Friday, July 29, 2011
Dear White House Folk
Another quiet week has slipped past although things are starting to get more and busier as the term progresses. Last weekend was a tough one after the mostly horrible rugby losses to Paul Roos. One team won! I am a firm believer that Bishops boys holiday far too well in comparison to our Boland neighbours. On top of this I shuddered when noticing how many massive boys they have at Paul Roos. I always look across the heads of the boys in chapel and notice possibly ten heads that stand well above the other 700. At Paul Roos I expect it is in the hundreds!
I am still collecting quotes for artificial grass for the quad. These always seem to take a long time. If anyone has a contact in the business, please send through to me. It is more expensive than I thought.
I am trying to get the boys more involved in blogging and we are busy revamping the site as I write. Hopefully, more information will be available. I have also asked the boys to be far more frank in their blogs and to include lots of new pics.
Next weekend is a long weekend with a few boys travelling to Grahamstown for the Annual Derby vs St Andrews.
Congratulations to Matthew Boynton(10) who was part of the top 100 Junior Maths Olympiad students and as such has qualified for round 3 of the competition. Wow!
Kabelo Gcabashe (12) who has just joined the cast of ‘Master Harold and the Boys’ leaves for the Edinburgh Festival(Fringe) where they will be performing from the 9-12 August. What an experience and let’s hope he breaks a leg!
On Thursday it is the grade 9 subject choice meeting in the Theatre from 7-30pm. I encourage you to attend this meeting.
As a House, we are attending the Bishops Pops on Tuesday at the City Hall. It is always a superb evening and I am sure the boys will enjoy it enormously.
I am not looking forward to watching the Boks again after last weekend, but I shall hold thumbs anyway.
Take care
Angus
Another quiet week has slipped past although things are starting to get more and busier as the term progresses. Last weekend was a tough one after the mostly horrible rugby losses to Paul Roos. One team won! I am a firm believer that Bishops boys holiday far too well in comparison to our Boland neighbours. On top of this I shuddered when noticing how many massive boys they have at Paul Roos. I always look across the heads of the boys in chapel and notice possibly ten heads that stand well above the other 700. At Paul Roos I expect it is in the hundreds!
I am still collecting quotes for artificial grass for the quad. These always seem to take a long time. If anyone has a contact in the business, please send through to me. It is more expensive than I thought.
I am trying to get the boys more involved in blogging and we are busy revamping the site as I write. Hopefully, more information will be available. I have also asked the boys to be far more frank in their blogs and to include lots of new pics.
Next weekend is a long weekend with a few boys travelling to Grahamstown for the Annual Derby vs St Andrews.
Congratulations to Matthew Boynton(10) who was part of the top 100 Junior Maths Olympiad students and as such has qualified for round 3 of the competition. Wow!
Kabelo Gcabashe (12) who has just joined the cast of ‘Master Harold and the Boys’ leaves for the Edinburgh Festival(Fringe) where they will be performing from the 9-12 August. What an experience and let’s hope he breaks a leg!
On Thursday it is the grade 9 subject choice meeting in the Theatre from 7-30pm. I encourage you to attend this meeting.
As a House, we are attending the Bishops Pops on Tuesday at the City Hall. It is always a superb evening and I am sure the boys will enjoy it enormously.
I am not looking forward to watching the Boks again after last weekend, but I shall hold thumbs anyway.
Take care
Angus
Monday, July 25, 2011
Friday, July 22, 2011
Housmaster's Report
Hi,
I hope you all had a productive and enjoyable holiday with your sons. Kathy, Warren and I had great holidays and managed to recharge well in preparation for the new term. I am always amazed how quickly time passes during the term and cannot believe we are at the end of the first week already. The third term is for me the most enjoyable and the easiest of the year due to lack of exams, less inter-house activities and the focus on Winter sport. However, I also know it is not so with the matrics who have 6 weeks until their mock exams. It is never easy for them as the rest of the school do not write exams and have far less academic pressure on them.
Firstly, well done to James Drummond. James was selected for the South African U18 Hockey side which is a huge accolade for him considering he is only in grade 11. Well done James! We have a new addition to the House in Matt Wills who is a post matric. We hope he has a productive and enjoyable stay here.
