NEWSLETTER-ISSUE 4-2014JUNE 2014/SHABAAN 1435

Assalaam U Alaikum

Sha'ban is one of the meritorious months for which we find some particular instructions in theSunnah of Prophet Muhammad, Sall-Allahu alayhi wa sallam. It is reported in the authenticahadith that Prophet Muhammad, Sall-Allahu alayhi wa sallam, used to fast most of the month inSha'ban. These fasts were not obligatory on him but Sha'ban is the month immediately precedingthe month of Ramadan. Therefore, some preparatory measures are suggested by ProphetMuhammad (S.A.W.). Let us all take some time to prepare spiritually for the month of Ramadhaanand reap maximum rewards.

With the Grace of Allah we are happy to have Ms Motara, our principal back at school after hershort illness. May Allah grant her strenght and good health Ameen. Your were sorely missed!

Editor Mrs Fazela Amod

From the Principal’s DeskAs Salaam U Alaikum ParentsAlhumdullilah I am back at school after a short illness. Jazakallah for all your good wishes andduas… In this newsletter I have decided to continue with Edris Khamissa’s theme of PositiveParenting….

A man came home from work late, tired and irritated, to find his 5-year old son waiting for him atthe door.SON: “Daddy, may I ask you a question?”DAD: “Yeah sure, what is it?” replied the man.SON: “Daddy, how much do you make an hour?”DAD: “That’s none of your business. Why do you ask such a thing?” the man said angrily.SON: “I just want to know. Please tell me, how much do you make an hour?”DAD: “If you must know, I make R100 an hour.”SON: “Oh,” the little boy replied, with his head down.SON: “Daddy, may I please borrow R50?”The father was furious, “If the only reason you asked that is so you can borrow some money tobuy a silly toy or some other nonsense, then you march yourself straight to your room. The littleboy quietly went to his room and shut the door.The man had calmed down, and started to think: Maybe there was something he really needed tobuy with that R50 and he really didn’t ask for money very often. The man went to the door of thelittle boy’s room and opened the door.” Are you asleep, son?” He asked.

“No daddy, I’m awake,” replied the boy. “I’ve been thinking, maybe I was too hard on you earlier”said the man. Here’s the R50 you asked for.”The little boy sat straight up, smiling. “Oh, thank you daddy!” He yelled. Then, reaching under hispillow he pulled out some crumpled up bills. The man saw that the boy already had money,started to get angry again. The little boy slowly counted out his money, and then looked up at hisfather. “Why do you want more money if you already have some?” the father grumbled. ”BecauseI didn’t have enough, but now I do,” the little boy replied.“Daddy, I have R100 now. Can I buy an hour of your time?Please come home early tomorrow. I would like to have supper with you.”The father was crushed. He put his arms around his little son, and he begged for his forgiveness.This story is a reminder to all of us working so hard in life. We should notlet time slip through our fingers without having spent some time withthose who really matter to us, those close to our hearts……..

WelcomeA special welcome to the following learners who have joined our APAX family this term:Minum Gangat ( Grade 3),Tasneem Mathews ( Grade 7),Muhammed Hassen ( Grade 4),MueenDawood ( Grade 4) and Mohamed Aqueel Ambaram ( Grade 6) Thank You

Muhammed Gangat from ChTides for sponsoring our junior soccer kitMr and Mrs Williams for their kind donation of a filing cabinetMr and Mrs Rooknoodeen for our new mobile PA system

UniformsPlease note that all learners must wear their winter school uniforms from 1st June. We prideourselves in our beautiful uniform and would like to appeal to all parents to ensure that learnersare properly attired at all times. Only plain black beanies and black undershirts can be wornunder shirts.

School FeesAlhamdullilah we are now nearing the end of our 2nd term and would like to thank all our parentswho have been paying school fees timeously.To parents who are NOT paying or pay at their leisure we would like to ask you,a) Why does the school need to remind you to pay school fees each month?b) Does your home bond, Telkom, Cell phone provider etc etc have to remind you?Please note that fees are to be paid by the 7th of each month in ADVANCE. Fees up until Mayare to be settled if you have not already done so.We wish to inform you that our new accounting system is now operational and statements will beemailed to you soon. Shukran for your patience.

