DECEMBER

2016

Dear Danville ‘Old Girl’The year of 2016 has been another busy and successful time at Danville. We have excelled in Academics, Sport and many Cultural activities.The Class of 2015 sustained excellence which resulted in Danville being placed as the Top Public School in South Africa. They achieved this by achieving a 100% pass rate as well as 100% Bachelor’s pass rate. The only other school in South Africa to achieve this was Eunice in Bloemfontein. On the sports field we also excelled with 9 girls receiving SA colours and 51 receiving their KZN colours. What an achievement.It is not only our present girls who excel – please continue to keep us in the loop of your own achievements as we are extremely proud of your success stories.This year saw the school undergo a mini make-over which included a top to toe paint and some routine maintenance, which has resulted in our facilities looking world class. We are constantly reminded though, that a great school is not made by its facilities but by the teachers, pupils and parents who work in synergy to enable the community to grow from strength to strength. Thank you to all our “old” girls who have played a unique role in contributing to the success and warmth of the Danville community – you are woven into the fabric of our history.We held our Reunion Tea for the Classes of 1976, 1986, 1996 and 2006 in August and we were happy with the turnout. It was a fun-filled morning as past school friends shared their memories and caught up with friendships in a way that Facebook just can’t do!2017 will be a big year for the Danville community as we enter our 50th year. Please ensure we have your correct details by completing the form on our website (www.danville.co.za). We will post a calendar of celebratory events on our website in the New Year and we look forward to hosting you at these special events. Please save the date for the 50th luncheon, 19th August 2017, as we would love to welcome you back to school.In 2017 we will also welcome our new principal Mrs Linda Scholtz as Cally Maddams retires in December 2016. Mrs Maddams has devoted 25 years of her professional career to Danville and has been the driving force behind the school’s continued excellence in every area. She will be sorely missed by pupils and staff alike but we wish her every happiness as she focuses on her family and some well-deserved time to pursue her own interests. We would love to hear from you so please send us information and photos to share and connect with us on Facebook!!Enjoy the catch up!

Regards

Tarryn HunterPROthunter@danville.co.za

Linda Scholtz, who will take up the post of principal next year, brings a wealth of educational experience with her to Danville. After obtaining her B.Ed Honours in Education Management, Law and Systems, she began her career teaching Geography, Maths and Afrikaans in Empangeni followed by posts in Estcourt and Durban before being promoted to the position of Deputy Principal, then Acting Principal at Ridge Park College. After 7 years, she was promoted to Principal of Kuswag Combined School where she has spent the past ten years. Linda is seen as a leader and innovator in education and in addition to running a large school, also serves on the KZN Committee of the South African Principals’ Association. She was named as Businesswoman of the Year by the SA Council of Business Women in 2008/2009. We look forward to many happy years with Linda steering this ship.

Danville Dialogues

School Highlights

Team of the YearTeam of the Year went to the First Netball team who have had a phenomenal year. In Action Netball the first team won the gold medal and was undefeated. In term two, they lost only one game during the season, won all the provincial rounds of the National Schools Challenge and travelled to Boksburg to represent KZN. The Danville Park Girls’ High School First Netball Team has been a dynamite team since Grade 8. It was undefeated in Grade 8 in 2012. The team competed in the Schools’ Challenge in Grade 9, and was the top KZN team in 2013, and represented KZN in the National Netball Schools Championship in Boksburg. In 2014, they lost to Kuswag by one goal and didn't make it to the Boksburg tournament. In 2015 they won the Schools Challenge in KZN and competed once again at Boksburg. This is the third year that this team has won the Schools Challenge. In August they competed in the National Netball Schools Championship in Boksburg, representing KZN. Seven of our team members are KZN players and have their goals set on playing in the Brutal Fruit challenge in the future.

Speech Day Danville Diamonds shone bright at the 2016 Speech Day.Recently Danville Park Girls’ High School held its 49th Annual Speech Day. It was a wonderful occasion to recognise the achievements of the class of 2016. The school also honoured Mrs Maddams’ long service of 24 years as the principal of Danville. On behalf of the Education Department, Mr Ntuli (Umlazi District Director) presented Mrs Maddams with an award for her contribution to education in the Durban North area. Then Mr Martin Elsner, Chairman of the Governing Body, presented Mrs Maddams with a plaque, renaming the multipurpose room as the Cally Maddams Auditorium. The Speech Day guest speaker was past pupil, Dr Bibi Bassa, who shared a message of inspiration and success with the girls.

Past pupil Dr Bibi Bassa with her parents.

