1.YEAR PLANNER:Each girl in the school has been issued with a school diary. On pages 15 and 16 in the diary, is a year planner. All the events, sporting fixtures, tours, meetings (as available in December 2010) are included in this planner. PLEASE CONSULT THIS TO FAMILIARISE YOURSELF WITH THE SCHOOL’S PROGRAMME. At the end of each Chat the events scheduled for the fortnight ahead will be noted in the Chat as a reminder to you.

2. SCHOOL TIMES: The times for each school day are listed on page 2 of the school diary. Please note that school starts at 7.40 every day of the week but closes at different times. On Monday, Wednesday, Friday school ends at 14.05, while on Tuesday and Thursday it ends at 14.15. This is to accommodate a dedicated test period in the timetable.

3. ASSESSMENT PROGRAMME: The test period dates and rules pertaining to assessment appear on pages 9 to 14 in the school diary. Please note that other tests are also scheduled during subject lessons. Your daughter has been given most of these dates by her teachers already. Please ask her for further details should you wish to assist her with a study programme.

4. THE SCHOOL DIARY: This is a valuable source of information for both you and your daughter. Please familiarise yourself with the content in the diary.

5. MONEY MATTERS: Any official school request for payments will be printed in blue ink or on blue paper. This is done to prevent fraudulent photocopying of such.

 6. WEBSITE:To all new and existing parents, please visit our website to view upcoming calendar events for the year. We have also posted the pictures from the Grade 8 camp that took place last week. Go to www.collegiatehigh.co.za You may also send details of your daughter’s achievements for inclusion on the "We are Proud of..." page. Should you wish to receive our bi-weekly newsletter via email, please sign up on the homepage.

7. TRAFFIC: Please remember to be careful when using the Conyngham Road slip way and not to park across the gates as this prevents Staff from entering the grounds and it is a potential crash site.

What better way to get to know your fellow parents as well as your daughter’s teachers than to meet them socially at the 100 Club. Not only do you have an opportunity to socialise, but you also have a chance to win various prizes and money. Membership forms for the 100 Club were sent home on Tuesday 25 January (replies were to be returned by the 28th).
Please join us for 7 draws this year - a huge opportunity for parents to participate in the life of the school.

"BELINDA", by Belinda Walton (CGHS 1982-86)
On Thursday　 24　 February 2011, 17:30 – 19:00 in the　 new cafeteria at the Senior Collegiate School. Sherry/fruit juice and snacks will be served, and a string quartet will play.
Former Collegiate Girls and other interested members of the public　 are encouraged to attend the book launch and have the pleasure of meeting Belinda and hear how she went from tragedy to triumph!

Each year Collegiate raises a great deal of money for the Christmas Cheer Fund (through the annual Charity Bazaar) and Community Chest (through the Collegiate Carols). However, these are not the only Charities in Port Elizabeth that the Collegiate family supports:
Each Friday girls are encouraged in their register classes to place money in the school feeding fund tin. This has become even more important considering the unconscionable withdrawal by the Education Department of their financial support of school feeding in needy schools.
Every House Day girls are able to contribute to a silver collection with various charities benefiting: Queen Alexandra supports Child Welfare; Queen Elizabeth, Cheshire Home; Queen Mary, Tape Aids for the Blind; and Queen Victoria, EP Children’s Home.
The weekly cake sales run in turn by every class support the following: Grade 8 classes, Animal Welfare; Grade 9, St Francis Hospice; Grade 10, Cerebral Palsy; Grade 11, Lake Farm; and Grade 12, the Cancer Association.
There are many people in our city and beyond who live in dire circumstances and we are proud of our Collegiate Girls for giving of their effort and money to support those less fortunate than they. Please encourage your daughters to continue the spirit of giving throughout their lives.

Congratulations to the following girls on their election to the Social Club Committees for 2011.

SENIOR COMMITTEE:

Chairperson: Chanel Crous (E5)
Vice-Chair Kevina Kakembo (E1)
Members: Natalie Collier (E5); Candice Fraser (E3); Tiffany Koeberg (E2); Robin Malgas (E1); Ruth Morley (E2); Courtney Muller (E1); Tarryn Murray (E2); Nohle Ngoqo (E5):Aimee Roesstorff (E2); Khanya Selana (E2)
JUNIOR COMMITTEE: Alex Ayerst(D1); Adrienne du Preez(D1);Catherine Fish (D1); Sinethemba Foley (D2);Kayla Koutsoudis (D3); Nina Naidoo (D3); Ethu Ncanywa (D4); Chandré Smit (D1); Kelly van Jaarsveldt (D2); Jamie-Leigh Michau (D1)

Congratulations to Jessica Liss (C3). Not only has she been selected for the Eastern Province Senior National Squad, she has also been selected to attend the South African National Squad training camp from the 26 to 31 January.

She will also be participating in the International Grand Prix Gala on the 29 and 30 January and will travel to Egypt in February. Collegiate is proud of Jess and her swimming achievements.

A large number of our girls represented Eastern Province in Bloemfontein last weekend. We will acknowledge them and their achievements at the Gala once we have received official notification of their results. 

Congratulations to Jamie-Leigh Michau (D1) and Nicola Butters (B2). Jamie played in the final matches of both the Under 18 Super 7 Tennis Tournament in Port Elizabeth and East London during the holidays. She was runner-up in both events.
Nicola played in the final match of the Under 16 Super 7 Tennis Tournament in East London. She, too, was runner-up.

