Bulletin

Spreading Joy with Toys

On Friday afternoon, 17 May, a group of Union learners paid a visit to the Sonstraal Educare Centre, an early childhood development centre located in Santaville, Graaff-Reinet.

The purpose of the visit was to hand over a mountain of toys collected through Union’s recent toy drive. …

Initiated by Mrs. Elaine Stanley, the project was launched earlier this year as one of the school’s Centenary projects and was aimed at alleviating the plight of this centre which cares for 45 children between the ages of 2 and 5, with minimal funding.

With the assistance of Ms. Jenny Street, this joint effort by the Union Prep School and Union High School’s Junior Department turned into a huge success with hundreds of toys being collected over the past couple of months.

Angeline Adams, who works at the centre, said the donation will go a long way in improving the lives of the children and that the kids cannot wait to play with their new toys.

The school would like to thank all the parents who donated so generously, the learners for all their efforts in collecting the toys and the community for assisting them in this endeavour.

• The Sonstraal Educare Centre is a non-profit organisation largely dependent on donations. Anyone wanting to assist or who would like to find out more about this centre can visit their facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/Sonstraal-Education-Centre-1098366290216090/

 

Bulletin, Cultural

Annual Junior (gr 8 – 9) Speech Competition

Outstanding young speakers at annual speech competition

Congratulations to the evening’s winner, Caitrin Spence, and runner-up, Grace Merrifield.

Union High School’s annual Junior Speech Competition was held on Tuesday evening, 7 May.

This year’s event saw eleven of the school’s junior Grade 8s and 9s go up against one another in an evening filled with thought-provoking speeches.

With speeches ranging from humorous to emotional, intellectual and serious, all who attended were captivated by the speakers and very impressed by the high quality of speeches and the obvious preparation that had gone into the evening.

Even though this event was a first for many of the learners involved, the experience was enjoyed by all.

Union would like to thank all the participants involved – it was pleasing to see so many enthusiastic learners presenting their speeches.

 

 

Hockey, Sport Results

Union Learners in EP Hockey Squad

Union learners in EP hockey squad

Hockey at Union High School continues to flourish as is evident by the exceptional performances of the players at the recent provincial trials.

Three learners, Micela Loock, Jenna McNaughton and Sonwabise Mroro, were selected to represent the province at interprovincial tournaments in the coming June school holiday.

Micela Loock, Jenna McNaughton and Sonwabise Mroro

Jenna and Micela will represent the EP u/18A team in the KwaZulu-Natal Midlands (15 to 22 June) and Sonwabise the EP u/14B team in Bloemfontein (23 to 27 June).

“Playing at provincial level affords players the opportunity to participate at the highest level and grow their skills through the experience,” said coach Alvin August.  “We are incredibly proud of each and every one of them and wish them the best of luck for the forthcoming tournaments.”

Bulletin

Centenary Clothing Range

In celebration of Union High School’s momentous Centenary year, the school has designed and created a special commemorative clothing range.

All the items can be viewed and bought at the UHS Clothing Shop.

If you have any queries or would like to place an order, please feel free to contact Mrs. Hestie Clegg on 082 825 1380, send an e-mail to clothing@unionschools.co.za or contact her via the school’s switchboard on 049 891 0262.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rugby, Sport Results

Jnr Rugby Results vs Karel Theron

Victory for Union in annual derby

On Tuesday afternoon, 14 May, Union High School’s u/11A and u/13A rugby teams travelled to Middleburg for the much-anticipated annual mid-week derby against Karel Theron Primary School.

In a stellar effort, the U/11As won their match 15 – 12.

The U/13A’s match that followed was played under challenging conditions with the boys putting together their best performance to date.  The first half was dominated by hard running from the backs leading to a 31-point lead at half-time.  The second half proved challenging, as Union had very little possession. A massive defensive effort, however, secured Union a 46-10 victory in the end.

The Union teams can be tremendously proud of their performance.

Bulletin, Cultural

An Evening of One Acts

On Thursday evening, 9 May, a unique theatrical evening was held in the Union High School hall.

The biennial inter-house One Act Plays, hosted by the school’s Performing Arts Club, as usual, saw the school’s two houses – Arnott and Daly – pitted against one another.

The performances of the houses, however, weren’t judged as a whole this year, but instead by the individual performances of the actors, who scored points for their respective houses based on how well they played their part.

The themes of this year’s featured plays hit very close to home, with many of the learners and audience members commenting on how relatable they were in this day and age.

‘Bill, please’ – with lead actors James Rose-Innes and Asa Matross – followed a series of blind dinner dates that just couldn’t seem to get any worse. Despite the fact that they did, in fact, get worse, happiness still awaited the characters at the end of the long, dark tunnel.

The humour incorporated in this play produced a lot of belly laughs with the actors delivering an amazing performance.

The second play, ‘The Internet/Sidetracked’, demonstrated what a big a distraction the Internet can be when checking a few facts for a school project gets sidetracked by boxing cats, Facebook lurkers and pig-throwing games that, in the end, put schoolwork on the back burner.

Though the evening was full of laughs, in the end, a winning house and the best performances had to be decided upon.

James Rose-Innes, Tumi Teys, Buchule Siloti, Petra Jaftha and Melissa Swart

Buchule Siloti was recognised as the evening’s Best Supporting Actor with Petra Jaftha and Tumi Teys sharing the award for Best Supporting Actress.  James Rose-Innes and Melissa Swart were, respectively, awarded the Best Actor and Best Actress award.

