Dear Parents and Guardians
It is hard to believe it but our 175th year has come and gone! The beautiful new badge, so skillfully created by our own Mr Husain Essop will be removed from our email signatures and all other places and carefully archived to represent what has been a wonderful year.
So much has happened this year that has made us proud. From a facilities point of view, we entered the year with a brand new sacristy in the Memorial Chapel, covered in the authentic grey and white stone tiles that were part of the original design almost 100 years ago. It was wonderful to say goodbye to the black stoep paint that had been in its place for so long. Shortly thereafter, the bespoke red carpet leading up to the altar was laid and the design was complete.
Moving chapels, the Brooke was consecrated by His Grace, the Archbishop in a special ceremony that included the unveiling and blessing of the last three stained-glass windows, dedicated to three very special people – the Tutus and Mrs Christina Gwavu, one of our first teachers of isiXhosa.
Continuing with buildings, the much-awaited Ubuntu Learning Centre was opened by Chair of Council Crispin Sonn and blessed, again by His Grace the Archbishop. This magnificent facility, seamlessly linked with the Molteno Library, will serve our boys for years as a centre of academia, collaboration, learning and teaching and we are deeply grateful to all who made it happen. Our boys are loving the space!
While not specifically a 175 project, the rowing fraternity opened the new Bishops Rowing Centre, a home for rowing with its rowing tank and all necessary machines for the teaching of rowing and static training. My very grateful thanks to the parents in this community who worked tirelessly for many years to raise the funds for the centre.
Celebrating a special year is not just about buildings and we hosted a multitude of events from evensong to confirmation, sports festivals to public speaking competitions, art displays to wine tasting and the list went on. One of my personal favourite events was the combined 175 music concert where every musician from Grade N – 12 performed together. This was an amazing year and to record it, we had our history updated by Mr Mike King and our museum redone.
I am very proud of the school and all who made this happen. In particular, Mr Joc Wrensch, who co-ordinated it all. My thanks to him for all he did. Thank you to all parents who supported the many events – I hope you enjoyed what was on offer in this special year.
Staff farewells
We bid farewell to two temporary teachers, Ms Wendy Moult and Ms Tessa Steyn who stood in for brief periods of time. We also bid farewell to four interns, Kirwan Klein and Blaine Bahnemann as well as the BSU psychologist interns Genevieve During and Cleo Albertus who have all been with us for some time. We thank them for their efforts and for assisting us so well.
Mr Nelson Mogodi leaves us to return to his family up north and has taken up a post at Steyn City, closer to home. We thank him for his three years' service in the Mathematics department and wish him well for his relocation.
Mrs Nikki Gerhardi retires from Bishops after 18 years with us. She has been an amazing asset to our staff and to our IT department in particular. She was always willing to go the extra mile, was unfailingly patient and kind and will be sorely missed. We wish her good health and a happy retirement!
Beyond 175
As we look ahead to next year, we have a number of challenges to tackle head on and early on. Following the disciplinary issues we experienced in our boarding houses, we will be tackling this with vigour. A separate communication has gone out to boarding parents in this regard.
These issues are not unique to boarding houses and we will, once we have started our programme of re-education in our boarding houses, turn our attention to the school as a whole. We want Bishops to be a place free from bullying, free from unkindness – a place where all are proud members of a community that cares for each other.
I sent a letter to our boys at the end of the term in which I thanked them for the year and wished them well for the holidays. But I also reminded them that they are Bishops boys, even when outside the gates, away from school and out of term time. They must wear that invisible badge with pride and responsibility.
Term One 2025 starts officially on Wednesday, 15 January 2025. We expect our boys’ appearance to comply with the school Code – hairstyles in particular. Boys whose hair does not comply with the school Code will be sent home immediately to have their hair cut properly. I refer specifically to the current trend of very short sides and lots of hair on top which is not permitted in our Code. I do not want an unpleasant start to the year by having to send boys home so urge parents to make sure their sons comply with our school policy.
Final thoughts
Many of our families will be travelling and I wish you a safe journey. Many will be reuniting with family and I wish you a special time with your loved ones. May the joy of Christmas abound and I wish you all a Blessed Christmas and a safe and restful festive season.
May God bless you at this special time of year.
Kind regards
Antony Reeler
Principal
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