9 July 2024
Good morning to our parents, friends and family,
Today could not have been a better day to start school on the coldest day of 2024, right in theme with our Grade RR students who are learning about this beautiful season this week. I hope your Winter Break was filled with lots of love and attention to our beautiful children.
Our hearts are warm to know that we have our children back at school. I want to start this newsletter with the word Integrity, and by definition having integrity means that you live in accordance with everyone, and you always keep your word. A question we probed in a meeting last week was ‘How do we instill integrity in our children?’ The final decision was made that children will mirror the safe adult in the relationship, as teachers’ Integrity is an integral part of our lives, this for parents should be a similar obligation. With integrity will come respect, empathy and love for each other and if parents share this with their children’s teachers, friends and family they will easily learn the importance of integrity. Our core values at Thorntree are acceptance, respect, resilience,
responsibility and excellence which all encompass integrity. Help us mould your child into the most beautiful young adult that we are proud of.
Nicola Lottering has returned to school from her maternity leave and we are most excited for her to have a full-time position in remediating our students from Grades 1 – 8. Nicola will be working with students who need a little more attention on reading and writing within their English language to make sure they reach their full potential. This will allow for the English additional lessons to be done in a more personal and intimate space to ensure our students grasp the concept of the foundational work of the subject. Megan Rossouw has been welcomed back too with her son, Werlo and we are excited to have Megan back in the classroom, on the sports field and helping in all the other areas she thrives at. Mariam Ravat has also returned with Aisha, her daughter and we are excited to have her helping hands in the administration again. We also welcome back Lumari Smit who has been at our school previously teaching. Lumari is well-versed in many areas of the school, she has spent 8 months with us previously and after travelling Europe for four months we are excited to have her take on a full-time position at Thorntree. Lots of welcoming and love to
all our teachers who have returned after a well-deserved break.
I would like to introduce three new members to the management team at Thorntree; Christa Weideman, Stephané Coleman and Jenica Simpson. We believe that with the addition of these three phenomenal women, our school is in beautiful hands. Christa has a wealth of experience teaching in IEB schools and the government management teams, we welcome all her knowledge and experience to guide us through the processes of our Senior College.
Stephané brings so much excitement and challenges with her as she encourages our team throughout our school to be more and do more. Stephane has 5 years experience within the
IEB curriculum which is a great asset to our team too. Jenica has been with Thorntree through all our changes and growth, Jenica brings a fine detail of precision to our team which allows for executing projects and new policies with meticulous effort. These women contribute beautiful additions to the school and existing team of Managment which includes Nabeela Mulla, Ursula van den Berg and myself. We are excited to share more with you as our journey unfolds.
We have a full calendar for term 3, as usual, make sure you communicate with your teachers and our administration clearly to ensure you are always up to date with the ongoing events at school. If you ever doubt just call, we can always help to ensure you are notified.
I would like to close the opening newsletter for term 3 with a reminder of our theme for this year; courage, honour, joy and celebration. Find joy in your every day, make sure your child finds joy in her or his every day. Courage to have integrity and stand for what you believe in and celebrate this with pride. It is an honour to have you at Thorntree, we hope you feel the same way.
With all my love and warmth, have the best term.
All my love, always,
Helyn Pope
Head, Thorntree