Headmaster's Address

 The young men of Rondebosch are confident and able to pursue their dreams.

This offers an opportunity to reflect on the year past and to celebrate the achievements of the graduating group, the Matrics of 2023. It gives me great pleasure to give the 2023 report on the school.

A productive school has a myriad of moving parts. Unlike a business, its outputs spread far wider than a single product. More than a discreet organism, it is to some extent more like an amoeba, with extensions that shrink and grow in relation to the energy put into them, often in response to what is happening in the broader society. Various stakeholders spent some time in August, in a process labelled Vision 2030, looking into the future and consulting on where our energies will be focused over the next three to five years. This discussion included the processes and structures that will support the vision, a vision that is always centred on the learners of the school. The Bosch 125 Vision that informed our planning in 2014 was slightly amended to read: ‘The young men of Rondebosch are confident and able to pursue their dreams. They are resilient and adaptable and equipped with the educational, ethical, social and emo onal competencies to find significant, lasting and sustainable solutions for a changing world.’

A simple view of what we do here would be that our reason for being is to prepare learners over five years to write and pass the National examination. This is clearly not the case at a school whose stated purpose is to grow its learners higher and wider; parents and pupils arrive here expecting so much more. My report this evening will reflect on a school that goes way beyond its mandate to be a place of learning and teaching and deliver the national curriculum. While by every measure our professional staff continue to do this duty with distinction, we go a good deal further in offering a broad range of actvites that have layered into them, opportunities to learn the essential skills and lessons for life, embedded in the outcomes stated by the vision.

The vision speaks first of educational competencies and we must, at our core, remain focused on these. The year began with the news that the matrics of 2022, in keeping with the high expectations of the staff of the school, had performed very well in the NSC examination. 172 candidates achieved 446 A symbols and a 91.3% university entrance rate. For the fifteenth year, we achieved a 100% pass rate. This is no mean feat. Rondebosch is one of 91 schools nationally (out of 6853 schools), and 4 boys’ schools (all in the Western Cape), to do so consistently over the past 5 years. Rondebosch was placed 10th; the top performing public boys’ school on the list.

We also received feedback on the provincial Grade 9 systemic tests for 2022 where our boys continue to be benchmarked substantially above the provincial and quintile average in both languages and mathematics.

In all of the pillars of the school, we intentionally offer opportunities to allow our students to test themselves against the best in the country. Several academic competitions are on offer across the year and this year’s matric academic cohort have grabbed several accolades. Naadir Mowzer was first and Chilton Yip 2nd in their age group category at the Proverto National Accounting Olympiad, while in the National English Olympiad three Grade 12s - Luke Johnston, Harry Mellish and Thomas van der Schijff - were awarded Gold Certificates. One of the most anticipated academic challenges is the UCT Mathematics competition. Several thousand pupils from across the Western Cape participate in this premier event and, over the years, there has been a major tussle for top prize between ourselves and Bishops.

In 2023 Rondebosch won the Trophy for the best performing school – the 17th time that the silverware has been awarded to our mathematicians. Rondebosch also received 7 individual gold awards. These are presented to individual participants who finish in the Top 10. Here congratulations must go to Imran Moosa who came in 4th and Muzzammil Mohamed who was placed 5th.

The power of sport to bring communities together was recognised by President Mandela and we have seen this in the support offered at sporting events by our parent and alumni community. The contribution of our Old Boys to coaching the various sporting codes provides a very diverse group with enthusiastic contributions from across the board. As with academics, our sport offering has granted us a place to offer opportunities to talented boys from disadvantaged backgrounds where finance prevents access.

Partnerships with trusts, as well as other fund-raising projects, means that we are able to support talented sportsmen from financially constrained homes by offering a wrap-around programme that supports mentorship, tutorship and the ability to have the requisite equipment and tours. Through corporate B-BBEE support, sourced through the efforts of Mr Rob Dalrymple and the Altius et Latius Trust, the finances to support scholarship holders has almost doubled from 2019 to 2023, and further doors of opportunity have been opened.

We speak in our vision of building resilience, confidence and adaptability, and what better place to learn these hard life lessons than on the sports fields, where winning and losing in a team and individual context are part of the character-building hidden curriculum that pervades our school. There have been a number of reasons to celebrate this year. Our boys have done exceptionally well in various arenas: academically, in service to the community, culturally and on the sports fields. We have had some very good sporting victories for several teams in both the major and minor sporting codes, paritcularly over our traditional Southern Suburbs rivals. While not all can play at the highest level, it is satisfying to note that a mere 87 boys of the 870 choose to do no sport. 15 sporting codes are offered across the school. Our teams continue to perform well in top competitions and the members of the class of 2023 have been significant contributors to this success.

