Dear Parents and Guardians

These past two weeks have been busy ones as we closed off our winter season and our Grade 12s prepared for their Mock Matric examinations which started yesterday. We wish them well for their final school-based assessment.

We are working hard at the “small” things of school that speak to general discipline and tone such as dress, appearance and pride in how we present ourselves. Coupled with this is continued work with manners, respect and how we treat visitors to our campus. Things like greeting each other authentically and showing our care for our fellow human being. We ask for support from parents in this process. Most of you see your children every day and know what our expectations are regarding appearance. Please make sure your son complies with our dress regulations, he is clean shaven and his hairstyle conforms to the policy that was developed by the boys themselves along with the staff. Please also continue to encourage kindness and respect for others by insisting on good manners, saying “please” and “thank you” and developing good habits within him. Only by working together as school and home can we improve.

I spent some time at the Pre-Prep this week reading to the Grade 1s as part of their Readathon. This was a very special moment for me as I engaged with young boys who have a wonderful, positive attitude to life and live simply. They are unfettered by the challenges we face growing up and it was good to be with them and share a story I read to my own children many years ago about how the accumulation of “things” causes us to lose sight of what is really important. For those who are interested, the book was “You are mine” by Max Lucado.

I also spent time with the Grade 9 Big Ideas group as they learned about the design process from one of our parents. I was so pleased to see the opportunity afforded some of our boys as they learned new skills and tried to understand more about design, not just as a means of making something useful or aesthetically pleasing but how the process of design causes different thinking to occur and how problems can be solved using design thinking.

Staff News

We welcome our newly appointed Resource Centre manager, Ms Jacqueline Dupont, to Bishops. She will be starting next year and relocates to us from Johannesburg with her family. We will introduce her to the community shortly but wish her well for her time at Bishops. 

Early Closure

I wish you well for this weekend as we take a break from the busyness of school and enjoy time with family and friends. There will be one special event, the confirmation of a large number of our boys in a combined service at St Cyprian’s. I wish the boys and their families well for this significant and special moment in their spiritual journey and thank all those who have guided them on the way.

Kind regards

Antony Reeler
Principal

IF

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you.
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;

If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream - and not make dreams your master;
If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat these two impostors just the same;

If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;

If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: 'Hold on!'

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with Kings - nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much;

If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And - which is more - you'll be a (Good) Man, my son!
(Rudyard Kipling)

This poem was written in 1895 by Nobel Laureate (Literature) Rudyard Kipling who also wrote the Jungle Book. Despite it being written over a century ago, there is relevance in so many of its words and sentiments today. 

The poem encourages many things, but most, perhaps, the quality of courage under pressure, resilience, grit – call it what you like. The ability to take what life throws at you and succeed despite any obstacles.

Many times life throws us challenges, difficulties, a bump in the way and we have a choice to make. We can give up. We can blame others. We can make excuses. Or we can accept that we have something hard to deal with – whether it is a physical challenge or a disappointment.

While the difficulty life has given us may not be our fault and outside our influence, our attitude and our response is determined by ourselves and that is why I read the poem to you this morning. We have full control of the attitude we adopt and while it is easy to be positive when life is going well, it is hard when it isn’t going well. It is hard to motivate ourselves and to keep going, yet this is exactly what we must do.

We set our direction by the values and beliefs we hold dear. Our moral compasses, who we are and what we stand for. And tough moments come that cause us to doubt ourselves, moments that question our very being. It is precisely at these moments that we need to take stock, reassess and decide. Do we hold firm to who we are without being stubborn and unyielding? Do we adapt and change because it is needed or do we give up, give in? Do we have the courage to act and move forward?

Kipling’s poem encourages me in tough moments and I hope it encourages you too. Look it up online, read it again and again. Print it out, put it in a place where you can read it often and take comfort from the poem and these wise words.

 “Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.”
― Winston S. Churchill

All awards and colours will be announced when our matrics are back on campus.