Hooked on BooksWe were privileged to have the Hooked on Books crew entertain our learners on 10th May. The booktrailers provided a visual, dramatic preview of a few selected books and allowed learners to appreciate thephenomenal world of literature. The show was hilarious, dramatic, thrilling and educational - we havepurchased all the books for our library and our learners have already made a beeline to find out how eachstory ends.Grade 1 learner Junaid Ndande had the learners and performers in stitches as he pranced around in hiscostume as if he were a part of the “Hooked on Books” team, a real natural! Our very own budding youngperformer!“I have a passion for teaching kids to become readers, to become comfortable with a book, not daunted.Books shouldn't be daunting, they should be funny, exciting and wonderful; and learning to be a readergives a terrific advantage.”― Roald Dahl

Staff DevelopmentOur teachers have been adding to their knowledge and skill by attending a number of coursesand conferences presented by the National Professional Teacher’s Organisation of South Africa(NAPTOSA). We were also very fortunate to have had Edris Khamissa address our teachers on

Friday, 16th. We all left feeling deeply inspired and motivated to take APAX to new heights.

CongratulationsWe would like to congratulate Fatima Areff who came 2nd in the National UCMAS competitionheld on 24th May. This is indeed quite a phenomenal achievement as the standard of thesecompetitions is very high. Well done Fatima! The ability to calculate quickly and accurately is aMathematical skill that few are able to master! Yusuf Dadoo

Yusuf came 4th at recent tournament which was played at Huddle Park in the 7-8 years age group. He is also currently in Scotland for the European Open. We are all watchingYusuf's golfing career with great interest as he continues to compete aginst some of the topgolfers.

Mohammed Dadoo

Mohammed played in the S A Kids junior golf tournament at Peaconwood GolfClub. This tournament is held once a month for kids aged 5 - 15 played at different coursesaround Gauteng. Asma Paruk

Asma is competing on the schools circuit where shes ranked first in thesedibeng region. She is riding the graded circuit where she has won the first three show. She also took partin an internationally graded show in Shongweni Kwazulu Natal from the 1st to 4th May wherein she wonthe 80cm championships. Well Done ASma.

Foundation Phase Under 7,8, and 9 AMS Soccer FestivalSaturday the 25th of May 2014 goes down as a momentous date for APAX. Our FoundationPhase boys participated in their very first soccer tournament. Parents’ learners and educatorsbraced the crisp morning in high spirits at 6:30 a.m. for the early departure to Springs. The AMS“7-A – SIDE” JUNIOR SOCCER FESTIVAL was hosted by the Springs Muslim School. Ouryoung boys certainly benefitted from being exposed to an event of this nature. They “shone” intheir beautiful kits and must be commended for their fine discipline and good behaviour.Considering the limited time to prepare and train, our teams progressed well through the day. OurUnder 9’s did particularly well in many of their matches. Our boys were happily encouraged,

supported and cheered on by cheerful parents’ and staff. A wonderful day was had by all. Onceagain the team work and combined effort put in by the board of management, staff and parentscontributed to yet another beneficial experience for our learners.

Charity ClubOn 23rd April our Charity Clubbers, guided and supported by Muallima Waheeda and MuallimaAaminah , prepared lunch packs and distributed them to school –going kids at Octavia Flats inFordsburg. Our learners need to be commended for their dedication and willingness to serveothers.

Our Charity Clubbers also arranged an “Operation Clean Up” where they assisted in the cleaning up ofclassrooms in the afternoons.

On 28th May APAX, together with Uni Lever, The Star and the Gift of the Givers participated in theOperation Winter Warmth drive . We helped to distribute food parcels, blankets and a warm meal to 3000underprivileged people. We would like to thank all our parents and learners for giving up their time tosupport this worthy cause. APAX managed to raise R28000.00 towards this project. Thank you!

ANTI BULLYING WEEK26th – 30th May was Anti Bullying Week. Special programmes were drawn up forboth our Junior and Senior divisions. Activities were well thought through andparticipative. Our Juniors adopted the slogan of “Don’t Blurt What Might Hurt”and, on our senior campus the focus was on "Online Harrassment Has An OfflineImpact”.

Puppet Show-"Hey Grunch don'tPunch" . If Grouchy Grunch could changehis bullying habits, anyone can.

Parenting in the 21st CenturyOur parents filled the AGS Auditorium on Friday 16th May to listen to Edris Khamissa’s powerfultalk on Positive Parenting. What permeated the workshop was his passion and commitment andtremendous faith in our ability to change. His presentation very insightful indeed and manyparents left feeling empowered to do things differently. Thank you to the PTA for providingrefreshments for the evening !

