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.”
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Union’s hockey teams travelled to East London this past weekend, to take on Stirling High School in a nail-biting hockey encounter on Saturday, 11 May.
In matches that were closely contested to the very end, Union’s U/16B team beat Stirling 1 – 0, the U/16As drew 0 – 0, the second team won their match 1 – 0 and the first team drew 2 – 2.
Unions U/16B girls kicked off the day with a 1 – 0 victory over Stirling’s u/16B’s. The scores were level until the last 10 seconds of the match when Union was awarded a penalty corner. A perfect set piece saw Tayla Kingwill convert a cracking shot at goal, allowing Union to be the victors.
U/16A girls, who faced Stirling’s U/16As, played to a goalless draw. The girls were in the game from the very first minute and fought very hard to the bitter end. Some chances to score were created, but both the Stirling and Union goalkeepers had an outstanding match, denying both sides in finding the back of the net. It was a great display of skill and fellowship by both teams in ending the match in a draw.
The second team then took to the turf in, what proved to be, another exciting and thrilling encounter. Union penetrated the Stirling goal area on many occasions but failed to find the back of the net. It took a well-struck hit by Jemimah Mangunda to take the lead in the second half to seal the match 1 – 0 in Union’s favour.
Union’s first team then battled it out against Stirling’s 1st XI and went down by a goal in the 7th minute of the first quarter. Stirling scored in the second quarter again to take them 2 – 0 up. Union stuck to their game plan and played some brilliant hockey in the third and fourth quarter, which saw goals by Rosslyn Sparks and Henzѐ Japhta, to end the match in a 2-all draw.
The players must be commended on their fighting spirit throughout the match.
On Saturday, 11 May, Union’s rugby teams played against Stirling in a much-anticipated clash.
In the games that preceded that of the 1st XV’s, our U/14A team lost 12 – 20, the U/15As lost 0 – 32, the U/16As lost 7 – 21 and the second team won 36 – 34.
The match between the two school’s 1st XVs lived up to expectations and was an incredibly tough, physical game with both teams having to put everything on the line.Union put on a much-improved performance at the set pieces and were able to match Stirling up front and dominate at times.
Union scored first through a penalty from Brett Amsterdam. The game kept spectators on the edge of their seats for the full 35 minutes of the first half, where Union held the lead with 15 minutes to go until Stirling managed to score two tries leading up to the break. Brett Amsterdam then put over another penalty on the brink of half-time. Stirling’s two tries outscored Union’s two penalties, leaving the score to stand at 10 – 6 at half-time.
At the turn, both sides continued to put together phases of attack which was met with fierce defence.
Stirling, however, managed to take a further lead with two tries early on in the second half. Union continued to hold their own and managed to cross the line through Mack Rubidge, keeping Union in the game. Unfortunately, in the end, Stirling proved too strong and managed to cross the line twice through some tiring defence in the last two minutes, winning the match 34 – 11.
Despite the tough opposition faced on the day, the Union boys did their school and supporters proud and played with great heart, never giving up and consistently showing great sportsmanship throughout the day.
All in all, it was a great day of rugby and a fixture Union’s rugby teams will continue to look forward to.
Despite the tough opposition faced on the day, the Union boys did their school and supporters proud and played with great heart, never giving up and always showing great sportsmanship throughout the day. All in all it was a great day of rugby and a fixture we will continue to look forward to.
In celebration of Union High School’s momentous Centenary year, the school has designed and created a special commemorative clothing range.