1976

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2006

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Old Girls’ Reunion

Danville Diamonds Update Old Girls’ News

Class of 1983After 33 years: with Simone Roomer visiting from Las Vegas, Kim Dewberry and Gail Karan Tramontino made a plan to get united after a very, very long time. They met at the Oyster Box in Umhlanga on 3rd July 2016 and WHAT A BLAST they had! Seen in the picture are: Kim Dewberry, Karyn Dempsey Kruger, Sharon Hodkinson Sharon Cowan Lubbe, Simone Roomer, Carol Mathews Smith, Gail Karen Tramontino, Sharon Hodkindon, Helen Parent, Janine Pienaar Bekker and Terri Wulfsohn.

Amanda KuneneThe Danville Family congratulates Amanda Kunene (Class of 2012 ) on her appearance at the Idols competition 2016. Amanda Kunene (22) from Durban North, lives with her mother, twin sister and younger sister. She is currently studying towards an Honours Degree in Music at the University of KwaZulu- Natal. Amanda did really well and just missed the Top 10, however we are sure we will see her on our TV screens soon.

Casey Jeanne After matriculating from Danville Casey studied Fashion & Textiles at the Durban University of Technology, where she received the National Research Foundation Award and completed her Masters degree at the end of 2015. Recently Casey was nominated as one of the best bridal gown designers in South Africa, and later won the first prize in a black-tie awards ceremony in Sandton, Johannesburg as part of the Top Vendor Wedding Awards 2016. Her inspirational attitude and passion is a driving force in making Casey Jeanne one of South Africa’s leading young persons to watch.

Hasesha NaiduDanville "Old" girl Hasesha Naidu was a finalist in Miss Earth 2016 and was recently officially admitted as an Attorney at the Pietermaritzburg High Court!

Judy Braune and Kathy Armstrong Danville Park Old Girls, Judy Braune and Kathy Armstrong ,who make up Braune Training were awarded 1st Prize at the Wholesale and Retail SETA Good Practice Awards in the category for Accredited Training Providers, held in Sandton on the 28th June. In the previous Good Practice Awards, they won the category for Best Emerging Provider, so with the huge competition in this category, this recognition is a huge honour. Well done ladies, keep flying the Danville flag.

Parisha Juta Parisha Juta addressed the meeting of the President's Award at Glenwood. Danville participates in this International Award which challenges young people. Parisha gave an outstanding talk on what the award meant to her. She has just completed her fourth year of Medicine at the University of Pretoria. Parisha achieved the Bronze, Silver and Gold level of the award. While at school she was a recipient of a white blazer and was Deputy Head Girl. The award was developed by Kurt Hahn to address the "Six declines of Modern Youth" in 1956 and the First patron of the award was the Duke of Edinburgh. This award was introduced into South Africa and the first patron was Nelson Mandela. Danville has nearly 150 girls registered for the award.

Cara Govender, Class of 2004Cara and her brother Yuri are in a band called Abbey Grange and they recently won first place in the Lindt singing competition, bagging a trip to Los Angeles and prize money. Since their emergence in 2013, Abbey Grange has had huge success online with songs like Reset Button, Run and The Gates. The academically inclined siblings never planned a career in music, but after receiving positive reviews, music has become their life. Cara has a BSc in maths and statistics, and honours in applied maths. Her interest in music began a few years ago when their parents bought her a guitar.

Chelsea Wewege There is nothing else that makes Chelsea Wewege as happy as ballet does. “I am truly myself when I dance, yet I become somebody completely different,” she says. “When I dance I feel alive.” This passion for ballet has meant that Chelsea Wewege received a full scholarship to the American Academy of Ballet Summer School of Excellence in New York for two years in succession (2014 and 2015). She also achieved gold with distinction for two consecutive years at the American Academy of Ballet Performance Awards, and a distinction for the Advanced 1 level of the Royal Academy of Ballet exam.Chelsea — who is just 16 — left her home city of Durban to join a full-time performing arts school in Cape Town. A few months later, she received an email from the prestigious London Central School of Ballet, informing her that she had been accepted into their full-time programme, based on her preliminary audition video. Wewege and her family are currently trying everything from hosting fundraisers to enlisting the help of online crowdfunding to enable her to take up this opportunity. “It is a huge step of faith as I have definitely not got enough funds to pay for the course, however, I believe that the best way is just to take this move with a lot of courage and a sprinkle of enthusiasm, because once I am in London training full time, there are more financial opportunities that I will be able to apply for,” she says.When she’s not dancing, Chelsea is busy studying via correspondence, determined to complete her schooling. Her ultimate dream is to join a world-class ballet company and perform as a professional ballet dancer. — Fatima Asmal

Nthabi Maine“If you want something that you’ve never had, you have to do something you’ve never done.” Meet Nthabi Maine, commonly referred to as Nthabs who went to Danville Park Girl’s High and now studies at the University of the Witwatersrand. She plays defender for the SA u21 Team and is sponsored by Gryphon. Nthabs started playing hockey when she was 7 and she has two hockey role models; Emma Bray and Pietie Coetzee-Turner. She respects and admires their achievements and hopes to follow in their footsteps. At the Junior World Cup Nthabi hopes to represent her country to the best of her ability. For anyone who aspires to play for South Africa one day Nthabs says; “If you want to achieve your hockey goals you have to put in the work, be disciplined, have the right mindset and believe you can do it - with these, anything is possible.”

