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THURSDAY 14 March 2024
Dear Parents

FOUNDERS DAY

Founders week was a wonderful celebration and drawing together of our community, as we honoured those who had come before us, gave thanks for our rich inheritance and acknowledged our responsibility, as teachers and for our boys as future leaders in our society.

Rain was predicted for Friday so already our plans for a whole school Founder Day ceremony on the astro under our beautiful mountain had been scuppered and the Mallett Centre prepared as the alternative. But actual rain at 07h15, albeit not of the pouring kind, meant that walking across to the Mallett was in the balance. Thankfully it cleared sufficiently to allow us to attend.

Every boy from Grade N to Matric was there, together with 150 staff and a number of members of Council and a few ODs from the class of 1954. 

Father Peter began the proceedings with a prayer in the three languages of the Western Cape and later the Head of School and his two Deputies read from Micah 4, vs 2-4, which included those famous lines:

“They will hammer their swords into plough shares
and their spears into pruning hooks.
Nation will no longer fight against nation,
nor train for war anymore”

A real challenge for our future leaders as they prepare for a world where peace is constantly shattered.

One of our Grade 2s told the assembly why “he loved Bishops” and a few of the Prep boys performed a praise song in isiXhosa, praising and giving thanks for the opportunities and life Bishops provides, and the enthusiasm and excitement of youth. And, of course, there was the singing of the hymns and National Anthem, together with a performance by the College Wind Band.

Mr Reeler spoke of the mountain that all of Cape Town nestles beneath and around:

“I began by placing us at the foot of a mountain. This mountain is a defining image for us as Capetonians and we see it today in all its glory. Mountains are places of permanence – they have been there for thousands of years and will be there for thousands more. There is comfort in their presence – there is stability. But mountains also signify challenges – we can climb them to exercise or to see better from higher up. And mountains can also be obstacles – we have to go over them or around them to get to the other side. Our Head of School chose the reading from Micah today, using a mountain as its central image.

Our first democratically elected President, Mr Mandela, used this image to famously say “After climbing a great hill, one only finds that there are many more hills to climb.”

Let us use this mountain as a source of comfort, of stability – a place we call home and apply that same feeling to our school. We, as a school, have not been here for as long as the mountain has, but we have been here a long time and will be here for a long time still. And just as Table Mountain means so much to our people, let us, as a community at Bishops, mean something special and significant to our broader community.”

We did not pat ourselves on our backs, but we did celebrate, give thanks and commit to the future, one we hope we can influence for the better.

Kind regards

GREG BROWN
HEADMASTER
DIARY Dates
Monday 18 March 2024

Grade 3 Meet the Teachers

Please see details under TAKE Note

Bishops 175 Tennis Festival

Tuesday 19 March 2024

Grade 3 Meet the Teachers

Please see details under TAKE Note

Bishops 175 Tennis Festival

Wednesday 20 March 2024

End of Term 1

Boys to wear No 1s
School closes at 11h30

PLEASE NOTE THAT THERE WILL BE NO AFTERCARE

Bishops 175 Tennis Festival


Thursday 21 to Sunday 24 March 2024 Inter-House Fishing

Tuesday 9 April 2024

Term 2 Starts

Normal school times apply
Extra-Murals begin
Boys to wear No 1s

TAKE Note

Industry Reports: Grades 4 - 7

While some tests and tasks have been written this term, this report reflects on your son's start to the year, in terms of attitude, approach, and conduct in class, so please do discuss these gradings with him - particularly unpack where the grading is great or not as good as should be expected.

The Industry Reports will be released to your son’s profile on MyBishopsLife on Wednesday 20th March. The Industry Reports may be accessed by selecting Reports from the Academic menu on MyBishopsLife.
To view a breakdown of your son’s Semester 1 marks to date, please select the Academic menu and choose Marks from the drop-down provided. On the Marks screen, please click on each listed subject to view a detailed breakdown of your son’s marks. 

For your convenience, login here

Should you experience any login issues, please email portal@bishops.org.za   
Parent Meetings: Grades 4 – 7

Grade 4 – 7 Parent Meetings will be held at the start of Week 2 next term. These parent meetings will take place in person at school with your son's Form teacher. These meetings will be 10/15 minutes long and the electronic booking form to secure a meeting time with your son’s Form teacher, will be sent out at the beginning of Term 2.
If you wish to set up a separate meeting with a specific subject teacher to discuss a particular matter, please email that subject teacher directly to make an appointment to meet on those days.

Holiday Clinics and Workshops (including new Drama Workshop)

If you are wanting to keep your children busy and active during the school holidays and/or develop their skills, why not send them on a holiday clinic?

