An entertaining yet powerfully meaningful presentation exploring a range of lessons from nature for the future of technology, business and our world.

Nature's forms inspire efficiencies beyond what we thought was possible.

Nature's processes are way ahead of the cutting edge of our technologies.

Nature's systems encompass the wisdom and genius of billions of years of experience.

This presentation explores how we are learning from and emulating natures forms, processes and systems for innovative responses to human challenges.

There are literally as many ideas as there are organisms.

Join Singakwenza and be Inspired by Nature.

Saturday 27th July 2019.

From 14h00 to 16h00.

Makaranga Garden Lodge, Sibeko Hall, 1A Igwababa Road, Kloof.

Contact Linda before 20 July 2019 to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Laddsworth Primary School invites you to take part in the annual Laddsworth Trust Fund Golf day on Friday, 30 August 2019 at Victoria Country Club.
The format will be a 4-Ball Alliance – 2 scores to count, scrambled tee-shots, 3 tee-shots minimum per player to be utilised.

Tee Off from 10am

The cost per team/4-Ball is R1 600 (R400 per player), which includes your green fees, competition fees and dinner.

Download the entry forms here: https://laddsworth.co.za/images/LPSTrustFundGolfDay2019.pdf

Hole / Green Sponsorship is available at a cost of R1 500.

Sponsors can place their banners at the hole or green.

News supplied by Laddsworth Primary School.

BNI Nguni is hosting top Standard Bank Rising Star Entrepreneur (2016 National Winner), Grant Gavin, in a fundraising event for the uMngeni Community Safety Initiative (UCSI) and Love Howick, both local Not-for-Profit Companies in our community.

Come and listen to Grant Gavin’s inspirational presentation on “Lessons from a Traffic Light” and hear a little bit more about the UCSI and Love Howick NPC’s.

Details are as follows:

Date: Wed 17 July 2019
Time: 6 – 8pm
Venue: Oasis Conference Centre, 72 Main Street, Howick
Cost: only R150pp
Light finger meal/snacks provided
Coffee bar and soft drinks for sale

RSVP: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. (tickets and payment details will be emailed)

News supplied.

Reading silently improves students’ understanding because it helps them concentrate on what they are reading rather than the pronunciation of individual words. They can form mental pictures of the topic being read and discussed, which enhances speed and comprehension.

“I just dread my turn…… sometimes I can hardly breathe…..it is just my worst time…..I sit and hope the lesson will end before I have to read…”, Oliver tells me, describing the geography lessons when each member of his upper primary school class must have a turn to read out aloud from the geography text book. Whether it is in front of the class, or in front of his group, it is the same for this bright, very intelligent but struggling oral reader. Reading aloud in front of others is hugely humiliating….his worst nightmare!

Why?

Oliver is a wonderfully intelligent right-brain dominant learner who has struggled with reading from the start and was labelled ‘dyslexic’ in grade 2. He is an example of many creative visual-spatial learners who think in 3D images and not in words. Reading aloud is a huge challenge for them because as they look at the words (symbols) on the page, they have to turn them into pictures in their minds before they can read them aloud. Imagine having to do all that while the rest of the class or group is following! They feel a sense of shame and failure.

Most early reading programmes don’t cater for right-brain dominant learners.

This is one of the major challenges. They are aimed at the left hemisphere which learns best in logical sequence i.e. in little steps, from part to whole. They follow specified sequences of learning. Remember? Phonics, which is taught from part to whole. Isolated words to memorise, sentences, paragraphs and eventually the whole story. This is fine for left-brain, aural, sequential learners but not for right-brain holistic learners whose brains process in a different way, in fact, in exactly the opposite way i.e. from whole to part. These learners need to learn to read using right-brain methods. They must see the whole, the big picture, the goal, the final product before they can make sense of the sequential steps. That is why many of these big-picture thinkers don’t learn to read well and, instead, develop a sense of failure and resistance. By the time they reach grades three and four they really start to struggle and giving them more phonics, more rules and more oral reading doesn’t help much. Instead, they continue to struggle as they move up the grades towards matric.

The good news, however, is that many of these learners can become excellent silent readers when they understand how to change whole words into images and mental pictures as they read.

Consider this:
If a student reads well orally, it doesn’t mean that s/he has a good comprehension of what s/he is reading. That is a fallacy. Yet students’ reading progress is mostly judged by how they read orally.

In the real world...
How many times do people have to read orally without having had time to prepare? And yet in school the emphasis is placed on oral reading.
How many times do students need to read silently with understanding? All the time, throughout their lives and even in every subject in school and tertiary education.

So what can we conclude?
Silent comprehension and critical thinking skills are most important and should be actively taught and practiced across the curriculum at every grade level. Parents, try to create as many opportunities as you can for your children to read silently.

News taken from The Centre for Life-Long Learning Newsletter May/June 2019.

