With Term 1 well underway, we are delighted to share with you another address from our Headmaster, Mr W.E. Pringle.
The Union Schools are proud to announce our exciting new partnership with KELLER EDUCATION.
Keller Education is a collaboration of education leaders driven to reimagine schooling and committed to improving the school experience for modern children while specifically focusing on the quality of teaching and thinking in schools.
Driven by recent neuroscience research, they will be sharing decades of experience with our educators, while providing them with exceptional training, a variety of support strategies, ideas and toolboxes to navigate seamlessly through 21st-century schooling.
We are super excited about this new development and the benefits our learners are sure to reap from it! We hope you are too!
Have a look at the accompanying video or visit their website at http://www.keller.education/ to find out more.
On Monday and Tuesday morning, the first days of school for our Group A and Group B learners respectively, Union High School’s head prefects made the extra effort to personally welcome Union’s new Grade 5s to the school.
The learners were introduced to the prefects, after which they were all presented with a little card. The purpose of the activity was to help the new learners feel welcome and part of the school community.
As part of a national youth employment drive launched by the Department of Basic Education (DoE) at the end of 2020, Union High School was supplied with four temporary Education Assistant (EA) positions to support our educators in strengthening the learning environment at the school.
Among other things, these EAs have been tasked with assisting our teachers to prepare their classrooms for teaching and learning and ensuring that teaching materials are available and ready for use.
They will also be helping the school with the learners’ educational and social development; maintain safe, secure and clean classroom environments; oversee learners out of the classroom and during lunch breaks; supervise group activities of learners and carry out administrative tasks as required by the school.
๐ง๐ต๐ฒ๐ ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ฒ:
โข Ms Eldrรฉ Davids
After matriculating, Ms Davids entered the world of finance, but her passion for children and their development soon saw her pursuing a career in education. She is currently a B.Ed Foundation Phase 1st Year student and is looking forward to the opportunity of making a real difference in the childrenโs lives while at Union.
โข Ms Mitchellรฉ Smit
Ms Smit moved to Graaff-Reinet from East London (where she was employed as a legal assistant) to support her husband who was called to serve the Graaff-Reinet community as a pastor. Ms Smit finds working with children to be very rewarding and fulfilling and is looking forward to being on hand in the classrooms, to help guide the learners through their lesson with any extra help that they might need.
โข Ms Bethia Feldon
As an Old Unionite and a former student teacher at Union, Ms Feldon is already well-known among the members of our school community. Ms Feldon is currently doing the 4th Year of her Bachelor of Education (BEd) degree through Unisa. With a strong desire to instil a love for learning in children, she is looking forward to being a part of Union again this year.
โข Ms Lineo Kekana
Ms Kekana was raised in Graaff-Reinet and attended the Union Schools from 2004 to 2011, matriculating at St Patrickโs College CBC. Ms Kekana holds a BSS Degree from Rhodes University and is currently a final Year LLB student. With a thirst for knowledge herself and a genuine interest in the different ways that children learn, sheโs looking forward to having the opportunity to assist Union’s learners in their quest for knowledge.
Union High School is delighted to welcome Mrs Bianca Gerber to its team of educators.
Mrs Gerber will be teaching Afrikaans to the school’s Grade 8s and 9s as well as Life Orientation to the Grade 8s.
Mrs Gerber recently settled in Graaff-Reinet after having spent some time abroad as an educator at the Al Shola American Private School in Dubai.
Prior to that, she taught at Aberdeen Secondary School for four years.
Mrs Gerber brings with her both a passion and enthusiasm for teaching and we are proud to have her on board!
๐ช๐ฒ๐น๐ฐ๐ผ๐บ๐ฒ ๐ฏ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ธ!
Our head prefects for 2021, Hannah Watermeyer and Kyle-Luke du Preez, have put together a short video to welcome their fellow learners back to school for the 2021 academic year.
We invite you to watch the clip by clicking on the accompanying link.
Union High School thanks them for this special gesture and wish them well as they embark on the final stretch of their high school journey!
Union High School is what it is because of the phenomenal educators we are lucky enough to have on our staff. This year, we have some truly great ones who are retiring.
At a special staff function in The Tony Burrell Union earlier today, Monday, 14 December, Union High School bid farewell to Mrs Lehesta Galloway and Mrs Karmin van der Walt, who, after having spent the past 25 and 20 years, respectively, teaching at Union, will be retiring at the end of this year.
These two educators have both had extensive and influential careers in education spanning decades and, when you take such a high degree of knowledge and skill, and you mix in joy and an unquenchable passion for teaching, you get individuals whose legacy will last with learners and colleagues for years to come.
We thank Mrs Galloway and Mrs van der Walt for their outstanding service to the learners, the parents, the entire community, and their work beyond their classrooms to help their colleagues to grow, to learn and to succeed with their learners. We wish them a wonderful retirement and great happiness in the future.
“๐ ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฃ๐ณ๐ข๐ค๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ฑ๐ข๐ด๐ต ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฌ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ๐ธ๐ข๐ณ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ง๐ถ๐ต๐ถ๐ณ๐ฆ. ๐๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ช๐ด ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ต๐ช๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ ๐ข๐ฎ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฅ๐บ.” – ๐๐ฟ๐ถ๐ ๐๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ฟ
This has not been an easy year for the Class of 2020.ย It was, therefore, especially heartwarming to witness our matrics carry out some of the traditions of school leavers at Union High School after their exam session this morning, Friday, 11 December.Valedictory is a very special event for our matrics – in particular the ringing of the Centenary Bell which signifies the end of their high school careers.
Grade 12s, your journey at Union may be coming to an end, but know this: you will forever be part of the Union family!
We wish you, our Matric Class, all the best as you embark on the next exciting chapter of your lives.
Take responsibility for your own life, determine your priorities and persevere when life is difficult. Go forward with pride and courage, knowing that your time at Union High School has prepared you well for wherever your lives may take you.
Follow the link to view more photographs:
It is be compulsory for all Grade 8 โ 12 learners to have tablets, as specified below, at the start of 2021.
Please ensure that you invest in a tablet with the correct specification to ensure compatibility with the MiEbook app.
Recommended Tablets
Samsung Galaxy Tab A P585 10.1โ
Proline H10882M
RCT Enkulu
Huawei MediaPad T5
Lenovo M10
No I-pads please!
Follow the link to view the correct minimum tablet specifications:
With the end in sight as the Matric Class of 2020 enters the final stretch of the National Senior Certificate exams, we encourage all Grade 12s to double down and give the last set of papers their final push.
You are already set up for success with your newly developed resilience and grit, so use these new skills to maintain your momentum in the coming days to ensure you score every single mark you are able to in your remaining papers. Donโt drop your resolve now, but rather give it your all right to the end.
“๐๐ข๐บ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ญ๐ช๐ง๐ฆ ๐ช๐ด๐ฏโ๐ต ๐ข๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต ๐ข๐ท๐ฐ๐ช๐ฅ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ณ๐ถ๐ช๐ด๐ฆ๐ด, ๐ฎ๐ข๐บ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ตโ๐ด ๐ข๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต ๐ค๐ฐ๐ญ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ค๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ค๐ข๐ณ๐ด ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ถ๐ฑ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ช๐ต!” โ ๐จ๐ป๐ธ๐ป๐ผ๐๐ป
