Academic, Bulletin

Maths Olympiad

Union’s maths whizzes participate in Olympiad

On Wednesday, 15 May, 23 Union learners will participate in the second round of the South African Mathematics Olympiad (SAMO).

The South African Mathematics Olympiad (SAMO) is South Africa’s biggest Olympiad.  Approximately 86 000 high school learners across the country participate annually.

There are two divisions: a junior division for Grades 8 and 9 and a senior division for Grades 10 to 12. Learners who score at least 50% in the first round which was this year written on 12 March qualify for the second round in May.  The top (approximately) 100 junior and 100 senior learners from the second round qualify for the final round in July.

The senior learners who qualified for the second round are (top) James Rose-Innes, Elia Railton, Hannah Watermeyer, Megan Doyle, Sicelokuhle (SO) Sishuba (bottom) Sabrina Potgieter, Lungile Netnou, Laetitia Theron, Ezra Mangunda and Peter Watermeyer.

The juniors are (top) Matthew McNaughton, Hannah Bodenstein, AJ Victor, Matthew Basson, Chloe Koeberg, (middle) Caitrin Spence, Simone Prinsloo, Gemma Naudé, Tayla Kingwill, David Kinghorn, (bottom) Siphosethu Malotana, Trinity West and Cadee Arends.

Union wishes these learners the best of luck!

Academic, Bulletin

Salisbury Connection 2019

The two UHS learners participating in the 2019 Salisbury Exchange Programme, Matthew Davenport and Caytah-Leigh Koeberg, have officially started their schooling at the Salisbury Cathedral School in the UK.

They have been issued with their new uniforms, explored the school (which is spectacularly located on the beautiful grounds of Salisbury Cathedral) and are very excited about all that lies in store for them these next three months.

It is tradition for exchangees and gappies to leave their names on a brick in the boarding house of the Salisbury Cathedral School. Upon arrival, Matthew quickly found that of Brent Hesselink and Jude Langmead, who travelled to the UK in 2018. Mrs. Gerber’s (then Miss van Zyl) name is also on the wall, reminding us of her time as a gappie a few years back!

 

 

Academic, Bulletin

Integrated Learning Therapy

Mrs. Christine Scott, an educator as well as school and career guidance counsellor at Union High School, recently successfully obtained her certification as an ILT practitioner.

Developed by Educational Psychologist, Dr. Shirley Kokot, Integrated Learning Therapy (ILT) strives to uncover the root causes of children’s learning difficulties and behavioural challenges in order to help them overcome them.

Mrs. Scott, who has always sought ways to widen the scope of help available… to learners at UHS, completed the ILT practitioner course in order to empower her with the knowledge needed to recognise the possible causes of learning difficulties in children and to then, initiate remedial movement and other activities in order to help.

Mrs. Scott encourages parents of children who experience learning and behavioural challenges to visit the ILT website to find out more about the efficacy of ILT: https://www.ilt.co.za/

Academic, Eco-Schools

Geography

What sets an excellent learning experience apart from a mediocre one?

The ability to solve problems in creative ways!

Geography learners at Union High School were recently tasked with planning a commercial farm on a specified landscape provided to them.

The lesson was simulation-based and required learners to plan the lay-out of their ideal farm by applying content recently covered in class with regards to valley climates, river management systems and factors to take into account when making decisions on establishing a settlement.

They could then present their effort to their respective groups and negotiate the best possible solution. Each group then made a final presentation to the rest of the class.

The young geographers had loads of fun applying their newly acquired knowledge.

Academic, Bulletin

Study Skills for gr 6 & 9 Learners

The importance of good study habits can never be minimized. But, how can you make studying not only tolerable, but actively fun?

This is something that Elevate Education – South Africa’s largest provider of study skills seminars – have mastered.

Earlier this morning, Wednesday, 17 April, Elevate Education’s two young and vibrant study skills facilitators, Brett and Guy, once again paid a visit to the school to meet up with the Grade 6 and 9 groups for their second study skills session. (The first session – a Study Sensei seminar – was held in February.)

