Celebrating Founders’ Weekend

๐Ÿญ๐Ÿฌ๐Ÿฒ ๐—ป๐—ผ๐˜ ๐—ผ๐˜‚๐˜!

As the start of Founders’ Weekend early this morning ushered in a day of reflection and celebration, we found ourselves wrapped in the warmth of gratitude and admiration.

๐—™๐—ผ๐˜‚๐—ป๐—ฑ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐˜€’ ๐——๐—ฎ๐˜† – ๐—ฐ๐—ฒ๐—น๐—ฒ๐—ฏ๐—ฟ๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ฒ๐—ฑ ๐—ฒ๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐˜† ๐˜†๐—ฒ๐—ฎ๐—ฟ ๐—ถ๐—ป ๐—๐—ฎ๐—ป๐˜‚๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐˜† – ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐˜€๐—ผ๐—ป๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ฒ๐˜€ ๐—ฑ๐—ฒ๐—ฒ๐—ฝ๐—น๐˜† ๐˜„๐—ถ๐˜๐—ต๐—ถ๐—ป ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐—ต๐—ฒ๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐˜ ๐—ผ๐—ณ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐—จ๐—ป๐—ถ๐—ผ๐—ป ๐—ฆ๐—ฐ๐—ต๐—ผ๐—ผ๐—น๐˜€’ ๐—ฐ๐—ผ๐—บ๐—บ๐˜‚๐—ป๐—ถ๐˜๐˜†, marking not just the passage of time but the profound impact of the men and women who had the vision that led to the creation of the school back in 1919, and who have contributed to the leadership and vision of the school since.

None of the education for which the school has become known would have happened without the foresight of these individuals, who set out with the express intention of developing a school which would provide an excellent education for children in Graaff-Reinet. We owe them a debt of gratitude – without them this fine school simply would not exist – and this is why we honour them on Foundersโ€™ Day each year.

๐—ช๐—ถ๐˜๐—ต ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฎ๐˜ ๐—ถ๐—ป ๐—บ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ฑ, ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐˜€๐—ฐ๐—ต๐—ผ๐—ผ๐—นโ€™๐˜€ ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ป๐˜‚๐—ฎ๐—น ๐—™๐—ผ๐˜‚๐—ป๐—ฑ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐˜€’ ๐——๐—ฎ๐˜† ๐—ฎ๐˜€๐˜€๐—ฒ๐—บ๐—ฏ๐—น๐˜† ๐—บ๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐—ธ๐—ฒ๐—ฑ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐—ฏ๐—ฒ๐—ด๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ป๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐—ผ๐—ณ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ถ๐˜€ ๐˜†๐—ฒ๐—ฎ๐—ฟ’๐˜€ ๐—ฐ๐—ฒ๐—น๐—ฒ๐—ฏ๐—ฟ๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ถ๐—ผ๐—ป๐˜€.

The ceremony commenced with a warm welcome from the headmaster, Mr William Pringle, who also led a brief devotional.

Following his address, the learners of Union High School filled the hall with a heartfelt rendition of the school song. Milani Pongoma, the Head Girl of Arthur Kingwill House, then led the school prayer, setting a reflective tone for the gathering. Mr Pringle took this opportunity to delve into the schoolโ€™s rich history, gently reminding everyone of the strong traditions that underpin the institution.

๐˜š๐˜ฑ๐˜ฆ๐˜ค๐˜ช๐˜ข๐˜ญ ๐˜ฎ๐˜ฆ๐˜ด๐˜ด๐˜ข๐˜จ๐˜ฆ๐˜ด ๐˜ฉ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฐ๐˜ถ๐˜ณ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜จ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ฐ๐˜ค๐˜ค๐˜ข๐˜ด๐˜ช๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ ๐˜ธ๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ฅ๐˜ฆ๐˜ญ๐˜ช๐˜ท๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ฃ๐˜บ ๐˜๐˜ฆ๐˜ข๐˜ฅ ๐˜Ž๐˜ช๐˜ณ๐˜ญ ๐˜ˆ๐˜ข๐˜ฎ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜ข๐˜ฉ ๐˜š๐˜ต๐˜ฆ๐˜ฆ๐˜ญ๐˜ฆ, ๐˜Ž๐˜ณ๐˜ข๐˜ฅ๐˜ฆ 7 ๐˜ญ๐˜ฆ๐˜ข๐˜ณ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ ๐˜’๐˜ข๐˜ณ๐˜ช ๐˜š๐˜ต๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ๐˜ฏ ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜ฅ ๐˜Ž๐˜ณ๐˜ข๐˜ฅ๐˜ฆ 4 ๐˜ญ๐˜ฆ๐˜ข๐˜ณ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ ๐˜Ž๐˜ณ๐˜ข๐˜ค๐˜ฆ ๐˜’๐˜ช๐˜ต๐˜ค๐˜ฉ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜จ, ๐˜ข๐˜ฅ๐˜ฅ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜จ ๐˜ข ๐˜ฑ๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ๐˜ด๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ๐˜ข๐˜ญ ๐˜ต๐˜ฐ๐˜ถ๐˜ค๐˜ฉ ๐˜ต๐˜ฐ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ฆ๐˜ท๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ๐˜ต.

As the ceremony concluded with the presentation of the cake and the lighting of the candles, the learners eagerly exited the hall to enjoy their doughnuts and partake in the festive activities planned for Founders’ Weekend 2025.