Rotary Debating Finals

Congratulations to both the senior and junior Rotary Debating Teams that have made it to the final round of the Rotary Debating Competition. We are proud to host the event on Monday the 5th of September and we extend our warmest invitation to any learner, parent or staff member who would like to support our teams on Monday at 17:30 in the Molteno Library.

Bridge Build Winners and Eskom Science Medalists 2022

Inspiration can come from ordinary places and from ordinary things. Like the apple inspired Newton and a bathtub inspired Archimedes, so only 20 sheets of paper inspired Democritus Science boys to build a bridge that could hold an impressive load and won them first place in a bridge competition over the weekend!

Nine South Peninsula schools competed at the Cambridge Peak Academy in Fish Hoek on Saturday 13th August; included Lawhill Maritime Academy, Fish Hoek High School, Ocean View Secondary and other schools. The two teams that Bishops' Democritus Society entered took 1st and 2nd place winning them a trophy and R5000 in cash!
Congratulations to the winning team!

Devon Marshall Grade 11
Nicholas Basson Grade 10
Grant Weich Grade 9
Daniel Kushner Grade 9

The following boys’ bridge took 2nd prize

Noah MacNab Grade 9
David Lewis Grade 9
Jack Buckham Grade 9
Matthew Griffin Grade 9

Democritus also participated in an earlier Bridge Build competition at Zutari Engineering headquarters in Century City (Milnerton), where they built bridges using balsa lumber wooden dowels. This was a very technical competition and although they did not win (...thanks to Brackenfell Hoerskool who clocked an impressive 295kg of load with their bridge!), the three teams we entered did very well and learnt a lot about the tricks of designing strong bridges. Well done to the following boys who now have a prized SAICE certificate from the South African Institute of Civil Engineering:

Team 1 - Devon Marshall, Nic Basson, Noah MacNab
Team 2 - Grant Weich, Kieran Hollis, Graham Seaward
Team 3 - Jack Buckham, David Lewis, and Veer Daya

Eskom Science Expo for Young Scientists’ Competition

Science students also took part in the annual Eskom Expo for Young Scientists Competition Thursday and Friday 11th and 12th August. They won two bronze medals and a silver medal, as well as a Top of Category award. 

Well done to our bronze medalists:

Nic Basson
Peyton Leigh

And to silver medalists:

Andrew Betty
Rohit Patel

Top of Category Award in ENERGY went to the following boys for their project that investigate “The effect of minor external temperature changes on the capacity of a lithium-ion battery in a laptop.”:

Andrew Betty
Rohit Patel

Congratulations to all our winners and our science department.

Gold President's Award

It is wonderful to see that some of our boys still managed to commit to the President's Award while in lockdown. 4 of our Matric boys have just been awarded their Gold levels: Conrad Green, Oliver Thom, Daniel Thom and Craig Ressell. Huge congratulations and well done.

Rohan Bloom Interfaith Tournament

The Rohan Bloom Interfaith tournament is held in memory of Rohan Bloom who lost his battle to cancer in 2013. It is a day of celebration and camaraderie, across three different religions. Bishops had three soccer teams taking part in the Rohan Bloom Interfaith Football Cup on Sunday 21 August, including an U13 team from the Prep. The day runs on an accumulative points basis and this year, for the first time ever, Herzlia were not the winners. It all came down to goal difference and in the end, Bishops lifted the trophy (Rohan Blooms soccer boot) with a 6 - 0 victory over JEQ. Well done to these boys for their excellent efforts and positive spirit on the day!
Congratulations to Ioannis Kontoporakis who scored a hat trick against JEQ. (Small soccer ball for Ioannis)
Bishops also had six boys who have been selected for the Rohan Bloom Interfaith team who will play Cape Town City's U18s in a few weeks:
Ben Isserow, Thomas Barton, Tyrique Nair, Onwa Roji, Ioannis Kontoporakis, Junsu Park.

