4. December 2013 | 7. Edition 19. Year

4. December 2013 | 7. Edition 19. Year

Dear pupils, colleagues, parents, members of the Schulverein and friends of the Deutsche Schule Pretoria, The school year 2013 has been a successful but busy year. The growing enrolment figures and the resulting increase in the number of classes necessitated the building of new primary school class rooms. This process was completed by the end of the winter holidays. The building process to create an ecofriendly environment at the school was almost completed by the end of September. Largely financed by the German Foreign Office, we installed wall elements and superior insulation in our class rooms – a cooling and heating system which is much more ecofriendly than a conventional one. Furthermore, photovoltaic equipment with a performance of approximately 48.5 kW has been installed. We trust that these measures are not only exemplary for our learners but that we will greatly save energy, too. As every year end, we will have to bid farewell to some of our teachers. I would like to wish all those who are leaving, all the best for their futures. I would also like to convey my thank you for their work and their commitment to our school. In 2014, we will have four additional classes. Not only will we, therefore, have to replace those teachers who are leaving us for various reasons but find additional ones to cater for the new classes also. I will introduce those new teachers to you in our newsletter of January 2014.

In 2013 the DSP received, as in 2012, considerably high financial support. The school’s management and the Governing Body are very grateful to the German authorities for their generosity. In closing I would like to thank all colleagues as well as the trainers and coaches of our teams for their timeconsuming and dedicated work. During 2013 our learners, again, excelled in many sports competitions. However, our learners also excelled academically. Their examination results of 2012, which were published at the beginning of 2013, were excellent. Our school is one of the best in Gauteng according to the IEB (Independent Examination Board). Finally, I would like to thank the parent community wholeheartedly, and here specifically the members of the PRC, for their dedication and their unstinting support of the Deutsche Schule Pretoria. I wish you all a great holiday and Christmas season and a good New Year. I look forward to continue our pleasant and successful cooperation in 2014.

Klevenz NSC 2013/ Deutsches Internationales Abitur Once again, we bid our grade 12 school leavers farewell and wish them well for the future and for their careers. The IEB matric results will be announced at the end of December and will be published in our next newsletter in January 2014. The final results of the examinations for the German International Abitur will also be announced then.

CONTENT Page 1: Foreword NSC/Intern. Abitur PAGE 2: Personnel PAGE 3: Christmas Concert Robotics PAGE 4: Robotics Results DSD & DELF Examinations PAGE 5: News from the Governing Body Info from the PRC PAGE 6: Alumni PAGE 7: Church Services of the German speaking congregations

Personnel We again have to bid farewell to the teachers who will be leaving at the end of the year. We would like to say „Auf Wiedersehen“ and „Good Bye“ to: Ms Hildegard Krüger (14+ years at DSP) Ms Grit Heubner (3 years at DSP) Ms Kerstin Haberstroh (2+ years at DSP) Ms Kathy Neuland (approx. 2 years at DSP) Herr Timo Lütge (approx. 2 years at DSP) Ms Michelle Niendorf (1+ year at DSP) Ms Hildegard Krüger As from 1983 Ms Krüger, who herself was a pupil at the DSP, worked at the DSP on occasion. For the last fourteen years, however, she has been in full employ as a teacher. She has taught many learners how to read, write and count, supplying them with a solid base for their future school careers. Teaching Religious Studies is another subject which has always been close to her heart. Ms Krüger taught mainly in Grade 1 and Grade 2. At many DSP events Ms Krüger lent a helping hand. Some examples would be the Oktoberfest and Grandparents Day. She was a member of the Teachers‘ Council and chaired this council for some time. We wish Ms Krüger all the best for her early retirement and many more years in the best of health. Ms Grit Heubner Ms Grit Heubner is one of the teachers at the DSP who were seconded by the German government. She is a „Bundesprogrammlehrkraft“ and has as such taught at our school since February 2011. She mainly taught German and Mathematics in the Primary School and the Secondary School, and the subject Ethics was added from the begnning of 2012. Chairing the Teachers‘ Council for the last two years, Ms Heubner has been actively representing the interests of our teaching staff members. We would ike to convey our gratitude to Ms Heubner for her commitment and dedication to the DSP. May all the plans for her future become true!

