Nottingham Road, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

Private Bag X01, Nottingham Road, 3280 South Africa Telephone: +27 033 266 8200

Facsimile: +27 033 266 8252/253 E-mail: reception@cliftonnr.co.za

Reg. N0: 06-621 NPO CIPC Reg. N0: 2000/011970/08

Member of

4 November 2011

“At its best, learning is transformation.”

Professor Jonathan Jansen

Dear Parents

Professor Jonathan Jansen is well known to many of us through his erudite writings and insightful critiques of the state of education in South Africa. Professor Jansen is Rector of the University of the Free State and writes a weekly column in The Times. I was fortunate to come across his latest column which I have attached for your interest.

Staff Mrs Annie Grealy has been appointed to teach Drama in the Senior Primary department from January next year. A professional actress in her own right and well-known in the Midlands community, Annie brings many years of stage experience and a keen interest in children to Clifton. We look forward to having Annie as part of the staff next year.

Grade 7 Business Week Mr Barry Freese writes: “Business week took place over three days from 25 to 27 October. The week forms part of the EMS (Economics and Management Sciences) section of maths and it encourages entrepreneurial skills along with basic business practice. All the grade seven children got fully involved and many lessons were learned. Some businesses did better than others and the young business entrepreneurs now understand the role of the taxman, and have begun a loathing towards him, thanks to him taking their hard earned money. What has been very evident is the global recession has affected turnover quite considerably. Profits have been down and as a result tax on their income is down alarmingly from previous years. That being said, the fun that was had and the important life skills learnt have been invaluable to the grade seven’s education. Overall a very successful business (week) was held and those that worked hard made money. Thank you to all parents for sending money to school and to the grade seven parents for willingly handing out loans to the businesses.”

Grade 3 trip to Rainbow Eco Homestead Mrs Jane Forbes writes: “In life orientation lessons this semester the Grade Threes have been studying climate change. Living sustainably has been our focus this term hence the visit to Samantha and Shine’s eco home at Impendle.

After some ice-breaker fun times together a tour of the homestead, made from the alien wood collected within walking distance of their house, followed. The children were able to see eco-friendly systems such as the harnessing of solar power, a solar cooker, the way in which grey water can be channelled back onto the garden and the use of waste plastic for insulation. The herbs/veggies for health experience in the garden was a real hit. The children learnt about the health benefits of the various plants and were encouraged to touch, taste, and smell and pick the ingredients for the lunchtime salad. The lentils and rice were cooked in a hot box. The outdoor bath under which a fire is lit (alien wood), and the composting toilet were of added interest to the children!

The web of life game ensured that the children understood the choices they make can impact on the environment which can, in turn, affect climate change.

We visited Novuka School which has Eco School status. The children each gave and helped plant a Comfrey plant in their newly established vegetable garden. Unfortunately time did not allow for the planned sing-song and co-operative game playing.

Grade Three now fully understand and can visualize living sustainably and realize the real value of permaculture. So many children commented that they would so enjoy living in this way!”

Lost Property We are making a dent in the boxes of lost property! Every Monday at tea time, the children are gathered in the Chapel and lost property is handed out. Taking up their free time appears to be having some effect. However, unlabelled clothing still presents a problem. All unlabelled clothing is presented to the children at assembly. Any clothing not claimed is returned to Mrs Shaw who will keep it for two weeks before donating the clothing to Mrs Menear’s charity collection.

Please check in occasionally with Mrs Shaw in the school shop if your child has lost unlabelled items of clothing. Better still; please label EVERY item of clothing that ever comes to school!

Clifton Pencil Case We have had a new pencil case designed for Clifton. The photo below shows a pencil case presented to us by a new parent who had these at their previous school. Staff thought these were a really good idea as the pencil case easily keeps everything a child would need. The pencil cases will be on sale in the school shop from the end of the year.

Clifton Labour Staff Christmas Hampers Thank you to those parents who responded to our request for Christmas hampers for the labour staff. A reminder to those who have not yet contributed to the collection:

Gr 0 coffee (1kg) Gr 4 rice/beans (1kg) Gr 1 biscuits (2 boxes) Gr 5 tin foods Gr 2 cooking oil (2lt) Gr 6 tea (100’s) Gr 3 sugar (2.5kg) Gr 7 mealie meal (2.5kg) Please send your contributions to your child’s class teacher.

Enjoy your weekend!

Brendan Brady HEADMASTER

Sports Results

Squash

31st October Clifton 1st vs. Epworth 2nd Clifton won Clifton 2nd vs. Epworth 1st Clifton lost Clifton 3rd vs. Merchiston 2nd Clifton won Clifton 2nd vs. Merchiston 3rd Clifton won

Cricket

29/10 vs. Dads Clifton Dads 1st XI 191 all out (Young 38) 182/8 (Menear 2/26) Won by 9 runs 29/10 vs. Cordwalles Clifton Cordwalles 2nd XI 67/7 (Joubert 17) 66 all out (Dean 5/7) Won by 3 wickets 3rd XI 138/7 (le Roux 21*) 4th XI 134/8 (Jarvis 2/5) Won by 3 wickets U10A 130/4 (van Aardt 59) 131/5 (Suttie 1/12) Lost by 5 wickets U10B 105/5 (Brain) U10C 90/2 (Krog 1/8) Won by 15 runs U9 56 all out ( Jarvis 18) Cordwalles 88/6 (Ndlovu 2/15) Lost 32 runs

Swimming

1st November: St Charles Mini Gala 1st St John’s 126 pts. 2nd Athlone 111 pts. 3rd St Charles ‘A’ 94 pts. 4th Clifton Boys ‘A’ 80 pts. 5th Cowan House 69 pts. 6th St Charles ‘B’ 36 pts.

Calendar Updates

Monday 7 November

• Squash league as per the sports schedule

Thursday 10 November

• Mini Gala at Howick

• PA Meeting at 16:00

Friday 11 November

• Clifton Annual Riding Show at 13:00

Saturday 12 November

• Cricket vs. Laddsworth