16 January 2020 Term 1 Week 1

Riverview Reporter

Champions inspired by values

From the Head’s Desk

Welcome Back!

Happy New Year and welcome back to school! I truly hope you have had the most wonderful holiday and connected with family and friends. It was wonderful seeing the happy, smiling faces of your children on the first day of school. There were very few tears and everyone (including the parents!) seemed happy that we were back to school.

Classroom and toilet upgrades I hope you have all had time to visit our new classroom and toilet facilities. A tremendous amount of work went into a complete re-vamp of the school during the December holidays, and my huge thanks goes out to board mem-bers Mrs Stacie Ortmann and Dr Nicolene Singh, with significant support from Mr Andre de Zwart, for pulling off a miracle and giving of their precious time over the holidays to give us this special gift. I’m sure you will all agree that this facelift was badly needed, and that it has lifted our school to another level. We talk a lot at Riverview about 21st Century Education. Now our classrooms are walking the talk and our toilets are now clean, bright and modern.

New Staff It is a great pleasure to welcome Mr Quewlynn Bhana. Mr Bhana is a student teacher who is studying towards a teaching degree. He will be assisting Mrs Brokensha as well as teaching EMS, music, the Junior Choir and coaching sport. We wish him all the best for his time at Riverview. Mrs Jeannine Da Silva will be doing her teaching practice in the Pre-School and Grade one for the first six weeks of the first term. We welcome them all and wish them luck.

Students I am pleased to report that our numbers have grown significantly from last year. We are now at 189 students which is fantastic. We have welcomed over twenty new students to Riverview this year, and I wish them all the very best for a long and happy stay at our school.

Uniform Please ensure that your child wears the correct uniform on the correct day (Grade 1 to 7). Mondays and Fridays are formal days with sport greens being worn Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. SP children to pack their greens on a Monday for sport. The sport uniform for this term for both boys and girls is shorts with short white socks. No long, green socks or skorts, please. Please remember that children are expected to wear their full uniform outside of school until they get home. It is one of the things that sets us apart from other schools in Malelane. We wear our uniform in public with pride. Children may not leave school unless they are in their full uniform – greens or formal. Please don’t allow your child to take their uniform off until they get home.

Hair and Jewellery I have noticed some interesting hair styles (as I always do) at the beginning of term. The general rule of thumb for boys is that the hair must be short, neat and not draw attention to itself. Some of the girls are dripping with jewel-lery. This should be limited to studs in the ears and simple chains with the Christian cross, please. Please no nail polish or hair colouring.

Academics Academic standards at Riverview are high and a lot is expected of our students. We pride ourselves on following international best practice in the way we teach and this is evident in our homework policy and Project-Based Learn-ing which has been so successful. Generally, our students do extremely well when they leave Riverview and are sought after by the top high schools in Nelspruit and White River. Exams are only written in Grade 6 and 7, but all children from Grade 4 write written tests during the year. We do not give traditional homework. Homework consists of reading, studying for tests and preparing projects. Please do not believe your child when they tell you they have ‘no homework’.

Gareth Dry

Sport Riverview is a proud sporting school and we see sport as an inseparable part of school life at Riverview. It is com-pulsory for every student from Grade 1 to 7 to participate in sport. Sport in Grade 1 to 3 is focussed more on participation and everyone getting a chance, but from Grade 4 to 7 the best students are chosen for each team. We accept that some children are not naturally sporty and will try to wriggle their way out of physical exercise. Howev-er, I cannot emphasise enough how important it is for our children to get significant physical exercise. Unless your child is genuinely injured or sick, please don’t make excuses for them. We are trying to teach grit at Riverview. If your child is booked off sport or cannot do sport, a message from the child to the coach is not sufficient. Please contact the child’s class teacher (WhatsApp is acceptable) to excuse your child. If possible, please produce a doc-tor’s note. When your child is selected for a team please ensure that they attend the match or meet and don’t pull them out at the last minute unless there is an emergency. As a small school we experience a huge knock-on effect when this happens and it is unfair on the rest the team and embarrassing for the school.

Choir The Junior Prep Choir will be conducted this year by Mr Bhana and will have practices during the school day. All children from Grade 1 to 3 sing in the choir. The Senior Prep Choir will rehearse on Mondays during school and on Fridays from 1pm to 2pm. This choir is for children from Grade 4 to 7 who have to go through an audition process. The choir camp this year will take place at the end of the first term from Sunday 15th to Wednesday 18th March. We will be going to a camp just outside of Nelspruit. Choristers will be given a letter with all the details on Monday.

