WESTERN PROVINCE PREPARATORY SCHOOL - WESTERN PROVINCE PREPARATORY ...
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WESTERN PROVINCE PREPARATORY
SCHOOL
Choose to make every day a great day. Find ways to play. When interacting with others,
stay focused in order to be present. Find someone who needs a helping hand, a word of
support, or a good ear – and make their day.
Newsletter 9 October 2020
WPPS Curriculum Development: Curriculum Framework: How we envisage pulling all aspects of our
curriculum together into a functioning whole.
A Positive Glimpse of the Future
After a year of so many curveballs and challenges to teaching and
learning as we know it, I feel that the time is right to share “a
positive glimpse of the future” of life at Wetpups.
Yes, we have been tweaking our approach to teaching and
learning for a number of years now and, through the integration
of our three school imperatives (Transformation, Community
Engagement, and Sustainability), the inclusion of STEAM and
Project-Based Learning (PBL), as well as the beginnings of a Social
and Emotional Learning (SEL) programme, have made some really
good inroads. Through trial and error, we have learned many
lessons on our journey, always seeking to improve, year on year.
But, it has taken us a while to establish how best to combine and
position all these elements within, or alongside, the existing
academic curriculum.
However, with fresh eyes and many hours of reflection and
introspection during the months of lockdown and COVID
restrictions, much thought and planning have gone into how we
should move forward as a school with developing and delivering a
curriculum that we believe truly reflects the vision and mission of This framework allows us to be far more intentional in what and
our school - “the Wetpups way”. how we approach teaching and learning.
When translating the school vision and mission, it would seem We are currently well into planning the formal SEL component of
that our Curriculum Vision and Mission should read along the the curriculum, with every intention of rolling out “the Wetpups
following lines: way” in the new year. Rome was not built in a day, but if we plan
To develop and deliver a world-class, dynamic, authentic, and strategically, actively manage change, and make sure that we
relevant curriculum. equip and prepare our staff to ensure the successful roll-out of our
Through our curriculum, we will strive to develop all aspects reframed curriculum, we will succeed in delivering on our mission
of our boys - social, emotional, and academic - so that they - delivering a world-class, dynamic, authentic, and relevant curric-
can learn real-life lessons and develop the knowledge, skills, ulum.
and understanding to become effective and responsible
decision-makers and future leaders. We invite you to engage positively with our process as the staff
are really excited about the road ahead - towards a bright and
It has become obvious that we need to reframe our curriculum if positive future for teaching and learning at Wetpups.
we are to achieve these aims.
WARREN BOARDMAN-SMITH
Head of Senior Prep
At the heart of our curriculum, we have the all-important 21st
CENTURY SKILLS - Critical Thinking, Collaboration, Creativity, and
Communication. These core skills will be carried through our
THREE SCHOOL IMPERATIVES; and finally, these have to be sup-
ported by our deliverable classroom curriculum, which are Revised 2021 WPPS Term Dates
delivered through three components - SOCIAL AND EMOTIONAL
LEARNING (SEL), STEAM/PROJECT-BASED LEARNING, and our Term 1: Wednesday, 27 January - Thursday, 1 April
more traditional ACADEMIC LEARNING AREAS and SUBJECTS. Most
importantly, we need to see our curriculum holistically, as this is Term 2: Monday, 19 April - Friday, 25 June
where the true value lies - in the “whole package”.
Term 3: Monday, 19 July - Thursday, 23 September
Term 4: Tuesday, 5 October - Friday, 3 December
celebrating life and learning
Heath Williams
In This Issue
WPPS Curriculum Development: A
Positive Glimpse of the Future - Warren
Boardman-Smith
Headmaster’s Assembly and Chapel
Service
Thought for the Week
Prayer Meeting
WPPS Jerusalema Video
Heath Williams - World Rhino Day
Grade 1 Activities
Headmaster’s Assembly and Heath entered the World Wildlife Summit competition in support
Chapel Service of World Rhino Day which was on 22 September.
Heath won one of the ‘best artwork’ categories. Entries were
Click on the following link to view this week’s Headmaster’s As-
received from across the country, Botswana and the UAE.
sembly: https://www.loom.com/
share/6baabe8fbe2f459080dd13fc879a3b5d Well done, Heath, we are extremely proud of you!
Click on the following link to view this week’s Chapel Service:
https://drive.google.com/file/
d/1NJ6n_WBsPl2OwmeSDWbGI4_MCCtbUOkS/view
Thought for the Week
“When you have exhausted all the possibilities, remember this:
you haven’t.”
American inventor Thomas Edison (1837-1931)
Prayer Meeting
A prayer meeting is held in the school Chapel on the first
Wednesday of every month at 08:30. At the moment we are
meeting via Zoom.
We would love parents who are interested to join us. If you would
like more information please contact Kath on 0827741202.
WPPS Jerusalema Video
The Jerusalema Challenge was a wonderful way to bring the
whole school together. We are very grateful to INSPIRE AFRICA for
creating this video for us. Click here to view the video: https://
www.facebook.com/watch/?v=345447920227794
"Jerusalema" is a song by South African DJ and record producer
Master KG featuring South African vocalist Nomcebo. The upbeat
gospel-influenced house song was initially released on
29 November 2019 after it garnered positive response online, with
a music video following on 21 December. Wikipedia
celebrating life and learning
Grade 1 Activities
The Grade 1R boys used chalk and sugar water to create their own The Grade 1B boys have loved learning about China. Making
Elmer the Patchwork Elephant. We tied it into our theme based on Chinese dragons required patience and hard work, especially with
India as well as engaging on the topic of the importance of the detailed cutting, but the end results were spectacular! To make
accepting and celebrating our uniqueness, just as Elmer eventually our lanterns, we started off by using our fingerprints to make
did. Chinese blossoms on our page; then, with some careful cutting and
sticking, we created our gorgeous lanterns. The boys loved both
David McKee, who wrote Elmer after witnessing an upsetting racist activities and were very proud of their creations!
remark aimed at his daughter, told The Guardian that the story is
important to him because, “we are all different, with so many
differences, difference of colour, of accents, but also of size, shape
and how we dress. The differences are what make the world so
rich. It’s strange because we humans seem to like differences in
other things- in dogs and trees and flowers, but we don’t accept it
in people. If people aren’t like us, we don’t accept them”. As long
as there are people in the world who need to hear that message,
books like Elmer will continue to be important.
celebrating life and learning
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