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Ms Kerstin Haberstroh In 2009 Ms Haberstroh gave a „guest performance“ in our Kindergarten before leaving again for Germany with her husband. She returned to South Africa a short wihle later with the new addition to her family, her son Kilian, and her husband. In October 2011 she resumed her duties as an assistant in the Kindergarten. In the meantime baby Benjamin has joined this young family. In order to dedicate more time to her two sons and to spent more time on her profession as photographer (perhaps opening a new business), Ms Haberstroh will be leaving the DSP at the end of this school year. However, her son Kilian will remind us of the Haberstrohs every time we look at the advertising board for the Kindergarden. Kilian is one of the three children you can see in the advertisement. Our best wishes accompany Ms Haberstroh for a successful new start! Mr Timo Lütge Almost two years ago Mr Lütge arrived in South Africa from Germany to become the new Youth Deacon for the Johannes congregation. In April 2012 he added three lessons of Religious Studies at the German School to his list of duties. Mr Lütge will return to Germany at the end of this year. We wish him a happy return and all the best for his future! Ms Michelle Niendorf Ms Niendorf arrived at our school straight after having passed her 2nd State Examination as a teacher. She is the class teacher of our Grade 4b class. Ms Niendorf contributed creatively to the many events which were organised by our Primary School. Many thanks to Ms Niendorf for her cotribution to the DSP. We wish her all the best for her future! Mr Bernd Biermann We are not really bidding Mr Biermann farewell. He will be on parental leave as from January for one year, looking after his baby daughter, Magdalena. However, we will still be connected to him through his hobby. He won’t be teaching Mathematics any more, but will continue organising the extra-mural climbing activities. Enjoy your parental leave!

Ms Catherine Coffinet Ms Coffinet taught French at the DSP for almost three years. Her lively lessons were much enjoyed by all her pupils. During this period she initiated and developed a student exchange programme with students from the island of Réunion. In 2014 this exchange is going to take place for the third time already. Ms Kathy Neuland A belated farewell goes to Ms Kathy Neuland. Ms Kathy Neuland left the DSP at the end of September. She commenced her duties at the DSP at the start of the school year 2012 when she was responsible for the Primary School choir for Grades 1 to 4, the Secondary School choir for Grades 5 to 12 as well as the Acting Group for Grades 1 to 4. The choirs as well as her solo performance as an opera singer often formed an integral part of our school events; for example at the Gala Evening organised by the PRC, and at the ceremonial cut of the spade for our new Primary School building. Our best wishes for their future accompany Ms Neuland and her family. Ms Donatella Nadari A belated welcome to Ms Donatella Nadari! She started at our school some months ago and teaches music for six lessons a week. Parents‘ evenings The parents‘ evenings which have been scheduled for the start of 2014 (16., 21., 22. January) will, for Grades R to Grade 7, take place in the class rooms of the learners. These are indicated in the attached list of class teachers. Parents of Grade 8 to Grade 12 meet in the class room of the class teacher. The room numbers are to be found following the grade printed on the attached list of class teachers A successful Christmas Concert

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In addition to those from the Music Department who are familiar faces already, Ms Engberts and Mr Komann also made their first appearances at the Christmas concert. With Ms Engbert in charge, the concert was again a great success, bringing joy and a feeling of Christmas to the audience. Many thanks to all those who were part of the organising and to the performing teams.

Robotics In today’s newsletter we would like to highlight Robotics. Mr Warren Markley has compiled some reports on this topic: What is First Lego League? First Lego League (FLL) is an annual robotics competition with 200 000 participants from 70 countries where teams of 3 to 10 children learn to work as a team while having to complete various tasks with different themes. This year the theme was “Nature’s Fury” and teams all over the world had to build and program autonomous Lego Mindstorms® robots to conquer natural disasters like earthquakes and tsunamis. They also had to do a project about the prevention of a disaster of their choice. SAPragmatics SAPragmatics had 2 basic components to the team: the technical team, which consisted of Michael Sell, Tobias and Heiko Damaske; and the project and research team, which consisted of Selina Hoffmann, Boyang Yan, Kamogelo Matsomela and Jessica Irons. SAPragmatics chose the topic “Monster Waves”, or freak waves which are basically huge open ocean waves. They had a lot of fun while trying to sink a model boat by dive-bombing it. They also figured out that Selina, their team leader, and Mr.

