Foundation Phase

CHANGE

"The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn and relearn."

                                                              - William Shakespeare

This quote is so true as we have to teach our children to adapt to the natural process of change, embrace it and do it positively.

 

CAPS

The National Curriculum has been the culmination of the Education Department’s efforts over a period of seventeen years to transform the curriculum. It has been endorsed by our Minister of Basic Education Mrs Angela Motshekga. We will be making this year an academic year stressing the changes and new aspects to the Policy Documents.

This year on the educational side we are introducing another Curriculum shift, known as Curriculum, Assessment, Policy Statement. (CAPS) The teachers have received some training from the GDE, and are ready to introduce the changes in a logical manner. We are constantly up-grading our resources and learner workbooks. The terminology has changed and the rating codes that will go onto their reports will be 1-7, instead of 1-4.Learning Areas are once again called subjects and Literacy will be known as Languages and Numeracy- Mathematics. Our First Additional Language is Afrikaans and it is required to be taught at a much higher level, which will also be assessed thoroughly.

 

THEME AND VALUES

Our theme for this year 2012 is:

“TEAMWORK-Together Achieving Excellence without Yielding”

Values in Education is of paramount importance. No matter where we live, we live by values. And because they are worth more when we pass them on, the foundation for a better life, we chose these values to share, in school and at home. We encourage parents to explore with their child for the rest of 2012, each set of values as indicated below. Have week-end discussions around these different themes and then during the next week try and reinforce the lessons learnt.

 

A

B

Believing In Others

C

Caring
Character
Commitment
Common Ground
Compassion
Cooperation
Courage
Courtesy

D

Dedication
Dependability
Determination
Devotion
Diversity
Doing The Right Thing

Encourage independence and a pride in doing a job and assist your young child to: Make their bed, make their sandwiches for their lunch-box, lay and clear the table, help make a salad, pack and unpack the dishwasher, pack away clean laundry into their cupboard, help feed and groom the pets etc…

 

ENTREPRENEURIAL SKILLS

Our young child is growing up in a very different environment to what we did in the mid 1970s when school fees were 50c per term and R2, 00 per year payable in advance via the child’s class teacher. Many mothers did not go out to work a full day and were freely available to assist and support school events during the school morning. Current trends no longer guarantee employment, and the individual is only as good as his/her last product. Therefore, from an early age we try to develop entrepreneurial skills, of self-sufficiency.

 

RESPONSIBILITY AND SCHOOL PROGRAMMES

It is for this reason Montrose produces and develops leadership qualities in our scholars. We start as young as the grade one child by encouraging them to accept responsibility and acknowledge that their behaviour affects the lives of others!

 

The Foundation Phase involves the young enthusiastic learner in Grade 1 who is approximately 7 years of age (Remember that the researchers have found that the character and behavioural aspects of a child are 90% formed by the time they reach grade 1, (I really do hope that all our children have been given the best possible Pre-School opportunities in life as we cannot expect our teachers to do it all! ) The parent is required to support their child through this 12 year schooling cycle. Grade 1 is as difficult for a child to achieve all the necessary skills as grade 12 is for the Matric pupil.

The Foundation Phase ends with the more mature learner in grade 3 who is approximately 9 years of age. The learners are all eager to please and thrive on praise from both their parents and teachers. Parents cannot over-estimate the great role they play in their child’s academic career in ensuring their success in the academic work and extra-mural participation.

It is the goal of Montrose to produce mature, well-balanced young adults who possess a loyalty and love for our country, and are capable of prospering in the ever- changing world of tomorrow. We seek to create lifelong learners who are confident and independent, literate numerate and multi-skilled, and compassionate with a respect for the environment and the ability to participate in society as active citizens.

 

There is a continuing need to motivate our learners to step onto the exciting educational ladder early on in their school lives while at the same time recognizing, exploiting and developing their rich multi-cultural and sporting heritage. Our school is mainly Christian based, but we accept and embrace the diversity of our school population. Indeed our ex-Model C schools have taken this challenge with a desire and passion to ensure that our learners are ready to grow up in a mixed society. I wonder how many other schools are able to brag of being so pro-active in the transformation process? Montrose is definitely a true representation of our society.

