HORIZONS TERM 1 2017

EDITORIAL
Editorial
It’s always hard to try and reduce
a term to just one thing because
of the myriad of events, activities,
successes and challenges that run
the course of 13 weeks. But if I
were to try and define this term
by one thing for me it would be
around the quality of ‘kindness’.
In the movie, Pay It Forward,
which was released 17 years ago
(doesn’t that make you feel old?) a
young boy comes up with an ingenious
idea of how to improve the
world through performing three
random acts of kindness and,
instead of the recipients of these
random acts of kindness repaying
in kind, they pay it forward. In this
way, the acts of kindness snowball
and make the world a better
place.
In one of the assemblies earlier
in the term, I spoke to the boys
about ‘Random Acts of Kindness’
and how these acts of kindness
can make a huge difference in
peoples’ lives. I firmly believe that
being kind to other people is an
important quality of a Ridge boy
but also a quality I focus on with
the boys in my class; my own two
boys, Jude and Zach, and in my
own life. I have seen the damage
that is done when boys are not
kind to each other, just as we see
this in all areas of our lives, and
I have seen the massive impact
being kind can have.
This edition of Horizons, our first
of 2017, holds several highlights.
We start with our usual headmaster’s
message from Mr Stanley;
followed by an stimulating piece
from our Deputy Head – Nicholas
Diana about how we are
preparing our boys for the future.
Chris Verster then gives us a brief
account of the wonderful SALT
initiative at our school, which is
then followed by an interesting
write up from our new Chair of
the Parent’s Association, Fenella
Johns. Welcome Fenella, we look
forward to hearing more from
you during the course of this year.
As usual it’s been a busy sporting
term and we’ll have a round up
of some of the sports events this
term.
Following this we have a tour
through some of the interesting
things that each grade has been
doing this term, and then a look
at the various events that have
happened including: World Book
Day, Cultural Evening, The Ridge
High Tea and so on. In between
all of this are the wonderful snap
shots of the lives of our boys at
The Ridge.
To all those celebrating Easter,
have a blessed season; to those
travelling, travel safely and to
those enjoying a break at home,
have a relaxing time. If nothing
else, enjoy not making lunches and
not having to do the fetching and
carrying.
Enjoy the read.
Anton Pretorius
KEEP CALM
AND
PAY IT
FORWARD
I believe that our Ridge boys
should be reminded about the
impact that being kind and treating
people well has and that, as a
community we should all encourage
this behaviour, so we have
happy individuals.
The Grade 5 ‘A-Team’ - Anton Pretorius; Nico Seakamela; Mike MacFarlane
The Ridge School 2 Horizons Term 1 2017