Hoffmann, their coach, were both very good at that, although even they couldn’t sink the boat once they had attached their anti-sink solution. SAP sponsored their tshirts, banners and everything else that was needed. The SAPragmatics had a lot of fun programming, researching and being creative in thinking up ways of stopping their ship from sinking, even though they got side-tracked a few times, especially when playing a new game called “Sinking Bob” – a game of their own creation.

However, after the competition we had a bit of bad news. The SAPragmatics had not been chosen to go through to the National Competition, even though they came seventh out of the 38 teams that competed. The SAP Burning Robots, however, had managed to qualify for the Nationals on the 6th and 7th December at Sci-Bono Discovery Centre. The Burning Robots team:

The SAPragmatics team:

SAP Burning Robots The SAP Burning Robots had the same two team components: the technics, Heiko Kabutz, Thomas Kabutz and Thomas Hettasch, and the research department, Dominic Reichelt, Gustav Jönsson, Norbert Graefe and James Kim. The topic they chose was Wildfires, and they had to come up with a way to stop them from happening, or at least decrease their frequency. In their research, which included interviewing farmers and people with experience of this topic, they found out that most wildfires start because of cigarette butts getting thrown into the bush; so they distributed more than 300 fliers in shops and other places around Pretoria. They also experimented with ways of making portable ashtrays in which to extinguish burning cigarette butts, so that the still-burning butts aren’t thrown out of the car into a dry patch of grass, or something similar. They also had a lot of fun, especially at the Regional Competition, giving out Fireballs.

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Stationery sponsor drive We would like to thank you for your sponsorhip of stationery. Your contributions will be distributed to the Grade R and Grade 1 children of our partner school P.S. Umthombo/ Bohlabatsatsi at the beginning of the school year 2014. I am pleased to see that there are many of you who want to contribute to the well-being of the children, especially at Christmas, the time of giving. I hope that many of you will be able to donate a little bit more. The school’s administration will be open, so despite the school year having ended, you may still drop off your contributions at our reception. Perhaps we will reach our goal. Quantity wise, we are halfway there. Competition results German Language Diploma 2013 (Deutsches Sprachdiplom) Altogether 42 learners wrote the examinations for the German Language Diploma. These examinations have over the years become a fixture on the school’s calendar of events There are two levels one can obtain: The “DSD” (Deutsches Sprachdiplom) in Grade 9 of our New Secondary School classes and the DSD II. If a learner acquires the DSD II he/she may study at a German university. This year alone 35 learners wrote the examinations for the DSD II.

We congratulate the following learners who passed the examinations and obtained the German Language Diploma: DSD I B1 Level Malebo Paula Lekgoathi, Oarabile Moima Kabelo Mokoka, Vlleeonharr Moyo A2 Level Itumeleng Chuene, Zachariah Idiculla, Bongani Mahlangu, Izana Maila, Alainah Parker, Chesley Pattrick, Naimah Steenkamp, Thapelo Tsele Dimpho Tsele, Boyang Yan DSD II C1 Level Anne Ankermann, Samuel Baum, Stefanie Damaske, Raphael Gerber, Mark Jäger, Annette Lange, Nektarios Ioannides, Markus Müller, Dominik Nicolaus, Celina Pröbstl, Philipp Savvopoulos, Anita Slabber B2 Level Kedibone Ledwaba, Kamogelo Mothle, Lisa Nyamane, Natasha van der Colff, Melba Reid, Carl Schildhauer, Kimberley Schweer, Matthias Weber DELF results The examinations for the French Language Diploma (DELF) were written at the Alliance Française Pretoria. A candidate who passed the examination with the result B 2 may study at a French university. We congratulate: Olivia Fechtner Regina Intemann

B2 B2

B 1: Carla Ankermann, Yannick Kropp, Lea Jäger, Celina Pröbstl, Philipp Savvopoulos, Amelie Volk, Mark Jäger A 2: Fred Wieneke, Alessia Hillmeyer Access Discs 2013 Your previous access discs must be exchanged for those of 2014. They will allow access to the school grounds. The new discs are available at our reception which remains open until 18 December 2014.

