Dear Parents Friends and Staff
I like to begin by briefly reflecting on the past three weeks. Our Christian families celebrated the important religious festivals of Easter whilst our Muslim families welcomed Eid and the end of Ramadan. Indeed, the past few weeks have been quite disrupted with the number of public holidays falling during the school week. However we have made every effort to maintain a focused academic program.
Career Dress Up Day
The entire school participated in a career dress up day recently. Learners and teachers entered into the spirit of the day and dressed accordingly. It certainly was fun for all involved and I would like to thank those who participated and also for the funds raised for the Outreach Committee.
Oupa and Ouma Day
To celebrate the influence our grand parents have had on our lives and to remember them with love and affection, we held an “Oupa and Ouma dress up day” The event was extremely well supported by staff and learners and added a welcome fun element to the school day. Indeed some of our learners were quite unrecognisable in the costumes.
Care for KZN
After the recent floods in KZN we as a school embarked on a mini fundraiser to gather together funds which we can send to a recognised charity organisation who are distributing food blankets and clothing to the needy in KZN. I believe that as a school we need to be aware of the challenges facing communities both close to us and those that are some distance away and reach out when the need arises. Check out the cool video here.
Debate
Our senior and Junior debate team travelled to Polokwane to participate in a debate competition last weekend. They achieved great success and were acknowledged as winners in a number of categories.
Archery
MECS continues to participate in regular events and are enjoying this participation and encountering measures of success. This is an ongoing project and it is our hope that in the near future to develop an archery range on a more permanent basis on the field adjacent to the school.
Grade 1 visit to the Life Science Lab
Our Grade 1 classes took the short walk from the Foundation Phase up to the High School to enjoy some time in the Life Science laboratory. They certainly had a wonderful time and Mrs du Plessis treated them to some of the more interesting insights into the Life Science curriculum.
Football, Netball and Mini Cricket
Football and netball practices are taking place on a regular basis and we are fortunate to have engaged the services of professional football coaches to assist both junior and senior football teams. Mini cricket is taking place for primary school learners along with the football and the netball.
Covid update
Whilst the Covid pandemic has eased somewhat there remains a possibility of infections particularly amongst younger people. The wearing of masks remains in place at school and we urge all our learners and parents to be vigilant and to practice a safe Covid protocols
Blood Drive
Mrs Neethling initiated a very successful and worthwhile blood drive which took place on recently. The South African blood services clinic set up a donation station and we were able to source a significant number of donations. This is a very worthwhile initiative and I would like to thank all the staff and learners who were able to donate blood.
Network upgrade
In order to ensure that we become technologically compliant and indeed have the capacity to use technological resources in our classrooms it has become necessary to upgrade our network backbone to support a multitude of various devices which learners and staff use. This process is currently in place and we expect it to be completed shortly and look forward to making use of the opportunities it presents.
Golf Day feedback
Our recent Golf Day was a great success and we were able to raise enough money to purchase a new double door fridge for the Tuck Shop and six 50 inch smart TVs to be distributed between the High School, Primary School and ECD centre.
New Fridge 
New TV’s
Unacceptable behaviour in the bathrooms
We have noticed a trend that has emerged particularly in the primary school and amongst the girl learners who are writing graffiti and indeed words and text of a very unsavoury nature on the walls and doors in the bathrooms. Prior to the Covid lock down we had a system in place whereby we controlled access to the bathrooms. Sadly we now have to return to this rather awkward and inconvenient system whereby learners have to collect a key and sign it out to visit bathrooms when they need to.
Calendar
Please consult the important dates below for the remainder of term 2
| MAY 2022 | ||
| 23 | MONDAY | |
| 24 | TUESDAY | |
| 25 | WEDNESDAY | |
| 26 | THURSDAY | |
| 27 | FRIDAY | Gr R Speech Contest 14h30 STAFF MEETING |
| 28 | SATURDAY | |
| 29 | SUNDAY | |
| 30 | MONDAY | |
| 31 | TUESDAY |
JUNE 2022
| 1 | WEDNESDAY | |
| 2 | THURSDAY | LOLLIPOP DAY GR RR – 12 YOUTH DAY CELEBRATION Gr 4-12 |
| 3 | FRIDAY | STAFF MEETING 12H15 |
| 4 | SATURDAY | |
| 5 | SUNDAY | |
| 6 | MONDAY | GR 7 – 12 EXAM STARTING |
| 7 | TUESDAY | Foreign Student Check |
| 8 | WEDNESDAY | |
| 9 | THURSDAY | Fire -Quip Fire Extinguishers Service 22 Kiepersol MANCO |
| 10 | FRIDAY | Staff Meeting GR 4 – 6 EXAM STARTING |
| 11 | SATURDAY | |
| 12 | SUNDAY | |
| 13 | MONDAY | |
| 14 | TUESDAY | |
| 15 | WEDNESDAY | |
| 16 | THURSDAY | PUBLIC HOLIDAY |
| 17 | FRIDAY | |
| 18 | SATURDAY | |
| 19 | SUNDAY | |
| 20 | MONDAY | |
| 21 | TUESDAY | SGB Meeting 16h30 Journals updated |
| 22 | WEDNESDAY | 2nd Final Entry Return |
| 23 | THURSDAY | F/PHASE MANDELA PROJECT ENDS Last Day Foundation Phase F/Phase Reports out All journals printed out and handed to Mrs. Lombard |
| 24 | FRIDAY | All learner registers updated on SASPAC Profiles Completed – P/F to be added next term EXAM Ends SCHOOL ENDS |