Please click HERE for information on the Acting for the Camera Workshop

Please click HERE for information on the Study Skills Course

Please click HERE for information on the Hockey Clinic

Please click HERE for information on the Soccer Madness Clinic

Please click HERE for information on the Rugby Ready Games Clinic

Please click HERE for information on the Rugby Madness Clinic

For future reference the details will be placed on MyBishopsLife on the Information Page under Extra-Mural Information Holiday Workshops and Clinics

Bishops Blue Pages

The 21st edition of the Bishops Blue Pages is now available in a new format. It is best viewed on a laptop or desktop, but if you view it on a small screen, for best results, make sure your device is in fullscreen or landscape mode.

Please click HERE to view.

175 Brooke Chapel Stained-Glass Window Update

We are well on our way to raising the funds needed for this exciting project, where we aim to collect R405 000 via the Pre-Prep, Prep, College and OD families. We have just reached the 55% mark and appeal to those who are able to make a donation to do so. All donors to this project are listed on  our 175 Donors Page, which will be a lasting page on our school’s history website. Please go to the Brooke Chapel website if you would like to donate towards this project, either via SnapScan or EFT.
175 and OD Wine Collaboration

As you may know, together with four well-known OD wine-makers, Bishops has released a lovely range of Bishops 175 Anniversary Wines. These have been a great hit at both school and OD functions since mid-February when they were first launched. If you would like to purchase any of these, please do so via our 175 Wine Project website, where you will also find notes on each wine and the wine-maker.
175 Festivals

In the next few weeks, we have a Prep Tennis Festival (18-20 March) and a combined College Hockey and Rugby Festival (20-24 March) taking place, which include many of our brother schools and some from further afield, as well as a number of local youth sports clubs too. Please do check out our 175 website, where you will find details about various events, including a full calendar for the year.

Invitation
Please RSVP to chale@bishops.org.za
NEWS
Founders Day
We celebrated our 175 Founders Day with great enthusiasm last Friday, starting with a very special whole school assembly, followed by a fiercely-contested Inter-House Tug of War competition and ending with the Inter-House Gala! Please visit our Facebook and Instagram pages for more photos.
Grade 4 News
The Grade 4s made very successful water filters this week! Some of the water was even good enough to drink! Please visit our Facebook page for more photos.
Library News

Dear Family,

It’s Sealee here. Just writing to say that I am having the best time visiting your homes! I have met handsome hounds, listened to exciting books and also, it turns out, that I am an excellent cricket player! Looking forward to the holiday time reading that awaits me.

Yours "sinsealy", Sealee.

A Special Mention

We are exceptionally proud of Nawaaz Karbelkar (Grade 3) who was selected to speak at the Power of Speech Seminar on Thursday 7 March 2024. The seminar was held at Parliament and Nawaaz spoke about his hearing loss journey and the use of his processors which enable him to hear. Congratulations on being a wonderful ambassador for Bishops and for courageously addressing a group of adults at the seminar, Nawaaz!

Music News

Mrs Rhodes-Harrison attended her final Wednesday Assembly concert after 25 years of teaching piano at Bishops Prep.

Back row: Alex Breslin (piano), Mrs Rhodes-Harrison, Harry Lucas (piano), Alex Turck (piano), Minggu Xiao (piano), Chris de Wet (flute), Pravar Naidoo (cello), Evan West (announcer)
Seated: Harry Edwards (piano), Leo Duffy (piano), Luca Laub (piano)

Weekly Winners
The Artists of the week were chosen from Grade 3. They drew self-portraits and learnt how to make different skin tones from oil pastels.  The following boys were chosen for their keen observation and rendering of skin tones. They are also acknowledged for their creative gilded frames that they made out of cardboard, string and rice. Please click HERE to view all the artwork.

3B - David Chen, Luke Esterhuyse, Kai Gomes and Channiel Magozore
3P - Leo Barritt, Johannes Daffue, Yusha Ebrahim and Noah Smollan
3S - Carter Cedras, Toby Garratt, Sihle Hlengwa and Riley Naidoo

Cricketers of the Week: The Hershelle Gibbs Catch of the week went to Zayaan Saloojee for taking an outstanding catch low down at midwicket to break a valuable partnership. The Vince van der Bijl Bowling Performance of the Week went to Luca du Plooy for taking 5 wickets for 32 runs during a good spell of leg spin bowling. The Jonathan Bird Batting Performance of the Week went to William Verhage for scoring 112 not out during a very entertaining innings.

The Polo Panda for this week was awarded to the U10 Polo boys for a great first season of polo!

Congratulations to all these boys!

    BISHOPS PREPARATORY SCHOOL
Fir Road, Rondebosch, Cape Town, 7700
Phone:+27 (21) 659 7222 | Fax: +27 (21) 659 7227