Prep 2008 - 2012
Greg Brown assumed office at the start of 2008. With a new Headmaster, the Prep’s busy schedules just continued. The academic side of the school operated at full steam, with advances in Art, Music, Design and Technology, with excellent results in the Cape Eisteddfod, and the ABRSM music practical results were outstanding. The school societies continued as before. The Athletics season produced good results, and the Cricket season saw the school fielding 16 teams for interschool games as well as running a Junior League and Mini-cricket. There was Fencing, Swimming, Tennis, Water Polo on offer as well. The winter sports season was also full. 15 Hockey teams and 17 Rugby teams took part against local schools. The Skeeles Sevens tournament was held as a fundraiser for the Rick Skeeles Pavilion, and the day was a great success. Although not explicitly stated anywhere, it was clear that a Prep education assumed that the more exposure the boys had to a wide variety of experiences, both intramurally and extramurally, the greater the learning and growth mentally, physically socially and culturally, would be. It was also a stable and recurring pattern of annual activities, nurtured by challenging and supportive staff which gave the boys the stability to mature and realise themselves.
Despite having retired in 2007, Keith Griffiths returned in a part-time capacity to help with sport, but he also organized the first KwaZulu Natal Grade 7 tour, in 2008, a feature which has grown into a highly anticipated annual event. At the end of 2008, Mike Bromfield retired and Chris Groom was appointed in his place.
A highlight of 2009 was the support for the Chaeli Foundation, an initiative started by Chaeli Mycroft (herself with disabilities), to raise money to support disabled children. The Bishops campaign was initiated by the boys themselves, led by Aidan Bizony.
There were regular opportunities for the boys to stretch themselves – in the frequent one act plays, the Orange River adventure camps, the Grade 7 KwaZulu Natal tours, Bishops Got Talent (organized by the boys themselves), the annual school plays (“Seussical The Musical” in 2010, “Guys and Dolls” in 2012). There were fundraising drives for Outreach, and connections with other schools, especially St Paul’s Primary in the Bo Kaap.
As a result of the restructuring of the College executive, with the appointment of Vernon Wood as Headmaster (and line manager) of the College section, and Greg Brown as the Prep Headmaster, Grant Nupen was able to become a larger presence on the Prep and Pre-Prep campuses. Arising from the 2010 Conference, staff development workshops and conferences became a constant feature of the years, with staff conferences involving teachers from all three schools, and occasional lectures and workshops during term. These dealt specially with thinking skills. In 2010, Marileen Harrod, a fully qualified and experience educational psychologist was appointed full-time at the Prep as the Learning Support Co-ordinator.
During 2012, the school management software that Sally Bowes and Paul Mayers at the College had developed, MyBishopsLife, was extended to the Prep as well as the Pre-Prep. This meant that parents were able to log in to the software and then have access to the background record of their sons’ involvement in all aspects of school life. And in 2012, an iPad research project was launched, to determine best how to introduce iPads to the school.
At the start of 2011, 16 members of staff went on a fundraising Cycling tour; they covered 300km and raised R113 000 for the Phoenix Burn project and the Red Cross Burns unit.
This year was a time of highs and lows. On 4 August, the completed Rick Skeeles Pavilion on Lutgensvale was opened in grand style, and the memory of Rick’s involvement in the school was memorialized. 
And against this, the sad death of Craig Brown, a Grade 7 boy, from brain tumours, cast a pall over the school. As Greg Brown said at the Grade 7 Leavers Dinner, suddenly the other Grade 7 boys had to become adults, understanding something of the finality of death. “After our special assembly on the day of his death we all walked across to the flagpole where we lowered the school flag in Craig’s memory. In the silence that followed you were no longer 13 but much older – you were symbolically bidding him farewell, according him the ultimate Bishops respect. In your grief, obvious compassion for each other and for Craig’s family you showed such character and sensitivity. It was very painful for your teachers to watch you but also inspiring.”
Building development also took place during these years. At the end of 2009, the entrance to the Stanhope Building was revamped. And as part of Masterplan, architects provided a design framework for the improvement of Prep grounds and the Jagger Hall. During 2012, work started on a major renovation and internal design of the Jagger Hall, improvements to the Duke Road entrance, and an improved link between the Rossall and Stanhope campuses.