Our new hotwater heating system is almost up and running. All the dorms are painted and looking great! The matric lounge chairs have been recovered and also look great.
Last term I decided that we have to do something about the grass in the quad. It really is not functional. I would love the boys to play touch, hit a hockey ball or play an informal game of mini-soccer on it. They cannot because it will soon be a mud bath or given our present weather a dust bowl. I really do think it is time we put in false grass so that they can play as much as they like without damaging the surface. This is going to cost a lot and as it is an extra, I school will not pay. We are going to have to raise the money ourselves. If every parent put in some money on a sliding scale according to the time their sons have left here, we could get it in fairly quickly. What do you think? Would you be prepared to put money into the project? I will be sending out a survey next week in this regard to see what support we have so give it a thought. Have a look for yourself : http://www.multiturf.co.za/ . Let me know what you think. I know the boys are VERY VERY KEEN!
Thank you for ensuring the boys have had their hair cut properly on their return. I love telling boys that when I was at school...bla de bla...my mom used to take me for a hair cut when I got back for the holidays! She really did. She was Danish.
I was not happy with many of the results last term in the exams and as a result we have imposed far tougher and stricter measures during prep time. Also, we shall be taking a very tough approach to boys who do not produce work on time for their teachers. Your son’s have been warned. Thank you to those parents who have contacted me in connection with their concerns regarding their reports and results. I urge you to make contact with your son’s tutor in this regard as well if you have concerns of an academic nature. However, on the whole we are committed to improving the general academic standard across the House at the end of the year. I have outlined some of the strategies and goals to the boys in our recent House meeting.
Next Friday the grade 11s and those matrics who did not attend last year have the opportunity of attending the Stellenbosch Open Day. The school will supply transport for those who require it. The boys must give me their names by Tuesday morning if they wish to attend and travel by bus. It is interesting that 48 of Bishops’ matrics from last year chose Stellenbosch as their university of choice so I do encourage the grade 11s to attend the day.
You will have received information regarding the Bishops Pops. White House boys will be going on the first evening which is Tuesday 2nd August. I do encourage you to purchase tickets from the school shop for the evening. It really is something special. All the boys have to travel with the House by bus to and back from the City Hall so please do not organise for your son to go with you either there or on return.
You will see that I put in an advert for a skiing holiday next year. I will be accompanying the boys who choose to go on this trip and I thought it may be a great opportunity for some of the White House lads to join the group. There is a ceiling on the amount of boys who can go so you must act quickly.
I have also included an advert for study skills which you may want your son to attend. I know the course is limited to only 10 boys so you will have to act quickly on this if you feel your son may benefit .
You will also see that I have also posted a duty roster and White House calendar for the term.
Finally, a huge plea. You will notice a number of boys have indicated they would like to spend the weekend with other boys. I cannot let them go unless I have your permission to do so. You can email me or sms me your permission. Some boys will be very disappointed if they cannot go. We have included the host parent contact numbers so you can contact those parents if you feel it necessary. No boy will be allowed out for the weekend unless his parents have emailed or smsed me permission.
Warren is on duty this weekend.
Take care and have a great weekend.
I hope you all had a productive and enjoyable holiday with your sons. Kathy, Warren and I had great holidays and managed to recharge well in preparation for the new term. I am always amazed how quickly time passes during the term and cannot believe we are at the end of the first week already. The third term is for me the most enjoyable and the easiest of the year due to lack of exams, less inter-house activities and the focus on Winter sport. However, I also know it is not so with the matrics who have 6 weeks until their mock exams. It is never easy for them as the rest of the school do not write exams and have far less academic pressure on them.
Firstly, well done to James Drummond. James was selected for the South African U18 Hockey side which is a huge accolade for him considering he is only in grade 11. Well done James! We have a new addition to the House in Matt Wills who is a post matric. We hope he has a productive and enjoyable stay here.
Our new hotwater heating system is almost up and running. All the dorms are painted and looking great! The matric lounge chairs have been recovered and also look great.
