Dear Parents

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I am sure that you all enjoyed the ‘bonus’ of a long weekend with your families. It was a busy time for some of our boys and staff who were involved in various hockey and rugby festivals and tournaments. They acquitted themselves very well and we look forward to the season which starts in earnest with fixtures against SACS this weekend. We have the unusual situation in that the rugby is at home and the hockey away. Our 1st XI will play at the opening of the new surface at the SACS astro this evening. We look forward to positive encounters on and off the field.

Water and drought uniform

Winter is on its way and we are very grateful for the much needed rain. Water security remains a high priority at Bishops and the projects to mitigate the water threat to Bishops are progressing well. To date 25 waterless urinals have been installed and 109 toilets have been converted from Municipal water supply to deionized borehole water. The construction of the water treatment plant with the capacity to supply 80kl of potable water per day is progressing well and is on track. The construction process is planned to be complete by the end of May and this will be followed by an extended testing period to comply with Departmental and Municipal approved standards. We hope to be fully operational by the start of term 3.

Water remains a scarce resource and we need to keep doing all we can to use water sparingly. Considering the measures we have taken and representation from senior boys and staff, we have decided to stop our drought uniform policy from Monday 7th May. We have found that the general neatness, tidiness and discipline of boys has slipped over the past few months and we cannot continue with this practice indefinitely. From Monday the boys will need to be in their formal school uniform during the academic day.

Rohan Bloom Foundation Gala Dinner

Over the past few years we have had a number of sadnesses at Bishops, not least the passing of Rohan Bloom in his Grade 9 year in 2016. Please click here for information about a gala dinner in aid of the Foundation which has been established in Rohan’s memory and support it if you can.

During the holidays we heard the very sad news of the passing of Liz Watson after a long and brave battle against cancer. Our thoughts and prayers are with her husband Craig (OD1979) and sons James (OD2017), Gareth (Grade 10M) and Byrone.

Cederberg Cards

When he was on Epic in 2016, Michael Beckurts (Gr12M) painted some brilliant scenes of the Cederberg mountains and its fauna and flora. These have been made into cards and all proceeds from the sale of these cards go to the Elizabethfontein School in the Cederberg. At last night’s Mallett House Cultural evening, over R3000 worth of cards were sold to parents; a fantastic effort. If you are interested in supporting this initiative, these beautiful cards are on sale at the school shop.

Have a wonderful weekend.

Guy Pearson
PRINCIPAL