We are almost through the first half of the third term already.  It has been a very busy half with numerous events already accomplished: Colts Cricket Tour to RSA, ZIMSEC Examinations, Cambridge Examinations, the Day Night Cricket Festival at Lilfordia School, our own Cricket and Tennis Festival and the hosting of a number of schools from afar, namely; Clifton School from South Africa, Hartmann House and Lilfordia from Harare.  Of course there has also been great excitement and interest with the new clubs. The children are enjoying the refurbished Library and of course their visits to the Learning Centre is always something that they look forward to.

It promises to get busier in the second half as we approach the traditional milestones that mark the end of the year such as: The School Play, Prize and Speech night, Inter house Swimming gala and the Inter School Swimming Gala.

We have been keeping our Facebook Page and School Website up to date with many photographs so when you have a chance, please have a look.  Herewith a few items of news for your interest and enjoyment.

Whitestone Cricket 1st Team Festival
The Cricket Festival started on Friday afternoon, 22nd September and went through to Saturday afternoon, 23rd September. We had eight schools participating this year including Matshwane from Botswana who thoroughly enjoyed themselves and indicated that they would be retuning next year. The standard of the Cricket was very high and Whitestone performed very well. The boys started believing in themselves and played wonderfully as a team. This was very encouraging. Since then they have gone from strength to strength and have won many tough games including games against Lilfordia School, Hartman House and Carmel School.

 

Whitestone Rounders  Festival
Congratulations are extended to all our girls who gave their best and played very hard and at the tournament.  Our 1st Team were the overall winners of the Festival. The spectators were hugely entertained with some excellent skills and sportsmanship.

Carmel Colts Cricket Festival
This Festival took place at Petra at the same time as the First Team Cricket Festival at Whitestone. This was on the 22nd and 23rd of September.  Congratulations are extended to our Colts A Side who won the Festival.  This is an exciting young team who have excelled. It has been wonderful to see them develop individually as players and as a team. They certainly are highly motivated, determined and have the talent to match.

Colts Cricket Tour to South Africa

Our Colts boys were invited to take part in the Clifton Prep School at Nottingham Road in a Cricket Festival.  Our boys travelled by air on Monday 25th September returning on Monday 2nd October.  The boys were fantastic ambassadors for Whitestone and excelled in their cricket winning nearly all of their games.  We are very proud of our boys and of course, a very special thank you to Mr Mafa and Mr Nel, their coaches, who went on tour with them.  The boys played cricket, went shopping and also one morning got to go the beach for a swim.  Unfortunately they missed out on a couple of warm up matches due to the unprecedented rain in Natal.  The boys played 8 games in all and lost two.  Six of the games played were at the Clifton Festival.

Library
If you have not had a chance to visit our re-vamped library, this is a must.  Thank you to our wonderful team of mothers and the School Fund Raising Committee who have done such an amazing job. The children and staff are delighted with the outcome and it is now being used extensively.

Gardens
Once again our moms have come forward offering assistance to Mrs Kew with the gardens in the school. I am sure that you will agree that they are looking lovely.  Thank you for all your hard work.  It is sincerely appreciated.

Agriculture
The children have shown great interest and enthusiasm in the Agricultural plt and are learning a great deal from it. It is a far greater learning environment than can be imagined. Children go further than the obvious of digging garden beds and planting seeds. There are extensive investigations and project work. Children test soil types, water rotations, effectiveness of different fertilizers and rates of growth. The work also covers and incorporates many other subjects such as mathematics (measuring, capacity and areas), Art (making scarecrows) and recording data. Fun is had by all. The intention is to expand to other areas such as: a nursery for shrubs and seasonal flowers to put in the school gardens, Vermiculture (worms) and chickens.

New Clubs
This term, four new clubs have been introduced and have turned out to be very popular.  Grade 6 and 7 boys are doing Science and Technology, Grade 6 and 7 girls are doing Home Economics (last week they were learning different stitches when I popped in to see the overflowing classroom of girls). This last week they were in the kitchen baking chocolate cup cakes.  The boys had to move to the Art Room as the Science and Technology Club was also full to the brim – even the Art Room is a bit small for all the boys attending.  Thank you to Mrs Thomas, a parent, who is doing Creative Thinking Clubs with the Grades 3  to 5’s.  Some amazing lego designs have been constructed and are being displayed in the library.  The last club, which has been re-introduced after many years, is; Young Farmer’s Club for the Grade 4 children.


NIAA Visual Art
Whitestone took part again this year in the Visual Allied Arts and we achieved: Two Honors Awards! : Bradley Dube in Grade 5DB and the Sunny Class (Grade 0).  We also received two First Classes.  Well done to all who participated so enthusiastically.

NIAA Literary
Congratulations to the following children on receiving Honours or a First Plus at the Allied Arts Literary Competition.

HONOURS
Grade 7
Serena Rix – Prose
Gareth Matina – Prose
Emma Price – Poetry
Grade 6
Mikhail Hawa – Poetry

FIRST PLUS
Grade 2
Lauren Smith – Prose
Grade 5
Vusumuzi Hlabangana – Poetry
Grade 6
Mikhail Prose
Grade 7
Sophie Sparrow – Prose
Emma Price – Prose
Saliha Patel – Poetry 

ZIMSEC and Cambridge Examinations
Our Grade Seven children started their examinations on Monday 2ndOctober  through to Friday 13th October.  They then go straight into their Cambridge examinations on Monday 16th and finish on Wednesday 18th – and will by then be ready for their much needed half-term break.

World Animal Day
World Animal Day was on the 4th October and Grade 2T were studying Mammals with Mr Sanderson in ‘Adventure into Learning’.  This was bringing awareness to animal welfare in Zimbabwe. It is very important for children to learn to appreciate the welfare of wild animals in our country.

 

 

Adventure into Learning
Experimental Learning with Grade 4G

Inter Schools Dance Sport Competition
Whitestone Junior Boys came 3rd out of 7 schools and the Junior Girls cam 4th out of 9 schools. The following children from Whitestone School participated: Huntsman Williams, Sophie Sparrow, Sam Canter, Jessie Sparrow, Liam Nel and Baelyn Butcher. Well done to all who participated.

Lilfordia Day Night Festival
The Lilfordia Day Night Cricket was held on Friday 6th October. This is a much coveted “closed festival” where many other Schools are desperate to be permitted to participate. The competition is fierce and there is always an extremely high standard of cricket played at this festival. Whitestone came 2nd in their pool and then lost to Hellenic in the playoffs. The team came 4th overall. Matthew Rust was awarded the best batsman prize and Nathaniel Hlabangana won the best catch prize. Well done to all the boys!

Infants Assembly
Every second week the Grade 1 and 2 children have their own assembly.  Below are some pictures of children who received certificates for work achieved during the last two weeks and those who either had or are having a birthday before the next assembly.

Century Tree Planting
One of our traditions at Whitestone School is that if you score a century in cricket, you plant a tree on the Whitestone Grounds. Most of the trees surrounding our cricket fields have been planted by past cricketers over the years. Seen below is Liam Mudenda, a Colts Cricket player, who is planting a tree to commemorate his recent century. He hit 104 runs off 68 balls which included 4 sixes.  This was against Clifton School in South Africa.  Well done Liam!

T. HARDING
HEADMASTER

 

 

Share This Story!