Next Issue 11 February

Dear Parents
I would like to take this opportunity to welcome all the new parents to the School and wish you all a happy, healthy and peaceful 2011.
The year got off to a shaky start when 13 of our Matric candidates did not receive full results. I am happy to report that we have subsequently received all the outstanding results. We will be placing an advert in the Weekend Post to recognise these girls’ achievements and to congratulate the Class of 2010 on their excellent results.

Of the 140 girls who wrote 127 passed with a bachelor pass (Matric endorsement).
3 Girls gained 7 distinctions (Rebecca Muller; Amy Maltby and Nadia Moosajee)
8 Girls obtained 6 distinctions
8 Girls gained 5 distinctions
6 Girls obtained 4 distinctions
8 Girls gained 3 distinctions
21 Girls gained 2 distinctions
33 girls gained 1 distinction
This is a total of 232 subject distinctions

We are all extremely proud of our girls and their hard working teachers.

We welcomed the following new teachers at the beginning of the year:
Mrs Seaman to the English and History Departments.
Mrs Hayward to the Arts and Culture and Life Orientation Departments.
Mrs Douglass to the Xhosa Department
Mrs Raubenheimer, who will be running a reading programme with the Grade 8 and 9 classes.
Mrs West, who is our New Sports Administrator and
Co-ordinator.
We ask you to support our effort to encourage your daughters to become involved in at least one sport per season. This does not have to involve playing the sport as it could also involve time keeping or scoring. We would also like to see more of our girls becoming involved in the cultural activities of the School. Please encourage your daughters to honour their commitments throughout the year.

In an attempt to keep you informed of all the events planned for the year, we have included a year plan in your daughters’ diaries. You will also find the Tuesday and Thursday test time table printed in the diary. Check in your daughters’ diary for the regulations regarding tests missed.
Please note the change of bell times for Tuesday and Thursday. We will be closing slightly later on both these days to accommodate the longer test times. All the bell times are also listed in the diary.

A reminder to all Matric parents that there will be a Matric parents evening this coming Monday. We hope that you will make every effort to attend.

F BIGGS
ACTING PRINCIPAL

The SCA group of Collegiate was approached at the end of last year to be involved in a programme called "JUST INSPIRED 2011" that would see our girls assisting with the collection and distribution of educational resources to 20 of the poorest schools in Port Elizabeth (as identified by the Education Department) over a period of 11 days in the April school holidays. Collegiate’s SCA group has undertaken to try to supply a small stationery pack to each of the high school learners at the 5 high schools on the list of 20. This totals about 4000 stationery packs!

We need your help! If you are able to make a financial contribution or are able to contribute stationery towards this project, please contact Miss van Rooyen via the school office or via your daughter.

Other needs that we are hoping to meet which you could perhaps consider are: Toilet paper, feminine hygiene products, old or new school shoes, socks and white school shirts. We are also looking for books in any language to be placed in a school library, old cell phones and computer components for the 5 schools. Please would you encourage your daughter to clear out her cupboards and to donate any items of use towards this project! I really trust that together we will be able to be a blessing to other less fortunate learners in our own community.

Sports Day is scheduled to take place on Wednesday, 2 February, at the Westbourne Oval. This is a day for our athletes to shine and for all to have the opportunity to participate and to support their respective house. Please note that girls must come in full sports uniform (phys ed shorts and tops/house t-shirts and tracksuit with sports shoes). If your daughter does not have a school track-suit, she must wear full school uniform. Girls will change into their athletics’ clothes at the Oval. When leaving at the end of the day, girls must again be in either the full sports uniform or school uniform.
Roll call will be taken at 7.45 am and girls will be dismissed at + 12.30 pm. Parents are welcome to attend and support their daughters, but please note no visitors may sit on the main stand with the girls. Boyfriends are not permitted to attend.
Girls must also sit in their houses on the main stand and may not wander around. The usual rule applies to cell phones and electronic devices i.e. These may not be visible nor used during school hours.

Please Note:
Should the weather be inclement (i.e. raining hard) girls must come to school for normal lessons.

We congratulate the following girls on their election into leadership roles:

Head Librarian: Thushya Pillay (E1)
Deputy Head Librarian Candysse Vrancken (E1)

The following Grade 10 girls have also been selected to join the team of librarians: Becky Adams (C5); Tashfia Amin (C1); Dana Hyde (C3); Tayla Lemley (C3); Robynne Macfarlane (C3); Nameema Moosa (C2 ); Jessica Okere (C1); Chelsey Peacock (C3); Nicola Sankey (C1 ); Caitlin Wiggill (C4).
We welcome them. 

The top EP swimmer in the 13 - 15 section of the SA age-group Synchronised Swimming Championships, Courtney Musson (C5), collected bronze in figures and solo, and silver with her duet partner, Bronwyn Kemp (C5). Bianco Favaretto (C1) took the bronze with her partner from Pearson. Courtney and Bronwyn were members of the trio (13 - 18 years) and obtained the silver medal, and with Caitlin Anderson (E2) and Robyn Corlett (E1) they also won the silver in the team event. For their duet (16 - 18 years) Caitlin and Robyn earned the bronze medal.

Our past pupil, Kerry-Beth Norden (Matric 2007), won gold in her figures. Our sincere thanks to Mrs Moira Norden for all the hours she spends next to the pool coaching our girls.

The Grade 8 girls have just returned from "CAMP ROCK 2 – THE FINAL JAM."

These girls bonded with their classmates, made new friends with girls from different primary schools and had enough time to get to know the Prefects and Grade 8 register teachers on a more personal level. They were also informed about many issues relating to school. On returning, all agreed that it was a fun and worthwhile camp!

Our thanks go to Miss van Rooyen, the camp director, the Grade 8 register teachers and the prefects for helping the girls start their journey through High School in such a caring way.