We had several Western Province water polo selections, and from the graduating group these included David van Zyl, Ethan Klerck, Ben Reiback and Sebasatian White. Taylor Luck has represented South Africa on various swimming stages, winning many medals, while 1st team Hockey captain, Luca Miller, has added to his provincial selection with teammate, Nathan Msakiwe, with representation in SA Schools Hockey. Our successful first squash team, that included Raphael Lamprecht, Daniel Cloete and Giyan Sulcas, successfully represented Western Province at the SA Top Schools competition.

Cricket is one of our most successful sports and this is indicated by a number of provincial selections across the age groups. 1st team vice-captain Bongile Mfunelwa represented South African Schools and was named as Western Province U19 Player of the Year for 2022. Captain Jordan Neill rounded off his successful school cricket career with being selected to the Irish U19 cricket side. In golf, apart from supporting the school team, Jack Buchanan, spent a good part of his year playing at the highest level and was selected to represent South Africa. At the South African Rowing Championships at the end of April, Ryan Dellbridge, Joshua Keys and Johan Goosen were selected to the Western Cape team and the Rondebosch eSports Society won silver medals at Comic Con Cape Town.

Amongst other age group selections, members of E’23 achieved WP rugby representation, with Juma Amissi and Polite Phiri playing in Craven and Academy week sides. Our Chess team has produced admirable results this year, with Andrew Walsh receiving Provincial Colours, and Joel Bencini and Imraan Moosa being highly ranked in their divisions.

The names mentioned represent just a few of the many provincial and national selections by boys at the school in school sports. A good number of the young men in the hall have also been involved in sports outside of school. It is a mystery how, whilst preparing for a very busy school academic and sports and cultural programme, these young men find the time and discipline to perform at these levels and credit must also be given to all those who support them.

I have mentioned some boys who chose not to play sport. Many of these immerse themselves in cultural pursuits or other service-related activities; some do both and more. Our school is given life by excellent art, music and drama departments, while many boys are hard at work in the background running societies, organising outreach programmes or supporting sporting activities. One outstanding contributor in this regard is Aphiwe Skoti without whom so many of the presentations and productions that demand sound or lighting would be poorer for his absence. It will be difficult to watch cricket without seeing the cheerful face of our avid score-keeper, Nasir Wepener.

The outstanding recent Cabaret performance is testament to the continued strength of the music programme under the excellent guidance of Mr Scarr. We once again had representation in the 8-piece National Schools Jazz Band and the ever-present school trumpeter, Ethan Holgate, was one of these. The Prestige Music concert was dedicated to the work of Mrs Veranza Joubert, who began the concert 18 years ago and who sadly retires this year. Here, the Emillio Farella Trophy for classical music went to Joel Bencini.

In mentioning Mrs Joubert’s role in music, I would like to use this opportunity to highlight the loss of some significant educators who will sadly retire at the end of this year. Jane Harker, our librarian; Pam Ogilvie, our longstanding PR manager; and, as mentioned, Mrs Joubert. All three of these ladies have been stalwart supporters of the school and have seen generations of boys cared for and supported through their activities. Each will leave a significant hole in the life of the school.

An outstanding drama production of District Six took to the boards in August, with some unexpected acting talents coming to the fore in the lead roles. Ms Lauren Snyders and her team continue to surprise with their innovation and repurposing of spaces for productions, this time in a transformed Art room. School productions will be poorer for the loss of the likes of Enkosi Stofile and Luke Johnston.

This time of the year brings the end of the cycle of learning to Visual Art and the Matric boys display their best works for assessment. Every year has a different flavour but, without exception, reveals exceptional talent and training. Kevin Jenkins and Priska Newham have worked in tandem to curate and nurture the artistic endeavours of boys at the school for 20 years. Sadly, we will see Mrs Newham leave us at the end of the year to join her daughter in Switzerland for a while to practise being a granny. Just a short visit to the Exhibition in the Gym will show how her leaving will be missed by the generations of young artists she has nurtured. Inevitably, in a school where there is so much going on, I will have missed drawing out and highlighting the work and achievements of some. The school’s Representative Council of Learner Executive and members of Interact, for instance, have been hard at work supporting various initiatives across the year. We have also had a group of 15 Grade 12 learners sacrificing their September break to go to Zithulele in the Eastern Cape with Mrs Jacqui Rowe and Mr Dhiven Appalraju to tutor Mathematics, English, Life Sciences and IT to 60 matric students, who have very poor resources, in preparing for their final examinations. Some of the stories arising from this trip are both heartening and heart-breaking.