The winning play was ‘The Internet/Sidetracked’ and the winning house this year, was Daly.

Thanks are extended to the judges, without whom this evening would not have been the success it turned out to be, Mrs. Paula Kingwill, Ms. Sherilee du Plessis, Ms. Vona van Rensburg and Mr. Erwin Itterhagen-Straus.

Thanks are also extended to the school’s senior choir who, accompanied by various individual performances, delighted the audience.

Lastly, a special word of thanks must be extended to Mrs. Sanette Brink for her constant support with the arrangements as well as to Mrs. Avrille Putter who offered to direct one of the houses, supported the process throughout and put in a lot of hard work to help the Performing Arts Club pull everything together.

Bulletin

Interschools Reunion Convenors

Class Head convenor Email Reunion
1961 Robin Abbott dabbott@telkom.net 58
1962 Robin Abbott dabbott@telkom.net 57
1963 Rob Henderson henwoodglass@iafrica.com 56
1964 Adrian Arnott adrian.a@lantic.net 55
1967 Audrey Adam (McNaughton) auds.adam@gmail.com 52
1969 Dennis Houseman houseman@netactive.co.za 50
1969 Noeleen Kotshan noelene@pinkdrive.co.za 50
1971 Lesley van Vuuren lesvanvuuren@gmail.com 48
1974 Michael Clarke 45
1974 Terry Debesh (Horwitz) terry.debesh@gmail.com 45
1979 John Barnardt johnb@bonnievalewines.co.za 40
1979 Adrian Pienaar adrian.pienaar@za.ab-inbev.com 40
1982 Brett Wilson brett@inspectaleak.co.za 37
1985 Trenly Spence trenly@spencenguni.co.za 34
1988 Kim Spencer Primic kimprimic@gmail.com 31
1989 Michelle Kingwill michellevdb@telkomsa.net 30
1991 Belinda Hunter belinda.hunter@fnb.co.za 28
1994 Isabel van der Merwe isabel.vandermerwe@mediclinic.co.za 25
1995 Mandy Pelser mandykpelser@gmail.com 24
1999 Bronwen Jacobs bronwen@montego.co.za 20
1999 Richard Collett katkop@eik.co.za 20
2004 Caitlin Nash
Melissa Grewar		 nashcaitlin@gmail.com megrewar@gmail.com 15
2014 Monique Holtzhausen moniqueheunis@gmail.com 5

 

Bulletin, Cultural

Eco Club Visits Herding Academy

On Friday 10 May, 25 learners and two educators were privileged to go on an educational outing to the Herding Academy at St Olive’s Farm. We were warmly welcomed by Sarah who gave the group a video presentation of the Herding Academy. Following that, Gavin, the farm manager, and the 12 Academy students accompanied the eco warriors into the veld where they were divided into two groups and shown the practical applications and outcomes of herding, soil erosion management and maximization skills of nature’s gift, rain.

The herding method of land restoration and management has been based on natural migration patterns in nature. The students observe nature and conduct experiments to come up with best operating practices. The intense grazing and ground trampling of a herd of animals that have been enclosed in a camp for a few days fertilizers and loosens the soil. The concentrated nutrient-rich animal dung is worked into the soft soil as the herd tramples the grazing ground. The herd is then moved to another area where the process is repeated. Each student stays with his/her herd for an entire week, living in a bush caravan and moving with the herd.

The Academy students also taught the group about maximizing rain water usage and mulching. Since taking care of the soil is of primary importance, the group learnt about soil erosion management. They observed areas of land where the outcomes of experiments clearly show the benefits of managed herding.

The Academy’s integrity stems from the fact that their work emulates natural patterns and uses lessons from nature to restore the land and maximize their uses of natural resources. Their mission is a three-fold one: economic, environmental and caring for society. It boils down to taking care of the land, the biodiversity and the people, thus creating a sustainable recipe for success, health and prosperity. The Eco Club thoroughly enjoyed their visit to St Olives and is looking forward to future visits at the Herding Academy. Grateful thanks to Johan Bouwer, Sarah, Gavin and the Academy Students for this opportunity.

Bulletin, Rugby

UHS Boosts Coaching Staff

Union High School has recently appointed Mr. Ashwell Adams as the new coach of the school’s second rugby team.

Mr. Adams, who moved back to Graaff-Reinet earlier this year, is a born and bred Graaff-Reinetter, having matriculated at Spandau Secondary School, before moving to Port Elizabeth.  Apart from being extremely passionate and knowledgeable about rugby, Mr. Adams also boasts an IRB Level 1 Coaching qualification and has built up valuable experience these past 16 years coaching the rugby teams of Bertram High School in Port Elizabeth.

“I am confident that I will be able to contribute hugely to Union’s rugby from this experience,” Adams said.

Mr. Adams is looking forward to playing a part in the development of rugby at Union High School and to using all his knowledge to take the school’s rugby forward and grow it from strength to strength.

“Our boys can be confident that the standard of coaching they are being exposed to is right up there with the top rugby schools in the province,” said the newly appointed coach.

As can be seen with the second team’s stellar performance this past Saturday against Stirling High School, Mr. Adams has wasted no time in getting the boys fit to compete.