Last term I decided that we have to do something about the grass in the quad. It really is not functional. I would love the boys to play touch, hit a hockey ball or play an informal game of mini-soccer on it. They cannot because it will soon be a mud bath or given our present weather a dust bowl. I really do think it is time we put in false grass so that they can play as much as they like without damaging the surface. This is going to cost a lot and as it is an extra, I school will not pay. We are going to have to raise the money ourselves. If every parent put in some money on a sliding scale according to the time their sons have left here, we could get it in fairly quickly. What do you think? Would you be prepared to put money into the project? I will be sending out a survey next week in this regard to see what support we have so give it a thought. Have a look for yourself : http://www.multiturf.co.za/ . Let me know what you think. I know the boys are VERY VERY KEEN!
Thank you for ensuring the boys have had their hair cut properly on their return. I love telling boys that when I was at school...bla de bla...my mom used to take me for a hair cut when I got back for the holidays! She really did. She was Danish.
I was not happy with many of the results last term in the exams and as a result we have imposed far tougher and stricter measures during prep time. Also, we shall be taking a very tough approach to boys who do not produce work on time for their teachers. Your son’s have been warned. Thank you to those parents who have contacted me in connection with their concerns regarding their reports and results. I urge you to make contact with your son’s tutor in this regard as well if you have concerns of an academic nature. However, on the whole we are committed to improving the general academic standard across the House at the end of the year. I have outlined some of the strategies and goals to the boys in our recent House meeting.
Next Friday the grade 11s and those matrics who did not attend last year have the opportunity of attending the Stellenbosch Open Day. The school will supply transport for those who require it. The boys must give me their names by Tuesday morning if they wish to attend and travel by bus. It is interesting that 48 of Bishops’ matrics from last year chose Stellenbosch as their university of choice so I do encourage the grade 11s to attend the day.
You will have received information regarding the Bishops Pops. White House boys will be going on the first evening which is Tuesday 2nd August. I do encourage you to purchase tickets from the school shop for the evening. It really is something special. All the boys have to travel with the House by bus to and back from the City Hall so please do not organise for your son to go with you either there or on return.
You will see that I put in an advert for a skiing holiday next year. I will be accompanying the boys who choose to go on this trip and I thought it may be a great opportunity for some of the White House lads to join the group. There is a ceiling on the amount of boys who can go so you must act quickly.
I have also included an advert for study skills which you may want your son to attend. I know the course is limited to only 10 boys so you will have to act quickly on this if you feel your son may benefit .
You will also see that I have also posted a duty roster and White House calendar for the term.
Finally, a huge plea. You will notice a number of boys have indicated they would like to spend the weekend with other boys. I cannot let them go unless I have your permission to do so. You can email me or sms me your permission. Some boys will be very disappointed if they cannot go. We have included the host parent contact numbers so you can contact those parents if you feel it necessary. No boy will be allowed out for the weekend unless his parents have emailed or smsed me permission.
Warren is on duty this weekend.
Take care and have a great weekend.
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
Tuesday, July 5, 2011
Housemaster News
Hello All
As I sit here this evening, I am overcome with by the hush in the quad with only the steady seeping from the fountain which smothers some of the silence. Not the usual clatter of the boys charging around. It is very peaceful. The days are different; a constant stream of workers have been hammering and bashing away all holidays installing the huge hot water system. I have never seen such a colossal geyser and am amazed it actually made it through the back entrance. It is in and hopefully the boys will have plenty of hot water which they will need if it remains so chilly. On top of this, the remaining unpainted areas are now painted and looking great. The dorms needed a coat more than anywhere and look so much warmer and more cordial.
You would have received all reports by now and I hope they were not unexpected and those that were, we will need to deal with in the new term. Please email me or your son’s tutor if you would like to discuss issues raised or of concern in the reports. On the whole, I was disappointed and will have to address some of my concerns in the new term. These concerns are of a general nature like poor presentation of work, poor adherence to deadlines, not doing homework and sloppy punctuality are a few of my concerns. I have put a lot of thought into how these issues can be improved. There is no doubt that prep time needs to be improved in terms of productivity and we really do need to enable boys to have the resources to produce project work etc. of a high quality i.e. colour printers etc. Boys’ not handing in work on time is totally unacceptable and the consequences for this needs to be heightened. However, there were some stunning results and some equally impressive improvements.
