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Showing posts from September, 2012

Up the garden path on a Sunday morning

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I woke up this morning to the endless chirping of birds. That was my signal. It was time to get up, and move my butt to the neglected front garden. I donned my skinny – by default – jeans and furry bed slippers and off I went to meet, greet and weed my forgotten plants. Lavender Sheena, Sanna Copper Leaf and Bruno Birdbath looking fresh and perky again    First in the queue to get some slimming treatment is Sheena, a seriously overgrown lavender shrub. I lop off the protruding dry twigs and make her feel sexy again. Sheena is originally from Grabouw and belonged to her namesake, an artist, sculptor and horticulturalist. The REAL slim Sheena has since moved to a remote Karoo town because Grabouw was becoming too busy! Behind the lavender bush, stands Sanna, the copperleaf tree. It is squashed against the boundary wall. With a snip here and a snap there, it can stand tall behind her ADHD lavender friend.  My copperleaf was given to me by my adorable helper and sanity-controlle

Parent Seminar in our Circuit is a great success of starting the process of rebuilding our bonds with parents

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We hosted our parent seminar at Muizenberg High school today. The power of the session was the collective wisdom of the parents, the facilitators from Parent Centre and Lisa from Changing Hearts and Minds organisation. Another outstanding feature was that the entire event was managed by learners from Muizenberg High School under the leadership of Leoni and Melvine, two SMT members at the school. Enjoying quality time in the garden and bottom left, in discussion I attended the session facilitated by Lisa Pedersen who took our teachers on a journey entitled "An emotionally literate approach working with  parents". Throughout the interactive session, the educators (which included a few of our school heads) were fully engaged. Lisa modelled the very approach she was advocating. Such synergy between theory and practice always resonates with me. She was relaxed, affirmed the participants and gently took them through their paces. This is what teachers are looking for; differen

Milkwood Lodge is a fantastic launch pad to see Hermanus

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We were ready to have as much fun as we could have on our breakaway to Hermanus, the town where the whales are the magnet, amongst other things.  We wanted nothing but glorious abandon and boy, we got everything we wished for. We had booked at Milkwood lodge for our 1,5 day stay in Hermanus.  We love to visit Hermanus  once in a while because this town has so much to offer the tired spirits and the overworked bodies. One of our exciting trips to Hermanus was when we went a trip organised by the Two Oceans Aquarium - a whole busload of us.. On that outing we even cancelled our walk along cliff paths because an amazing school of whales frolicked a couple of metres from the lookout point. Even the whale crier was jobless on the day.  Thus, armed with all these warm, fuzzy memories, we left Cape Town in high spirits.  The weather was fantastic, the music and chatter from the radio were laidback and we were all charged to pack in as much fun as we could. Clockwise from Top: Me and Lin

Lavender Hill High School and Sullivan Primary School caught treating our learners like the Einsteins of the future.

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The schools I serve inspire me beyond words.