 

This year 2012, we will be celebrating our 42^nd  Anniversary. We encourage the learners to develop holistically and they are encouraged to participate in the extra-mural programme both Culturally and in an active Sport, every week. Every teacher is committed to offering quality education and getting to know the learners

Later on in the year, they will have the SACEE Reading Assessment and the Numeracy Challenge Competition organized by the Gauteng Education Department. Through external benchmarking our learners we can see how they are coping when compared to learners from other schools and provinces. Montrose tries to develop the child academically, socially, emotionally, spiritually and physically, in order to make them worthwhile citizens of the future! In both Assessments in previous years, our learners have scored in the above average range and we are grateful to our teachers who have ensured that the learners obtain these basic skills. In September 2012 the learners will also be writing the Annual National Assessments and last year 2011 in Literacy the children received an average of 93%, and Mathematics 84%.This was well over the National average of 35%.

 

Our Foundation Phase Department has always kept the useful traditional teaching and learning strategies as well as employing current trends, which incorporate the paradigm shifts, as South Africa strives to develop its own unique and valid educational system that is meaningful and develops leaders of the future. We make sure that a variety of Learning styles are used and that the pupil learns to co-operate with their peers. Our ethos is to strive for high levels of expectancy and perfection and know that knowledge is power and that learners become empowered by learning to do everything for themselves! Never do for child if they can do it for themselves! It is through this doing that they learn to develop and grow in stature.

We encourage specialists and outside groups to visit our school and demonstrate all sorts of language role- play and play demonstrations and general knowledge skills. The learners enjoyed a visit on 31 Jan by a music specialist playing the Bag-pipes. This term after all the formal activities we are planning a Story Hour on 22 March from 17h00-18h00(5-6pm) whereby the children come to school in their Pajamas and hear a traditional Story read to them from their class teacher. We also expect them to bring along a snack and juice. We will be collecting money for the SPCA as a voluntary contribution.

The Foundation Gr 1 and Gr 2 Playground is a better place to be for your child at breaks- we obtained the templates from America to promote the Peaceful Playground concept and keep our children calmer and less aggressive. We have a no Bullying Policy and have zero tolerance for children who hurt others.

We constantly try to build a bridge between the skills needed in the Intersen Phase and the Foundation Phase. These skills are natural and developmental and they form healthy challenges, to allow the child room to grow.

At Montrose we are proud of our facilities as we offer 2 smaller Classes who support the learners who have difficulties and we also have Bridging lessons with a therapist for learners whose mother tongue is not English.

 

PARENTAL RESPONSIBILITIES

Montrose hopes to support the home, but we believe it is the duty of the parent to ensure their child receives the necessary support if they are not coping in the mainstream effectively. The parents need to take the professional advice of the educators more seriously; as unfortunately, quite often their professional opinions and suggestions are just ignored only for the whole cycle to be repeated again the following year!

Please ensure you bring your child to school on time which starts at 7:20 and school closes at 1:30. If you are unable to collect your child from school at the stipulated time then we suggest you enroll your child into Aftercare. It is unfair to expect a Foundation Phase learner to remain unattended for 2 to 3 hours, while they wait for you to collect them!

Please remember to pack a healthy school lunch, supervise their homework, and write a sick note when your child has missed some school. Please be familiar with the School Code of Conduct and support the teacher wherever possible.

Please feel free to drop us a complimentary note or email when things are going well as we like to hear good news and not only concerns.

 

STAFF

This year we experienced three new teachers on our staff: Miss Shelley Ramsay Gr 1 Orange, Miss Catherine Vellacott Gr 2 Yellow, and Miss Aimee Johnson Gr 3 Orange.

We are also very proud of our School Management Team: Mrs. Buschberger, (Principal) Mrs van Loggerenberg, (Deputy) Miss Langkilde, (HOD Intersen Phase) Mrs. Callander, (HOD Guidance) Mrs. Ralph, (Languages) Mrs Cory (myself) and Mr Makara, (HOD Sports and Culture) as they work endless hours trying to ensure your child receives only the best there is to offer, and they support the efforts of the School Governing Body.

 

We wish you and your child a Happy, successful 2012 and we look forward to communicating more with you in the future.

Yours in Education

Vivien M. Cory