PREP Headmasters Newsletter March April 2012.pdf - St Andrew's ...

St Andrew’s Prep News | April 2012Dear Parents and Pupils,It is quite astonishing to think that the first term has drawn to a close! It feels like it was yesterday that I opened the Headmaster’soffice door on the third of January to begin acquainting myself with the nuances of Prep and to begin preparing for the termahead. Since then, the journey of these first twelve weeks is not unlike a Disneyland roller-coaster ride – there is no pausing orstopping until you reach the end!It would be remiss of me if I did not thank the Prep staff and all of the staff from the Family ofSchools for being so helpful in orientating me within the context of our organisational systemsand culture. I thank and acknowledge our tremendous team of teachers and coaches for theirroles in our co-curricular programmes.I thank too the many parents and other members of our school community for the genuinelygracious interaction and the obvious goodwill that exists and indeed abounds! Most importantlythough, I have loved getting to know our pupils. The children are the heart and soul of a schooland when one has the privilege of serving a school in which the children have a solid valuesbase and display friendly and infectious enthusiasm, one cannot but be buoyed along!Mr Gareth AllmanHeadmasterAt the beginning of the year I addressed the senior primary boys in assembly on the topic ofmaking the most of their opportunities. Certainly, opportunities for growth, development andnew insights have abounded this term. This newsletter hopefully encapsulates this.A kaleidoscope of activities at Pre-PrimaryGrade 7s join the Pre-Primary pupils for a collaborative art sessionHanging out at Pre-Primary is fun

Eshile concentrates Bird walkCollaborative art Kendra celebrates her BirthdayJunior Prep — an educational adventure

Prep vs Grey PrimaryCricketCricket at Prep has flourished thisterm with every boy been offered theopportunity to get involved, to competeand to play alongside their friends.The Grade 1’s enjoyed learning aboutthe wonderful game of cricket andplaying in a number of matches forPrep. These Grade 1’s alongside theGrade 2’s and 3’s were put into variousteams (U9A’s, Bumble Bees, Wasps orHornets) according to their differentabilities and each and every one of themabsolutely thrived from the individualattention that they received, fromtheir respective coaches. Each boy wasafforded the opportunity to representtheir school in a number of matches,allowing for both personal and teamdevelopment.Prep vs Westering PrimaryU13 A Cricketers after their win again Ruzawi from Zimbabwe during the Prep Schools CricketFestival hosted in KZN during the first termThe U11 and U13 teams were all highly competitive this season, showing true discipline and purpose in the way in whichthey played their cricket. The teams played a large number of fixtures throughout the term and many favorable results wereachieved, showcasing the rich cricketing depth and talent that we have at Prep.The Internal Cricket League was highly competitive and fruitful this term, allowing for the progression of skills of every boy whilstinstilling a sense of passion and love for the game. This was reinforced with the introduction of our Saturday coaching clinics,that focused on improving individual skills and techniques. The Dragons were victors of this term’s Internal League but all teamswere winners at the end of the day as they all displayed true sportsmanship both on and off the field.The U13A’s thoroughly enjoyed their Tour to KZN this term in which they competed in the prestigious Independent Schools’Cricket Festival hosted by Cordwalles. Their three matches saw them up against Clifton, Ruzawi and Highbury. All of the matcheswere magnificent contests, but the highlight was their excellent performance against Ruzawi on the second day, which theywon by seven wickets.Ten of our boys were chosen to represent Albany in an Inter-District Cricket Tournament, held by the Eastern Province YouthCricket Board. Congratulations to Luke Hobson, Callum Dugmore, Murray Koster, Peter Jarvis, Carl Johnson and Tanaka Chumawho played in the U13 team and James Mullins, Ryan Ford, Ongama Mvunelwa and Wezo Gqiba who played for the U11 team.They are to be commended for this wonderful honour and achievement.Many thanks to all the coaches and parents who supported Prep cricket throughout the term. Your contributions are mostvalued by all of us here at Prep. Special thanks must go to Liz Thomas for her help with the running of the clubhouse. Of coursewe are always indebted to Mr and Mrs Wilkinson for the excellent condition of the pitches and the fields. The school receivedmany compliments regarding our fields and it is all credit to their dedication and hard work. Thank you Jenny and Roger!I look forward to a wonderful season in the third term.

Study SkillsThis term the boys attended Study Skills for one afternoonsession a week. Most sessions started with a warm-upexercise that took the form of a riddle or brainteaser. Thisbecame a firm favourite with many of the boys who wouldvisit me during the week with an answer or greet me with,“Is there a riddle today?” Tony Buzan, known as the ‘Fatherof Mind Maps’, was my inspiration and source for these. HisMind Maps for Kids, max your memory and concentrationwas invaluable.We did a module on Mind Maps that spanned a few weeks,trying to develop their Mind Map skills in fun, relevantexercises including what they would buy if they were givena million rand – their ideas kept flowing for weeks! The boyswere excited to hear that Mr Allman is a fan of Mind Maps too. Other exercises included creating a pie chart of their strengths,looking at the eight different intelligences that we all have in different combinations. The Grade 6s did an exercise on findingkey words, while the Grade 7s answered a questionnaire on their study skills.I ended the term with a listening exercise using Mrs Jarvis’s ‘How to Study for Exams’ as the text – I’ll give the boys a hard copyof this ahead of next term’s Formal Assessments as the advice and steps are excellent and easy to follow. The final, and perhapsmost enjoyed activity, had the boys making their own stress balls.Prep Team Build 2012Our Prep school year started off with a BANG! In January we went to thenew Sidbury Club which was the perfect venue for a day of fun, revitalizingand “Spanbou”. We were, as a staff, so keen to spend time getting to knowour new headmaster and were able to do so with shrieks of laughter andlots of brain teasing challenges.We started our day with the most energising, motivational talk by AdrianBirrell, ex Preppie and College boy. He spoke of his road to victory as hetook the Irish Cricket team to the World Cup. He left us feeling enthusedand ready to conquer the World, let alone our own classes.We had a delicious lunch followed by an afternoon of fun and games aswe were divided into teams. Amongst the laughter, there was muchstrategizing, humour and bonding.In a nutshell, one of our staff members said it was the best day of theholidays.Prep staff enjoyed a team building day at the beginning of the first term

