2024 – A Year in Review at Melkbosstrand Private School

As 2024 draws to a close, it’s time to reflect on what has been a year of tremendous growth, achievements, and exciting developments for Melkbosstrand Private School. From the start of the year, our school community has been dedicated to fostering academic excellence, promoting Christian values, and providing an environment where learners can thrive both inside and outside the classroom. Here’s a look back at some of the highlights of our year.

A truly remarkable year

We could go on for pages and pages about the incredible moments the MPS community has experienced during the past year, from the classroom to the sports field, across all our phases. Instead, we invite you to explore these special moments, for yourself, by visiting our MPS Facebook page where we have shared news of sport events;, Awards ceremonies, Entrepreneurs Days, Book Week Fun, Bok Fridays, Grade Camps, Outings to the Planetarium, Cape Town Science Centre, to mention but a few. Take your time and enjoy the memories!

Highlights to keep an eye out for:

• MPS as a school enjoyed several proud moments including:
• In term one, a bus filled with toys travelled to the Home of Hope in Tableview as part of MPS’ community outreach endeavours.
• In honour of Mandela’s 67 Minutes, our school community came together to make a difference! We donated clothes to Vaaitjie School and delivered warm blankets to the Sea-park Alzheimer’s Unit.
• We celebrated our school’s 19th Birthday – 25 July marks the day that our school was officially registered with our first 89 Primary school learners starting their educational journey in Jan 2006. We are incredibly excited about our 20-year celebrations planned for 2025!
• In October we were honoured with having Kim Kloppers, our Foundation phase head, nominated as a Keller Education EduHero! Kim’s dedication and leadership at MPS featured in a post by Keller Education announcing the achievement – to read about it click here: https://www.facebook.com/share/1BEBsVxQWK/

At Noah’s Ark (NSA) the littlest of our MPS #Changemakers, have had a year packed with fun and learning interspersed with events such as Grandparents’ Day/Special Person’s Day, Athletics Day and their first ever Entrepreneurs Day culminating with the eagerly anticipated Grade R Graduation.

Here are some NSA calendar special mentions:

• The year kicked off with a visit to NSA from the 2 Oceans Aquarium with a phenomenal and interactive puppet show which shared valuable lessons about keeping our beaches and animals safe and litter free.
• Our ECD and Foundation phase annual Teddy Bear Picnic is always a hit and gives our families and friends the opportunity to get to know one another.
• NSA started off the second term with a BANG! celebrating our yearly Bible week.  Each class prepared their passports and made their way to each country to learn about the incredible miracles performed in each one.
• Fun and laughter were the ‘order of the day’ at the NSA Boeresport Day where our super-creative teachers went above and beyond to plan this fun-filled day for the learners.
• Our Noah’s Ark Christmas concert was a huge success and thoroughly enjoyed by all who attended – especially the little stars of the show!

The Primary School calendar was packed with countless opportunities for wonderful memories to be made at our grade camps, entrepreneurs days, educational outings, awards assemblies and days honouring the special people in our learners’ lives. On the Primary School front our learners also thoroughly enjoyed and excelled at several sport events including inter-house athletics days and Sport and Culture Derby Days were fun, with a little dose of fierce yet friendly competition, was had by all.

Just a few of calendar highlights include:

• Melkbosstrand History Tour Bus! As part of our integrated teaching program, the Grade 4 learners used their creative, critical and historical thinking skills to learn about life in early Melkbosstrand by exploring the town and meeting local experts. 1st Stop: Historical Landmark Visit NSRI. 2nd Stop: The historical ‘Die Damhuis’ Restaurant with an expert talk on the history of Die Damhuis and lunch.
• April saw a visit from the amazing team from LEAP Bible School, who ministered into MPS Primary School and High School learners
• Young Engineers 2024! The programme which develops STEM and robotics skills was integrated into our 4-7 grade curriculum. The program introduces learners to the basic principles of mathematics, science and engineering by integrating the basic arithmetic learned in school with an intuitive active learning process. This exciting moment followed on from the introduction of Young Engineers to our Foundation Phase in 2023. Our Grade 1-7 learners have had the opportunity to learn the fundamentals of robotics, programming, and coding.
• The annual De Kock Mathematics Olympiad saw 12 of our Grade 6 and 7 learners participate where their hard work, critical thinking, and enthusiasm truly shone through.
• Volunteering at Dassenberg rescue centre. The last week of school was allocated for volunteering projects which forms part of our learners curriculum for Life Orientation.

MPS High School learners ‘work hard and play hard’ and can look back and be proud of the incredible highlights of 2024.

