January 2020 Newsletter 1

Dear Parents/Guardians,

To our existing parents, students and staff (old and new), welcome back. We look forward to working with you in 2020. To our new parents, students and staff, welcome to the Montessori family. We are thrilled to have you all with us and look forward to getting to know you. Most of the information you require is contained in the information booklet that you should have received with your information pack upon enrolment. Please read through this carefully, as this will answer many of your questions. If you have any questions, please feel free to come through to the administration block at your earliest convenience.

Building and Maintenance:

I would like to thank our ground staff and our cleaning ladies who over the holidays kept the grounds beautiful, did renovations and also wiped each piece of equipment in the classes with a disinfectant solution! Our ground staff spent time painting the outside of the school and the inside of some classrooms. They certainly aid in keeping our school of a high standard.

PE and Sports:

There will be no afternoon activities or sports activities for the first week of school. Sports start on Monday the 20thJanuary. On the days your child has PE or their extra ABCs (they need to be dressed in PE clothes which should consist of white shorts, a white t-shirt and sneakers. Please mark all items.) For the first half of the term, please send along a swimming costume and a towel as they will be doing swimming during PE time on alternate weeks. Teachers will communicate swimming dates with you.

Afternoon Activities for 2020:

All students not partaking in afternoon activities will wait at the waiting areas near the gate. There are no afternoon activities this week; all afternoon activities will start on Monday the 20th with girls’ soccer and Cricket for boys. Please check the sports schedules for clarity.

Please note, in addition to the afternoon sports, we will continue with the Robotics and Chess clubs.

The Chess Team and the Robotics club will meet on a Tuesday for Chess and on Thursday for Robotics at 2:10 p.m. Chess will be by invitation. Ms Helene will be sending out invites to strong Chess candidates throughout the year. A letter will be going out this week for the Robotics club; please check communication books for this.

Extra-curricular - Languages:

Each student has a choice between taking French or SiSwati as a second language; all students do conversational SiSwati as an additional subject. Please indicate your choice to the teachers if you have not already done so.

School Hours:

Classes start at 7:45 a.m. and all students are required to be in their classes at that time. Please drop off and pick up students on time.

Academic hours: Lower Elementary

Mon, Wed – school ends at 1pm

Tue, Thur – school ends at 2pm

Friday – school ends at 1pm

Please note that Year 1 sports (ABCs) take place during school hours on a Tuesday and Thursday from 1pm-2pm. Year 1 students will not have sports on Mondays and Wednesdays.

Academic hours: Upper Elementary

Mon, Tue, Wed, Thurs – School ends at 2pm

Friday – School ends at 1pm

Buses

The school bus leaves for “town” at 1:10pm, “out of town” at 2:10pm this week, due to no sports, and 1:10pm every Friday.

Next week our town bus will leave as per normal times at 2:10pm, the out of town bus will leave at 3:10pm on Mondays through to Thursday and 1:10pm on Friday.

Office Hours

The office is open daily from 7:15am until 3:30pm from Monday- Thursday and closes at 2:30pm on a Friday.

Parking

Please ensure that you do not park in the turning and drop-off zone in the lower parking. We urge all parents to drive slowly and with caution to prevent congestion in the parking lot. Please use the parking as follows:

LE parents, please use the lower parking.

UE parents, please use the top parking.

Please note we have a number of staff that are on duty at the gates. Our staff are there to assist you and keep the parking lot flowing. Please adhere to their requests.

Parents’ Meetings

This year we will be holding separate parents’ meetings for each classroom. This is to make the meeting more personalized. Please save these dates as it is very important that each parent attends.

Class 1 – 20th January 1pm-2pm

Class 2 – 21st January 1pm-2pm

Class 3 – 22ndJanuary 1pm-2pm

Class 4 – 20th January 2pm-3pm

Class 5 – 21st January 2pm-3pm

Class 6 – 22ndJanuary 2pm-3pm

Class 7 – 22ndJanuary 2pm-3pm

2020 set up

New Home Classes for 2020

Class 1 (LE Grades 1-3) – Mr Gerard and Ms Ankia, class assistant Michaela

Class 2 (LE Grades 1-3) – Ms Phumi and Ms Louise, class assistant Savannah

Class 3 (LE Grades 1-3) – Ms Teresa and Ms Rochelle, class assistant Ellen

Class 4 (UE Grades 4&5) – Ms Maria and Ms Kirsty

Class 5 (UE Grades 4&5) – Ms Beverley, Ms Nothando and Ms Charlotte

Class 6 (UE Grades 6&7) – Ms Riette

Class 7 (UE Grades 6&7) – Mr Earl and Ms Chembo support teacher

Extra Curricular teachers for 2020

Chess and Robotics – Ms Helene Waters

Music – Mr Joshua Richter

SiSwati – Ms Nokwanda Bhila

French – Ms Noreen Moir

Physical Education – Coach Gerard, Coach Delisa and Coach Thape

Computers – Coach Delisa and Coach Thape

Choir- Mr Joshua and Coach Delisa

Rave-O – Londiwe Dlamini

Counselling – Ms Zulmira

Classroom WhatsApp groups

Each homeroom class has a WhatsApp group for ease of passing along information. These groups are used strictly for information from the school. These groups are administrative only, only allowing school personnel posting rights. Teachers’ phones are not always accessible during teaching times and, therefore, they will not always respond to messages within teaching hours. In case of emergencies, please contact the school office.

Queries and concerns

Please use the following telephone numbers and emails should you need to contact the school.

Office landline: 24049155

Office Cell Number: 7910 6450

Administration

Bursar: Elizabeth/ Dudu: montessori.life.bursar@gmail.com

Secretary: Alicia contact montessorilifeadmin@swazi.net

HOD Sports: Gerard

Management

Principal: Thea montessori.life.primary@gmail.com

Pastoral Care/Deputy Head (student and staff welfare): Zulmira zulmira3.c@gmail.com

School Fees Payments

No child will be allowed back to school should there be an outstanding amount from last year. Payments should be made by the 7thof each month. By the time we close for Term 1, all Term 1 fees should be paid. If paying termly, payments should be made at the start of the term. Please see the School Bursar for any queries.

Please find attached a Class Schedule, Year Planner, Sports Schedule, Term Dates and Paid Activities List. On the year planners we have already filled in certain dates for you. As we send out other dates, please add these to your planner.

We look forward to a happy and productive year together!

Warm regards,

Thea Rudd

Principal

Montessori Life Primary