Now into the single figures of one week which means that there are only seven school days left to celebrate until the end of this third quarter. We are well into September with the holidays rapidly approaching followed by the final quarter of 47 school days. This means that there are only 54 school days left of this academic year of 2019.
ACADEMIC NEWS
The staff are busy at present finalising their term results following a continuous assessment programme for this quarter. These results will be forwarded to you via your son on the last day of the term which again emphasizes that it is imperative that your son is present on break-up day to receive his report envelope. I encourage you now to already start discussing the academic feedback with your son ie where he feels he has improved or dropped in standards. He will be able to give you a guideline to his achievements and academic focus for the term that is if he is totally honest with himself – the report will then re-inforce his personal acknowledgement.
CULTURAL NEWS
I am sure that you would have heard by now of the amazing success of the Festival in the Hills programme that we co-organized with Curro Hillcrest and Kloof Rotary Club, held on Friday evening. The Master of Ceremonies for the night was Daren Maule from East Coast Radio who entertained the massive audience in attendance throughout the programme. The 14 school choirs from across the province performed as a mass choir contribution at the highest levels of excellence – without any bias I can honestly state that DPHS excelled in their contribution. The KZN Philharmonic Orchestra and the Drakensberg Boys Choir raised the roof with their professional standards in their performances, especially when supporting the choir presentations of the schools. DPHS was clearly present on the night as the overall Music Co-ordinator was our own Mrs Annette Briscoe who I again felt raised the overall standards of the event under her planning and direction. Special mention must also be made of the DPHS Mothers Committee for assisting and serving with some of the catering requirements, the DPHS staff volunteers who assisted as officials at the event and to the DPHS families who attended in such large numbers in the audience. We as Prep also applaud the conductor of the orchestra Mr Russell Scott and the Event Director Mrs Candice Morphew for her months of planning and meetings held with us as Prep and the relevant partners. DPHS can now celebrate our direct involvement in hosting a cultural festival of this magnitude with distinction. Congratulations Prep!
EXTRA MURAL NEWS
- The hockey season has now ended with many of the DPHS teams having had an outstanding season. It has been rewarding to note the development in ‘team-skills’ that has taken place each week starting right down with the mini hockey programme (grade 1 and 2), followed by the U9 through to the U13 teams, in their inter-school fixtures. Please join me in acknowledging the achievements of our 1st team squad who have remained unbeaten in the local, provincial and across the country matches played in their extremely busy season. I can quite confidently state, backed up by compliments from many schools and their coaches that DPHS can be ranked at the top level of hockey schools in South Africa this year. Full credit must also go to their coaching staff of Mr Michael Baker and Mr Shaun Carroll who have definitely gone beyond the call of duty with many extra practices throughout the term and for their full commitment to the team. The 1st team parents have also been so supportive to the coaches requests and to the encouraging of the team from the sidelines. This has been a hockey season to remember.Congratulations Prep!
- The code of tennis at DPHS has again brought much credit for our school to be proud of. Or U12 age group have been involved in a National Tennis Challenge where each province has been hosting their Inter-School challenges to determine their top school in the province. I proudly announce that after various rounds of inter-school competitions, our DPHS team has ended in the number one position in KZN. This now means that our school now represents our province in a regional/provincial challenge against the top school in the Eastern Province/Eastern Cape area. Our school team will be travelling to East London for this next round in the near future – waiting for date confirmation. We are extremely proud of these boys for the achievements at the finals last weekend and wish them even further success for their school and province. They are Cameron Doig, Jan Bothma, Max Cameron and Samuel Heath. I also include Siyabonga Jaca who has been part of the squad but he has been recently involved with his selection in the SA team in Morocco. Special mention must also be given to the dedicated efforts and passion shown by our coaches Gary and Natalie and our Director of Tennis Mrs Anne Smith who also receive the support and encouragement from the tennis parents throughout the season. Congratulations Prep!
