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FRIDAY 17 February 2023

Dear Parents

Valentine's day is always an exciting time for our boys.  Somehow the decorations and wearing civvies brings a new energy into their world!  The response to our pet food collection was simply wonderful and we look forward to posting some information and pics of where it is delivered.  Thank you to each and every family that made a contribution to this very worthy cause and to those enthusiastic parents who helped create a beautiful space and much excitement by decorating our campus  We are extremely grateful for your time and effort. With Easter Eggs slowly creeping onto the shelves in the stores, we cannot avoid those islands of delicious marshmallow strips of eggs.  We are mindful of the cost of these eggs and so this year, we will appeal just for a strip of eggs and not boxes.  If you are able to send a strip (or more) towards our collection, please put them in your supermarket trolley so long - we will remind all the boys right at the end of the term.   These eggs will be sent to the children at Athwood Primary  School. As we embark on interviews with our prospective 2024 classes, we are often asked about our approach to teaching in the younger years.  I came across this wonderful explanation that puts our philosophy into words. There is only one way to learn to make decisions and that is through practice.  This is why play is so important for young children.  It is the mechanism by which children can grapple with the dilemma of decision-making. Through play, we learn in  a relatively safe way, about the consequences of our decisions, we learn how to consider others in our decision-making, we figure out those habits that make our lives less stressful, and also what to do when our expectations are thwarted.  There is pain, fear and loss: these are the stressors we share with all living things. But the stress of decision -making is our alone. And it is our blessing and our curse.    Wishing you all a wonderful weekend .                                     

Kind regards


SHARLENE GROOM
HEAD:PRE-PREP

DIARY DATES
 Tuesday 21 February  Pentangular Gala @ Sacs

Selected boys have been notified individually.  
Wednesday 22 February

 Ash Wednesday

On Wednesday 22 February all Grade R, 1 and 2 boys will attend a short Chapel service. Grade N boys will explore this event in their classrooms with Mr Tsotoso as they have not yet visited the Chapel. Notification to the class teacher is necessary if you do not want your son to receive Ashes. A separate letter will go out in this regard.  

TAKE NOTE

Fun Sports                                                                                                                                                                                  

We are very excited about our Fun Sports to be held at Lutgensvale fields on Friday 24 February at 16h00. The fun races will start at 16h05 so please make sure that your son is at the field by 15h45. He will meet his teacher in the middle of the field. Parents, please sit on the stands next to the track. We request that NO parents come onto the middle of the track during the events. All boys will run in some fun races and take part in a shuttle relay. There will also be an inter-class parents relay at the end. Class reps will be in touch to arrange teams for the parent relays and class teachers will send out more information about what the boys will wear. After our races have taken place, which should take approximately and hour to an hour and a half, parents are invited to set up a picnic close to the Rick Skeeles Pavilion. The PA have arranged some fabulous food vendors and a tuck shop for your convenience.  Those that have attended events at Lugtensvale before will be aware that parking will be quite challenging so please be mindful of designated parking areas and the residents around the filed who need access to their driveways at all times.   More details will be sent out next week with further guidelines and a programme of events for all parents.  We look forward to a fun filled afternoon and evening together!

Campus shut down

Our campus will be very empty this Friday afternoon.  We have implemented an early shut down for staff (once the boys have left) as it is our official "half-term" weekend.  Aftercare and any extra clubs will continue as usual but academic and support staff will leave at 1.30pm.  If you have any issues during the afternoon, please feel free to email myself sgroom@bishops.org.za and I will assist you.  It is not often that our staff get to leave so early so we are excited to offer them this opportunity.  If you wish to call aftercare directly, please use 021-6591003.              
Carnival

Book a table with bubbles (non-alcoholic options available) and picnic boxes (mezze meat, mezze vegetarian or cheese) and you will be sitting pretty at the Bishops Carnival taking place on 3 March. Please click on THIS LINK to prebook a table and/or picnic box.

