Bulletin, Hostels

New Junior Co-ed Boarding Establishment

One thing is certain: change is essential. Change means growth, progress and moving forward.
In what has been one of the most significant developments at Union High School in recent times, the school officially reopened its two boarding houses as co-ed establishments on Monday, 1 March 2021 – Herby Arnott House as a junior co-educational boarding house for Grade 5 to 7 learners and Arthur Kingwill House as a senior co-educational boarding house for Grade 8 to 12 learners.
Herby Arnott House has served the school as its girls’ hostel since 1959 when it was built. Arthur Kingwill House, in turn, has served as the school’s boys’ hostel since its construction in 1953. As of this week, these two boarding establishments now offer Union High School’s boarders a modern, vibrant and age-appropriate co-ed experience.
Combined, the Union Preparatory School and Union High School now offer three co-educational boarding houses:
• Max Kroon House for the Grade 1 to 4 learners;
• Herby Arnott House for the Grade 5 to 7 learners and;
• Arthur Kingwill House for the Grade 8 to 12 learners.
At Union, we pride ourselves on providing our boarders with a safe and supportive environment and believe that the restructuring of our boarding establishments as co-educational houses will have many benefits for our learners, not least the further development of the family atmosphere for which Union is rightly proud, but it will also serve to provide a mutually supportive environment for both boys and girls to live and work together and learn from each other.
All three houses have separate boys’ and girls’ wings with spacious common rooms, game rooms and extensive grounds and sports facilities that provide the necessary break-out spaces for busy and active children.
An experienced and dedicated team of boarding staff creates a warm and caring atmosphere across all three boarding houses, offering round the clock support to ensure the learners feel at home.
Each house has been structured in such a way that if offers its boarders a comfortable home-away-from-home where they can feel a sense of belonging, make friends and enjoy their school years fully immersed in Union’s vibrant campus life. This enables learners to flourish at a time in their life when they are making great leaps in their academic, physical and emotional development.
Seen here is our very first group of Grade 5 to 7 boarders to reside in Union’s new junior co-educational boarding establishment at Herby Arnott House.
Bulletin, Hostels

Drive-by Farewell For Aunty Pam

With the ongoing pandemic thwarting an in-person party, the staff at Arthur Kingwill House, one of Union’s boarding houses, had to get creative in saying goodbye and congratulations to a beloved member of staff who is retiring after a long career at the school.
The moment was therefore celebrated, from a distance, on Sunday, 14 June, in what is becoming an increasingly more common way to “get together” – a drive-by.
After having first all gathered at AK House, the friends and colleagues of Ms Pam Hector then drove to her house, with each of them stopping to tie a balloon to her fence and to wish her a well-deserved rest and an enjoyable retirement.

‘Aunty Pam’ as she was affectionately known, has worked for the Union Schools’ boarding houses for the past 34 years and has always been regarded as a very kind and dear lady.
Her gentle nature was appreciated by both the adults and the young AK House gentlemen alike.
The boys have always spoken very highly of her and the House’s superintendent Mr Donald Kingwill and his wife Alet will always remember her for her gentle nature and friendliness.  As a retirement gift from her friends and colleagues, Aunty Pam was presented with a beautiful king size blanket made up of squares, knitted by the ladies who worked at AK House during the winter of 2017, that was recently crocheted together.
Happy retirement, Aunty Pam. You will be missed!
Bulletin, Eco-Schools, Hostels

Union Supports Dam Clean-up

This past Saturday morning (26 October), some of Union’s Arthur Kingwill House boarders, joined the hostel’s superintendent, Mr Donald Kingwill, his wife Alet, and daughter Ingrid, in participating in the local Assembly Church’s ‘Dam Day’ initiative.

The boarders were just some of the many members of the Union community who were among the 612 locals who supported this venture which sought to clear the Nqweba Dam of dead fish and litter.

At the end of the day’s efforts, a total of 36 625 fish were picked up!

Union congratulates the Assembly Church on this very successful community project and extends its thanks to all those from the Union community who rolled up their sleeves to support them!

Biathlon, Hostels

HAH Hostel Supper

A memorable evening was recently enjoyed by all the girls at Union’s Herby Arnott House.

The Egyptian-themed annual house dinner presented an opportunity for all involved to reflect on the year in boarding and to acknowledge the departing Grade 12s.

This year the HAH girls were joined by the little Max Kroon House boarders, who were all very excited to attend this special event.

During the course of the evening, a select few special guests were honoured for their contribution to hostel life, thank you gifts were presented to hostel staff and farewell gifts were given to the matrics.

The highlight of the evening was the announcement of the hostel’s new prefects for 2019/20.

Congratulations to Jade Shires (Headgirl), Lauren Rose-Innes (Prefect) and Ayden Brown (Deputy Headgirl).

They will be assisted by monitors Primrose Mutapati, Kaydn Retief, Hannah Watermeyer and Soyama Mbetshu.

The evening was thoroughly enjoyed by all those present and the school extends its heartfelt thanks to all involved for creating such a special evening for the girls.

Bulletin, Hostels

HAH Prefects 2020

We extend our congratulations to the girls who have been chosen as the leaders of Union’s Herby Arnott House for the coming year.

They have already taken up their duties, working in tandem with the Grade 12 prefects until they start writing their final examinations.

