Congratulations to Union High School 1st XV cricketers Ivan Murray, Joshua Horne, Shaakir Kazi, Laythan Carelse and Jude Langmead who were recently ๐๐๐ฃ๐ฃ๐๐ by their Headmaster, Mr William Pringle.
๐๐ข๐ก๐๐ฅ๐๐ง๐จ๐๐๐ง๐๐ข๐ก๐ฆ to the following Union High School biathletes who were selected to represent the Eastern Province biathlon team:
Samantha Gilfillian (u/13 Girls B team), Ben Lemke (u/15 Boys B team), Misha Newton (u/15 Girls C team) and Hayden Pienaar (u/17 Boys B team).
We’d also like to give a ๐ฆ๐๐ข๐จ๐ง ๐ข๐จ๐ง to Union High School SGB member Grant Lemke who made the team in the Master Men 50+ A category.
๐๐ฆ๐ญ๐ญ ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ! 
Dear parents & guardians,
RE: Traffic Congestion in Caledon Street and Safety Concerns
Traffic congestion and parking outside of the school grounds, particularly in Caledon Street, is becoming a concern to us.
Parentsโ and public transport vehicles are parking illegally, sometimes three abreast at peak times, causing tremendous congestion and frustration to drivers.
Our concern is for the safety of our learners as they cross the street at these times. It is inevitable that should this continue; a learner is going to be struck by a vehicle.
I have witnessed just how inconsiderate some drivers are. There is often adequate parking alongside the pavement, but vehicles remain parked in the middle of the street. We urge parents to comply with traffic laws.
In an effort to alleviate this congestion, we will be releasing Grade 5-7 learners at 13.20 each day, from Wednesday 26 January 2022, and request that parents are timeous in collecting their children and moving on. Grade 8-12 learners will be released at 13.30 as usual.
Yours faithfully,
MR. W.E. PRINGLE
HEADMASTER
Union High School
Union High Schoolโs 15th annual Senior Cricket Festival was a huge success with eight schools taking part.
The schools, including Daniรซl Pienaar Technical High School, Marlow Agricultural High School, Queen’s College Boys’ High School, Stirling High School, Edgemead High School, Milnerton High School and Nico Malan competed over four days and showcased some exciting young talent.
T20s, 50-over encounters and declaration matches were played on Unionโs Minnaar and Puttick fields as well as at the Botanics Sports Club and at Hoรซr Volkskool with each venueโs idyllic setting in the Gem of the Karoo providing the perfect backdrop for cricket at the height of summer.
Great weather over the course of the festival and fantastic camaraderie among the participating schools, ensured that the festival produced a lot of great cricket, while being enjoyed by all concerned!
Union extends its thanks to all participating teams as well as to Hoรซr Volkskool and the Botanics Sports Grounds for making their facilities available for many of the matches.
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Congratulations to Skaakir Kazi (6 for 56 in 21 overs during Unionโs declaration match against Edgemead High School. He is seen here being congratulated by the matchโs umpire Jonathan Crankshaw. |
On Saturday, 15 January, five intrepid Union Scouts – ๐
๐
๐๐๐๐๐๐ฃ๐๐๐ง๐, ๐๐ฎ๐ก๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐ฃ๐๐๐ง๐, ๐
๐๐ฎ๐๐๐ฃ ๐๐ฌ๐๐ง๐ฉ, ๐ผ๐ก๐๐ญ ๐๐๐๐ก๐ก ๐๐ฃ๐ ๐ฝ๐๐ฃ ๐๐๐ข๐ ๐ – took off on a hike up Nardousberg accompanied by Old Unionites John Finlaison and Richard Collett.
Armed with meagre food rations which consisted of a few Pro-vitaโs, a cheese wedge, one apple, a power bar, a carrot and as much water as they could carry, they took on the second highest mountain in the Eastern Cape (2400m).
The hike up was tough, but very well handled by the boys.ย 
They set up camp at the base of the peak at about 21:00 that night after hiking the last section in the dark and thick mist.
The next morning, the group was greeted by stunning 360ห views as far as the eye could see and a beautiful sunrise. After the short walk to the beacon at the peak to write their names in the record book, they headed back down, mercifully easier, for a lunch of boerewors rolls and reflection of what was a worthy achievement!
These five young men acquitted themselves very well with good manners and a tough spirit and are a credit to themselves, their school and families, well done!
A word of thanks is extended to Mr Bruce Maree, Graaff-Reinet Scoutmaster, for making all the arrangements for the hike and also to Mr Kobus Olivier who once again allowed the Scouts access to this wonderful piece of land!
โข ๐๐ฐ๐บ๐ด (๐ง๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐๐ณ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฆ 5 ๐ต๐ฉ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ถ๐จ๐ฉ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐๐ณ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฆ 10) ๐ช๐ฏ๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ซ๐ฐ๐ช๐ฏ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐๐ค๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต๐ด, ๐ค๐ข๐ฏ ๐ฅ๐ฐ ๐ด๐ฐ ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ข ๐๐ฉ๐ถ๐ณ๐ด๐ฅ๐ข๐บ ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ง๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฎ 18:30 ๐ต๐ฐ 20:30 ๐ข๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฌ๐ช๐ฆ ๐๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ๐ฅ ๐๐ค๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต ๐๐ข๐ญ๐ญ. ๐๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ต๐ข๐ค๐ต ๐๐ค๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต ๐๐ฆ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ณ, ๐๐ณ ๐๐ณ๐ถ๐ค๐ฆ ๐๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฆ, ๐ข๐ต 082 783 7027 ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฎ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ. ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฌ๐ญ๐บ ๐๐ค๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐จ๐ด ๐ธ๐ช๐ญ๐ญ ๐ด๐ต๐ข๐ณ๐ต ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐๐ฉ๐ถ๐ณ๐ด๐ฅ๐ข๐บ, 27 ๐๐ข๐ฏ๐ถ๐ข๐ณ๐บ 2022.