Shouts of delight could be heard ringing through the corridors as the presenters entered their respective venues and were greeted by the excited learners.  Time management skills were on the agenda today and the learners were shown, among other things, how to create an effective study timetable.

• UHS looks forward to seeing the Grade 6 and 9 learners’ parents when they meet the team tonight at 17:30 in the school hall for the Elevate Education study skills information session.  This is an opportunity for parents to find out what study skill students have been learning at school and how they can play an important role in supporting them at home.
Academic, Bulletin

Learners Introduced to the Culinary Arts

On Wednesday, 10 April, Olive Chef School – one of the top culinary arts schools in South Africa – paid a visit to Union High School.  During their interaction with our learners, executive chef Rinette Enslin proceeded to demonstrate the fine art of French cuisine.

Within 45 minutes, chef Rinette had prepared an exquisite looking three course meal, creating spectacular plates of food that were a delight to the eyes as well as the taste buds!  When asked how much such a meal would cost, learners were quite flabbergasted when chef Rinette answered “about R750”, after which she then explained how costing is done.

Olive Chef School – situated in Bloemfontein – is an internationally approved culinary school and their chef training courses are second to none.

The following are some of the career opportunities which formal, certificated studies in culinary education at Olive Chef School can afford you: chef, caterer, food stylist, hotel chef de cuisine, hotel food and beverage manager, test kitchen, restaurant manager and kitchen manager.

For those of our learners who are considering a career in the culinary arts, we hope you were inspired by this delicious presentation and that it has helped you in making an informed decision about your future.

Academic, Bulletin, Eco-Schools

Fun With Structures

Union’s Grade 7s are learning about natural and man-made structures in Technology this term.

Earlier this week, using spaghetti and marshmallows, students experimented with different structures to determine which ones are able to handle the greatest amount of load. This experiment helped them to further understand the effects that compression and tension forces have with respect to the strength of structures. Spaghetti cannot hold much tension or compress…ion; therefore, it breaks very easily. Marshmallows handle compression well but do not hold up to tension.

At the Union schools, we are thankful for small class sizes that allow teachers the opportunity to successfully conduct these experiments. Teachers are able to be actively involved with everything the learners do, resulting in increased participation and better communication between the teacher and the learners.

Academic, Bulletin, Student Life

RCL Training – Global Leadership Consultants

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!

Academic, Bulletin

Gr 10 Tourism: Drostdy Excursion

DROSTDY EXCURSION

On 21 February the Grade 10 Tourism class of Union High School visited the Drostdy Hotel. The learners were welcomed by the Food and Beverage manager, Mr Izak van Rooyen. He gave them a tour of the 5-star facility and enriched them with information about the history of the hotel. The in-room technology of this establishment was something that the learners had only seen in books. The key-card gives access to all facilities in the room and it switches everything off within 10 minutes of leaving the room. The heated towel rails were just one of the luxuries that stood out in the bathrooms. Learners were informed of what is needed to qualify for 5-star grading by the Tourism Grading Council of South Africa. The facilities and surrounding areas are of the finest quality. This was a wonderful experience. Many learners hope to be in the position to stay at or maybe even own a hotel like this one day.

Academic, Bulletin

Elevate Education

Each year, over 120 schools across South Africa choose Elevate Education to run their study skills seminars and workshops for one key reason: each programme actually works! Elevate’s study skills workshops are designed to achieve behavioural change amongst students. The challenge in any study skills programme is getting students to use and apply the skills they learn. Elevate gets students using the skills from its workshops through an integrated process that works.

“I ne…ver knew that studying could be so much fun” leads a report from one of Union High School grade 6 boys, at the end of their study skills seminar on 7th February.

The corridors rang with cheering as learners used mnemonics as part of their demonstrations on how to make studying fun. It was evident from learners’ expressions and renewed energy in their step, that the session, led by young, vibrant presenters from Elevate Education, was a much needed addition to already exceptional focus on learning.

We are looking forward to more of these sessions and even more to seeing how the skills learnt will allow for further refinement of our learners’ skills repertoire.