Our half term break will be next week. The school will close at the normal time on Thursday, the 27th February and we will be closed on Friday, Monday and Tuesday. We will come back to school on Wednesday, 5th March.

School will close for the end of the term on Thursday,17th April and re-open for the second term on Tuesday, 13th May.

Results of the Grade 7 Swaziland Primary Certificate exams.

They were excellent. We had 17 first class passes with merit, 5 first class passes and 2 second class passes out of 24 entrants.

We also had 3 students in the top 50 in the country and we ranked top school in the country.

Congratulations to the Grade 7s and to all the teachers, because the teachers from Grade 1 up are responsible for the school’s good results.

The Little School opened in its new premises in September.

The children are delighting in the big, sunny grounds and are playing netball, volleyball and football. At playtime you find them all over the place, having their midmorning snack on the rocks and under the trees. They love the freedom.

We have started a vegetable garden and the Grade 7s have planted a small mealie field.

Karate: Wandile, the karate black belt, 7 dans, karate teacher, has been teaching our children twice a week for the last two terms. This term our children attended a tournament and came away with bronze, silver and gold medals. The School is very proud of their performance. Karate is a wonderful self-defence discipline, and, in today’s world, it can only be to one’s benefit to be able to defend oneself.

The Grade 7s finished writing the Swaziland Primary Certificate exams last Thursday

and the Grade 6s hosted a lovely School Leavers’ Party for them at Eveni Lodge on Friday. They came, dressed up in all their finery, only to shed it all and jump into the swimming pool. All the teachers came, including the teachers from the pre-school. They taught many of the Grade 7s when they were little three-year-olds.

School will close for the Christmas holidays on Friday, 29^th December.

We will have a short prize giving ceremony on Friday, at 10a.m.

Parents who would like to attend will be very welcome.

The pre-school is having their concert on Thursday, 28^th at 9a.m.

I have engaged a pre-school administrator, Chantele Ward, to run the pre-school from next term. She is young, enthusiastic and full of plans for the coming year. If parents have any ideas for the pre-school, please share them with us.

We would like to put parents onto a mailing list so that we can communicate with you instantly when we need to. Please give us your e-mail addresses as soon as possible.

Our telephone numbers at the moment are Joy 76114551 and 24111822, and Khanyisile 76426321.

We, at The Little School, wish you all a very happy and safe holiday.

Little School News.

February, 2013.

Grade 7 Results: This is old news, because you all know by now how well The Little School did in the Grade 7 Primary Certificate exams. We achieved 12 merits, 11 first classes and 1 second class. We had 5 pupils in the top 50,one in the top 10 – more than any other school in the country.

The School is growing: We have employed four new teachers, and created a double stream for grades 1,2,3 and 4. The two grade one classes are full, but we have vacancies in Grades 2,3 and 4. We aim to keep the numbers to no more than 25 pupils per class.

The New School: We are on schedule to move into the new school in Pine Valley by the beginning of the second term. The school is situated on the Pine Valley road, two and a half kms from town.

It is an entirely eco-friendly school, both with the buildings and the surroundings. Mr Maxwell Simelane, a parent at the school, has contracted to run a transport service specifically for The Little School.

The Buildings. The walls have high insulation properties, both acoustic and thermal, meaning that they will keep the classrooms cool in summer and warm in winter; and are non-porous, which means that there will be no problem with damp. The floors are covered with rubber matting, for sound and insulation. The windows are large, thus giving sufficient fresh air and light.

A sewerage treatment plant is being installed on site. It works on a dual system, meaning that it operates at 50% capacity, and should there be a problem of any sort, the system will switch to the second half of the system. The effluent quality will exceed the WHO standards for  irrigation – so pure will it be. The effluent is treated and disinfected.

Agriculture: We have a beautiful area for agriculture, which should encourage a love of nature and gardening in all the pupils. The area is covered with shade cloth and has an underground irrigation system, which will help to make the children’s efforts really successful. We hope to try fish and vegetable farming in the future, and perhaps even make some money for the pupils from their efforts. The bird life around the dam and stream is amazing.

The Grounds: The playgrounds are big and beautiful. Trees are being planted to provide shady areas, and a site has been set aside for levelling to provide a sports field. A swimming pool is also being planned. This is a school for the future.

Teacher Training: Several of our teachers are going on a whole day First Aid course on Saturday.

On Thursday the teachers have begun a course with Mr Peter Shields, the well-known maths teacher from Waterford and St Marks High , and for many years the maths inspector for Hhohho. Mr Shields is going to give lectures on understanding maths with an aim to improving the standard of maths teaching in the school – a subject close to the heart of the headmistress.

The new site for The Little School is progressing.

Contrary to what was printed in the newspaper, The Little School has been given authorisation to continue in our present premises

until the new buildings are complete. WE have authorisation for the whole of the first term, but we should have moved before the end of this term..

School uniforms for the boys: We feel that the white shirts will very soon look shabby, so we have decided on blue tisheshwe shirts for the boys, which will look very smart and will fit in with the Tisheshwe look of the new uniforms.

New School Uniforms for The Little School.

We have designed new school uniforms to celebrate the new premises.

The girls will wear red dresses in Tisheshwe print. They can wear them without a blouse in hot weather or with a white blouse or shirt, or, red or white polar neck sweaters  under the dresses in winter. The tracksuits are plain red and so are the knitted jerseys. They will have black school shoes and white socks or tights.

The boys will wear white overshirts with Tisheshwe trim on the sleeves and pockets. Also white or red polar neck sweaters, red tracksuits and red knitted jerseys over navy blue trousers. Black school shoes and grey school socks.

The new uniforms can be bought at the school at the most reasonable price possible.

In August The Little School’s drama group, called Emantjwele Children’s Theatre, put on a really wonderful show based on Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “Joseph and his Amazing Technicolour Dream Coat”, at the Swaziland Theatre Club. It was a great success and we decided that it deserved another showing. So, we asked Jiggs Thorne at House on Fire if we could perform it at his wonderful venue. He very kindly gave us the venue for free and we did another very good show. Hearing about it, the Mbabane Club asked us to perform again the following evening. We had wonderful comments of praise from everyone. Especial praise must go to Teacher Simolline, who taught the children the songs – without a single musical instrument, except the voice – and to Frances Farrell, who designed and made the lovely costumes. We have called the drama group The Emantjwele Children’s Theatre, because we don’t want to just be classed as a school drama group, but we really want to promote Children’s Theatre in Swaziland. We discovered wonderful talent among the children who joined the drama group, and they grew in power and talent during the performances.