Communication Riverview is a very harmonious school and blow-ups are few and far between. However, there will be times when you are unhappy with something at school. Please resist the urge to go and shout at someone. Shouting and screaming never solves anything and only creates resentment and anger. Below is a guide on what to do: Before you send an angry email, wait 24 hours. Things often look different in the morning. Go to the source. If something has happened in class then go to the teacher and calmly discuss the issue. It is amaz-ing how often these things are a simple misunderstanding. Avoid witch hunts and carpark gossip. It is SO damaging. Remember that there are two sides to every story. If you are not satisfied with your initial meeting then go up the chain of command – HOD, Deputy, Headmaster. Whilst I will always meet with parents, the first question I will ask is, “have you spoken to the teacher?”

Cell phones and Devices Children are not encouraged to bring cell phones to school. However, we do understand that this is the 21st Century and banning them is a losing battle. However, they may not be used during school and will be confiscated for the day if they are discovered being used. If there is an emergency or you need to get a message to your child, please WhatsApp the class teacher or phone the school and the message will be passed on. They school is not responsible for lost, broken or stolen phones or devices. Please note that, unless it is an emergency, teachers may not use their phones whilst they are teaching, so please don’t be surprised or take offense if you don’t get an immediate re-sponse. If it is an emergency then phone the front office.

Security We have been incredibly lucky at Riverview that we have not had any security issues at our front gate. Our security guard, Khosa, is generally outstanding at recognising strange faces. However, in order to be pre-emptive and, with the rise in child abductions in South Africa, we are looking at ways to improve our security even more. If someone else other than your child’s regular lift is coming to pick them up, please inform the child’s teacher. If you are fetch-ing your child for an appointment before school is out, please come to the front office to sign them out.

Extra lessons and Aftercare The teachers are all at school until at least 3pm. If you wish your child to have extra lessons then please contact the subject teacher to make an appointment. These lessons are at no extra cost. We are currently in talks with someone to run aftercare until 5pm. We will let parents know as soon as it is finalised and what the process and costs will be. I hope you all have the most wonderful year.

“A man's mind, stretched by new ideas, may never return to its original dimensions.” Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.

Theme for the first term: Me and the

world around me

Riverview Renovations

Over the December holidays, three of our board members, Mrs Stacie Ortmann, Dr Nicolene Singh and Mr Andre de Zwart, took on the gigantic task of renovating the Riverview classrooms after a decision was made to spend some of our capital in upgrading the classrooms. Their eye for design, perseverance, passion for the school and giving of their time and effort truly delivered wonderful classrooms with a new Scandinavian look resembling modern simplicity. Lots of cleaning up was done in the pre-school classrooms with new toys replacing the old ones, carpets and new chande-liers now adds a homely touch, old chairs were replaced, new floors have made a wonderful difference with class-rooms resembling brightness and a fresh approach. Please feel free to have a browse when you come for your parent meetings this week. From the bottom of our hearts we would like to thank Mrs Stacie Ortmann, Dr Nicolene Singh and Mr Andre de Zwart for their dedication taking on this major project.

A warm welcome to all our new children in the preschool

Week Ahead: Morning Afternoon

Thursday 16/01/20

JP & SP Sport

Preschool Parents evening 18h00

Friday 17/01/20

Inter House Athletics @ 07h45 1st event to start at 8am.

Parents welcome to come and support.

School closes 13h00

Saturday 18/01/20

Monday 20/01/20

SP Sport

JP Parents evening 18h00 Grade 1 - 3

Tuesday 21/01/20

JP & SP Sport

SP Parents evening 18h00

Grade 4 - 7

Wednesday 22/01/20

SP Sport

Thursday 23/01/20

JP & SP Sport

Friday 24/01/20

School closes 13h00 SP Choir 13h00 - 14h00

Saturday 25/01/20

We welcome Mrs Amoré Stander as the Afrikaans teacher for the Grade 4 to 7 classes. Mrs Stander will also be the Grade 5 register teacher . We are excited to have Mrs Stander join the Senior Primary phase of the school.

Mr Quewlynn Bhana is our new intern teacher. Mr Bhana is a very talented music teacher, choir master and he has been teach-ing many of our pupils a variety of instruments. Mr Bhana will give classroom music from Grade 00 to 7.

Invites you to join us on Wednesday mornings at 07h30 for PRAYER under the tree. We are a group of ladies who pray for your children, the school and teachers every week. We have seen many miracles and blessings throughout the years and believe that we can

make a difference through prayer. We’d love for you to join us for a few minutes a week.

Please feel free to contact me for any information or prayer requests: Benita Paul 083 556 4103

And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love. 1 Corinthians 13:13 NIV

Grade 1 & New kids on the block

It was a happy start for the Grade 1's on Wednesday as they began their formal schooling. Mrs McKinnon is ready Grade 1's this year. We also welcome all the new children Grades 2 - 7.