Michael, in his blog, has congratulated the House on their performances in the Eisteddfod. Overall, we came a creditable 6th, beating both the other boarding houses. We win the Blue Bird again. The 5th year in a row! I will certainly ensure it is awarded in chapel at the start of the term. I was so pleased and proud of the boys in all their efforts. I sometimes think we put so much effort into winning and sometimes forget the fun that is had in competing. Just look at the Stormers, for two years now they have made the last four and provided so much enjoyment along the way; I won’t forget their wins earlier in the season and the excitement they provided. Yes, they did not win but they provided so much more to be proud of. They tried their best and lost to a better side; they still did us proud. Well done to Stratos, Max, Andrew and KB for putting most of it together.
So what does next term bring us. The matrics are in their last academic term at Bishops. They are over it, I know, but perserverence and keeping the bridges intact for the troops in the future is essential. Steady heads and resolve will be called for from them. The other grades have it easy; no exams, but a lot of House sport to compete for later in the term. The grade 11s will be doing their final leadership training and preparing to take over the running of the House. Exciting and nervous times for them. The grade 10s will start thinking 'Epic' and some exchange. It is my best term and I am looking forward to it.
I will be sending out more information next week which will focus on the more mundane routine stuff. But for now, enjoy the rest of the holidays. I know I will as I am off to the family farm and Plett for a short while. Rumour has it that I will be jogging the Knysna Half Marathon.
Take care
Angus
As I sit here this evening, I am overcome with by the hush in the quad with only the steady seeping from the fountain which smothers some of the silence. Not the usual clatter of the boys charging around. It is very peaceful. The days are different; a constant stream of workers have been hammering and bashing away all holidays installing the huge hot water system. I have never seen such a colossal geyser and am amazed it actually made it through the back entrance. It is in and hopefully the boys will have plenty of hot water which they will need if it remains so chilly. On top of this, the remaining unpainted areas are now painted and looking great. The dorms needed a coat more than anywhere and look so much warmer and more cordial.
You would have received all reports by now and I hope they were not unexpected and those that were, we will need to deal with in the new term. Please email me or your son’s tutor if you would like to discuss issues raised or of concern in the reports. On the whole, I was disappointed and will have to address some of my concerns in the new term. These concerns are of a general nature like poor presentation of work, poor adherence to deadlines, not doing homework and sloppy punctuality are a few of my concerns. I have put a lot of thought into how these issues can be improved. There is no doubt that prep time needs to be improved in terms of productivity and we really do need to enable boys to have the resources to produce project work etc. of a high quality i.e. colour printers etc. Boys’ not handing in work on time is totally unacceptable and the consequences for this needs to be heightened. However, there were some stunning results and some equally impressive improvements.
Michael, in his blog, has congratulated the House on their performances in the Eisteddfod. Overall, we came a creditable 6th, beating both the other boarding houses. We win the Blue Bird again. The 5th year in a row! I will certainly ensure it is awarded in chapel at the start of the term. I was so pleased and proud of the boys in all their efforts. I sometimes think we put so much effort into winning and sometimes forget the fun that is had in competing. Just look at the Stormers, for two years now they have made the last four and provided so much enjoyment along the way; I won’t forget their wins earlier in the season and the excitement they provided. Yes, they did not win but they provided so much more to be proud of. They tried their best and lost to a better side; they still did us proud. Well done to Stratos, Max, Andrew and KB for putting most of it together.
So what does next term bring us. The matrics are in their last academic term at Bishops. They are over it, I know, but perserverence and keeping the bridges intact for the troops in the future is essential. Steady heads and resolve will be called for from them. The other grades have it easy; no exams, but a lot of House sport to compete for later in the term. The grade 11s will be doing their final leadership training and preparing to take over the running of the House. Exciting and nervous times for them. The grade 10s will start thinking 'Epic' and some exchange. It is my best term and I am looking forward to it.
I will be sending out more information next week which will focus on the more mundane routine stuff. But for now, enjoy the rest of the holidays. I know I will as I am off to the family farm and Plett for a short while. Rumour has it that I will be jogging the Knysna Half Marathon.
Take care
Angus
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)