I hope, in referring to all of the above, I am painting a picture of a school of many parts and much movement – both above and below the water. All of this activity needs planning and support, and often infrastructure to support and grow. Support and growth are the very essence of the tree that symbolises our school and underpins the concept of higher and wider. This year has seen a good deal of building activity to support our broader goals.

Work on the Canigou expansion should be completed by the end of October. The refurbishment and renovation of the medical facility under the Headmaster’s Rugby Chalet is complete, thanks to the generous financial support of the Bosch Rugby Supporters’ Club. In addition to serving its purpose during winter sports, the facility will also now house physiotherapy treatment rooms.

We continue to work towards finalising the two projects in collaboration with the prep school that have been mentioned in other newsletters where we are reviewing plans and looking for funding. These involve an upgrading and refurbishment of the Meadows Pavilion - a project for which we have received some seed capital from an Old Boy. The other project is much more ambitious and involves a complete overhaul of the swimming pool complex, with the installation of a gym facility. This would open up space in the school for the development of a Support Centre in the old gym area above the Mears and the development of additional classrooms in the old gym changeroom area.

The grounds support staff have done such magnificent work this year in preparing fields and sports surfaces, as well as in the buildings and developments around the campus, particularly over a very wet winter. My thanks and appreciation to this incredibly hard-working team.

The year has not been without challenges. Some of these have been communicated to our parents and, as ever, have led to our rethinking of processes and communication channels. We are concerned with the over emphasis on sporting achievement, particularly by parents, where sport is one of the many classrooms at school. We are concerned about a continued high absenteeism rate, where all evidence indicates that being present is required for academic success. Recent discussions with staff at the development weekend away and through our Vision 2030 discussions point us to the need to facilitate broader health and welfare services across the school.

Also highlighted is a need to develop agreement amongst the teaching staff of a common and negotiated purpose statement. Matters of social cohesion remain a top priority and the appointment to the senior management team of Mr Domingo as Deputy in charge of Leadership, Diversity and Inclusion has been a crucial step in ensuring that there is energy, drive and strategy in supporting our very diverse student body.

In spite of some worries, Rondebosch remains in good health, and this has as much to do with the operations and financial controls of the school as with the incredible and fierce loyalty one experiences in conversations one has with members of the Bosch family. In his book, “The Minds of Boys”, Michael Gurian says: ‘The grand vision is that we're going to be raising boys into men who are spiritually alive and emotionally vital, who feel that they belong in the spiritual and the social realm. Ultimately, if you raise good men, you raise a good society. If you don't raise men up to be good, healthy men, society destroys itself.’ A measure of a living school is the degree of attachment and goodwill maintained after the students leave the school. The crowning achievement of a school - its very reason for being - is to produce students and alumni who impact society in a meaningful way.

We are grateful for the incredible generosity of its Old Boys, the trusts and other supporters of the school in assisting us to grow the physical facilities of the campus. A clear indication of the strength of the OBU is the number of substantial endowments, fundraising and donations over the past 125 years – funding which has also allowed the school to offer scholarships in the fields of Academics, Music and Sport.

It is evident that the larger the community caring for the school, the stronger the school becomes. I am therefore appreciative of the time and commitment of the managers, teachers, parents and Old Boys who are completely committed to the delivery of excellence at Rondebosch. I would like to pay homage to an exceptionally hard-working and committed staff, both those in the classroom and those in administration and support. I would like to thank the school deputies, Mr Ebrahim, Mr Pienaar, Dr Teubes and Mr Domingo, whose operational energy keeps all the moving parts turning. I also value the support offered to the High School and the excellent preparatory work done by our counterparts at Rondebosch Boys’ Prep. I am grateful to the Old Boys’ Union, the Trusts and the parents’ support committees, especially the board of governors and the chairman, Mr Steven Schlesinger, without whose wisdom, enthusiasm for Rondebosch, financial nous and propensity to produce a line of male children, we would be a school without Mathematicians.

Phillip Brooks said, ‘Greatness, after all, in spite of its name, appears to be not so much a certain size as a certain quality in human lives.’ There is no doubt in my mind that this is a school that has brought, and continues to bring, a certain quality into the lives of all who pass through its doors. I believe in the young men present here tonight and it is my hope that they will take all that they have been offered to grow, with intention and integrity, ‘higher and wider’.

Altius et Latius

Shaun Simpson

Headmaster