We have been able to re-commence a number of activities outside of the classroom. We hope to be able to ramp up this programme – the boys are keen for more – but we are in the hands of the pandemic, in a sense, and so for now contact sport, inter-school fixtures and choirs remain not possible.

VDB
You might have heard the sound of jackhammers while waiting to collect your son. This emanates from the former Van der Bijl boarding house which is now being converted into short term lease accommodation for teachers in order to ensure that we can continue to attract the best across the country. See photographs below. This is tinged with sadness though – we really had one of the best boarding house facilities in the country, but the reality was that the demand for Prep boarding has decreased substantially both in our country and across the world.

MANDELA DAY
We want to celebrate Mandela Day this year by “imitating” the Ladles of Love initiative by collecting tins of canned food – sixty-seven metres of them. Taking the average size can, this means 900 plus cans. With 378 pupils at the Prep we will need each boy to bring 2-3 cans. So we will make this coming Wednesday a Civvies Day together with a donation of cans. We will physically lay them out and boys will pack the boxes for delivery to Ladles of Love. I am pushing the boys to take responsibility for this and therefore not giving you much warning. If your son can use his own pocket money to pay for at least one can, so much the better.

STAFF NEWS
We are excited to report that we have a new learning support teacher, Kate Stamper, joining us from August. She is remedially trained and has worked for a number of years at St George’s School in Gqeberha. She will be taking weekly small support groups for Literacy in Grade 3 and 4 (including a weekly reading group) and Maths in Grade 3 in each class (maximum of 6 boys). This will take place during school hours and is a free service offered by the school.

Enjoy your weekend.

Civvies Day

For Civvies Day this term, we will be doing a tinned food collection in aid of Ladles for Love. To fit in with the magical Madiba number 67, we hope to make a line of tinned food 67m long. Please help us reach our goal by sending as many tins of suitable food that you can manage.

Uniform, hair and late comers

We really appreciate all you do as parents to assist us that your son is dressed correctly , has a neat and acceptable haircut and arrives on time for the school day.

Unfortunately, we have noticed that there are a few boys who are pushing the boundaries when it comes to hair.

Below are some guidelines we follow:

• Hair should be cut so as not to draw attention.
• Hair must be kept above the eyebrows, ears and collar.
• There should be no “sculptured” styles.
• Hair may not be dyed.

We have also noticed that there are many boys arriving late for school. All boys who arrive after 07h30 must enter the school via the Fir Road gate. A register is kept of the boys arriving late and if a boy is late 4 times in a term, he will have to attend a detention session on a Friday afternoon.

Housemasters will be checking hair and uniform next week.