They are: (front) Jade Shires (Headgirl), Lauren Rose-Innes (Prefect) and Ayden Brown (Deputy Headgirl). They will be assisted by monitors (back) Soyama Mbetshu, Kaydn Retief, Hannah Watermeyer and Primrose Mutapati.

Bulletin, Hostels

HAH Matric Girls Treated

The Grade 12 girls at Union’s Herby Arnott House recently enjoyed a relaxing spa break at the Africology Spa at Drostdy Hotel.

The afternoon saw the girls take full advantage of the spa’s leisure facilities, with the world-class therapists sweeping them off their feet.

This was the ultimate way to unwind for the girls in anticipation of the final exams that lie in wait…

Bulletin, Hostels

HAH Girls Visit The Valley of Desolation

On Sunday afternoon, 8 September, Mrs Lehesta Galloway took the Herby Arnott House girls to view the geological phenomenon that is the Valley of Desolation.

The Camdeboo National Park’s most popular sight, the Valley of Desolation – often called ‘The Cathedral of the Mountains’ – is a hauntingly beautiful valley with outstanding views featuring rugged, piled dolerite columns set against the backdrop of the endless Karoo plains.

From the nearby Toposcope viewpoint, which was also visited by the girls, Graaff-Reinet can be viewed in its entirety from above, nestled in a bend of the Sundays River.

Hostels

AKH Annual Dinner & Awards Evening

On Thursday evening, 15 August, the gentlemen of Union’s Arthur Kingwill House enjoyed their annual house dinner and awards evening in the Tony Burrell Union.

The Union was transformed beautifully for this auspicious occasion, with candlelight and great camaraderie creating a wonderful ambience.

The event was an opportunity for the hostel’s staff and learners to reflect back on the year, to celebrate and recognise the immense growth each boarder experienced in this time, as well as to say farewell to the matric group.

This year, they were joined by the little Max Kroonies, who have temporarily made Arthur Kingwill House their home while renovations are underway at their boarding establishment.

It was heart-warming to see the respect the little ones have for the older learners and a short video made by the Max Kroon boarders, in which they go into detail about how much they love living at AK House, was enjoyed by all.

It was also great to see the ‘gents’ – from Grade 1 right through to Grade 12 – dressed in their formal attire. The learners represented themselves very well and enjoyed a truly memorable evening.

To start the evening, Mr. Donald Kingwill, Superintendent of Arthur Kingwill House, welcomed the guests and thanked all those who had contributed to the success and happiness of the past year, particularly the 2019 Grade 12s and prefect body. They have led the boarding house with quiet dignity and a passion for the school which doesn’t go unnoticed.

The evening’s highlight, as always, was the awards ceremony. The following awards were presented:

• Arm Wrestling Champion:  Damon Fouché
• AKH Braai Master:  Vincent Clarke
• For the person who made the kick when it mattered:  Owen Paxton
• Grade 1 – 4 Sportsman of the Year:  Owen Paxton
• Senior Sportsman of the Year:  S’bongakonke Koyingana and Bowen Langmead
• Junior General Knowledge Champion:  Bradley Davenport and Daniel Short
• Senior General Knowledge Champion:  Lunga Zantsi and Matthew Hesselink
• Grade 1 – 4 Academic Achiever:  Jake Hobson
• Top Academic (Grade 5 – 7):  Matthew Paxton
• Top Academic (Grade 8 – 9:  Jude Langmead
• Top Academic (Grade 10 – 12):  Bowen Langmead
• Service Awards:  Khanya Butshingi, Luke McNaughton, Iviwe Ndamane, Zusakhe Ngwana and Peter Watermeyer.
• The boarder who contributed most to hostel life by being punctual, neat, courteous and well-behaved:  Khanya Butshingi and Peter Watermeyer.
• Fidelitas Awards:  Khanya Butshingi and Peter Watermeyer.

The prefect body for 2020 – those who will lead this boarding house and take care of the younger boys over the next year – was also announced.

Well done to Jaden Botherton (Head Prefect), supported by Bowen Langmead (Deputy Head Boy), Sicelokuhle (SO) Sishuba, Buchele Siloti and Matthew Hesselink.

We wish them everything of the best as they assume their duties.

The boys then enjoyed the famous “Union steaks” and ice-cream with chocolate sauce after which they were led by Konke Koyingana in song – a part of the evening which always highlights the spirit of the boarding house and provides outsiders with a small glimpse of the ‘behind-the-scenes’ hostel life.

Bulletin, Hostels

AKH Prefects Announced

It was a special occasion on Thursday evening, 15 August, at the Arthur Kingwill House annual dinner, when five young men were appointed to serve as the house prefects for 2019/20.

Jaden Brotherton was announced as the Head Boy, he is supported by Bowen Langmead (Deputy Head Boy), Sicelokuhle (SO) Sishuba, Buchele Siloti and Matthew Hesselink.  Being a house prefect is the ultimate honour given in any school boarding establishment and means a great deal to all who are chosen.

With the honour of being a boarding house prefect comes great responsibility. The boys are expected to take on leadership tasks which sometimes require them to make decisions that may not be popular with their peers. This is very difficult for young men, but the badge presented to them is a symbol in the faith bestowed upon them by the school community and we are sure they will all do an excellent job!

Congratulations!