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Extra-mural activities, calendar of events, list of class teachers 2014 The 2014 calendar of events as well as the list of class teachers for 2014 and the list of extra-mural activities (Sport) for the 1st term 2014 are attached to this newsletter. They will also be published on our website. For organisational reasons the list of extra-mural cultural activities for 2014 will only be available after the first week of school in 2014. They will also be published on our website. Information from the Governing Body Farewell to a member of the Governing Body The chairman and his colleagues on the Governing Body are bidding Mr Gebauer farewell. Mr Gebauer joined the Governing Body after he was elected as one of its members at the General Meeting of the Schulverein in 2011. He served as chairman on the School and Personnel Committee and was the Secretary of the Governing Body. At its last meeting in October Mr Wieneke succeeded Mr Gebauer as the Secretary. Due to his work commitments, working for the German Foreign Office, Mr Gebauer and is family will return to Germany in June. The chairman would like to convey the members’ gratitude for Mr Gebauer’s trustworthy co-operation and for his readiness always to act and give his input to the benefit of the Schulverein. Christmas greetings from the Governing Body The Governing Body members wish to convey their best wishes to all members of the school community for a peaceful Christmas and a happy and prosperous new year. Information from the PRC Lunch from the tuckshop kitchen Price Increase Please note that the PRC has increased the price for lunches available from the tuckshop kitchen. As from January 2014 a full meal will cost R 30 while half a meal and a meal in the Kindergarten can be bought for R 15.

News from the Alumni Julia Jacobs, alumni and currently studying at the Robert Schumann Musikhochschule in Düsseldorf, has been involved in many concerts this year. However, one definitely stands out. As their cellist, she accompanied the rockband “Die Toten Hosen” at their concerts on 19, 20 and 21 October in front of a thrilled audience of mostly young people. The band “Die Toten Hosen” was founded in 1982. They play mostly rock music with German lyrics. They are, besides the band “Die Ärzte”, the band with the highest commercial success.

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Beginning of school after the holidays Lessons will resume after the summer holiday on Wednesday, 15 January 2014 with morning assembly in the school hall at 7:30. Kind regards

N Klevenz Head Attachments: Church services of the German speaking congregations List of class teachers 2014 Calendar of events 2014 List of extra-mural activities 1st term 2014

Church services of the German speaking congregations Date 22.12.2013

09:00

24.12.2013

17:00

24.12.2013

18:30

25.12.2013

9.00

29.12.2013

09:00

Gemeinsamer Weihnachtsgottesdienst mit St. Peters (dt.) Gottesdienst (dt.)

31.12.2013

18:00

Gottesdienst mit Beichte und Abendmahl (dt.)

01.01.2013

10:15

Kein Gottesdienst in der Johannesgemeinde – Einladung zur St.-Peters-Gemeinde

Datum 24.12.2013

17:00

25.12.2013

09:00

Christvesper (dt.)

Stadtmission Pretoria (Pastor Stobwasser, Cell: 083 979 6396) Heiligabend Familiengottesdienst Weihnachtsgottesdienst Kein Gottesdienst

26.12.2013 29.12.2013

09:00

Gottesdienst

31.12.2013

17:00

01.01.2013

18:00

Jahresabschlussandacht mit Abendmahl und anschließender Silvesterfeier Kein Gottesdienst

Datum 24.12.2013

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Johannes Congregation (Pastor Dr. Nottmeier, 012 803 5212) Gemeinsamer Gottesdienst in der St- PetersKirche (dt., engl. und afrikaans.) Familiengottesdienst/Krippenspiel (dt.)

Kath. Gemeinde St. Joseph (Frau Schindler, Gemeindereferentin – tel 012 998 1772) 17.00 Christmette im Nazareth House, 290 Wilhelmina Str., Waterkloof

25.12.2013

10:00

Heilige Messe im Nazareth House

26.12.2013

10:00

Fest des Heiligen Stefanus Heilige Messe im Hobbyraum des deutschen Altersheims Anschließend Kaffeetrinken mit Weihnachtsgebäck

30.12.2013

10:00

Jahresabschlussgottesdienst im Nazareth House