Guy Pearson 2013 - 2020
Prep 2013 - 2020
Greg Brown in his Annual Report at Prizegiving articulated his understanding of the ethos of the Prep. “Our aim at the Prep is for boys to expose themselves to as much as possible: over and above classroom work, on the sports field, in the swimming pool, the choir, Early Act, chess, Mustard Seed, and so on. So a huge number of boys learned one or more music instruments, and also played two sports a season. They are busy and excited at many levels.”
This was borne out by the variety and extent of the activities that the Prep offered the boys. Community outreach took place through the Peninsula Feeding scheme, the Westlake Upliftment Project, support for the Sunflower fund, the continuing contact with St Paul’s Primary in the Bo-Kaap, and the gathering together of Christmas goody-bags. The staff were also involved. Eight staff members undertook a cycle-tour through the Boland and Overberg, and raised R160 000 for the Victoria Hospital Paediatric ward.
At the same time, the range of Prep sports continued in both summer and winter.
At the end of the second term, the renovated Jagger Hall and the Duke Road entrance were formally opened, beginning a series of improvements to the fabric of the Prep campus. The customary Grade 7 KwaZulu Natal tour took place, with 80 boys and 8 staff members going along.
A research project was launched among the staff to investigate the use of iPads in teaching and learning, both for enhancement of learning at the Prep and as preparation for the technology rich classrooms at the College. A decision was taken during 2015 to roll out iPads to Grade 6 and 7 from the start of 2016.
In his address to the Grade 7 leavers at their dinner, Greg Brown referred to the Mitre award, a recognition given to any boy who demonstrated behaviour of the character that the school strove for: manners; integrity, tolerance, respect and empathy.
In 2014, there were good results from a number of external competitions. These were achieved in the Living Maths Olympiads, and in the ABRSM music exams, more than 50% of the participants achieved results higher than 80%, and it was revealed that over 250 boys of the 373 boys at the Prep studied one or more musical instruments.
The school took part along with the College in an Independent Quality Assurance assessment.
As a consequence of some bullying incidents, the school revisited the Bullying Policy and highlighted the school’s absolute rejection of bullying in any form.
The Bishops Prep Musical Review was held to celebrate the new Jagger Hall, where the Prep boys were joined by girls from Rustenburg, Oakhurst, Springfield and Grove Prep.
Apart from the recurrence of the regular annual events, the contact between school and parents was continually maintained. In 2016, a group of 76 sons and dads went to Krom River in the Cederberg for a weekend camping trip.
The Grade 7s went on the KwaZulu tour during the year.
In 2017, the Prep created a Social Sustainability team to work alongside the College team, and also held workshops on diversity and prejudice. Groups of boys in focus groups also gave feedback on their experiences of Bishops.
At the end of 2017, the executive ended the practice of having a Head Boy of the Prep, and the selection of Heads and Deputy Heads of Houses happened at the start of each year.
2018
All three schools, following the initiative launched the year before in the College, were involved in the two day Sustainability Conference led by the Cambridge Institute for Leadership Sustainability. The emphasis in this initiative is on both environmental, social, and financial sustainability. Greg Brown in his Annual Report stated that this initiative “will provide guidance to ensure Bishops is a welcoming place for all, regardless of race, religion, sexual orientation, culture or background – a place that is dynamic and growing, a place where diversity is seen as interesting and celebrated.”
At the end of 2018, the Van der Bijl Boarding house closed down, and for the first time, after 99 years, there was no boarding at the Prep.
During 2019, the VUSA Academy assumed new life as the whole school tried to live out ideas of transformation, using the experience and skills of the school to assist the community of Langa. The academy had been initiated by Brendan Fogarty as far back as the post-2010 conference. In a programme that promoted upliftment through sport and English and Maths support, approximately 140 pupils from Langa primary schools would gather at the Langa Sports Complex four times a week to receive rugby coaching, academic support and a nutritious meal. Rugby skills grew in leaps and bounds and each age group had a number of teams that were able to play regular fixtures.
In addition, four creches had been supported. The Grade 7s would visit these creches to spend time with the children, and Vusa provided staff to help with movement, play and reading. The Grade 10 boys from the College also visit once a week in the winter months to do the same. Funding for this programme relied on the generosity of the broader community, Bishops parents and corporates. In 2019, Vusa was granted PBO status and was registered as a Trust.
Another IQAA survey was conducted across the school in 2019, and its results were fed back into the operation of the school. Staff professional development around transformation continued and the third term began with the whole school being involved in a workshop on unconscious bias. There was a big music production called Revelation, written and scored by members of the Music department. In October, the new Library and Learning Centre was formally opened. Greg Brown commented: “It bears mentioning that the classrooms converted into this new library were built in 1940 as part of the school’s Centenary Campaign, so it is wonderful that the 175 Campaign has enabled us to reinvent this space and we have this continuity of intention, giving to and giving back to one’s school for the benefit of current and future generations.”
At the end of 2019, Rob Riches retired, after a career of thirty five years at the Prep.The position of Deputy Head was filled by Karen Dallas.
2020 will always be remembered for the Covid virus pandemic and the effect that this had on the world, and on schools throughout. When the lockdown was declared in March 2020, schools had to take drastic measures to respond to the restrictions imposed. So much of the wider curriculum had to be cancelled, and even in the core aspects of teaching and learning, considerable adjustments had to be made. Teachers had to be trained to be able to teach online, and regulations had to be introduced to ensure that nobody was left behind. During the second term, the Prep was a remote school – the teachers in their classrooms, and the boys at home. The enforced reaction to COVID emphasised the realization that education is at the core of things, a matter of personal relationships.
The school came back on 1 June when some restrictions were lifted, but a lot was lost: no rugby, hockey, squash, cross country, choir or other ensembles, House camps and events, the Grade 7 tour and cricket tour, other festivals. However, other opportunities arose. Bramley Kitchen became the collection point for delivering donations of soup to VUSA Rugby and Learning Academy, and to Athwood Primary. For their Leavers gift, the boys decided that it should be a donation of R100 from each boy to VUSA, and a total of R8400 was handed over to VUSA.
And according to Greg Brown, “lessons were learned – lessons about moving forward; adapting constantly; collaboration; and, I think, most importantly, the value of human connection. Resilience. Caring for others, the importance of human connection, and how to live with disappointments and uncertainty.”