Hiking ClubRather than bemoan the attachment so many children have to cellphones, TVs and computergames, our parents and learners came in full force to participate in our first APAX family Hike onSunday, 18th May 2014..Over 150 people turned out for the inaugural hike at Melville KoppiesNature Reserve. The children were young, from one to 12 years old, fortunately, everyone cameas a family, so the little ones were all taken care of by their parents, and as it was anhomogenous group, no one was trying to do a fast route hike. First-time visitors were amazed atthe incredible beauty of the koppies a few kilometres away from our school, which they haddriven past many times but never visited.This is what some of our kids had to say afterwards:

“ I absolutely loved walking with my dad. He is so cool”“ My nani is just the best….she walked 5kms with us”“ I had so much fun…I can’t wait for the next hike”“ I am getting new hiking boots coz hiking is so cool”

Our next hike will be on Sunday, 22nd June at the Kliprivier Nature Reserve. Details of the hikewill follow closer to the time.

Zain Bhikha ConcertWe were very fortunate to have a mini Zain Bhikha concert on 28th May. Zain touched our heartsand inspired our souls with his heart-rendering songs. Our learners thoroughly enjoyed themorning and we look forward to having Zain perform at APAX later this year.

Discipline/Learner BehaviourWe would like to appeal to parents to respect the schools Code of Conduct. We take up a lot oftime trying to instil a sense of pride and discipline in our learners. We constantly remind learnersof channels of communication and respect for themselves and others. It is also completely normalfor learners to have squabbles and arguments with each other- this is part of growing up!Developing problem solving and conflict resolution skills is essential. We appeal to parents toallow learners to be accountable and responsible for their own behaviour and to realise that thereare consequences for unacceptable behaviour. What we do not want parents to do is to take thelaw into their own hands by confronting learners and parents or making abusive home visits orphone calls. Should you want to come in and discuss a problem, please do so , without beingaggressive or taking sides. There is no need to “defend” your child. All problems can beresolved respectfully with a win-win outcome. Values are caught , not taught. As adults, let’swork hard at modelling the right kind of behaviour we want our children to display.

LatecomingPunctuality is an admirable trait for it displays respect for the self, others and the school. Learners who are consistently late disrupt the morning line-ups and miss out on valuablelessons/information shared. We appeal to parents to ensure that learners are at school on time! Soccer/NetballOur U13 and U15 netball teams participated in the AMS tournament hosted by Benoni MuslimSchool on 10th May. Congratulations to our U13 team who finished 3rd out of 14 schools. Aspecial thank you to all the moms who were there to cheer and encourage our girls.Our U15 Boys also participated in a Soccer festival in Benoni on the 10th May. They played welland displayed good sportsmanship. Two of our learners, Zain Dendar and Abdullah Saloojeewere selected to represent Gauteng at the National AMS U15 Tournament. Well done boys! You have made us proud!

Grade 9 Subject Choice EveningOn 22nd May our Grade 8 and 9 parents and learners braced the cold winter chills to attend aninformative talk by Shirshin Naicker from WITS. The talk gave learners a good indication of thedifferent career opportunities and entry requirements at WITS. This is the beginning of a processthat will eventually culminate in learners choosing subjects in Grade 10 next year. Theinformation and powerpoint presentation is on our website.

REMINDERJune holidays: school closes 4th July and re-opens on 4th August 2014.

June Examinations

Exam timetables and study guides have been circulated to all learners. We appeal to parents notto keep learners at home unnecessarily. Please Diarise so as not to inundate the office with calls on dismissal times: School will dismiss at 12:15pm during exams 11 to 24 June for Foundation andIntermediate Phase. There will bo no aftercare. Please pick your child/renup on time. Hifz boys will finish at 14h00.Normal school work will continue after the examinations.

Rabi shrahli sadri wa ya sirli amri wah’lul ukda taminli sani yafkahu qouli.O my lord! Open my heart, make my work easy for me, and remove the impediment frommy speech so that they may understand my speech. Recite the above verses as much as possible.

Wasalaam

Unsubscribe | Update Profile | View PDF | Pause Subscription

Email Powered By

This email was sent to mo.sayan@gmail.com on 03-06-2014

Auckland Park Academy of Excellence is intended for opt in communication only. If you feel this email is unsolicitedplease report it to us.