This year’s Forty Days began with a Chapel Service. As Father Grant rightly said, ‘Farewells are never joyful nor are they easy, for soon you will not be seeing your teachers, school mates and peers who have been an integral part of your growing up in age, wisdom and grace.’

’Wathint’abafazi, wathint’imbokodo’ is a saying recognised across the country, a chant used to uplift women and remind the country of the importance of women. ‘When you strike a woman, you strike a rock.’ What does this saying really mean? What do we, as a country, understand when we hear the word ‘women’?

King of the Jungle? No. King of the World? Maybe. King of the Internet? Most certainly.

Ms Lerato Bereng is the Art Curator and co-owner of Stevenson Gallery. Having worked with many brilliant artists in the country, such as Thenjiwe Niki Nkosi and Simon Gush, and having sold art to some of the biggest names in music such as Rihanna, she earned herself an impressive CV.

As a young girl I spent many weekends at my grandmother’s house in Johannesburg. My grandfather died two years before I was born, and ever since Granny had lived alone in the house in which my father had grown up. She was, for the most part, a relatively bland person – every Friday evening she ate fish and chips for supper, and roast chicken was on the menu every Sunday. The only thing that really stood out about her was her glaring love for the colour yellow. She owned a hideous bright yellow bomber jacket that she would wear whenever she drove, gears grinding at every stop street. It is this love for the colour that spawned her pride and joy: her yellow daisy flower patch.

2021 was a year of change, but also a year of growth. By now Covid-19 has become a repeated tune, a song we all know far too well. Nevertheless, adjusting to it has been quite a process. Due to Covid-19, 2021 has become a year of adjusting to new daily protocols that have to be followed, schedules that have to be tweaked to become Covid-friendly and fewer sports and cultural events. Even the way we go to Chapel everyday has changed. Our lives have been edited by Covid.

Yet another Semester workshop was held in Mrs Du Toit’s classroom. Fumane Masheane, the new Editor-in Chief, welcomed the new recruits. A video about interviewing skills was shown to equip the learners who had just joined the Editorial Team.

Grade 9 camp strengthens Sisterhood

In late September the Grade 9s paid a visit to the infamous Moolmanshoek Private Game Reserve. After missing the opportunity to go on camp the previous year due to the Corona virus, they were thrilled finally to get to go on camp. After a prayer for travelling mercies by Mr Braam van Wyk, the girls departed.

Grade 8 is the beginning of High School. Every SMS girl, from Grade 9 to 12, can remember their Grade 8 year as if it were yesterday: from Integration to Forty Days to the end-of-year Speech Night and the memories they made at On-track Adventures. The 2021 Grade 8 class left for the annual St Michael’s school camp with heavy luggage and their hearts filled with excitement for the journey ahead.

After weeks of planning, the Chapel Choir was able to go on its long overdue annual camp. The girls were accompanied by Ms Joanie Prinsloo, the conductor, as well as Mr Jaco Cilliers and