 
PRE-PREP PRAYER GROUP
Message from Mr Tsotso

The Lord be with you

In the new week we step out of the season of Epiphany and enter in a new season of Lent from Ash Wednesday. Lent is one of the many Christian seasons like Christmas, Easter and Pentecost. This is a time in our faith where we are gifted with the opportunity to reflect on our lives and become more intentional in our discipleship. This period lasts 40 days and is aligned with the time Jesus spent in the wilderness before having to carry the cross.
This year’s Lenten theme that will be shared on Ash Wednesday, speaks to broken promises and fasting from saying things we do not mean that may hurt others. We should try to use words that are more intentional and kinder to others.
Let us pray!
Christ give us the grace to grow in holiness, and the ability to deny ourselves from our addictions and carry your cross daily following in your steps.
Amen

GENERAL INFO
Athletics

On Friday, 10 February the 8 selected boys from each Grade participated at the Prep Sports Day. The boys were very excited. They ran beautifully and gave their best. We are proud of all of these boys. A huge congratulations to our trophy winners, Charlie Light, Oliver Taylor and Channiel Magozore,  who came first in each race. 

Pop up second hand uniform stall

Thank you to Sasha Riviera and Julie Breslin for agreeing to do a pop up second hand uniform stall on Friday 24 March from 12 - 2pm up at the hall area. Please keep an eye out for the gazebo. We will send a reminder out via the whatsapp groups but this may be a good date to diarise. 
Volunteering at VUSA

Thank you to all the wonderful volunteers who have signed up to assist with the VUSA ECD Programme following our call-to-action last week.  The first group of volunteers went out to Dalukhanyo Pre-School yesterday and are excited to head back next week!!

The aim of our programme is to get two to three people to sign up to the roster each week and grow our database of volunteers coming out to Langa!
If you have availability on a Tuesday morning (11.30 – 12.15) please consider signing up to this special programme.  A larger volunteer group ensures the programme continues and means you don't have to commit weekly.  
The programme works with children aged 4-6 years old and activities  will include puzzles, playdough, reading and games.  
Please contact Nikki Matthews (0794374276) or Aoife Doherty (076 052 2405) should you be interested in participating in the rewarding initiative.
For more information on the VUSA Academy, please watch THIS short clip.

HIGHLIGHTS
Grade N

“It’s love that makes the world go round!” And that was clear this week in Grade N. Love was everywhere and Valentines Day was celebrated in style by our little people. From a special icecream treat, to a picnic under the shady trees, we had fun all round. The Grade N boys learnt how to weave in and out of paper hearts and enjoy some fun butterfly painting too! Have a super weekend boys.

Grade R

We have had another fun and busy week in Grade R. Our theme this week was 'My Body'. The boys made people out of playdough and recycled materials and traced each other's bodies with sidewalk chalk outside on the scooter track. Our garden was beautifully decorated with red, white and pink for Valentine's Day on Tuesday (thank you to our parents for their hard work) and the boys enjoyed a delicious ice-lollie to end off the celebration of LOVE ❤️ We look forward to what next week has in store for us and are especially excited for our Fun Sports Day next Friday!

Grade 1

Grade 1 was visited by a V.I.P. guest on Friday. Mr Brown shared some facts about his family and home life with the boys. They all loved hearing about his pets! The donations for our PET outreach has been bountiful. Thank you! This week we have continued to explore shapes, specifically triangles and pyramids. The boys delighted in building both pyramids and cuboids with the new outdoor equipment. Our theme has been Marvellous Manners, and our boys are remembering to use them with growing independence.

Grade 2

This week has gone by so quickly. Some of the Grade 2 boys have had the opportunity to help light the chapel candles before our Monday morning chapel service. Each boy who would like to help in this way will get a turn throughout the year. The boys are enjoying class and afternoon swimming and are working very hard on their stroke correction. Tuesday was a flurry of red and white. As we celebrated Valentine’s Day, we were reminded of all of the kind things we can do to show our love and consideration for others. The boys have had fun creating some interesting frogs as they revised their r blend words. The is never ever a dull moment in our grade.  

Valentines Day Set Up

Thank you so much. The boys were soooooo excited ❤️❤️❤️❤️

    BISHOPS PRE PREPARATORY SCHOOL
Campground Road, Rondebosch, Cape Town, 7700
Phone +27 21 659 1037 | Fax: +27 21 659 1922