1stTERM NEWSLETTER
- WHAT-A-LOT-WE-GOT!
Whilst we quickly draw upon a near end of term, we would like to take a moment to first extend toall of our new parents and children a warm welcome to our SAIS family. We trust that our journey together through this year will be a fruitful one. To our returning parents, welcome back to another year of roaring success!
We have a lot to be grateful for this year. First and most importantly, we have another fantastic year to move one step closer to our goals! For our learners that means forming habits of putting your best foot forward always. For us parents and educators it means dedicating our best to help our kids move forward. Parents, learners, educators united side by side we can make this year successful as well as joyous for our young ambassadors. Let’s do this! Let’s do it for us, for our budding learners and for South Africa’s future leaders! Let’s give this year all we have and more!
Whilst we have many things to be thankful for, let’s be grateful for education and the endless possibilities it could bring in the present but mostly in the future. Let’s compliment this attitude of gratitude with hard and perseverance!
Keep Moving Forward!
- UNIFORMS
Mary handles all of our uniforms. She is on the premises daily but can also be contacted on 082229 7166 or 071993 1748. Please ensure that all your child’s/ children’s uniforms, bags, lunch boxes and any personal items are marked with his/her name, either with a sewn on name label or an ironed on label. Please refrain from writing your child’s name with a permanent marker directly on the clothes as it shows through and does not look presentable. It is very easy for items to get mixed up and misplaced so we urge you to have your belongings labeled as this will help our SAIS staff return lost and found items to the right learner. Uniforms are to be worn daily unless specified by the school.
- PUBLIC HOLIDAYS IN THIS TERM AND ITS SIGNIFICANCE IN OUR COUNTRY:
21 March 2017 - History of Human Rights Day
Human Rights Day in South Africa is historically linked with 21 March 1960, and the events of Sharpeville. On that day 69 people died and 180 were wounded when police fired on a peaceful crowd that had gathered in protest against the Pass laws. This day marked an affirmation by ordinary people, rising in unison to proclaim their rights. It became an iconic date in our country’s history that today we commemorate as Human Rights Day as a reminder of our rights and the cost paid for our treasured human rights.
What are human rights?
Human rights are rights that everyone should have simply because they are human. In 1948, the United Nations defined 30 articles of human rights in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It established universal human rights on the basis of humanity, freedom, justice, and peace.
South Africa has included indivisible human rights in our own Bill of Rights, Chapter 2 of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996. The articles ofour Constitutioncan only be changed by a two-thirds majority in Parliament, which means it is difficult for anyone, including the government, to take away the basic rights of a citizen.
The Bill of Rights preserved in our Constitution is the cornerstone of our constitutional and representative democracy. The Constitution as our supreme law means that no laws may be passed that goes against it. The Bill of Rights also comprehensively addresses South Africa’s history of oppression, colonialism, slavery, racism and sexism and other forms of human violations. The Bill of Rights embeds the rights of all people in our country in an enduring affirmation of the democratic values of human dignity, equality and freedom.
Sourced from:
- BIRTHDAYS
To all our learners, parents and SAIS staff who celebrate their birthdays between January and March, a very happy birthday to you from all of us at SAIS. May your year and days ahead be blessed with abundance of all things enriching.
- REMINDER ON OUTSTANDING SCHOOL FEES AND METHODS IN WHICH THEY CAN BE PAID OFF
Please ensure that your child’s school fees are paid off or is up to date.
All parents who have not paid their 2013 to 2016 school fees and have not made arrangements with the finance officer (Mrs. J. Rangi Singh) will be referred to the debt collector for blacklisting, if not already done so. We urge you to please pay your school fees before we do the handover.
When paying via eft or debit order please ensure that your child’s name and grade is the reference as it is very difficult to allocate the money paid to the specific learner with the parents name as the reference. If you have any queries relating to your account please contact Jessica on 084444 4443 or email
Banking details as follows:
Name of bank:ABSA
Name of account:Space Age Independent School
Type of account:Cheque
Account number: 4080464365
Branch code:632005
Branch:Lenasia
Reference:Childs name, surname and grade
We urge you to please keep all of your proof of payments. In the event of any queries we will ask you to show confirmation of payment.
- ABSENCE, LATE COMING AND DETENTION:
In this regard we have decided to lock our school gates at 8:00. Learners will have to go home and return with a parent/guardian. We will not engage in discussions with any other person. Regular defaulters will be detained after school hours. Transport is not the problem of the school. Consideration will be given if learners are late as a result of the delay by the taxi/ transport.
Learners who are absent must produce a note signed by the parent/guardian. Please ensure that you provide a contact number so that we can contact you if necessary. Learners who are absent for long periods (20 days and more continuously) and without a valid reason may be excluded.
Please ensure that you provide contact details that are valid so that we may contact you in an emergency. If we cannot contact you we will take the necessary steps to ensure that your child is taken care of, however we will not be responsible for tracing parents/guardians.
A reminder to all parents to please like and share our Facebook page. Help us bring as much possible awareness to our school and values. We post a lot of updates, pictures and events on Facebook so please check it regularly or weekly. If you find a picture posted, on our Facebook wall, of your child please tag yourself in the picture and going forward we can tag you in it for all of your friends and family to see.
- SCHOOL TERMS FOR 2017
Sourced from the Department of Education is the term calendar. Please refer to our website for the term calendar for 2017 and 2018. Please take note of the school terms. We do not encourage parents to book holidays during school terms as it puts the learner in distress trying to catch up with the curriculum. Kindly book all holidays within the school holiday period.
TERM / 1ST TERM / 2ND TERM / 3RD TERM / 4TH TERMDATES / 11 JAN – 31 MARCH / 18 APR – 30 JUN / 24 JUL – 29 SEP / 9 OCT – 6 DEC
- SUN SMART
As it is the middle of summer we have seen and will continue to see some very hot days. We urge all parents to please be “sun smart”. Please apply, or have your children apply, sunblock daily as they do play outdoors. Please send them enough liquids to keep them hydrated through the day. We encourage water and fruit juices to be sent to school with their lunches and to please refrain from fizzy drinks as they are not healthy for our growing learners.
- CONCLUSION
By now you would have decided on your child’s First Additional Language (FAL) i.e. Afrikaans or IsiZulu. We urge you not to change this during the year as this puts your child at a disadvantage in terms of expected grades and reporting.
We have provided the basic stationery i.e. a pen, a pencil, an eraser and a ruler for each child as well as exercise books in every subject. Please note that we will only be giving these at the beginning of a new school term (every quarter), except the ruler which will only be given at the beginning of the year, thus we urge you, our parents, to ensure that your child/children maintain responsibility for their belongings. We, the school, will not replace any stationery due to theft, misplacement or breakages. Please label your stationery to help your child better identify his/her belongings.
We have made positive progresswith the school and curriculum and wewant to achieve more milestones in the year.Parents with your help, assistance and proactive involvement in your child/children’s learning we will continue to pursue greater heights! It’s time to join forces and aim for success! Let’s do this!
- SOMETHING TO PONDER OVER
1ST TERM NEWSLETTER 2017