Could It Be Another Change?
05 February 2013 | by Simone Hadebe
After the long Christmas holidays, it is no doubt in many students’ minds how to lose those few extra pounds. The thought of readjusting to campus life, early morning activities and the SPE timetable have students pulling out hairs. However, there has been a recent shift in the requirements for extra-curricular activities. It is now no longer compulsory for students from Form 1 to 3 to do one Physical activity and Enrichment. We interviewed the Director of Sports, Dr. Bruce Nkala to find out what he had to say on the matter.
When asked on what was the decision behind the change, Mr. Nkala said, “Some students don’t like physicals and some don’t like enrichments. Therefore, instead of forcing people to do something they don’t like we made a balance in between. This allows students to do activities they like. The school administration decided on it.”
There is also a shortage of teachers who are free in the afternoons, due to them invigilating the Middle Six practical. The Director of SPE, Ms Turnbull also added, “We are also trying to make some wiggle room in the afternoon.” We posed the question on whether or not this arrangement would carry on to second term, she said that they will see how it goes. “If we have fewer students doing three activities, then probably not. However, it also depends on what the teachers are doing and what they’re afternoon commitment is.”
Clinics vs. Tuition
05 February 2013| by Lucy Wills
At Maru-a-Pula we have a wide variety of helpful subject clinics. Students can see teachers and get help with any Math question or French grammar query along with many other subjects included. With all this on offer the question is do MaP students use them? Or do they prefer private tuition?
The actual times for when Clinics start is on every S.P.E list given to the students, though many do not know this. When asked how many times students had been to a clinic, majority of the replies were, “Never” reported Aklil 4J, Thabo 5J, Kutlo 4M though Opelo L6 said “constantly.” Even during the holidays when she was studying for IGCSE. MaP students seemed to agree that most of them prefer private tuition as opposed to clinics. Nonofo 3J reported, “I think even parents prefer tuition because they know what they are paying for, special attention for their child’s needs.” Many students felt that it is better “Not to get help in school where everyone can see how stupid you are!” Said Kutlo 4J. They felt that clinics clashed with their S.P.E’s as well.
Maru-a-Pula students would agree that they are too afraid to look anything but smart among their peers. With comments like, “I feel like clinics are for dumb people.” Reported anonymous and Anabelle 3J said, “Clinics are time consuming, although you regret not going to them when you get home, but you’d rather study on your own.” Even if they were studying for a big test or exams, students replied with no’s all saying they preferred to study alone. Noticeably they did not say with tutors.
Form Five Fever
03 October 2012 | by Seabelo Lebogang
We all are aware that our Form 5s are left with a few more weeks in school and will soon say goodbye. They have a lot on their plate at this moment: the final IGCSE examination, their leavers’ promenade, Freaky Friday and no SPE commitments, though some still participate in sport.
MaP Voices conducted interviews of different students around the school, asking Form 5s what other commitments they have, how they multitask between their obligations, what they want us to learn from them and how they feel about completing IGCSE in MaP. Students from lower forms were interviewed to get at what they feel, observe and learn about our Form 5s at this point in time.
Assemble The Masses!
03 October 2012|by Simone Hadebe
The average student is late to school more than once a week. For the average MaP student, this situation could worsen if they had assembly on that particular day. Many students would agree that Wednesday’s assembly is more exciting than Tuesday’s. We staged several interviews with students and questioned them on their insights on Tuesday’s assembly.
Most students agreed that Tuesday’s assembly are only used for brief announcements that could be said in registration. However some students think that Tuesday’s assembly is quite entertaining. One student, Lefika Phirie stated that in his opinion, Tuesday’s assembly is unnecessary because it mainly consists of announcements and meetings. He says that we could be informed of these during registration. This was countered by students such as Amrit Amar who believes that they are good because, “Mr Taylor tells us really important lessons and he gives us insight on what’s happening around the school during the week.” He says that he liked the recent Tuesday’s assembly because he and Tawanda were “facilitated in the assembly by Mr Taylor.” On this point, Snehin Kukreja pointed out that he does enjoy Tuesday’s assembly, but he dislikes the fact that they cut registration short and that they lose time to go to their lockers. Weidong Gou said that he doesn’t like Tuesday’s assembly as he sees them as a waste of time. He thinks that they are “very long and tedious.” Click to read more...