- Thank you to all the staff/coaches involved in all the extra mural activities ie teams and school clubs that have also been in full operation throughout the term. This has been an extremely busy term for the school and I applaud the combined efforts of staff/coaches/boys and parents in reach activity. Please can we continue with this commitment right through until the end of this term. Congratulations Prep!
- House Plays – it is time for the ‘spotlight’ to fall directly now onto the staff and boys involved in the Inter House Plays which take centre stage next week. I am amazed as to how the staff directing these houses and the overall Directors namely
- Mrs Kasia Vosloo and Mrs Paige Richards have managed to rehearse and prepare for these Hollywood productions. Thank you as well to the boys who are so busy in all activities at school but have still remained committed to rehearsals into the late afternoons and now even weekends. The parents are also hereby acknowledged for supporting the boys in responding to the House Play requests in this positive manner. We can now all look forward to two evenings of top-quality entertainment next week.
THEME:
Shows next week : Tuesday 10 September
Wednesday 11 September
Time : 18h00
Venue : Maurice Wilkinson Hall
Reminder : Dress Code – all DPHS boys from Grade 3/4/5/6/7 who will attend as audience are to arrive in full school uniform including cap.
Congratulations Prep!
GRADE 3 EXCURSION
We wish the Grade 3 team of staff and boys a most enjoyable and worthwhile learning experience on their excursion which they depart on tomorrow and return from on Friday. These activities designed in the programme add to the fun of being away together, especially the evening spent around the camp-fire. Thank you to Grade leader Mrs Veerasamy and the respective staff for being with the boys on this trip – greatly appreciated.
Enjoy!
GRANDPARENTS ASSEMBLY
Thank you to our families who supported in such large numbers at the assemblies held last Friday. The positive feedback noted on the day and thereafter is so valued and appreciated by the staff, especially our Grade 2 team of Mrs Everitt, Mrs Murphy, Mrs Martin and Mrs Horning. I am sure that you will agree that each young Prep man on stage performed with such confidence and enthusiasm to clearly express the theme of “Once Upon a Time …….”
Please remember that I encouraged you as Grandparents to take out those photo-albums of yester-year and to enjoy quality time with your grandchildren as you travel down memory lane with them.
Congratulations Prep!
“HOLIDAY HOBBIES”
I have given attention with this title above to the rapidly approaching holidays and share some ideas (hobbies) in advance for families to focus on so that no DPHS boy expresses that “he is bored…..”
The holidays only last for one week so it is the ideal time to focus on these ‘holiday hobbies’ below:
- Tidy your room.
- Neaten up your bedroom cupboard.
- Sort out the toy-box.
- Paint a wall/flower pot (with permission)
- Wash the dog’s blanket.
- Wash the dog.
- Clean the living areas of your pets.
- Take your dog for a walk.
- Invite a friend to ‘play’ – not watch ‘TV’ and not play computer games.
- Read a book/s – magazines.
- Build a model eg. car, house.
- Camp in the garden.
- Swim in the pool.
- Listen and dance to music.
- Play ‘Test Match’ cricket in the garden alone or with friends.
- Relax.
- Sleep.
- Bake biscuits/cakes/crumpets.
- Practise your cricket/sport skills for the fourth term.
- Make sandwiches for the family.
- Clean and mend your uniform.
- Empty out your school bag.
- HAVE A HAIRCUT
The list is endless so there is no time to be bored!
PREP BOYS
| DON’T | DO |
| Miss school at the end of term. | Attend school up to and including break-up day each term. |
| Lose focus at this stage of the term. | Maintain their positive attitude throughout each day. |
| Become idle in the final term. | Become actively involved in the school programme on a daily basis next term. |
| Forget to support the House Play. | Bring their entire family to enjoy the house plays. |
| Ever become bored in these holidays. | Enjoy their “holiday hobbies”. |
MR PREP
“Congratulations”
JP – Caleb Rees – Grade 2 Everit
SP – Joshua van Dongen – Grade 4 Miloszewski
HEADMASTERS QUOTE FOR THE WEEK
“Create a life that feels good on the inside, not one that just looks good on the outside”
B WILSON
Headmaster
