Alexander Road High School

Private Bag X34377

Newton Park
6055
Gqeberha
South Africa

Tel: 041 365 1270

11 February 2023 E-Mail: info@arhs.co.za
Web: arhs.co.za

Dear Alex Family Members

The promise of rain

The parched PE landscape got such a light reprieve in the smattering of drizzle that fell
this week. As much as I appreciate every drop, I did look enthusiastically at the forecast
for rain last week as the last dregs ran out of my rain tank. I see a bit more rain
predicted for next week and I will be trusting the supercomputers at the met office to
have done a good job of factoring in all the variables.

Other aspects of life that promise but don’t deliver much include the rather
sophisticated scams and attempted frauds that I have encountered in the last month. It
seems that the criminal element have access to new tools and new access to data that
has made their attacks far more sophisticated. It used to be easy because the
grammar was poor and the approach always predictable. If we stick together and keep
ourselves up to date with the tends, we can keep ourselves and each other, from being
taken advantage of.

Please remember that we are meeting the Grade 9 parents on Tuesday at 17H30 and
on Friday the 17th all the new Alex parents are invited to join us at Condingley House
for our welcome braai. We hope the weather holds but I won’t be sad if it rains. The
fires will be ready by 17H30, please bring your dinner to braai. We look forward to
getting to know you a bit better.

We have recently added another innovation to our VIP site. We have a shared drive
mapped as the W drive where pupils can pick up work saved by teachers. CAT and IT
pupils also have access to a shared drive mapped as T. previously these folders were
only available from inside the school network but as of this week, we have enabled
access from outside school. All they have to do is log in the arhs.vip and there is an
icon for T and W. This site is zero rated so you can download the content without any
data charges. We are very grateful to Mr van Huyssteen who keeps improving our
network with innovations.

We have moved the planned civvies day from Friday the 10 th of Feb to Valentines day,
Tuesday the 14th. Please remember that civvies days are not compulsory, everyone is
invited to join in and pay the R10. Anyone not participating can simply wear normal
school uniform on Tuesday.

In the interests of giving credit where credit is due, we have decided to change the top
10 academic award, known as the gold band in each grade. The new award is based
on the most recent exam. Anyone who achieves and average over 80% will get a gold
academic badge and anyone who gets and average between 70% and 79% inclusive
will get a silver academic badge. These lapel badges will be worn until the next exam
results are available. The badges will then be collected and awarded again. Unlike
academic scrolls, colours and honours, which are based on 2 exam terms and are
issued in perpetuity, the gold and silver academic badges are based on just one exam
term and are only awarded until the next exam results. Our hope is to encourage more
academic rigour. We would love to be able to issue 100 badges per grade every year.

Test week is scheduled to start on 3 March and run for 6 academic days until 10 March.
We will have 6 slightly shorter lessons and then a I hour test period at the end of the
day. Please note that these are not exams, they are standardised tests. It is the only
opportunity for these subjects to have everyone in the grade write the subject at the
same time. Those who do not write a test on one of the test days will either be allowed
to go home early or wait on the field for sports or societies to start. We will have
supervision on the campus for those who stay, so please don’t feel that you have to
fetch them early. While we would like everyone to take the tests seriously, we do not
want anyone to panic about preparation. All teachers will ensure that everyone has the
content required to prepare. The test in test week will end at the same time that school
normally ends. Please don’t assume that once the tests have been written that the work
for the term is done. We will most certainly continue with our academic programme.
Please don’t make plans to leave early on holiday.

Please remember our table of sharing and the used cooking oil collection. Please make
every effort not to stop in Alexander road or do a U-turn at peak traffic times, it really
does not help us with the flow of traffic.

Please keep yourself and those you love, safe this week.

Yours in education

Matthew Ridgway
Principal