Dear Parents and Guardians
August is Women’s Month in South Africa and we use this time to acknowledge and recognize the women in our lives and the contribution they have made to society at large and to us as people. In an ever-changing world, the impact of women on society has never been as significant, as more and more women take their rightful place in business, academia, leadership and other areas of responsibility.
But women play a much bigger role, often with great difficulty and sacrifice. I refer specifically to the thousands and thousands of women who raise children without support and who head households on their own. To women who speak up against gender-based violence and unacceptable behaviour and who provide so much of our moral guidance. To the women who raise children to be kind and valued members of society. May we continue to strive towards a community where people are judged by their actions as people and where all are accepted as equal, valued members of our community.
As a boys’ school, we are in a special position with other similar boys’ schools, to effect real change in our community of boys through constantly celebrating the achievements of all our people and educating our boys on what it means to be a man, particularly when it comes to our treatment of women.
We salute women across our country and in the Bishops community in particular and thank them for their contribution to our world.
Staff
There are a number of teachers who retire at the end of this year and we will have an opportunity to acknowledge their contribution to Bishops at a later stage. I am pleased to report that the search for their replacements has been successful and that the following people will be taking up positions at the College at the start of 2023. We have asked each of them to write a short biography which I share below:
Lydia Barnett - Afrikaans
Lydia Barnett, born in the Northern Cape, married and a mother of two, has been a teacher for 30 years. Having taught learners from different walks of life including learners with special needs she sees teaching as a "calling."
She completed her BA (HDE) degree majoring in Afrikaans with Honours in Curriculum Studies, researching "The impact that poetry may have on the emotional state of learners."
Her love for teaching and especially cultural activities has led to a few awards: Community service teacher award; Runner up for Special Needs teacher award; ATKV Festival awards for writing and directing Afrikaans plays. The latter is also an extra mural activity and writing Afrikaans poetry, albeit for private reading, is one of her favorite ways to pass the time.
Lydia feels favoured to have been chosen for this position and is looking forward to joining the Bishops family.
Japhta Makwena - Afrikaans
Japhta is happily married to Nadia Makwena, the wonderful mother of their two daughters, Aysha (6) and Ava (5).
Japhta grew up in the small town of Graaff-Reinet, in the Eastern Cape and completed his high school education at Spandau Secondary. He obtained his BEd Degree at Cape Peninsula University of Technology, majoring in Afrikaans and Mathematical Literacy.
He has been in the teaching profession for the past six years. Four of those six years were spent at Portland High School in Mitchell’s Plain and two at Apex High School in Eersterivier.
Japhta is passionate about developing Afrikaans, his mother tongue and the language that shaped him into the person that he is today.
His other passions include writing Afrikaans poetry, rugby and cricket. Japhta loves playing, coaching and talking about rugby. He has also been playing cricket for the past year. Japhta is a captivating and sought-after master of ceremonies too!
Michelle van Zyl - Mathematics
Michelle developed an early love for Maths and Science during her school years at Roedean in Johannesburg. She is also a sports enthusiast, thanks to her family. Her high school years were an active mix of swimming, hockey, tennis and waterskiing. After completing Matric she furthered her studies at UCT, and graduated with a B.Sc Hons degree.
At the end of her UCT years she was elected to join the Standard Bank Graduate Programme and experience corporate life in Financial Services where she spent almost 10 years working in the bank’s insurance and asset management businesses. Sport has remained a central theme in her life, and it was during this time that she started competing as a triathlete. Michelle was lucky enough to represent SA and compete in Ironman and Comrades marathons.
In 2015 she chose to follow her true passion and complete a PGCE in Mathematics and Physics. Best decision yet! She joined the Maths department at Rondebosch Boys High School in 2016 teaching Maths, and FS Maths. She has also been very involved in school sports including athletics, hockey and cross country. Michelle is grateful and proud to have had 7 of the most rewarding years in Education and looks forward to many more.
Julianne van Zuydam – Mathematics
Julianne van Zuydam has recently returned from the Netherlands with her husband, Daniel and 3 month old daughter, Hannah. Whilst living in the Netherlands she taught Mathematics in the International Baccalaureate (IB) program at the International School Hilversum where she was also Head of the Mathematics Department. Before she moved overseas, she taught Mathematics at Somerset College, in Somerset West.
Julianne was born in Johannesburg but saw the light and moved to Cape Town after high school to study at UCT where she obtained a Masters degree in Mathematics Education as well as a PGCE and BMus (Jazz and Composition).
Bishops on the International Stage…
Simply Blue and a group of drama students will be leaving SA today to travel to the Edinburgh Festival where they will be performing over a period of a week before connecting with ODs in London at a dinner arranged by the London ODU branch. This function will also be attended by Old Boys from Rondebosch Boys to mark the occasion of their 125th birthday. I shall be attending some of the festival and also speaking at the dinner which I know will be a special event and a wonderful experience for our boys. We wish then safe travels and a rewarding experience.
Extra Murals
We continue to strive to provide an extra mural programme that caters to a wide range of interests. This is one of the strengths of the school and one mentioned often by parents and boys. While many of our activities have been very successful with boys doing wonderful things and achieving amazing results, some activities have struggled. It is so important for our boys and staff that we keep supporting them while we find ways to improve as we strive to do better in all we do.
Final Thoughts
The Executive teams from the Prep and College spend some time away this past week at a strategy session to look at strengths of the school and at areas where we need to focus in the years ahead. While it is always difficult to try to predict what will happen in the future and events of the past two years have shown that to remain nimble and adaptable is a desired state, it was a very good opportunity to reflect on life post Covid and what that could look like, using lessons learned from the experience.
What was clear was the strengths of the Bishops community that need to be nurtured, which included the pastoral support for our boys, committed and dedicated staff, our robust academic programme and the wide variety of opportunities for our boys through a diverse programme of extra murals. The support of the wider community was also cited as a strength and is something we appreciate greatly.
Areas of possible concern included the state of the economy both locally and internationally, political stability in SA, crime and then issues around difference such as racial difference, gender issues and issues around sexuality. The process of identifying core Bishops values has already begun and the boys have been involved in a number of discussions with their Tutors as we work towards a co-created Values Statement.
There is still much work to do in many areas such as transformation and in certain key areas of our overall offering and we will be implementing these ideas going forward.
I wish you well for the next few weeks and look forward to providing feedback from our boys travelling to the UK.
Kind regards
Antony Reeler
Principal
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