Dear Parents and Guardians
It is hard to believe but the first term has almost reached the halfway point! With the customary heatwaves in February having abated for now, we are going at full pace and it is wonderful to see the boys involved, active and happy. We are aware of the busyness of the term and at Bishops in particular and have cautioned staff to be aware of the pressures placed on boys to be in multiple places at the same time. We will continue to manage this, trying to balance the boys’ programmes while still providing them with opportunities.
Building Projects
Our thanks go to our parents and boys for their patience with the front entrance project. Much progress has been made and we are confident that this will soon be over and that we will enjoy proper access to the campus again, certainly by the end of this term. The paving is well under way and the construction of the guard hut has begun. The addition of much-needed parking facilities will be an added benefit but the main purpose of the alteration has been to secure the campus effectively, providing a safer environment for our boys. In addition, the improved aesthetics will give visitors and regulars a beautiful entrance to our school.
The new Learning Commons plans are well under way and construction on this exciting new addition to our campus will begin in April, lasting a year. The provision of collaborative learning spaces, seamlessly linked to the existing Molteno Library will enable us to team-teach, have large venues for learning and study collaboration and a conferencing venue for boys and staff in a centralized venue. There will be disruption to the school, we know, but we feel the end result will be worth the short-term pain! Some of the images of the new centre can be found here.
This project, funded by the 175 Campaign and the Buildings Fund, has the full support of Council and has been driven by the Buildings and Grounds Committee of Council, both Executives (School and College) and by a committed user group, led by our Academic Deputy, Mrs van Schalkwyk, our Buildings Manager, Mr Jonathan Holtmann and our Business Manager, Mr Sean King. We are very excited at how this addition can add to the learning experience of our boys.
Activities
Our annual Athletics Week was recently held with great success and it was good to see our boys perform and take part in activities during Relay Sports, Heats Week and the annual Sports Day, held in scorching heat on Saturday. Our thanks to all staff who made this possible, particularly the athletics staff led by Mr Sa-eed Slamdien, and our thanks to the many parents who came out to support the boys.
The summer sports programme is well under way and we have had a number of fixtures and events that the boys have enjoyed. We continue to believe that healthy outdoor exercise is vital to the development of young men and remind parents that their boys are required to be involved in the sporting programme.
Diversity, Equity and Belonging
Our year started with a visit by Prof Nico Koopman and he shared his thoughts on transformation and the lessons learned by Stellenbosch University in a thought-provoking address. Since then, we have established a committee of staff at the College with the specific mandate to plan the way forward and to use the power of the collective to improve where needed. There are representatives from all sectors of the staff who will give input and share and debate ideas as to how we can continue to strive to make Bishops a place of belonging for all who are here, staff and boys.
The Grade 12 DEB group have spent time with the Grade 8s and 9s as they share their expectations and what we are trying to achieve and have events planned for the upcoming public holidays that are of special significance in the SA calendar.
Again, we appeal to parents for ideas and assistance in this regard as we strive to create an inclusive community for all.
AI and Schools
Much has been discussed in the past few weeks about the impact of AI applications, particularly ChatGPT and other similar programmes that will have an impact on our world and on education in particular. The College staff were briefed by our acting head of IT, Mr Donovan Abrey, who did a live presentation on the power of the software including getting ChatGPT to write a poem about tired teachers in a Shakespearean style! This took seconds and the end product was most amusing but also scarily good!
It is clear that educational institutions will need to embrace this new technology and so we must. Just as calculators were introduced in schools in the early 1980s, with much concern from some quarters that we were going to raise a generation of innumerate children (which didn’t really happen), we need to accept change and use it to our benefit.
That said, I fear for those boys who choose the easy way out of getting AI applications to perform tasks at home. Those same boys will be required to perform similar tasks under exam conditions without the assistance from these programmes so it makes sense that they don’t rely on them, rather learning the skills themselves. Boys also often assume that what the computer says is correct and accept information as accurate and reliable without question. Perhaps we need to focus more on developing the skill of critical reading and analysis of information. I also fear that the skill of writing may be compromised and that is something certainly worth looking at in future. We are indeed in interesting times!
Academic
Our week closed with our annual Prize Giving for the Grade 8 – 11 classes of 2022. At this special ceremony, we acknowledged the efforts of our top academic achievers and presented them with their hard-earned awards. My congratulations go to all prize winners and I hope all our boys continue to strive towards excellence in all they do. My thanks go to our Academic Department for organizing the event and to our new Chair of Council, Mr Crispin Sonn and his wife Mrs Lisa Sonn for being our special guests at the event.
Closing Thoughts
As there was no assembly this week due to Prize Giving, there is no special assembly message to share with parents. I do, however, wish to encourage parents, if you have not already done so, to familiarize themselves with the new AI applications and have discussions at home with their children about how they can be used effectively without compromising their own academic and intellectual development. I think that selective and effective use of these programmes can add to their development and prepare them better for the world into which they will enter where AI will be an increased reality.
I wish you well for the upcoming two weeks.
Kind regards
Antony Reeler
Principal
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