Developments in Council
The Diocesan College was established in 1849 by the Bishop of Cape Town, Robert Gray. Gray appointed his Principals and then left them to get on with their position. The Archbishop decided in 1885 to appoint a Council to run the College. At first, the Principal did not attend meetings. In 1891, through an Act of the Cape Parliament, the Council was formally established to govern the school. The Bishop was nominally the Chairman of the Council, but increasingly this function was assumed by the Chairman of the General Purposes Committee, later succeeded by an Executive Committee, a body which dissolved itself in 1986. There were a number of sub-committees of this Executive Committee, to attend to special areas of the governance of the school. While the Archbishop remained the Visitor, he would appoint one of the Suffragan Bishops to be his representative on Council. The Archbishop could attend any Council meeting if he chose to do so. In 1986, a Chairman was to be elected to lead the Council.
The role and function of Council has been described: “The role of Council is to act in effect as the board of directors for the school. The Council is responsible for the overall well-being of the school and involves itself in every aspect, especially to the extent that such matters involve the strategy, structure, direction, finances, and policies of the school. It has complete oversight over all financial matters and oversight of all aspects of the school relating inter alia to the overall operation of the school, the investments of the school, the risks that the school is exposed to, diversity and inclusivity at the school, the use of technology, the development and safekeeping of land and buildings, the excellence of facilities and the recruitment and retention of the best teachers, coaches, and support staff. Council does not involve itself at all in the normal operational aspects of the school nor does it interfere in any way in the day-to-day management of the school.”
Following the disbandment of the Executive Committee, the former sub-committees became committees of Council. This was a way in which non-Council members could be drawn in to provide the College with the necessary expertise to make the best decisions. The committees of Council, while not being executive bodies, provided the detail and the broad strategies which Council could then put in place. These committees guided Council by discussing and investigating identified key issues within their domain, and then by making recommendations to Council.
In 1999, the Chairman of Council was David Carter, due to step down at the end of 2000. There were six committees; Finance (which had an Investment sub-committee), HR, Buildings and Development, Marketing, and Scholarships and Bursaries, and a committee for the Prep school. Rory Wilson was pushing hard for a Planning and Transformation Committee, which at that time had a slightly wider scope than just increasing the numbers of black students. There were several discussions in Council on various topics: Educational Fundamentals, Organisational Structure, Spirituality at Bishops, and Transformation. The Archbishop’s nominees were Christopher Gregorowski (1999-2007), Garth Counsell (2008-2020) and Joshua Louw (2021-2024).
James McGregor took over as Chairman at the start of 2001. James had already been on Council for 10 years, and his father, Alex McGregor, had been Chairman of the Executive Committee in the 1960s and 1970s.
Following the 2010 conference in September 2001, Council held a workshop to assess and revisit the functioning of Council and its committees. A new committee was set up, called the 2010 Advisory Committee (chaired by Rory Wilson) whose function was to be a conduit between the Action Teams that were set up following the Conference, and Council. An Asset Management committee soon followed, and in 2003, a Spirituality Committee was set up – both as a result of recommendations from the Spirituality and Finance and Business Action teams. The Spirituality Committee was chaired by the Archbishop’s nominee, Bishop Christopher Gregorowski.
In 2005, a group of black (‘black’ is used throughout as a generic term for people of colour) College and Prep parents responded to a call from the school executive and formed the Temporary Black Parents’ Forums in both the College and the Prep. Their concern was to bring to Council’s attention the dissatisfaction of many black parents with the school’s positions on transformation and inter-personal relationships in the school. During August and September, the Working Committees of these groups met with groups within the school; the College staff, Prep Staff, and the Parents Association Committees. The discussions of these meetings addressed the fears surrounding diversity and transformation, and agreed on the two crucially important issues of diversity and transformation: firstly, that sensitivity training for parents, staff and boys was a top priority; and, secondly, that a Grievance Procedure through which parents and boys would be able to express their feelings about racism and other transformation issues without fear or intimidation should be put in place. This was to be given serious consideration for implementation at as early a date as possible.
A further meeting was held in October, where it was agreed that the Council would set in place a Diversity and Transformation Committee and would appoint a person for the leadership of this committee. Accordingly, on 24 October, the Council and the Archbishop appointed Mercia Isaacs to Council to fill this role. The committee had a wide representation from all across the spectrum of the school.
James McGregor was succeeded by Geoff Everingham in 2006.
At this point, there were nine Council subcommittees, and so in 2008, Council undertook a reassessment of the role and functions of the committees and decided to reduce the number of committees. Those that would continue would be Finance, Building and Development, Remuneration, and Investment. Diversity and Transformation, Marketing, Spirituality and HR would now fall under the Principal, who would report on these to Council at each meeting; and Scholarships and Bursaries and aspects of HR would fall under the Headmasters. Geoff Everingham completed his term of office in 2010.
Geoff was followed by Mike Bosman as Chairman from 2011 to 2017. Simon Peile was Chairman from 2018 to 2022, and Crispin Sonn was Chairman from 2023. In 2016, a Risk Committee was set up, and was later taken up into the Finance committee.
For three years, the Remuneration Committee also handled nominations, which became a separate committee in 2022. In 2020, responding to Council’s views on implementing policy on the composition of the school (both staff and students), the Transformation Committee made a re-appearance, and it underwent a name change in 2022 to Diversity, Equity and Belonging.
Over the period from 1999 to 2024, there have been 51 members of Council. Of these, 19 have been ODs, 29 parents or past parents, and 3 school-based educationalists. It was the case that some of these members fell into more than one category. 22 would be identified as black. 10 members could be described as independent. A member is appointed for a five-year term, which can be renewed. The Chair is appointed initially for a three year term, which may be extended for up to two further terms of two years.
