November has arrived which signals the eleventh month of the year and the round number of 20 school days left to celebrate for this 2019 academic year.
PROUDLY SOUTH AFRICAN
I am sure that many of our DPHS families cheered proudly, with tears in their eyes, when that final whistle blew on Saturday and Siya Kolisi addressed the World, before raising the World Cup Rugby trophy in honour of our entire country. It was a memory of a life time to witness South Africans across the land, in cities and the remote areas, standing united, embracing each other and raising the loudest cheers in celebration. The build-up to this final event has also been an experience to cherish not only on television feedback but also here at DPHS. We have held assemblies to launch the World Cup fever and to display our South African allegiance with our Friday “Go Bokke” dress-up days. We may not have been physically present in Japan but Prep was definitely there in full spirit and mind-set. Well done Prep – we have joined in with our country to express our true heritage in being “Proudly South African” however I do emphasize that this ‘ubuntu’ felt in our country and even here at school must continue. Let us remind ourselves of how joyous these days and occasions have been throughout this World Cup so it is up to each of us now to wear our number 6 green and gold jersey with pride in our role and responsibilities in society. How disappointing it would be to see this spirit subside and for us in our beloved land to only re-live this togetherness in four years’ time again. Come on Prep – may we as the DPHS family draw even closer to each other as staff, parents, Old Boys and even more so as ‘our boys of Prep’ in each grade throughout this learning environment. Our call is “developing boys for life” and right now we can practise our life skill values to cement these foundations for families to genuinely experience as a leading school in our beloved country. Thank you Captain Siya, Coach Rassie and our Springboks for reminding and showing us that ‘stronger together’ is such a powerful truth – a call that I again share in good faith to our DPHS community especially in all our inter-actions and promoting of our school.
“Congratulations South Africa – Congratulations DPHS”
MOTHERS TEA
On behalf of the staff and boys I express our combined gratitude and appreciation to those ladies who attended the special tea hosted here last Friday. I am well aware that there are mothers who unfortunately cannot be present due to work commitments etc. but do know that even on that day and again now that we as DPHS raise our Prep caps to each of our mothers/grandmothers. Thank you for constantly being there to provide the love and care for your own families as well as for this support shown by you to our school community in general. We hope that those in attendance have already planted their gift ie – the “Spekboom” so that you can nurture and cherish this plant to grow in stature under your loving attention. Thank you to our administration staff for hosting the tea where we could also pay a formal respect to our Mothers Committee Chairlady Mrs Cheryl Turner, the committee and the general team of supporters. It was indeed a ‘Proudly Prep’ moment for me personally to be there to pay our respects on behalf of our school.
GRADE 3 CONCERT
Our end of year JP concert presented by our Grade 3 section proved to be yet another resounding success. It is amazing to witness how each year this concert highlights just how prepared these young men are, not only for this concert but more importantly for their progress into the senior primary phase. It was wonderful to see our hall packed with family members ready to applaud the efforts of all boys. I keep on paying my respects to our staff and boys who ensure that each show is a ‘Hollywood’ production with attention to detail, planning and confident performances noted in each individual. This is truly a team effort where the Prep community have united to support the event through stage design, make-up, costumes, dance, song, music, choreography, voice expression, lighting, quality character role-play etc. to leave the audience sitting in awe at these achievements. Thank you to the entire Grade 3 staff in co-producers Mrs Veerasamy, Mrs Vawda, Mrs Marklew and the overall director Miss A J Logan for this ‘Proudly Prep’ effort presented at these levels of excellence.
Take a well-deserved bow grade 3 – Congratulations!
SWIMMING GALAS
There have been two inter-school galas held in this past week with us hosting the event last Thursday followed by the gala at Clifton yesterday. We have entered both our A & B squads from U9 to open age groups with our boys displaying their individual and team skills, in these relay events. It is so encouraging to note that there have been a combined 46 relay events from these two galas with our ‘A’ squad winning 42 out of the 46 races and our ‘B’ team challenging some of the A teams of the involved schools to secure some noteworthy positions.
Thank you and well done to all our swimming coaches in their training efforts before and after school and again during our class PE lessons. Special mention is given to our overall Director of Swimming Mrs Paige Richards and our JP co-ordinators of Swimming Miss Logan and Mrs Everitt. We have had a most successful year in swimming and judging by these overall results we should be proudly challenging for those top honours in the years ahead. Let us continue to plan well and be totally committed to training now and early next year so that we can raise the trophies at the respective D & D galas that lie ahead in 2020. A Proudly Prep swimming year!
ACADEMIC NEWS
I have been reminding the school in previous Prep Patters and at assemblies about this very important final lap in our academic race of 2019. The grade 6/7 sections will sit down to writing their standard examinations starting this Monday 11 November so need to be fully focused on their studies and preparations. The lower grades are still involved in continuous assessment responsibilities on a daily basis so their best attention is required in these tasks. The boys will be bringing their final year reports home in 20 school days’ time which proves that there is no time for idle attitudes in the academic programme. Best wishes to the staff and their boys at this important academic stage of the year.
EXTRA MURALS
Our boys, coaches and staff are still actively engaged at practices, Prep activities and at inter-school fixtures. The cricket and water polo results have been so rewarding with our teams in all age groups producing many comprehensive victories. This commitment to the extra mural programme is required until year-end with cricket fixtures still to be played this weekend against Highbury and Westville with our final round against Glenwood Prep following next week. Finish strongly Prep!
PREP BOYS
| DON’T | DO |
| Forget their South African roots. | Proudly express the spirit of ‘ubuntu’. |
| Drop the bat in all responsibilities at this stage of 2019. | Race to the finish line to achieve that top position in all areas. |
| Become untidy in their general appearance. | Display a ‘Mr Prep’ appearance on a daily basis. |
| Blame others for their slip-ups. | Appreciate the success of other achievers. |
| Display a ‘grumpy’ attitude. | Display a ‘happy’ approach to life. |
SECRET CODE
Thank you to those families who have supported the ‘secret code’ challenge by reading the Prep Patter and sharing the contents with their son, especially in the code. Remember to give this code below, which changes weekly, to your son so that he can report to my office to proudly share it with me, to then receive his reward. Even some JP boys have come forward to proudly proclaim that they know the code. I look forward to my visitors again tomorrow.
This week’s code is “stronger together”.
CONGRATULATIONS MR PREP
JP – Samuel Ash – Gr 1 Greensill
SP – Zwa Mpanza – Gr 6 Hammond
HEADMASTERS QUOTE FOR THE WEEK
“It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop”
B WILSON
Headmaster
