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

6 October 2011

“A smile is the light in your window that tells others there is a sharing caring person inside”

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Welcome back to school and the last term of 2011. I trust you all enjoyed having your children at home for the holiday period? The plentiful rain we enjoyed during the holidays – close on 100mm over the week – was an ideal excuse to down tools and spend some time catching up on some reading and rugby!

We look forward to an exciting day of Boeresport on Saturday (with a bit of rugby thrown in) and I am sure we will all be glued to the TV early on Sunday morning.

The boarders will be hiking to Inchbrakie Falls on Sunday morning and spending the day at the falls, tubing, swimming and enjoying a braai away from school.

Staff We welcomed Mrs Barbara Kerr back to Clifton as the locum tenens for Mrs de Reuck. Mrs de Reuck will be on maternity leave until the end of the second quarter of 2012 and we wish her and Brendan well as they prepare for the birth of their first child. Mrs Kerr is an old friend of Clifton and it is wonderful to be able to call on Barbara’s expertise and experience at the Junior Primary level.

We also welcomed Ms Kirsten Connellan back after her maternity leave. Kirsten has taken over the management of the Senior Primary Media Centre from Mrs Louise Kay. Louise will be able to focus more time on special needs and offer support in the Individual Learning programmes.

Miss Bernice McKee has been retained on a permanent basis to teach Afrikaans to Grades 1 to 5.

We also welcome Arthur Fulford to Clifton. Arthur is a GAP student from the UK and will be with us for the next nine to 12 months.

Children Amber Rawlins took part in a fundraiser during the holidays called Quads 4 Quads. It is one of the biggest off-road rides of its kind in the world. The total distance covered was 1000km, from Carnival City in Gauteng to Ballito. The aim is to raise funds for QASA (the Quad/Para Association of SA). The funds raised go to the association for use to deliver projects and services for quadriplegics and paraplegics in South Africa.

Amber managed to ride 650km out of the 1000km on her TTR 125 motorbike, quite an achievement for a young girl. She was the youngest lady entrant by far.

Interested readers of the newsletter can click on the following links for more details: http://www.oceandrivenmedia.com/recent/quads-4-quads-2011-%e2%80%93-let%e2%80%99s-make-a-difference/

http://www.familyadventures.co.za/index.php?id=53

Our congratulations to Amber on her achievement!

We welcome the de Villiers (Hendré – Gr 6) and Brain (Liam – Gr 4) families to Clifton this term. We also have a younger sibling joining us in Grade 3 (Mugabi Lubinga, brother of Mubeezi). We wish all three boys a happy journey through Clifton.

Grade 3 trip to Ecabazini Mrs Fleischack writes: “What a great way to start off the final term in Grade Three! We set off for Ecabazini; an authentic Zulu village situated on the banks of the Albert Falls Dam on Wednesday 5th October and arrived in

hot sunshine. The children slept in beehive huts and ate traditional Zulu food. Not one of them turned their noses up when the steak arrived! Amongst the activities they took part in were Zulu dancing, beading, making clay pots and learning about the Nguni cows which slept in the isibaya close to our huts. The children absorbed a tremendous amount of knowledge about the Zulu culture and we had to drag them to the awaiting buses when it was time to depart. Two buses of exhausted children arrived safely back at Clifton full of knowledge and… mud!”

Attendance Details As from 2012 all schools are required to submit attendance figures to the Department of Education on a quarterly basis. Schools will be required to submit periodic attendance figures (attendance numbers after each change of period).

We have just completed an upgrade to our school administration system which includes a computerised attendance system. Please could we ask that parents phone Mrs Coetzer in Reception with details of children who are off sick. Mrs Coetzer will then deal with the administration requirements for the attendance process.

Parents who require their children to be off school for reasons other than illness will still need to request permission from the Headmaster.

Waltons Stationery Please remember to return you Waltons “Back to School” stationery orders for 2012. The forms must be returned to Mrs Coetzer in reception.

Sport

Cricket The 1st XI have departed for their annual tour to Johannesburg where they will be playing in the T-20 festival at St Peter’s. We wish them luck and safe travels!

Congratulations to Sibuso Hadebe and Tim Copeland who have both been selected for the KZN Inland Squad to play Griquas, Free State and KZN Coastals over half term.

School Shop Mrs Shaw sells Clifton Supporters clothing at the School Shop. Shirts, caps and fleece jackets are available for purchase.

Calendar Updates

Sat 8 October

• Boeresport Dag

• Horse Riding – Spring Extravaganza at Shongweni

Sun 9 October

• Horse Riding – Spring Extravaganza at Shongweni

• Boarder’s Hike to Inchbrakie

Mon 10 October

• Squash league 1st Team vs TWC at TWC. Please see the website for details.

Tues 11 October

• Swimming Mini Gala at St Charles – Boys and Girls A Squads

Wed 12 October

• Grade 2 trip to Spirit of Adventure

• Cricket – 2nd XI vs. Kings

Thurs 13 October

• Grade 4 day trip postponed. This will be rescheduled as an overnight trip. Date TBC

Fri 14 October

• Cricket vs. St Charles

Enjoy your weekend. Go Bokke!

Brendan Brady HEADMASTER