These include events which make them part of MPS’ proud traditions like the annual MPS “Empie” Challenge and Potjiekos Competition as well as calendar items from which we have selected some highlights:

• January saw a long standing academic school record broken by the 2023 group of matric students and academic history being made! Our MPS Class of 2023 not only had a 100% matric pass rate but, for the first time ever, achieved a 100% bachelor pass rate! We are also extremely proud of the fact that 50% of our 2023 matrics achieved above 70% aggregate!
• MPS HS drama learners attended the production of Sweeney Todd in the Kalk Bay Bakery to experience “Experimental Theatre”, firsthand.
• MPS Grade 9’s explored Newlands Forest on a hike in preparation for the MPS Greyton-McGregor hike which is an annual tradition at our school. This year’s hike proved, once again, to be memorable and an important character-building event on our calendar.
• Our annual Old Boys vs First XV match saw a match that would have made any Springbok supporter proud.
• MPS is very proud of four of our Agri-learners who took part in the Moorreesburg Youth show! Click here to read more about their incredible achievements: https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=3082525148563589
• September saw our High School grade 10 and 11 Tourism students enjoy some ‘practical experience’ with an outing to the West Coast National Park
• Our Matric group of 2024 radiated elegance at their Matric Farewell! We are so proud of these phenomenal young men and women.
• We’re ending the year with eager anticipation as our matric 2024 group are set to make MPS history as the school’s first matric group to write the IEB grade 12 final exams! We wish them all the best and are confident that they will do us proud!

At MPS we proudly prepare our learners to become #Changemakers of the future and we are blessed to see so many of our learners already making an impact on the world out there.

Here are a few special mentions:

• Lize Willems from our MPS 2023 matric group was chosen as one of 23 Matric Design students in the Western Cape to exhibit her 2023 Matric Practical work at The Face of Design Exhibition held by Cape Town Creative Academy.
• Our very own “Aquaman”, Jaco Louw, participated in an open water swim at the Loraine Dam in Grabouw in January. Jaco took part in the 1 km event against 99 swimmers of all ages and managed an impressive second place with a time of 14:03:17. March saw Jaco participate in the Bridge house mile open water swim on 16 March. Out of participants of all ages, Jaco received a spectacular 4th place. In April he competed in the SSA Level 2 Championship in Oudtshoorn.
• Amy Madeley participated in the CMC Taaibosch 3.2km open water swim in January where she led the group of swimmers from the start and continued to win her 3.2km swimming event. The 500m dash event was to start within a few minutes of her finishing. Amy was also entered for the 500m dash – here too she finished in 1st place. She was presented with wonderful prizes for the 3.2km race, and agreed to give her prize for the 500m dash to the swimmer that finished 2nd.
• Cameron Tripney, our 2023 Head Boy and World Champion Paddleboarder, represented South Africa at the World Championships in Copenhagen in September and at the International Canoe Federation World Championships in the USA in November. Following his 2022 Gold Medal win, Cameron continues to make MPS proud with his achievements and humility.
• Primary school learner, Luan Geldenhuys took first-place in the primary school golf series competition at Atlantic Beach!
• Primary school learner, Statum Grobler took part in the Western Cape Provincial Kickboxing Championships where he achieved the following in the weight category: under 42 kg: Points Fighting – Gold, Kick Light – Gold and Light Contact – Gold. Statum Grobler then went on to compete in the SA Championships and kicked his way to victory, winning the SA CHAMPION 2024 title for Points Fighting.
• Primary school learner, Dané van Zyl achieved her Level 3 in ice skating.
• Mikayla Wilson in Grade 4 and her pony Maestro had an impressive performance in dressage! They secured 2nd place in both the walk and trot, as well as the trot and canter.
• Our fearless Primary School motor biking enthusiast, Kelly-Ann Gulliver (Grade 7) raced her way to the top with an outstanding performance in motocross! She clinched first place in her age group at an event early in the year and went on to an outstanding performance at the Nationals in Johannesburg.
• High School learner, Katie Ismail, won the Western Cape leg of the National Dressage SA Challenge.
• Another high school learner, Finn Randall made the Western Province team for bodyboarding!
• MPS High School’s avid golfer, Riley Tarr, took part in the Milnerton Western Province Junior Championships U/19 and was placed in the top 10.
• Primary school learner, Emily Ward, was selected to represent Western Province in tennis.
• Primary school grade 2 learner, Isla Barnard passed her Life Saving course.
• Nialynn Van Coller and Sophia Uys successfully completed a two week Sparks Study Skills Course.
• Mary-Louves Joubert qualified to represent the Western Cape Province at the 2024 Gymnastics South Africa Gym Games.
• Primary School learner, Matthew Carter, our very own racing driver, competed in both the Junior Max Nationals and Clubman’s. With only 3 months of racing under his belt, he delivered a performance that turned heads and left a lasting impression on the track!
• Finnley Randall, one of our Grade 9 students, participated in the South African Bodyboarding championships held in Port Alfred. He achieved an overall 3rd place in South Africa.
• Kaylim Knight-Wallace from MPS represented South Africa in New Zealand, at the Nations Mounted Games competition. We are looking forward to seeing him compete in Australia next year.

At MPS we are able to enjoy all these wonderful moments with our #Changemakers, while remaining focused on that which MPS is founded upon– our Christian values and principles .
As we reflect on this past year we feel blessed and proud of what we have achieved and our remarkable school community. We are grateful for MPS – for our staff, parents and learners, and for what it means to be MPS #ChangeMaker!
We’re looking forward to another exceptional year in 2025 and, God willing, will be celebrating the school’s 20th year! Watch this space for news of our exciting celebrations!
We’re always keen on growth and we’d love to share the MPS experience with you – our enrolments are open all year round, so why not come and visit and see what it means to be an MPS #Changemaker!  Contact the MPS team today!