EDITION 12 25 April 2019
Calling
Our thoughts and prayers go out to all families, particularly those who are a part of the Clifton family, who have been affected by the devastating floods in and around Durban.
Photos: RAJESH JANTILAL / AFP
Preparatory School Principal
Dear Parents Welcome to another four-day week. This past Easter weekend’s inclement weather allowed me time to watch a few TED talks and to read Angela Lee Duckworth’s best seller ‘Grit: Why passion and resilience are the secrets to success’. As a mathematics teacher in the US, Angela found that the results of her weakest and strongest children were not determined by IQ or talent. She left the teaching profession in order to investigate the assumption and, having worked in various contexts and having looked at predictors of success, she found that the one consistent predictor of success across various contexts and situations, was what she called GRIT. She sees grit as passion, stamina, hard work, perseverance, discipline and resilience. Furthermore, people with grit live life as if it were a marathon, rather that a sprint. In her research she has identified the following five aspects of GRIT that are important. •
Interest: Being captivated by the endeavour or really enjoying what you do
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Practice: Once you have developed an interest in an area than you need to devote yourself to a focused, full-hearted, challenge-exceeding-skill practice that leads to mastery.
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Purpose: What ripens passion is the conviction that your work matters. Your work needs to be important to you and purposeful.
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Hope: It is very important to keep going even when things are difficult and even when we have doubts.
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Perseverance: Quiet determination to stick to your course once decided upon, and most importantly, not to abandon tasks in the face of adversity.
This emphasizes the importance of encouraging and teaching our boys to become ‘grittier’. If they are to achieve in life and be successful, it is not good enough just to have talent. What is far more important is to have passion, purpose, discipline and perseverance. This supports our move away from generally only acknowledging and recognising talent, so that we become more focused on recognising and developing interest, effort and perseverance in our Clifton boys. Yours faithfully
VICTOR WHITE PREPARATORY SCHOOL PRINCIPAL
Meander... On Friday afternoon Messrs White, Ravenscroft, Boniaszczuk and Mezher will be at the home rugby fixtures being played against Glenwood Prep on the Whitehead Oval. Messrs Bresler and Knowles will be with the College boys in Bloemfontein enjoying one of the winter derby clashes against St Andrew’s. Mr Goedeke is currently booked off ill. Best wishes to all our players and staff travelling to St Andrew’s in Bloemfontein this weekend. Give of your best, gents. A reminder to parents to check into the sports website for score updates.
Congratulates... Jack Aylward and Chad Uys (Grade 10) who are representing the South African U16 Water Polo team. They are currently in Cairo, Egypt for the African Water Polo Championship. The team won their first match 17-0 vs Algeria. We wish our Clifton gents and the rest of the SA team everything of the best for the remaining games.
The SA U17 Water Polo Team who placed secon after their loss to Moldova in the final of the EU Nations Junior Men’s Water Polo Cup in Brno, Czech Republic. Well done on bringing home the silver, gents! Special Clifton congrats to Simon Taylor (Grade 11) who was part of the team.
Jack Spence (Grade 10) who participated in the 2019 South Africa Triathlon Championship as a member of the KZN Triathlon Team. Up against competitors from throughout South Africa as well as participating African countries, Jack took first place in the U17 age group, achieving the title of U17 South African Triathlon Champion. Keagan White and Nicholas Taylor (Grade 3) who travelled to Port Elizabeth in March to participate in the South African Nippers Champs. Keagan won a bronze in the Long Run event and Nicholas received 9 golds and 1 silver in the beach and pool individual and team events.
Cameos
Karan Varyani (Grade 9) and Richard Hartmann (Grade 11) in action representing Clifton at the ‘Saints’ Festival.
Is your son possibly a budding poet? Make sure he enters the Clifton College Poetry Competition!
PLEASE SPREAD THE WORD TO FAMILIES YOU KNOW THAT MAY BE INTERESTED IN BOOKING A TOUR.
Our Executive Headmaster invites you to join him for a tour of our campus. Enjoy a cup of tea with us, take a walk through our campus and take some time to interact with our Clifton staff and boys.
TOUR DATES: Friday 3 May or Wednesday 5 June 09h00-11h00 Email Carol De Matteis to book: marketing@cliftonschool.co.za You are also able take a Virtual Tour of our grounds and the Riverside Sports facilities via the home page of our website: www.cliftonschool.co.za
THE INDEPENDENT BOYS SCHOOL IN DURBAN FROM GRADE R—12
Sutcliffe Theatre - 18h00
Old Boys Congratulations to Yoshlan Mudaly (Class of 2015) who graduated from the University of Pretoria with a BSc Architecture degree!
Congratulations to Dr Bjorn Eggers (Class of 2011) who recently ‘tied the knot’! We wish you every happiness!