Schools reopened in South Africa on Wednesday 15 January 2020 and the Spirit Education Foundation wasdelighted to start the new school year with 100 Spirit scholars at ten different schools. A very busy first termfollowed with much interaction with our scholars, especially our new scholars as they faced the challenge of themajor leap from primary to high school. The school term came to an abrupt end two days early on Wednesday 18March due to the outbreak of the Corona virus in South Africa and the announcement by the President of SouthAfrica on Sunday 15 March, of stringent measures put in place by the Department of Health and Safety to curb it’sspread. The far-reaching effects of these announcements meant that all school sports tours, camps, festivals andevents, including our Spirit camp due to be held at the beginning of the school holidays from 21 – 23 March, had tobe either postponed or cancelled. While this was extremely disappointing for us and all our Spirit scholars, in thewords of one of our Spirit parents, “thank you for putting the health and safety of our children first.” Our camp hasbeen postponed, not cancelled and we look forward to holding it later in the year. We wish all our scholars a happy and healthy holiday and encourage them to wash their hands as much as possible- and to use the extended break until 14 April to enjoy some holiday time but to do some extra schoolwork as well!

T E R M 1 : 2 0 2 0

School visits commenced at the beginning ofFebruary and gave us time to catch up with holidaynews, to introduce the new Grade 8’s to the rest of theSpirit scholars at their schools, to ensure that theyhad all they need for the school year, to plan andorganise extra tutoring and to chat about goals andchallenges for the year. School visits are vital to thebuilding of relationships with our scholars and lead tomore accountability and effective communication withthem. We extend special thanks to our Spirit co-ordinators at each of our partner schools who kindlyassist us with the management of these visits.

QUARTERLY NEWSLETTER

SCHOOL VISITS

DONOR OUTING

Looking ahead to recruitment of new Grade 8 Spirit scholars in 2021, our first test in Mathematics and logicalthinking was held for 350 candidates on Saturday 25 January. After results were assessed, ninety successful

candidates were invited to write our second test in English, Science and Grittiness on Saturday 22 February. Ofthese, approximately 40 will be considered for interviews which were due to take place in March but will now be heldin April due to the extended closure of South African schools. We have been most impressed with the high calibre of

applicants and we know that it will be an agonising choice once again to select successful candidates for possibleSpirit scholarships in 2021. Special thanks to the team of Spirit Alumni who assisted us on the two testing days.

COLLEGE CONNECT INTERNATIONAL On Monday 3 February we were delighted to meet with Thabani and Alan ofCollege Connect International (www.collegeconnectint.com) who were here

from the USA to offer South African scholars and students the opportunity toshowcase their sporting talents in a bid to be awarded scholarships to study at

American universities. Their mission is “To assist deserving students andtalented student-athletes in being able to study at schools or colleges in the

USA”. The showcase event was held at the Athlone Stadium on 2 February andone of our Spirit Alumni who attended Wynberg Boys’ High School already hasthe privilege of attending Elmira College in New York State where he is studying

sports psychology and playing soccer in one of the university teams. We aregrateful for this connection and the inspiration it fires in our scholars’ hearts to

give of their best in all they do!

SCHOLAR RECRUITMENT FOR 2021

The Horwood family in Australia support 36scholars in the Spirit Education Foundationin 2020 and it was a joy to organise a picnicfor all their scholars to meet with them ontheir visit to Cape Town in February. Weheld the gathering at the Bill BowdenPavilion at Wynberg Boys’ High School onSaturday 8 February and enjoyed a morningof warm interaction, lots of fun and gamesand an abundant spread of delicious picnicfare. The scholars all took time to paytribute to the Horwood family by creating acollection of colourful messages of thanksin a notebook which was presented to Len,Sue and Monique Horwood. We are sothankful for their support and the time theytake to enrich the lives of our Spiritscholars.

To all our Spirit friends and patrons and especially our donors who make it possible to impact the lives of our Spiritscholars, we say a huge thank you from the heart for partnering with us once again in 2020. We wish you good healthand safety in these challenging times with the world-wide spread of the Corona virus and we reaffirm our commitment

to continue to build our nation through education, one scholar at a time.

Statpro outing

On Friday 28 February Red! The Gallerysituated at the Steenberg Village ShoppingCentre in Tokai, held an auction of stunningartwork to raise funds for the Spirit EducationFoundation. It was a glorious summerevening as guests arrived and enjoyed drinksand delicious snacks before the auctionbegan in earnest. Over R20 000 was raisedfor the Spirit Education Foundation, part of itfrom the sale of a painting donated by BuhleNkalashe, a Spirit alumnus who is now asuccessful artist living in Johannesburg. Weare most grateful to all who attended theauction and we extend huge thanks to Davidand Nikki from Red! The Gallery for stagingthis successful fundraiser for us.

RED! THE GALLERY CHARITY ART AUCTION

SPIRIT HIKEWhat a way to end a busy school term –with a wonderful hike in Cecilia Forest in

the Table Mountain National Park! Wehad 75 eager hikers participate and weredelighted to see so many first timers –new Spirit scholars who brought along

their families and friends to enjoy abeautiful morning of fun, friendship,good exercise and networking with

fellow Spirit family members. Our hikewas once again ably led by Spirit Dad,

Riyaad Hess, who brought along a teamfrom the Network Hiking Club to hike

with us and to ensure our safety on themountain. We thank them for their

special brand of encouragement andcare and we look forward to our next

Spirit hike in June!