Campus Creations
24 September 2012 | by Sakeena Abbas
The year 2012 saw many changes around Maru-A-Pula Campus, the most startling being the painting of the front buildings, the renovation of the driveway and, of course, the numerous gardening patches that have blossomed over the August holidays.
These changes were greeted with differing opinions from a number of students. Some felt that the colours used to brighten up the school’s entrance (a hearty mustard shade teamed with a warm rust colour) were not suitable, and took away from MaP’s traditional look. “I hate it,” says Goaba Mooki, 4K. “MaP is known for the grey brick, traditional look, and none of us have had a problem with it! There wasn’t a need to go and paint the entrance without even consulting us on the colours.” Some even feel that the money used to buy the pain could have been used for other purposes that benefited the school more. Click to read more...
Homework matters
24 September 2012 | by Seabelo Lebogang
“Your homework is on page 65.” Hearing this, some students sag in dismay, taking out their diaries [daily planners] to write yet another reminder for the work they have to do.
Talking to a trio of Form 1 boys in the boys’ boarding house, they told Map Voices that they are given homework every day for only few subjects. They said that they are given homework least in ICT and Drama compared to other subjects. One of them, Brian Mpolokeng said, “I don’t concentrate much on homework sometimes; I enjoy chatting with friends in the meantime.” For this, he gave a reason that there is not too much work to do in this form and that Form 1 homework can be done and is mostly done by what he calls, “The copy and paste system.” Click to read more...
Leavers’ Dinner Debate
03 July 2012 | by Kayenaat Bhatnagar
With the Form 5 Mock Examinations fast approaching, everyone is already looking ahead to the November exams. However, with the final exams comes the Leavers’ Dinner. The Leavers’ Dinner is a much anticipated event by all the Form 5s, as it marks the culmination of their IGCSE programme.
Since last year, with the arrival of Kalvin Kol-Kes, there has been a change in the organisation of the event. Instead of the teachers organising it, Kalvin offered to plan the evening for the students, provided that they would all contribute P200 towards the fund. This year was no different and the students were given a deadline of Friday the 22nd of June to submit their money.
Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow….
18 June 2012 | by Kayenaat Bhatnagar
It is usually around this time of the year when one hears the Form 5s discussing where they want to go for university and what they want to study, but do the Form 5s actually know what they want to do and what the future holds in store for them?
When asked if he has identified any career paths, Kenanao Sithole, a Form 5 student, said, “Yes. Engineering or something to do with the sciences.” On whether or not he’s returning to MaP for A-Levels, he said, “Yes I am, although it will depend on university requirements if I do both years of A-Levels or not.” He went on to say that he “hopes to study in Colombia”.
Pop Culture in M-a-P
04 June 2012 | by Munashe Jiri
Popular culture (commonly known as “pop culture”) is everywhere; in the trendy clothes you wear, the music you listen to, the books you read, the shows you watch on television, the food you like and dislike, the places you hang out, etc. Most of the time, pop culture is in the desire to have the “in” thing that everybody is talking about. Everything that surrounds us is inevitably linked to pop culture. One can take a walk around the MaP campus and easily identify what is popular among the students and what is not.
Fashion and music are two of the most important aspects of a student’s social life at MaP and are usually influenced by one’s peers or the media in general. “Many students try to dress like the music artists they see on television; with the flashy caps and sagging pants. Sometimes, it is quite overdone, because almost every celebrity has a label they are looking to sell to the public, and teenagers get suckered into buying their products because they think it’s cool,” commented Kenna Mokobi, a Form 4 student.
Uniform or Polyform?
19 March 2012 | by Lebogang Gaetsaloe
Maru-A-Pula, being the unique school that it is, has drifted away from the norm of having a strict and extremely formal uniform. Being a progressive, open-minded school, MaP allows its students to do more than simply wear huge blazers and striped ties, along with tucked-in shirts and formal shoes. MaP has expanded itself to allow a form of self expression within the students, under the guidance of a polyform. Through this, students exercise the life skills of self-discipline and self-awareness, in learning how to dress appropriately for school, yet are still encouraged to discover themselves and be who they want to be.
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