Information TechnologyKaren Hobson spent a day in Cape Town visiting two schools, Elkanah House, (Senior Primary Phase), and Cedar House, (a highschool), that are at the forefront of integrating technology in the classroom.She found that there was a tremendous spirit of collaboration and a sharing of knowledge between the schools adoptingApple’s technology in the schools and that the schools were overwhelmingly positive about the service and support they arereceiving for Apple products. Karen learnt that the iPad platform, because of ease of use, quality of hardware, versatility andespecially the educational superiority of the Apps (applications) available and the low costs there-of had indeed many benefits.Importantly, she reported that an iPad rollout is not integrated with Windows, nor does it replace Windows, but that it isimplemented in parallel with Windows.Her final comment in her report provides much inspiration; “Clearly the children were hugely engaged and accelerated andintegrated learning was taking place.”As I seek to identify and determine areas for growth and development in Prep to ensure that we are truly a first class independentschool, I am buoyed by the potential and scope to add value to our teaching and learning programmes be means of integratedmobile IT platforms.Staff DevelopmentA number of staff development initiatives have been undertaken this term with resident expert Jane Jarvis facilitating muchof it; Jane addressed all academic staff on the main characteristics of Attention Priority Disorder (as she prefers to call it), andfacilitated workshops on ‘pre-academic learning’ and how it feeds into academic success and a ‘Games Workshop’. The juniorand learning support attended a dyslexia workshop in Port Elizabeth and half a dozen of our teachers attended the Teach!Conference hosted at Kingswood recently.MusicMusic, as ever, remains a strong component ofthe ‘Prep programme’ and the following offers aglimpse into the life of our musicians.Shannon Wright, our guitar, marimba and djembeteacher, has run the following afternoon groups:2 Djembe Drumming groups, (catering for 21boys), 5 Marimba groups spread over Tuesdayand Thursday afternoons, which cater for 40 boys,and the Marimba Band which is an auditioned,select band of top Marimba players (all Grade7s). They rehearse once a week and performpublically several times a year. The highlightof this term was playing at Lorraine Mullins’book launch in February (in the rain, but mostenthusiastically and skilfully!)Orchestra : this is a combined DGS Junior andPrep orchestra, under the direction of KingsleyBuitendag at DSG, and 10 of our boys participatein rehearsals twice a week.The Choir rehearsing for the Easter service

Crosses and Killing FieldsPrep pupils placed 898 crosses to mark the number of Rhino poached since 2010Along the verge of Craddock Road, near St Andrew’sPrep, over 150 pupils respectfully placed 898 crossesto mark the number of rhino poached since 2010.Sadly, the figure exceeds that, which, in itself, is ashocking thought.Following the tragic, painful death of the second ofKariega’s three rhino that were brutally hacked fortheir horns in early March, Dr William Fowlds, wildlifevet and old Preppie, shared his passion for the great,grey living dinosaurs that he fights to preserve.Video clips, statistics and gruesome photographsof Kariega’s de-horned rhino struggling to survivebrought sombreness to the St Andrew’s Prep boys asthey listened in silence.According to Dr Fowlds, 80% of the entire world’spopulation of rhino live within the borders of SouthAfrica, and the incidents of poaching since Januaryhave escalated sharply to completely outstripprevious figures at the same time.“In spite of more arrests, more anti-poaching trainingand deployment, we are currently losing this battle,”Will Fowlds said. “We need to do more. We cannotbe the generation that is responsible for the rhino’sextinction. It is simply not an option.”Readers by now may have noticed that this end-oftermnewsletter has a more contemporary and fresherlook than the previous Prep View – the marketing andpublications team really do hope that you have enjoyedit! As we move towards being more eco-friendly whilststriving to be aware of curbing unnecessary costs, the oldprinted version has fallen away and has been replacedwith this electronic version. Please do feel free to forwardit to folks on your address lists that may well be interestedin perusing the letter.I wish all of our boys and girls a wonderful Easter vacationand we pray that our God will keep you safe in your travels.Gareth AllmanHEADMASTERI’ll Sing You One-Oh!A story of beginnings and endingsA story of hope and hardshipA story spanning more than a centuryA story of a place called ‘Prep’A history preserved.Lorraine Mullins’s book is a not only a work of scholarshipbut also an intimate tale of loyalty and love:characteristics which distinguish not only the author himselfbut the staff and children of whom he writes so warmly.Marguerite PolandTo order: e.mail: contactprep@saprepschool.com / Tel: 046-603-2400 / Book Price: R360 (excluding mailing).