Congratulations to the following hockey players who have made it through to the next round of EP trails.
U/18: Jenna McNaughton; Micela Loock; Sara Kingwill; Sakhe Booi; Laetitia Theron
U/16: Chloe Shires
U/14: Leah Marais; Sonwabisa Mroro
We are proud of Caytah-Leigh Koeberg and Matthew Paxton who are currently representing Eastern Province at the SA Provincial tournament in Bloemfontein.
Thursday, 14 April was Eco-wise day at Union and each grade spent time engaged in activities based on the theme of conservation of water and recycling. Our campus was abuzz with children filling up recycled bottles with rainwater for those in need; posters were made; desks refurbished; there was a trip to the dam where water and wetlands were discussed; the grade 7s walked to Mackie’s pit where our water comes from; stationery was upcycled; water filters made and a few even danced a happy holiday dance! We wish all our staff and learners a happy, restful holiday and please remember to save water wherever you can.
Our under 16s did us proud at the Westering festival.
Won 3 – 0 against DF Malherbe
Drew 0 – 0 against Woodridge
Lost 0 – 1 against DSG
Win 1 – 0 against VP
Drew 0 – 0 against Alex
On Thursday 14th March the u16A rugby squad left for Port Elizabeth to take part in the Westering co-ed festival. On Thursday we played a match against Andrew Rabie High School prior to the festival. With co-captain and pivot James Pienaar not available due to injury the reshuffle proved to be costly as we struggled to find our rhythm and we simply could not deal with the line speed of the opposition who put us under pressure throughout the match. Union lost the match 14-5.
On Thursday night we stayed at Muir College, checking out on Friday when we travelled to Port Elizabeth and had a training session on the beach. This the team thoroughly enjoyed and it gave the boys the opportunity to connect as a squad and good team spirit was established.
We had lunch at McDonalds and relaxed for a while the Boardwalk.
At 15h30 Union played their first match of the Co-ed festival against Grey High School invitational side. Union played a great game of rugby where they manned up and played their hearts out. With the game deadlocked at nineteen all, Grey’s fitness proved to be the difference. Union lost the match 38-24. The team than went for supper at Baywest Mall where they were spoiled for choice. On Friday night we stayed at Cape Recife. After a very long day the boys were happy to finally get in bed.
On Saturday morning we played our last fixture against Alexander Road. Union started in the worst possible manner and soon found themselves 19-0 behind. We then settled nicely into our pattern and after countless attacks we crossed the white wash twice to go into half time trailing 19-12. Union showed complete dominance in the second half running in 5 tries. It was entertaining and clinical. All the pieces of the puzzle were put together and one of the spectators said, “This has been the most entertaining and structured schoolboy rugby I have seen in a long time, an absolute pleasure to watch”.
Union won the match 45-19. The Union team were commended on their fine behaviour, good manners and the way in which they played their matches. As coaches myself and Mr Sparrius can definitely tick this off as a successful trip and also complement our boys of their good conduct and being fine ambassadors to our school.
I wish to express my sincere thanks to the staff of Muir College and Cape Recife who hosted the team over the two nights. A special word of thanks to our parents who supported us and assisted with washing playing kit and sponsoring energy drinks, the team greatly appreciate your commitment.
Grey High School invitational – Union lost the match 38-24
Our Senior Rugby and Hockey festival ended on a high note with a great win for our rugby boys. Our girls only lost 1 game during the tournament.
Thank you to our sports men and women for working so hard to provide spectators with such great entertainment!
Thank you to our coaches and managers who gave of their holiday time to be with our children.
Thank you to our parents and Old Unionites who supported them wholeheartedly and positively and who gave so much of their time to cook, cook and cater, sell drinks and provide sustenance.
Thank you to all past pupils who popped in for a visit.
Thank you to our ground staff who were up at sparrow’s each morning, who cleaned and watered and fetched and carried even with load shedding and water outages.
Thank you to our friendly and efficient kitchen staff who worked tirelessly from dawn to midnight.
Thank you to our wonderful boarding houses who accommodated so many without a complaint.
Thank you to our first aiders who were at the ready through each and every match.
Thank you to our media team who recorded and assisted with sound and video capturing.
Thank you to our ball boys and those learners who gave of their holiday time to to gate duty and who worked at the coffee stations.
Thank you to schools from neighboring towns who supported Union teams with such great spirit!
Thank you to our Sports Department who did so much for months to make this festival run so smoothly and effectively.
Thank you to our Union Team – together we achieve so much!
Results were as follows:
Rugby
Union vs Charlie Hofmeyer lost 12 – 28
Union vs Andrew Rabie won 43-0
Hockey
Union vs VG won 1 -0
Union vs Paarl Gim Inv won 2 – 0
Union vs Settlers won 3 – 0
Union vs Kingsridge lost 3 – 4
Brandwag withdrew against Union
Union Invitation vs Cradock won 1 – 0
Union Invitation vs Merrifield lost 2 – 3
Union Invitation vs Brandwag won 1 – 0
Union Invitation vs Stirling lost 0 – 4
Union Invitation vs Nico Malan lost 0 -2
On 13 March 2019 the RCL had a training session with Global Leadership Consultants.
There are not many things that warm the heart of an educator more than when a past pupil ploughs back into the very community which shaped him or her. This was what could be sensed when Luphumlo Joka conducted training with the Representative Council for Learners of Union High School at Profcon yesterday.
The vision of Global Leadership Consultants is to build authentic leaders to effectively change society generationally. The values of the company, excellence, integrity, passion, discipline and stewardship was really the golden thread throughout the session.
Global Leadership Consultants was officially started in 2015 by founder Luphumlo Joka whilst he was studying Law at Nelson Mandela University. GLC was birthed out of genuine love and passion for the development of organizations and high performance individuals.
The team specializes in strategic management and leadership development and business leadership support. Their competitive advantage is in their new approach to leadership development birthed by our young innovative team of professionals.
A fun-filled, jam-packed half day session addressing topics like the purpose of leaders, the ultimate leader-shift and the duty of authentic leadership was enjoyed by fifteen excited leaders. We are looking forward to see our leaders finding their purpose and expanding their sphere of influence even further.
We are grateful to Global Leadership Consultants for this invaluable experience which our Representative Council of Learners thoroughly enjoyed!
Last night saw the highly anticipated General Knowledge Quiz and Arm Wrestling competition taking place at Arthur Kingwill House! The Quiz was very exciting with Arnott House coming out tops in the end. Damon Fouché emerged as arm wrestling champion for 2019! Thanks to Mr Hamilton and Mr Koeberg for overseeing such a fun filled evening for our boarders!
The Spar Hockey festival took place at Union in festive, warm conditions today and much fun was had by all! We are proud of our girls who made it to the final, but were unfortunately beaten 0-3 by a polished DSG team. Thank you Spar and our sport’s department who made this such an enjoyable day.
Over the weekend Matthew McNaughton and Daniel McNaughton participated in an archery competition and achieved the following results:
Matthew came 2nd in the 3D category with a score of 274/300.
Daniel came 2nd in the Bull’s Eye competition with a score of 270/300.