Dear Parents

It is hard to believe that we are nearly at the end of the first term. This has been a particularly busy term and I am sure that both you and your daughters are looking forward to the short break.
We have applied to the Department for permission to close school on the 28 and 29 April. School will therefore close early on Thursday 21 April and the girls will return to school on Tuesday 3 May. To make up for the time missed we will be closing school at 2.05pm at the end of each term for the rest of this year.
The 1st Hockey Team will leave on Saturday for Holland. We wish them a happy and safe holiday.
Congratulations to Mrs Bransby on the birth of a granddaughter. Congratulations, too, to Miss Terblanche who will be getting married this Saturday.
We sadly bid farewell to two staff members who will be leaving us at the end of the term. Mrs Kingwill is moving to Gauteng and we wish her all the best at her new school and we thank Mrs Hayward for stepping in and assisting us during the first term.

I hope you all have a happy holiday and enjoy the break.

MRS F BIGGS

ACTING PRINCIPAL

Congratulations to the following who were the lucky winners of our raffle at our recent Food Festival.
1st Prize:
Mrs Vanessa Wiseman (Woolworths goodie basket kindly donated by Mrs Danielle Wood)
2nd Prize:
Mikah Reddy (Cadbury’s chocolate hamper kindly donated by Mr Stuart Hancocks)
3rd Prize:
Laura Smith (Woolworths Pamper Hamper and pot plant kindly donated by Mrs Sherine Gouws)
The R15 000 (money) raised from the Food Festival will be used to buy fans for the classrooms.

Golf shirts (1xlarge; 1xmedium)
Blue towel
Navy swimming cap
‘Hello Kitty’ pencil case (filled with stationery)
New tracksuit pants (13-14yrs size)
Tracksuit pants (large)
Black drawstring bag
RT Tommie takkies with white socks inside, size 7
Multi-coloured patterned beach towel
Medium warm-up top
Small tracksuit top (N. Stander on label)
Navy jersey (size 38)

After a difficult term, diving has ended for the season on a high note with the traditional Collegiate Challenge. The new-comers to the sport put up a brave performance each doing 6 dives from the one metre board - a great feat considering they had only had one practice on the board. The more experienced divers soon overcame their lack of board practice and led the way admirably. The high-light for our new divers was a demonstration by Danni Wilson and Robyn Malgas showing how spectacular the sport can be. Our thanks go to Danni and Robyn for their display and for their expertise in the judging department.

Unfortunately, the results had not yet been finalized and they will be announced in the next assembly.

Special thanks to Miss Martin for her loyal support, and well done to all competitors!

Collegiate’s Equestrian team – comprising Caitlin Shone, Brinleigh Barclay, Lauren Parker, Alex Bowes, Catherine Fulton, Anne Fulton, Brittany Straton, Ashleigh Samuels, Claire Gomes, Amy Taylor and Hannah Campbell – banked 11 first place rosettes, 11 second places and a host of third, fourth and fifth placings at the South African National Schools Association’s Eastern Province qualifier on the weekend of 12, 13 March. Decked out with navy-and-white satin ribbon browbands and navy numnahs sporting the school badge, the horses and their riders (the "bluecoats") did the school proud with many people commenting appreciatively on the number of entries from Collegiate. Congratulations to all the girls in the team.

We apologise for omitting Tarryn Els from the swimming report published in the previous Chat. Tarryn qualified to swim at Level 3 at the SA Nationals in Durban two weeks ago.
She was also selected as a member of the EP Youth Team and EP Open Water Team which will be swimming in the SA Nationals from the 11 April to the 17 April 2011. Good luck Tarryn!
(We will report on the Level 3 SA Nationals once the full results have been received.)

Thank you to all the mothers who have supplied flowers for the foyer and functions this term.

The following girls will be travelling down to Wellington during the holidays to participate in the Paarl EliteNetball Clinic: Charis Goosen, Natalie Collier, Caroline Collier, Jessica Okere, Sinethemba Foley, Ashley Bull, Thalitha Tshangela, Zinzi Ntshanyana, Papma Mdodana and Lutho Veleko. We wish them a safe journey and an enjoyable practice clinic.

Next Issue 15 April

Twenty-four Grade 11 girls have been meeting in the library every Monday evening for two hours for the past 8 weeks. "Why?" you may ask. The answer: to learn from the Algoa Toastmaster’s members and put into practice essential leadership skills involving Public Speaking, impromptu speaking, the running of meetings and organising of events. When you consider that next to death, public speaking is the most feared activity, you realise that the course was not for the faint-hearted.

On Wednesday evening, the girls’ hard work and newly acquired skills were celebrated at the Graduation Dinner held in the Ivy Leaf. At this dinner the graduants and their parents were treated to excellent speeches, both serious and amusing. Alex Ayerst, the most improved speaker, amused us with her thought-provoking speech on the consequences of gender-equality. Abigail Buther and Michelle Zondagh delivered excellent speeches as second and first runners-up, while Kayla Koutsodius, the Best Speaker of the Course, entertained the audience with her speech on birth order.

Zanele Mdodana, SA Netball player, delivered the main address, and the gourmet meal was prepared and served by the Grade 12 Hospitality Class. We do encourage all the current Grade 10 girls to consider signing up at the end of the year for the 2012 course. To inspire you, I leave you with the following comment from one of the participants: This course has done me the world of good and I feel as if I have finally come into my own and become a lot more confident.

We wish Aidan Battison - U19 Long Jump and Triple Jump and Lauren Church - U15 100m and 200m, everything of the best as they compete at the South African High Schools Championships in Paarl. We have just heard that Aidan took the silver medal in the triple jump u19 today (Thursday)! - Editor

We congratulate the winners at our Collegiate Championships held on Tuesday 22 March:
Novice Section: Claire Balshaw
Juniors: Chelsea Botha
Seniors: Courtney Musson

Our best wishes accompany the following synchronised swimmers who were selected to represent the East Cape Schools at the annual National Aquatics Competition in East London from the 1 - 3 April:
Courtney Musson, Bronwyn Kemp, Francis le Roux, Louise van der Spuy, Bronwyn Morrick, Chelsea Botha, Nicola Sankey and Sarah Rose.

We wish the U14 Hockey Team well as they travel to East London next Friday to participate in the Rob Taylor U14 Hockey Tournament.

We are very excited and proud of our 1st Team Hockey girls who will be leaving on their tour to the Netherlands on the 26th March.
We have been very privileged to be able to secure wonderful sponsorship for our girls namely from Shamwari Game Reserve and Nelson Mandela Bay.

Our girls will be playing against the following international hockey clubs: Barendrecht Hockey Club;The Rotterdam Hockey Club (where they will also receive specialized coaching); Ommordse Mixed Hockey Club; Boxmeer Hockey Club; Civicum Hockey Club and the Almerse Hockey Club.

Please view on our website our promotional video which was compiled for the team to take overseas to promote our school, our city and Shamwari Game reserve.

Good luck to all our girls. We know that you will do well and keep the name of Collegiate Girls High flying high!