I look at the Year planner on a daily basis and it leaves me amazed at the number of school days left for this academic year namely 13, as well as the amount of school activities left to enjoy. These activities far outweigh the number of days to go yet DPHS as is every year, will ensure that we plan, prepare and deliver on our expected levels of excellence in each event.
CHAIRMAN’S LETTER
You will have seen on the d6 that the Chairman, Mr Stefan Terblanche sent you a letter on behalf of the SGB, Management and Staff of the school. It clearly showed how the SGB and School Management Team have their finger on the pulse with regards to securing the structures for the start of 2022 onwards. Mr Grant Phipson, our current Deputy Principal will take over leading the school as the Acting Principal and he will be ably supported by the SMT members in ensuring a wonderful start for all the DPHS Community when school re-opens on the 19th January – rest assured that such planning has already taken place so that all grades and departments will be more than ready to officially welcome you and the family back to school. As the Chairman stated you will be well informed of any further developments regarding the 2022 academic year programme and the appointment of the DPHS Principal.
STAFF NEWS
You have been informed that Mr Thatcher would be taking up a position at a school in the Highway area which will be extremely close to his home. This will be in the best interest of his own family, a decision which we as Prep fully understand. We will say a more formal farewell to Mr Thatcher at the end of the year. After going through the interview process, we are extremely pleased to announce that Mr MJ Elliott will be joining the staff team in 2022. He will be teaching in the Senior Primary phase of the school. We look forward to his valued service both in the classroom and the extra mural programmes. Mr Elliott is also a proudly Prep Old Boy, so he also fully understands and appreciates the ethos, traditions and expectations of Prep. Welcome to the DPHS Staff team Mr Elliott – may your passion for DPHS continue to shine brightly in the years ahead.
GENERAL SCHOOL ASSISTANTS
I would also like to formally welcome a further member of the National drive to afford unemployed members of society to serve in school. We have one new addition as a General School Assistant to serve in the maintenance/cleaning department at school paid for by this National scheme. After a series of interviews we welcome Miss Nomthandazo Mkhize. We look forward to having this extra support with Miss Mkhize in assistance in general school maintenance.
MOTHERS’ COMMITTEE
Our Mothers’ Committee has played an integral part in the overall school functionality with special attention given to our boys, staff and to our parent community. It has been amazing to observe how thorough their team planning has been and how they have quietly continued with their initiatives and scheduled events throughout the year. Special mention must be made of our committed Chairlady Mrs Jane Oliva with her emphasis on attention to detail in planning and presentation for each event. Congratulations Mothers Committee and an abundant thank you for your dedicated service. The AGM was recently held and the following positions were elected.
Chairlady – Jane Oliva
Vice Chairlady – Vanessa Drimmie
Secretary – Saadia Essack
Treasurer – Gina Radley
Member without Portfolio – Zahra Osman
Thank you ladies for your willingness to serve on the Committee in the interests of our school. Congratulations on your well-deserved appointments.
SWIMMING GALAS
We hosted both the JP and SP Galas at Gordon Road yesterday. Both galas were most enjoyable with mass participation and true inter-house spirit clearly evident. Thank you to our many parents/families who attended the galas and for your vocal cheer clearly heard in supporting our boys. It was so heart-warming to see the Prep community back on the sidelines of the pool dressed in those House colours to support the day.
Well done to all the boys for their superb efforts to give of their best efforts for their House – again so rewarding to see each boy determined in his commitment for his respective house. The overall champions for each gala was:
JP – Evans House
SP – Stubbs House
Congratulations to our Champions and all our Houses – a Proudly Prep effort!
1ST XV RUGBY
Our 1st XV will begin the first of their three matches against Glenwood Prep 1st, this afternoon at Kings Park at 16h00. The next fixture will be at Glenwood Prep on Wednesday 1 December with the third fixture next weekend on Saturday morning at DPHS. This programme has been introduced due to the almost non-existent rugby season. It gives both schools the opportunity for their boys to enjoy a few more fixtures as in this triple round of fixtures. Go out and do Prep proud! Well done and thank you Mr Dick for organizing this programme of rugby and to you and Mr Jali for preparing our boys over the past weeks for these challenges.
Here we go Prep – Let’s go!
RECEPTION UNIT NEWS
You will remember that the Reception Unit (Grade R) had their athletics meeting that was to be held under lights last week postponed due to the inclement weather. We had promised to find a suitable date in our busy year planner which we have done namely:
- Wednesday 1 December at 17h30 on the John Smith (bottom field) at DPHS.
Wishing Mrs Phipson and her staff a fun-filled evening. Please diarize the date and please make every effort to attend.
PROJECTS
You can see that the new wall around the car park area is nearing completion. This will definitely add a new look to the front of the school as well as enhancing on the security structures in place around our school. Further projects are in place to be introduced in the early part of the 2022 academic year – exciting times ahead!
HEADMASTERS QUOTE FOR THE WEEK
“The rule of racing: No race has ever been won in the first corner;
many races have been lost there – so finish strongly in the final lap.
B WILSON
Headmaster
