12 October 2012 - St Columba's School

St Columba’s School
12 October 2012 Volume 30.2012
Inside this issue:
From the Principal’s
desk 1
Summer Social
2012
Naming the landmarks
Pre-Primary
News
1
1
2
Merits 3
Calendar of
Events
3
Sports News 4
St Columba’s School
107 Howard Ave
Benoni 1501
PO Box 17224
Benoni West 1503
Phone: (011) 421-3057
Fax: (011) 421-8009
E-mail: admin@stcolumbas.co.za
“Where children love
to go to school.”
Visit us on the web:
www.stcolumbas.co.za
From the Principal’s Desk
At the Pre-Primary School concert this
week we were entertained by a delightful
interpretation of the children’s book
Charlotte’s Web. As always the children
left us delighted by the antics of the
“animals” and characters of the story,
and amazed at the competence of our
young children. They were able to remember
their words and actions, the
songs and all the movements, and they
very obviously enjoyed what they were
doing. The enthusiasm of the audience
spoke volumes, and the pride of the
parents and grandparents certainly
brought home to me yet again how special
everyone in the Pre-Primary is.
Naming the landmarks
Today your child will bring home a detailed
plan of St Columba’s with a challenge
to name all the fields, streets and
gates that are marked. Please take part
in this positive initiative which will give
our school an extra positive feel.
Your Child’s Happiness Quotient©
Being engaged with an activity and being
happy are two entirely different
things. Watch your child playing with a
tech-toy, from a kiddie’s laptop, tablet or
gaming console to playing a game on
your smartphone and you will observe
great excitement, focus, smiling and
even verbal commentary. The level of
involvement increases dramatically as
children get older and move into gaming
on a variety of different platforms, and
can even border on addiction.
On-screen forms of entertainment and
engagement provide effortless pleasure.
It takes much less energy and effort to
interact with an on-screen activity than a
real person or a real game or toy (and
there’s no tidying up afterwards!). If
allowed, a child is like a river and will
follow the path of least resistance, defaulting
to an on-screen activity before
thinking of doing anything else.
If the activity makes them feel good and
provides a sense of achievement, they
will want to do it over and over again.
The more their world starts to revolve
around tech-toys of one form or another,
Summer Social 2012
A reminder of the summer social for the
pupils from Grade 4 to 7 on Saturday 27
October. The children from these grades
have received flyers with all the relevant
information. It is sure to be a special funfilled
evening.
the harder they become to communicate
with, to discipline and control. They start
to live in their tech-bubble where they are
in complete and independent control of
what they are doing – another reason why
children are attracted to screens.
Now, by way of an experiment, get on the
floor or sit around a table and take out a
real game to play with your child, such as
a simple memory card game, a game of
UNO, Chinese Checkers or, if you have the
time, Monopoly. Switch of your cellphone
and don’t try and multi-task, just focus on
your child and the game for the amount of
time required. I promise you that you will
notice something quite different to what
you observe when they are playing on a
screen:
� Engagement and focus but of a
more fluid and interactive nature
� Communication with each other as
opposed to at each other
� Smiling
� Eyes shining
� A flush in the skin
� Laughter
� Moments of encouragement, praise

Smile inside
about all the
good things you
do. Even when
no one is singing
your praises, feel
free to sing all
you want. Your
accomplishments
, large or small,
tremendous or
tiny, help to
make the world a
better place.
St Columba’s School
Pre-Primary News
We would like to thank all the Pre-Primary
children for their hard work which resulted
in a concert of such a high standard.
Thank you to all the parents for their support
and enthusiasm, to those who assisted
with costumes and to everyone who
helped in any way. This is what makes our
concerts, and our school, so special – we
all put so much time and effort into what
we do and we all share in the children’s
success. A treasured memory of the
2012 concert will be the CD with the photographs
and the DVD of the concert.
Your Child’s Happiness Quotient©
and even teasing
� A feeling of togetherness
� A feeling of belonging
� The creation of a memory
� You might even lose track of time
(this means you are really present
and ‘in the moment’)
I call this the Happiness Quotient© and
it’s something that a screen cannot
achieve. When we play with our children,
when they play with real games and toys,
when they play with other human beings
or animals, there is an X-factor that
comes into play. Their emotional cups are
filled. They are happy.
I am not in any way discounting the value
that tech-toys can bring to the equation of
child development and preparation for a
high-tech world. However, as parents of
Page 2
the human kind, we need to make
sure that on-screen entertainment,
education and engagement don’t rob
our children of their happiness (it’s a
feeling), or their ability to create happiness
for themselves, which emotionally
intelligent people are able to
do.
NIKKI BUSH
Creative parenting expert, inspirational
speaker and co-author of Futureproof
Your Child (Penguin, 2008), and
Easy Answers to Awkward Questions
(Metz Press, 2009)
nikki@brightideasoutfit.co.za
www.brightideasoutfit.com

Volume 30.2012
Merits
Tarika Athmaram, H’Ashwarya Govender,
Ishaan Mistry, Aurora Sloan, Andrea Virgili,
Demi Stephenson, Sasha Reyneke, Gitesh
Padiachy, Gabrielle Padiachy, Christi-Anne
Moonsammy, Ntombi Mdluli, Kyle McCallum,
Gabriella Costa-Tré, Kiara Singh, Erin Lazarus,
Holly Backhouse, Vishalen Chetty, Siviwe
Zwane, Zahra Cassimjee, Kayla Harding, Aiden
McLuckie, Kelo Mathe, Jaihin Singh,
Lindani Mhlanga, Aidan Boyle, Madeline
Scrase
Colours Awards
Kayla Prothero, Charlie Sa’Miranda, Nkoso
Mbatha, Tye Wood, Fabio Sa’Miranda, Kade
Wood – Easterns Water polo
Calendar of Events—Term 3
Thursday 18 to Monday 22
October
Grade 1 Merits
Levi Moodley
Mid-Term break
Thursday 25 October Parents Evening
Thursday 1 November Orientation Day
Wednesday 7 November 07:45 Sports and Cultural Awards
Page 3
The happiest
of people don't
necessarily
have the best
of everything
they just make
the most of
everything that
comes
along their way.

Sports News Page 4
Swimming
There will be swimming during the PE
lessons as from next week – Tuesday for
Grades 1, 2 and 3; Wednesday for
Grades 4 to 7- weather permitting.
Cross Country
Cross Country Meetings: 24 October
at Kathstan; 2 November at St Dunstan’s
and 9 November at Curro.
Tennis
The following matches will be played
on the school courts on Monday
15 October: Fabio Sa”Miranda vs
Tyrell Padiachey and Michael de
Lange vs Jordan Benson-Armer.
There will be no tennis for any players
other than the above mentioned four
players.
The finals will be played on Monday
29 October on the school courts.
Specialising in
sports Injuries, management of
chronic conditions, cardiac rehabilitation,
lower back pain and lynosport
therapy.
Stephen Louw (B.A. Hons Biokinetics) stephenlouw13@hotmail.co.za
084 406 7291.