81 ACADEMIC Review Middle School GRADE 8 We have had a highly spirited and successful bunch of grade 8s this year, superbly mentored by Murray Polkinghorne, head of Haley house, and his team of mature and able prefects. The boys hit the ground running at the beginning of the year, learning their new school: new teachers, new subjects, prefects, matrics, seniors, buildings, fields and rules. To play it safe, they greeted everyone within a 50 meter radius and learnt the names of all prefects, first XI cricketers, swimmers, seniors and of course the school war cries! The Life Skills programme centred on “standing on your own two feet”, and covered topics such as study skills, being your own man, goal setting, uBuntu, peer pressure, self-discipline, team work and decision making. The annual leadership week in August continued this theme as the boys departed for four days to involve themselves in various team building and self-discovery activities. Now, as they approach the end of their first year at Kearsney, I feel confident that the boys have learnt to stand on their own two feet, made lasting friendships, understand the value of our honour code and are ready to move up the ranks within the College. I would like to pay tribute to the grade head, Andre van Zyl, and Haley housemaster, Bruce Thompson and the Haley staff for the caring and efficient manner in which they have nur tured these boys. GRADE 9 The theme for our grade 9s was “being aware of the needs of others” and we try to expose the boys to as many different experiences as possible. In addition to their extensive subject packages, the boys were involved in community service, the Pilgrim award, various expos, the Businessman of theYear, a workshop on sexuality, a visit to the holocaust centre, an international TIMMS Assessment, the SIAT international benchmarking, aptitude tests and interest profiling, spor ts and clubs galore and the annual leadership week. A very busy year indeed! Their weekly Life Skills lessons covered relevant topics such as nutrition and health, substance abuse, bullying, peer pressure, leadership, caring for the environment and career choices. For leadership week the boys split into groups and went to a number of different venues: Strand on the lower South Coast; Cumberland near War tburg and Babanango in Zululand. A final group of 14 boys chose to participate in the inaugural chapel to chapel cycle ride from Old Kearsney to Botha’s Hill to commemorate Kearsney’s 90th anniversary. Plenty of war stories were shared afterwards. ACADEMICS Our Elective Subject package this year was particularly interesting and varied.We offered two Mandarin courses (grade 8 and 9), French, Nature Conservation, Outdoor Survival, Conservation,The Ar t of War, Study Skills and Self-organisation, Urban Geography, Awesome Ar t, Introductory I feel confident that the boys have learnt to stand on their own two feet, made lasting friendships, understand the value of our honour code
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