Dear Parents and Guardians
It is hard to believe that we are already in the fourth week of the new academic year! I hope your son has settled into a routine and has managed to balance the demands of his school schedule with his own private life. In conversation with parents this has been the topic most spoken about – just how busy their son is and how he arrives home exhausted after a full school day. I ask parents to help their sons with time management. There is nothing wrong with being busy and I have found after many years of teaching that the most successful boys are almost always the busiest. Boys who are involved in sport and culture in addition to a demanding academic programme but boys who are organized and efficient, using all their time to the maximum.
We know that boys often struggle with organization so I do ask parents to gently step in and help their son plan, help him with his diary and help him develop a good habit of using time well.
Covid
The recently published regulations on Covid have removed the requirement for schools to practice social distancing which has allowed us to return to a full school Chapel and assembly routine. This means that every morning your son will have some form of group activity before the academic day starts. On Mondays, the Chapel service will be taken by staff. On Tuesdays he will have House meetings. Wednesdays are for Leader Assemblies and singing practice. Thursdays are our Chaplain’s Chapel service days and Fridays are for school assemblies – alternating between the Principal’s Assembly and a Deputies’ Assembly. In addition, we will be returning to Evensong services and Eucharists as well as boy-led House Chapel services.
The newsletter will be published every two weeks, usually corresponding with the Principal’s Assembly and will include the message shared with the boys to allow a continuation of discussion of the topic at home. Please do read these messages and ask your son what he feels about the subject. A rigorous debate over a family supper is a wonderful way to connect and engage with each other.
The school is in the process of developing a vaccination policy that will make it mandatory for employees to be vaccinated, while retaining the responsibility for the choice of vaccination of children with their parents.
Diversity, Equity and Belonging
We hope that you enjoyed the video feedback sent out last week and were able to see the progress made. I must stress that transformation is an ongoing process and one we must always be looking at as we strive to make our school a place for all.
Our Focus Group is meeting this week and the Council Transformation Committee next week and we will be looking at how we continue our journey this year.
We are planning a special assembly for 18 March, the Friday before Human Rights Day which will also serve as a tribute to the late Archbishop Tutu.
Academic
Today’s assembly was replaced by the annual Prize Giving at which we acknowledged the academic achievements of the boys in Grades 9 – 12 based on their performance in the Grades 8 – 11 examinations last year. This allows us to consider the full academic year in the making of awards and sets a good academic tone at the start of the year. The list of the prizewinners is attached to this newsletter and we congratulate these boys on their fine achievements. We thank our teachers for inspiring and encouraging the boys and we thank parents, guardians, and families for their support.
Final Thoughts
As this newsletter is devoted largely to the recognition of academic award winners, there was no assembly message from me.
I am going to be away from school for the week of 19 – 26 February, attending the annual SAHISA conference, a conference for Heads of the Independent schools in SA. At this conference, we learn from each other and from experts about best practice in education and it gives us a wonderful opportunity for professional growth as school leaders. Mr Peter Westwood will be Acting Principal, in my absence and I thank him for taking on this responsibility.
I shall, along with other members of the College staff, be attending the local conference of the International Boys Schools Coalition of which we are a proud member. This organisation consists of almost 300 boys’ schools from around the world and focuses specifically on best practice in the education of boys. The SA local conference is hosted by Rondebosch Boys and has the topic “The Elephant in the Room” as it strives to help us with those issues that are sometimes difficult to talk about or indeed deal within our schools such as racism, sexism, homophobia and gender issues. It is bound to be a thought-provoking two days.
Later this year, I will be attending the IBSC international conference in Dallas, Texas as the Trustee for Africa and I hope to be able to bring back international wisdom and ideas to benefit our school. In addition, and as I have found from past conferences, it gives our South African boys’ schools an opportunity to help our brother schools in the rest of the world with our experiences and ideas.
We are beginning next week with the process of admissions for the College for 2023, starting with our Open Day (Experience Bishops) which will be very well attended based on the interest shown so far.
I wish you well for the next two weeks.
Kind regards
Antony Reeler
Principal
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