21:00-22:00 Electric Arc

Lead by Antonio Ravell, Electric Arc have got together again to play their mix of rock and blues covers and original music, original members Antonio Ravell (guitar and vox) and Ron Howse (drums) have been joined by Joanne Ravell on vocals and Adrian Haycock on bass, the ARC will be playing live at Mith Hilton on Wed 3 July 2019.

https://soundcloud.com/midlands-music-club/antonio-ravell-house-of-the-rising-sugarman

20:00-20:50 Roly Struckmeyer

Having been a fixture on the music scene in KwaZulu-Natal since the late 80’s, Pietermaritzburg-born acoustic guitarist & vocalist Roly Struckmeyer started playing the guitar at age seven. His music career began when he returned from England in 1989 to form a band known as “House On The Hill.” During his career as a performer, Roly has toured & performed with names such as Wonderboom and Landscape Prayers. He has also played with a number of amazing bands such as Butternut, The Farryl Purkiss Band & Deluxe to name a few. In 1994, while in America, he played on the Free Stage at a festival in Boulder, Colorado, and was a member of Arapaho for the last year of their career. Roly worked with Syd Kitchen in the early 2000s, and with Perez from 2001. He's now joined the latter as an official band member. He did a solo album in 2007, and has spent the last ten or twelve years in cover bands - No Fly Zone, A-frame and more recently Rustic Spring. Most recently he formed the original duo called Is it? with Michael Goddard from Perez and Steampunk Coffee South Africa. Roly performed his new material at Splashy Fen 2019 and is excited to be creating music and to be back at MiTH.

19:30-20:00 Alan Strang

Born in Scotland many years ago, Alan Strang has loved music throughout his life - particularly Scottish and Irish traditional music, as well as folk and acoustic. His involvement in live music started in his thirties, when he became active in Buskers, and later, TJs Acoustic Music clubs in Johannesburg.

Principally a singer, Alan also plays guitar and enjoys creating harmonies with other musicians. In various such collaborations, he performed at music festivals in the 90s, including Splashy Fen (several times), Four Winds in PE (twice) and Barleycorn in Cape Town. Since then, he has recorded and performed often with the Waldorf String Band, later becoming a regular member of the band.

Now happily retired in the KZN Midlands, this will be Alan’s debut appearance at MiTH (and 1st for some time as a solo performer!).

19:00-19:30 Chelsea-Belle Gevers

Chelsea-Belle is a folk singer/songwriter who performs contemporary music with her guitar. Country music is a major influence for her, as well as local artists such as Matthew Mole, Ruby Gill, Majozi and Jeremy Loops. Needtobreathe, Florida Georgia Line and Lady Antebellum are some of her favourite bands, as well as Dustin Lynch.

She got her first guitar when she was eight and has been known to avoid doing work by spending hours playing guitar in her room. She thought of the tune and first few lines of her first song on the back of a motorbike just outside Pretoria, had to keep humming the tune all the way back to Maritzburg to remember it, and was extremely surprised to find she did remember it when she arrived.

ABOUT MiTH:
MiTH is located at The Knoll Historic Guest Farm, Knoll Drive, Hilton. Doors open at 6 pm and the music will kick off at 7 pm. Entrance is R40 at the door.

MiTH is a semi-open mic music club. An opportunity for musicians to share the joy of their music with a friendly audience which includes fellow musicians – who have all “been there” too. (Non-musicians welcome too!) Whether you’re a newbie looking for your first opportunity to perform publicly, or a more experienced / mature musician simply looking for people who are as passionate about music as you are – come along and join us!

Bring your own booze. Food and soft drinks are available for sale. Musicians who want to play at MiTH, please contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

DIRECTIONS TO MiTH:
Take the N3 to Hilton, take the Hilton turnoff and go South into the Village (away from Hilton College). Travel 5,2km along Hilton Avenue (past two sets of traffic lights and Crossways Pub) and keep going straight as Hilton Avenue turns into Dennis Shepstone Drive. At the 5,2km mark, Knoll Drive will be on your right – the entrance to MiTH is the *second* entrance on your left into The Knoll Historic Guest Farm.

Visit www.mith.co.za for more details and directions.

‘Kids Corner’ has become a recognisable and much loved collaborative community showcasing and celebrating amazing kids’ products.

Our Open Days are an exclusive, unique shopping experience for reputable brands of baby and kids’ products available all under one roof for three days. Come and find kids’ Books, Games, Toys, Educational Resources, Crafts, Clothes & Accessories, Bath Products, Gifts and more. Our talented local vendors coming to exhibit their wares at the Kids Corner Hilton Open Days at the Church of Ascension include: Alphabugs stationery, Busy Bee Bags educational activities, Chelle Mae’s Baby Lab, Compendium Games, Creative Kids craft kits, Fox Box fine motor packs, a variety of Kids Books and Toys, Kiddy Calm Magnesium Bath Salts, Melissa & Doug, Mish Mash playdough kits, Playfully fantasy kits, Sense-able Play sensory products, TNT apparel and bespoke children’s items, Wizz Kids activity blocks, Zoe Bird handcrafted felt goods, Acorn Kids bath products, Scalliwags clothing, Rosie’s Vintage Closet, Natralogic products, Cookiemonster iced biscuits.

Cash, Credit Card and Zapper facilities will be available for your convenience.

Come and join us for this shopping extravaganza, we’d love to meet you at our three day event on Thurs 4th July 1.00pm - 5.00pm, Fri 5th July 9.00am - 5.00pm, Sat 6th July 9.00am - 2.00pm.

Entrance and parking via Brindy Road.

Find us and follow us on Facebook and Instagram @kidscornerkzn or contact us on our email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

News supplied.

Six St Anne’s girls represented Pietermaritzburg at the KwaZulu-Natal Schools’ Debating Association Provincial Tournament in Verulam from 14 - 16 June.

Three of their teams made it through to the semi-final rounds, Grace Ross was named the third ranked Junior speaker at the tournament and Esmé Thornhill-Davis was selected for the KZN Senior team.

Back Row: Georgia Schaefer, Esmé Thornhill-Davis and Annabel Unwin

Front Row: Kwanele Sokhela, Avuziwe Mbebe and Grace Ross

News supplied by St Anne's Diocesan College.