Nthabi Maine and Amy Etherington (another Danville past pupil) were selected for the SA U 21 ladies hockey team to participate in the World Cup Hockey in Chile.

Indoor HockeyCongratulations to past pupils, Jessica Lardant and Cheree Greyvenstein who were called up to be a part of the South African A Indoor Ladies Hockey team. Your hard work has paid off and you ladies deserve this. Super proud!!So proud of three Danville Park Old Girls representing us in the hockey PHL: Amy Etherington, Nthabi Maine and Cheree Carol Greyvenstein. You make us really proud ladies.

Sports Stars Updates

Precious MthembuPrecious Mthembu is a past pupil and plays for the national Netball team, and we watch her progress with great pride.

Photo Credit: Michael Bradley Photography

Farewell Mrs Maddams

Cally Maddams began her career in education at a school overlooking hills which “are grass covered and rolling, and they are lovely beyond any singing of it." (Alan Paton, Cry the Beloved Country). It was in this beautiful rural setting that she shared her love of the English language with the pupils of Ixopo High School – as well as teaching PE and running the Boarding Establishment. After four years she was transferred to her first urban posting, to teach English at Northlands Boys’ High School, as Northwood was then known. A gifted English teacher, she was instrumental in helping the Northlands boys to achieve outstanding results. In her years at Northlands, she exchanged the sports fields and PE for the school hall and musicals, directing their annual shows. A series of rapid promotions followed, initially to Northlands Girls’ High as Head of Department of Languages, and Head of Grade 12.It wasn’t long before she was transferred to Danville as Deputy Principal. Mrs Maddams had scarcely settled into her new post, when she found herself in the position of Acting Principal and was invited to apply for the post as Principal on the retirement of Mrs Young. And thus, in true Danville fashion (first in many things) she became the one of the youngest principals appointed to lead a high school. Thus began her journey of 25 years at Danville.No sooner was Mrs Maddams in her new post as Principal than major changes began to affect South African schooling as well as society. Almost overnight, Danville moved from being a state-funded school to a parent-funded Model C school which had serious financial implications for the running of a school of 487 pupils. However, Danville was in good hands. Mrs Maddams is a builder in every sense of the word: ‘one who designs, develops, plans, creates’, and thus Danville’s master builder began orchestrating the school’s move into a democratic future.A skilled administrator, she was able to pre-empt problems, negotiating a clear path ahead which led Danville from strength to strength. She developed systems and procedures designed to support her teachers and ensure the best for the generations of girls who passed through Danville, one of her catchphrases being “Is it in the best interests of the girls?” Her vision for the improvement of facilities was realised with the addition of the Art Suite, the Drama Studio, the Pavilion, the Indoor Sports Centre and the Artificial Hockey Turf. The Life Sciences Laboratories were updated, the foyer was redesigned to accommodate the frantically busy administation staff more efficiently, and she enabled the creation of the Victor Daitz Collaborative Learning Centre. The school was guided into the digital age through her

vision and careful implementation of computers, smartboards, WiFi, tablets and cell phones. She has been meticulous in ensuring that Danville girls are exposed to world class methodologies and that her school offers the finest education to its pupils. Year after year we have seen the evidence of her phenomenal vision and leadership, with numerous awards and accolades acknowledging Danville’s academic achievements. This culminated in Danville being named the top state school in South Africa in 2016, together with Eunice. She was one of the three Durban Principals who shared a common vision of networking with the Principals of girls’ only high schools throughout South Africa, and so the South African Girls’ Schools Association (SAGSA) was born. Conferences are held annually around South Africa providing a forum for discussion, networking and exploration of best practice, ensuring that girls receive top class education. Mrs Maddams served as the President twice, and this year was invited to New York to present a paper at a prestigious international conference. Growing out of the success of SAGSA, the All Girls’ Festival was born, celebrating sporting and cultural excellence among all girls’ schools around South Africa. However, the finest testimony to Mrs Maddams must surely be the generations of her girls who have taken her vision and their fine education into the universities, workplaces and homes both here in South Africa as well as overseas. It is with gratitude for your tireless service and our deepest respect that we say goodbye and wish you well for the future.

Glenda Goddard-Gill