Newsletter & Calendar

NEWSLETTER & CALENDAR

Issue 1

HIGH SCHOOL - Mrs Pat Fitzsimons

Welcome back to all our existing parents, we hope that your experience with us in the High School continues to be a positive one.  To all our new boys and parents, we look forward to getting to know you better, building our relationship with you and with the rest of our C.B.C family, growing together as this year progresses.

Welcome, also, to Ms Barrett who is teaching Science in Year 9 and Geography in Year 8 and 9 and to Mr van der Merwe who is with us on an internship studying to teach Afrikaans and Life Orientation. We look forward to a long association with them both.

Academics

To our matrics of 2008, well done!  As you can see by the flyer that you will receive, these young men produced some wonderful results and are now entering their chosen fields of study.  I hope they take a little time as they move on with their lives to remember the teachers who pushed, prodded and cajoled them towards these results and that they have already thanked their parents for making the sacrifices which allowed them to attend this great College.

Other Years in the College also produced good results and I congratulate the following boys on their awards for Academic Ties and Quills—

Academic Quill Awards—

Meeren Rugunanan, Ryan Carter, Marco Caldeira, Jacques Celliers, Juan-Jacques Aupiais, Marko Micic, Edward dos Santos, Paul dos Santos, Michael Forner and Claude Kershaw.

Academic Tie Awards—

Dean Houghton, Theo van Niekerk, Tyrone Poipao, Michael Roberts, Darren Thysse, Kyran Glencross, Ryno Blom, Dino Araujo, Dylan Bennie, James Schultz, Byron Lindeque, Hugh Bezemer, Juan-Jacques Aupiais, Marko Micic, Edward dos Santos .

Well done to you all and I hope 2009 brings continued success.

An Important document containing information on the work ethic and promotion requirements in the High School was sent to parents in this past week.  Please read this document carefully and place it in your parent’s file for future reference.

The boys will receive a copy of their assessment timetable this week. Please place a copy of this in a prominent place so that you may refer to it for time management purposes.  It is in working together and having the same goals for our students, your sons, that we will help them to achieve to their full potential. In order to do this we need to be working from the same set of ground rules.

Sport

Thank you to Mr Stoop (Head of Sport) and his department for their organization of the inter-house 20/20 cricket, the tennis and the squash which have just taken place.  The results are as follows—

Inter-House Tennis—1st Aquinas, 2nd Founders, 3rd Edmund and 4th Revill.

Inter-House Squash—1st Aquinas, 2nd Founders, 3rd Edmund and 4th Revill.

Inter-House 20/20 Cricket—1st Founders, 2nd Aquinas, 3rd Revill and 4th Edmund.

Inter-House Golf—1st Revill, 2nd Edmund, 3rd Aquinas and 4th Founders.

To the House Masters Mr Muller, Mr Barnett, Mr Rindfleisch and Mr Phiri, and all their boys, thank you for the enthusiasm and commitment with which you took part in these events.

The Inter-House Swimming Gala will take place on Thursday 29 January,  starting at 09h00 at the Boksburg North pool.  Parents, if you are able please join us, this is a great event and there is lots of House Spirit shown. The boys must come to school at the normal time will be bused from school to the pool. The Gala will run from 9:00am to approx. 13h00.  The boys may then be collected from school at 14h00.

Cultural

The Speakers’ Course will start for the first group of Year 10s next week Tuesday. Once again the Toast Masters will be giving of their time to train our boys in the art of public speaking.  Ms Dolman and Mrs Caldeira will be co-ordinating this course and I thank them for the time they are going to give.

Matric Farwell Fund Raising

The year has only begun and already we have to prepare for the Matric Farwell Dinner and Dance on 31 July . Ms Dolman and Mrs Ruthven have started to organize the Valentines’ gifts and there is a meeting to discuss further fund raisers on Thursday 22 January at 18h30. (Year 11 boys have been informed of this.)

Leadership

The Matric class, the leadership class of the High School, has begun the year with great enthusiasm. They have been well organized and have been a good example for all in their House.