Chess

The Bishops Chess team took part in the annual Rohan Bloom Interfaith tournament at Herzlia High School on Sunday 21st August. This tournament aims to promote goodwill and cooperation between the Christian, Jewish and Muslim faiths and also honours Rohan Bloom, an ex-Bishops and Herzlia pupil who lost his life to cancer in 2016. Various schools took part in the event including Herzlia, Bishops, St Cyprians and JEQ (Jam Eyyatul Qurra).

Bishops A won the chess section with an impressive 19 wins out of 20. Congratulations to Oliver Hufton, Michael Kruse, Yusuf Balim and Akshay Thakersee who made up the victorious A team. Thanks also to Jeremy Liddle, Che Nanoo, Noah Macnab and Divakaran Govender for their participation. Che, Divakaran and Noah also excelled in the Senior Debating section.

Junior Debating

Congratulations to our junior debating team who won the Interfaith Junior Debating competition.

Left to right: 
Matthew Walker grade 9
Luke Carter grade 9
David Lewis grade 9

Fencing

Aidan and Daniel Richards were selected as part of the South African team to attend the Commonwealth Fencing games in London. Daniel had a very tough poule and made the top 64, and Aidan made the top 32 in individual epee. In the team events, they were knocked out in the quarterfinals by Canada 45-33. It was a wonderful experience for both of them to meet other fencers from the Commonwealth.

The Fencing Championships were held on Tuesday 23 August in the Old Gym. The Epee cup winner was Aidan Richards, The foil cup, Sebastian Boeddinghaus, the service cup, Felix de Bruin, and the Interhouse cup - Founders. The new captain for 2023 is Daniel Richards and the vice-captain is Aidan Richards. Congratulations to all the award winners.

History Quiz

The Bishops' History Quiz, an intra-school event jointly hosted by the History Department and the History Society, was staged in a jam-packed Frank Reid Day Boys' Dining Hall last week. 18 teams, featuring boys from Grade 8 to Grade 12, grappled with 100 questions covering all manner of historical themes whilst enjoying the complimentary hot drinks and sweet treats served by Origin. An all-Grade 11 team, comprising Stefan Dixon, Joseph Mudge, Joshua Traut and Stuart Whitelaw, emerged the ultimate victors of a narrow one-point win over the second-placed team of Jamie Chester, William Jones, James Louw and Johann Steyn.

SAIIA Quiz

Bishops hosted the annual South African Institute of International Affairs inter-schools Quiz on Thursday 25 August in the Mallett Centre. 37 schools took part in the event. Some schools had more than one team participating (each team was made up of 4 pupils) so there were 55 teams in total. The Bishops senior team of Ben Anderson, Caden Chuang, Jacob Fried and Jack Buchham came 4th in Quiz. The junior team of Daniel Kushner, Grant Weich, Daniel Von der Heyden and Rynard Gordon came 15th. Welldon boys!

Inter-House General Knowledge Quiz

The Inter-House General Knowledge Quiz was held recently, and after a very tightly contested and fun evening, the final results were: 3rd Gray House, 2nd Kidd and the winners of the Eric Rosenthal Trophy for General Knowledge was Ogilvie.

Market Day

On Saturday, 3rd September, 40 VUSA U13s will test their entrepreneurship skills they learned from Capitec employees.

The Market Day will be held at the Langa Sports Ground in Bitterhout Street, Langa.

During the third term they attended weekly entrepreneurial workshops with staff from Capitec's retail, marketing, and financial education teams. They worked through a series of marketing-related modules, including creating a business idea, identifying needs and target markets through to financial literacy and marketing a business.

VUSA will also host an U13 7s tournament tomorrow with children from Bishops, WBJS, SACS, Rondebosch Prep, and Langa Rugby Club participating.  Despite a poor weather forecast, nothing can dampen our children’s spirits.  They are so excited to showcase what they have learnt.  Shoprite have invested in each business and assisted with some of their products and Anneline and her Origin Crew have once again stepped up to assist with some baking, so please pop down to support the players and our young entrepreneurs.