the consequences of what is left lying around or dropped: being aware that parents have worked hard to buy uniform, someone has to pick up what lies around, cleaners have to pick up papers, containers, peels, etc rather than just emptying a bin, and boys don’t want other people’s litter around them. The other is responsibility alongside executive functioning, not stopping to think, “what did I have with me?”, “what do I need now?”, “what am I responsible for?”.
Please support us as we work on this at school. Here are a few ideas to develop these skills at home:
Your son should:
- pack and unpack his own bag (sports togs, books, lunch box);
- tidy his room daily using a refuse bin;
- set out and tick off his homework;
- tell you what he needs for the next day;
- have jobs at home – setting the table, clearing dishes, etc – anything to involve him in what it takes to run an organised home – the job can be very small, but it is part of the shared responsibility.
Depending on your son’s age and how reliable or motivated he is, it is important to check that these tasks have been properly done, whether for school or home.
Life is very busy and it can be quite emotionally exhausting chasing after them. So it is often far less time-consuming to do these tasks for the boys, but we need to empower them by ensuring that they do develop the necessary planning, organising and executing skills as well as the respect for others and shared responsibility in each environment.
SPORT
This week we have our final hockey and rugby fixtures of the season against Rondebosch Prep. There are Rugby 7s, Inter-House afternoons and hockey tournaments to follow, but our major component of the sports programme is now soccer until the end of term with a cross country practice once a week. The boys are very excited to go into a full month of soccer and a number of fixtures have been arranged for the next few weeks.
FAMILY SERVICE
Next week we hold our 3rd term Family Service on Tuesday, 30 September at 08h00. Normally we hold it at 11h00 on the day of a special Christian observation such as Ash Wednesday, but next week the Chapel is available at 08h00 on Tuesday. Hopefully this will be a lot easier for you. Boys must be dropped off by 07h30 and we will walk them up to Chapel.
Enjoy the weekend.
Kind regards
GREG BROWN
HEADMASTER
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