I wish Samkeliso Mhlongo (Head of Founders) and Shaun Dalton (Deputy Head), Bjorn Bischoff-Tulleken (Head of Edmund) and Paul dos Santos (Deputy Head),  Douglas Erasmus (Head of Aquinas) and Dillon Brennon (Deputy Head) and Calvin Dias (Head of Revill) and Claude Kershaw (Deputy Head)  a very successful year in which they see their respective Houses grow from strength to strength.  In the House system the Matric boys have a very important role to play, they are the “big brothers”, the mentors of the younger boys and I remind them of the following—

The Little Chap Who Follows Me

A careful man I want to be,

A little fellow follows me;

I do not dare to go astray

For fear he’ll go the self same way.

I cannot once escape his eyes.

Whate’er he sees me do he tries.

Like Me he says he’s going to be---

That little chap who follows me.

I must remember as I go

Through summer suns and winter snows,

I’m building for the years to be-

That little chap who follows me.

Being leaders is a huge responsibility but I know with the values that you have already experience through your time at this College and the help and guidance of the many good people and teachers around you , you will be able to meet the demands placed upon you

HOUSE REPORTS

Edmund  (Mr Barnett)

Welcome to the boys who have joined the Leprechauns.  I’m sure that you will enjoy our unique house. 

Thank you to the boys who supported the 20/20 cricket on Saturday morning.  I must also thank the players who gave of their time to compete in the squash, cricket, golf and tennis teams.  Although we were not successful on all fronts, nobody can criticize our spirit and enthusiasm.  Thank you to Byron and Paul and the rest of the seniors who took care of the new boys and helped to organize the inter-house sports. 

We have a “clean, green, mean swimming team”, so watch out for our achievements next week!

Founders  (Mr Muller)

So, we are back and hitting the floor running.  When you buy a new car, you must adhere to a run-in period, but when you get to school, there is no time to waste.   There was cricket, squash, golf and tennis to organize and play.  There was school work to do and, can you believe it, even homework in the first week!  If the pace of the first two weeks is anything to go by, we are in for a hectic first term.

Welcome, Year 8 boys, to the High School and I hope the time with us will be uplifting and beneficial.  Also, welcome back to all Founders boys and thank you to those boys who participated in the inter-house sport.  I am very proud of every single one of you, and if your enthusiasm continues, Founders will have a stunning year.  A big welcome, too,  to Mr van der Merwe.  Mr van der Merwe is a tutor in place of Mr Wermuth and I welcome him into the Founders family.

It gives me pleasure to announce the leadership structure for 2009.  Congratulations to the following boys—Samkeliso Mhlongo (Head of House), Shaun Dalton (Deputy Head), Ryan Vos (Head of Spirit Portfolio) and Nathan Schunke (Tutor Leader).

Lastly, welcome back to the Founders House parents.  I hope and pray that you had a safe and restful holiday and I know you are going to have a prosperous 2009.

Aquinas  (Mr Rindfleisch)

Welcome back to all Aquinas boys to a new academic year.  A new year is a perfect time for setting goals.  Take a few minutes of your time to decide on what you would like to achieve this year.

A particularly warm welcome to the new boys in Aquinas, especially the Grade 8’s.  I hope that you have settled in comfortably.  Remember that if you have any queries or worries, speak to our house leaders, your tutors or myself.

Congratulations to our tennis and squash teams on winning their respective inter-house competitions.  Our cricketers finished third in an extremely close contest this year.  Our golfers also performed well to clinch third position.  Thanks to all those boys who participated in these events.

Best of luck to our swimming team for the inter-house gala next Thursday.

Revill  (Mr Phiri)

I welcome back all the boys to the new academic year and trust that they all had a merry and restful holiday.  A special welcome to the Grade 8’s and all new boys to Revill House.  This house is going to be a “home away from home” for you in the next five years or so.

We have already hit the road running just a few days after opening, and already the inter-house 20/20 cricket, squash, golf and tennis have been held.  I commend all the boys who took part as competitors and supporters as well.  We won the golf and were pipped to the post in cricket, as well as competed respectively in tennis and squash.

I congratulate last year’s matric class for their outstanding results, and from us in Revill we hail Brandon Purves and Luke Rokebrand for their diligence and wish them the best for the future.

Lastly, thank you to all parents for enabling their sons to come back to school well groomed and ready to roll.

Dates to remember