GIRLS IN A CLASS OF THEIR OWN www.stmarysschool .co.za

OLD GIRLS’ NEWSLETTERMARCH 2014

This is SMOGS’ first newsletter for 2014 so let me begin by wishing all of you a blessed and successful year.

I am honoured by you, the Old Girls, and the Old Girls’ committee for giving me the opportunity to serve you as chairperson of SMOGS. I have enormous shoes to fill as I take over from Koo Montgomery, who served our community so admirably over the past three years. Koo’s boundless energy, passion and relentless hard work for the Old Girls’ Association have been instrumental in making our association a vibrant and growing

community. We will be forever grateful for all that Koo did during her time as chairperson.

I am delighted that she will stay on the committee and continue to assist us as a close liaison from within the school.

Firstly, and perhaps most importantly, I should like to welcome the matric class of 2013 to our association. I am delighted to be able to share with you, within this newsletter, the record results achieved by these remarkable young women. The class of 2013 produced our best National Senior Certificate results

in our long and exciting 125-year history. We salute each and every one of them for their outstanding achievement. We wish them well as they venture out into the world to follow their dreams and passions.

I should also like to share with you the remarkable achievements of the St Mary’s Community Affairs programme with the Alexandra schools and all the work the girls and teachers have done under the leadership of Linda Giuricich in assisting these young people to achieve excellent matric results. Please see page 3 for further details.

Dear St Mary’s Old Girls

Class of 1984: Litha Sabio (Antzoylatus), Gillian Dodds (Laughland), Carilyn Oxley (Quigley), Les Vercellotti (Dry), Andrea Shuttleworth (Shaw)

CommitteeChairperson: Les Vercellotti (Dry, 1984)

Treasurer: Monique Adams (Haas, 1973)

Honorary Life Member:Sheenagh Harris (Wise, 1953)Lyn Bath (Thompson, 1966)

Members: Sue Mundy-Castle (Hadfield - 1971)Moyra Wainwright (MacKenzie - 1971)Koo Montgomery (Braatvedt - 1980)Jan Frames (Webber - 1983)Colleen Frost (Webber - 1985)Les Beynon (Webster - 1986)Kate Crawford (Popplewell - 1998)Kate Sproule (1995)Megan Sharland (2007)

GIRLS IN A CLASS OF THEIR OWN www.stmarysschool .co.za

OLD GIRLS ' NEWSLETTER ST MARY ’S SCHOOL, WAVERLEY2 MARCH 2014

St Mary’s continues to flourish and remains a vibrant community. We are delighted to note the favourable press which the school receives. Many of you may have read the article in the Cape Times and The Star by Professor Jonathan Jansen, vice-chancellor at the University of the Free State. He rated our school in his top 10 schools in the country, detailing what he believes make schools special. In fact, St Mary’s placed second in “Jansen’s top 10 schools”. An extract from his article features on page 4.

We started the year by hosting a breakfast for Old Girls who are current parents at the school. It is heartening to see that so many Old Girls have chosen to send their girls to St Mary’s.

Please diarise the following important dates:• Old Girls’ cocktail party, at the St Mary’s

Hockey Festival on Friday 4 April at 17h30 – invitations to follow

• The Foundation dinner on Saturday 19 July • Old Girls’ Day on Saturday 27 September

I look forward to connecting with many of you at these functions.

Yours sincerely

Les Vercellotti (Dry – 1984)smogs@stmary.co.za

Carilyn Oxley (Quigley - 1984), Cathy Venus (Lenferna - 1982), Judy Wells (Burton-Moore - 1986)

Jenny Appel (Anderson - 1995), Cheryl Liebenberg (Popplewell - 1993), Sarah Kobus (Gooding - 1997), Emma Davidson (Hill - 1984)

Colleen Pinnock (Yates - 1991), Jacqueline Kent (Redshaw - 1990), Michaela Murning (Stannick - 1985)

GIRLS IN A CLASS OF THEIR OWN www.stmarysschool .co.za

OLD GIRLS ' NEWSLETTER ST MARY ’S SCHOOL, WAVERLEY3 MARCH 2014

100% Bachelor degree pass423 distinctions

45 placements in the top 1% in a subject43 pupils (41%) with an average of 80% or more

57 pupils (55%) with an average of 75% or more28 pupils (27%) obtained 7 or more distinctions

Matric results 2013St Mary’s matrics are in a class of their own!

St Mary’s top candidates

Julia Le Maitre Clare Walker Nkululeko Mhlongo

11 distinctions

10 distinctions

Ektha Govind

Jodi Hanson Alison Hoernle Jenna Krause Ashleigh Merry Megan Robinson

Megan Russell Alison Sanders Tselane Steeneveldt

09 distinctions

Victoria Stark

Caitlin Blakeman Shannon Clacey Jacki Cronje

GIRLS IN A CLASS OF THEIR OWN www.stmarysschool .co.za

OLD GIRLS ' NEWSLETTER ST MARY ’S SCHOOL, WAVERLEY4 MARCH 2014

Within his article, Prof. Jansen wrote the following about our school: St Mary’s School in Waverley, Johannesburg, was an example of this as it recognised the importance of laughter. Its website reads: “The essence of St Mary’s is tangible in the laughter of our girls and the vitality which permeates our campus.”

Click here to see the full report:http://www.iol.co.za/capetimes/happiness-is-key-at-rector-s-top-10-schools-1.1627643 Jansen hoped to make his list an annual exercise.

Jansen’s top 10 schools 1. Mbilwi Secondary in Thohoyandou, Limpopo 2. St Mary’s School in Waverley, Gauteng3. DF Malan High in Bellville 4. Mondale High in Mitchells Plain 5. Tsoseletso High in Bloemfontein, Free State 6. Eunice High in Bloemfontein, Free State 7. Bloemhof High in Stellenbosch 8. Bethlehem Voortrekker High in Bethlehem, Free State 9. Menzi High in Umlazi, KwaZulu-Natal 10. St Stithians Girls’ College in Randburg, Gauteng

Happiness is key at rector’s "top 10" schools

University of the Free State vice-chancellor Professor Jonathan Jansen

The matriculation class of 2013 achieved excellent results.

A total of 74 matriculants were on the project, of whom 72 passed. Two failed, but both dropped out of the Saturday school during July. This group achieved 58 Bachelor degree passes, 13 Diploma passes and four Senior Certificate passes. In all, 22 distinctions were achieved. The pass rate was 97%.

The Mathematics marks for a class of 31

learners selected for a Tuesday/Thursday programme were also impressive. These classes took place over a three-month period in Alexandra. Their results were:

• Elvis Seshoane (from Eastbank High School) achieved 99% for Mathematics

• 80% - 100 % 9• 70% - 79% 11• 60% - 69% 9• 40% - 59% 2

Altogether 17 of these learners also

attended Saturday classes at St Mary’s.

Collectively, 44 learners have been accepted to study at the University of Johannesburg, the University of the Witwatersrand, Tshwane University of Technology, the University of Pretoria and Vaal University of Technology. Of these, 13 have been given NSFAS loans. Brilliant Moyo won a bursary from Zenprop.

Alexandra high schools’ programme

Celebrating 125 Years of St Mary’s is available at the price of R300 from the Clothes Cupboard and Senior School reception or email sharon.san@stmary.co.za. Don’t delay – buy your copy today.

School history book