๐ช๐ต๐ฎ๐ ๐ฎ ๐๐ฎ๐ ๐๐ผ ๐๐๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ฟ!
Union High Schoolโs new Grade 8s started their year with a fun-filled ๐ข๐ฅ๐๐๐ก๐ง๐๐ง๐๐ข๐ก day.
The aim of this activity is not only to promote positive interaction among the Grade 8 group, but also to establish a relationship of ๐ข๐ช๐ฉ๐ช๐๐ก ๐ง๐๐จ๐ฅ๐๐๐ฉ and ๐๐ค๐ก๐ก๐๐๐ค๐ง๐๐ฉ๐๐ค๐ฃ between the Grade 8s and the schoolโs prefects.
So, bright and early Thursday morning, 20 January, the excited Grade 8s – accompanied by the guides from the Camdeboo National Park, Union staff members and school prefects – set off on from the school on foot, making their way through the scenic Camdeboo National Park, all the way to the parkโs Environmental Education Centre.
Here, the Grade 8s enjoyed lunch after which they engaged in activities with the parkโs educational team and then tackled a series of specially designed tasks that facilitated them working together as a grade and co-operating with the senior mentoring system in the school.
This was an excellent opportunity for the senior leaders of the school to get to know their younger charges.
The learners seemed to have a lot of ๐๐จ๐ก while creating a lot of ๐๐๐ฃ๐ฃ๐ฌ ๐ ๐๐ ๐ข๐ฅ๐๐๐ฆ of this exciting phase of their schooling.
Although completely exhausted, the Grade 8s arrived back on campus that afternoon, prepped, excited and ready to embark on the journey of being a senior at Union High School.
๐ ๐ณ๐ฎ๐บ๐ถ๐น๐ ๐ต๐ฎ๐๐๐ฟ๐ถ๐ฐ๐ธ
Congratulations to James Rose-Innes, who, with six As and one B symbol, is Union High Schoolโs ๐ง๐ข๐ฃ ๐ฃ๐๐ฅ๐๐ข๐ฅ๐ ๐๐ก๐ ๐ ๐๐ง๐ฅ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ฅ๐ก๐๐ฅ of 2021.
James received distinctions for Afrikaans FAL, Mathematics, Life Orientation, History, Physical Sciences and Tourism and was a mere 1% short of getting another distinction for English HL.
Interestingly enough, James – the son of Rowan and Hanli Rose-Innes – isnโt the first in his family to achieve such academic excellence.
His olders sisters, Danelle and Monja, also displayed remarkable academic aptitude while at school, both matriculating with a bunch of distinctions to their names.
What is even more remarkable is that all three siblings matriculated with exactly six distinctions and one B symbol each โ first Danelle in 2010, then Monja in 2013 and now James in 2021.
While all at Union are delighted by Jamesโ results, we arenโt surprised. James has always been a proactive and focused learner with a clear idea of the direction in which he wants to steer his future. We wish him every success going forward.
๐๐ฆ ๐ข๐ญ๐ด๐ฐ ๐ฆ๐น๐ต๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐จ๐ณ๐ข๐ต๐ถ๐ญ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ด ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ฑ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ด, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฆ๐ด๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ค๐ช๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐บ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ฎ, ๐๐ข๐ฏ๐ญ๐ช, ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฐ ๐ซ๐ถ๐ด๐ต ๐ด๐ฐ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ด ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ข ๐ต๐ฆ๐ข๐ค๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ข๐ต ๐๐ฏ๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ
We are unbelievably proud of our Matric Class of 2021, who, despite spending the majority of their FET academic career clouded in a global pandemic, has achieved a ๐ญ๐ฌ๐ฌ% ๐ฝ๐ฎ๐๐ ๐ฟ๐ฎ๐๐ฒ with 80% of its matriculants bagging bachelor’s degree passes and the other 20%, diploma passes.
These results place Union first in the Dr Beyers Naudรฉ Local Municipality.
๐๐ฆ๐ญ๐ญ ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐จ๐ณ๐ข๐ต๐ถ๐ญ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ด!
We’d like to give a special ๐ฆ๐๐ข๐จ๐ง ๐ข๐จ๐ง to Union cricketer Skaakir Kaziย who took 6/56 in 21 overs during Unionโs declaration match against Edgemead High School.
On Wednesday, 19 January, Union High Schoolโs new Grade 5s had the privilege of adding their names to Unionโs Stand Tall Project – a participatory art installation created through the collective involvement of Union High Schoolโs learners.
With the inspiration behind the project being the habit of parents measuring their children at home, โ’๐๐๐ ๐๐ฉ๐๐ฃ๐ ๐๐๐ก๐ก ๐๐ง๐ค๐๐๐๐ฉโ was launched at Union High School last year as an interactive installation that aims to commemorate a learnerโs time at Union, by measuring their height at certain intervals during their school career.
Much like the doorframe at home, this wall will record a learnerโs growth at their Union home.
Today, the new Grade 5 learners were invited to stand against the wall while their teachers marked off their height. Then, armed with a permanent marker, they labelled it with their name, surname and date.
This installation will gradually have more and more individual markings and names added to it at specific intervals during the school year, which we hope in years to come will create a constellation of measurements blurring the boundaries between art and everyday life.