EDITION 28 10 October 2019
Calling
And Clifton do it again! Crowned Champs after their 10-7 victory over Westville at the Clifton JAM Water Polo Tournament held over the first weekend of the holiday. Laurence Walton (left) was named best defender and Simon Taylor (right) best attacker of the Tournament.
Executive Headmaster Dear Clifton Parents It is a real pleasure to welcome you back to the Fourth Term. If you are anything like me, you will be wondering where the year went - is it really October already? It was something of a shock to see that some shops are advertising their Christmas ware already. We have nine weeks of term left, and looking at the calendar, it is jam packed.
In addition to all these school-based events, individual boys participated in various events, from KZN Cricket trials, to the SA Junior Golf Championships, the SA Surf Lifesaving Championships and more. Details of these achievements are documented elsewhere in this edition of the Calling, but well done to all the lads involved.
It is also a pleasure to welcome the boys and their families who have joined Clifton this term. We also welcome two new members to the academic staff in the College; Mrs Dlamini in the College Library, and Mr Raath in the EGD Department. I trust that your association with our school will be a long and happy one.
The holidays are a good time for our Facilities Department to get in some extra work, and aside from general maintenance and painting, the Grade 4 classrooms have been given an upgrade, the pitch for new Prep Cricket nets has been laid, the Basketball courts have been resurfaced and lines have been painted on them for Prep Tennis. On that note, I am pleased to say that we are investigating laying new Basketball courts at our Riverside Campus.
Although the holiday was “only” two weeks, it was once again full of events, with the Prep U10 Cricket side visiting Nottingham Road for the Festival there, and our First Water Polo side attending the SACS Junior Festival in Cape Town. In addition, we have Grade 6 boys on exchange with Lambrook School in the UK. From the College’s perspective, we hosted the Clifton Jam Water Polo Tournament over the long weekend, and my sincere thanks go to the parents, staff and boys who worked hard to make sure that the tournament was such a success. If you were not able to attend, then perhaps you were able to pick up on the excellent live streaming on offer. In addition, our U14 Water Polo side played at the Hilton Festival and the U16As played at the DHS Tournament. Our First XI Cricket side played at the Michaelmas Cricket Festival – the 60th time this prestigious festival has been played – making it the longest school-based sports festival in the country. The U14A Cricketers played at the Shaun Pollock Festival, hosted by Northwood, whist our First Basketball side played at the Stayers Tournament hosted by Keasrney and our U14 team travelled to Grahamstown to play in the St Andrew’s College Festival. Not to be outdone, our Tennis boys attended the St Anne’s/Hilton Tournament. We also had debaters participating in the NIDPSC at Michaelhouse, and Grade 10 boys attending the International Youth Summit in Normandy, France. My thanks to the staff who accompanied these trips, and to the boys for flying the Clifton flag in different parts of the country and indeed, the world.
I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate Mr Tom Brown on his nuptials, and wish him and his new bride Nicole a long and happy marriage. Looking at the Calendar in both schools, we will be enjoying a good number of events over the coming weeks. In particular, I would like to wish the Grade 12s all the very best as they prepare for, and write their Final Matriculation Examinations. Their “school days” officially end next Friday, when we host the Interfaith Service and the Matric Valedictory. The matric gents will still be able to attend lessons and extra study sessions with their teachers during the examination period.
We do of course, officially finish the Matric year with the Grade 12 Prize Giving and Speech Night on Friday 29 November. I have always maintained that families go through the Matric year together, and I wish all our Grade 12s (and their families!) a successful, stress-free and hard-working examination period. We look forward to announcing the 2019 results in early January. My best wishes to all in the Clifton Family for the term ahead. Warm regards,
DAVE KNOWLES EXECUTIVE HEADMASTER
Meander Messrs Knowles, Goedeke, Bresler and Mezher will visit the Water Polo Top 10 Tournament taking place at various venues over the weekend. On Saturday Messrs Mezher and Bresler will be with their respective cricket teams for their matches. Messrs Knowles and Goedeke will be at the home cricket matches being played against Hilton. Mr Ravenscroft and Mr White will be at the internal Prep cricket matches being played at Riverside. I would like to take this opportunity to welcome Mr Keegan Hezlett on board as a Marketing Intern. He will be assisting Mrs De Matteis and I with various tasks. Welcome to the team!
Congratulates Jung An (Grade 5) who won three categories in the Ethekweni Eisteddfod in the Grade 4 Piano Recital. Jung also received a Diamond Award in the Classical, Romantic and Contemporary 20/21 Century Categories. Fantastic results, Jung! Liam Goodbrand (Grade 8) who got a hole in one on Friday 27 September at The Lakes, Mount Edgecombe Country Club in the Prop247 Meat Competition.
The following Clifton gents who have been selected for the respective KZN cricket teams: KZN U15 Ross Montgomery Dario Reddy Ronan Vardaya Romashan Pillay KZN U17 Zedan Mohamed
George Edward (Grade 11) who competed in the International Surf Rescue Challenge. He placed 6th in the Youth Male Board Race final and 4th in the Youth Male Ski Race. George beat Connor Botha (currently considered to be the best Youth Lifesaving Competitor) by placing 4th in the Youth Iron Man event and 2nd and 3rd respectively in the Youth Board Rescue and Youth Rescue Tube team events. Awesome effort, George!
Anthony Traicos and Michael Bensch (Grade 11) on their success at the National Individual Debating and Public Speaking Championships held at Michaelhouse. Michael won the After Dinner Grand Final and has been placed 11th Overall. Anthony won the Debating Grand Final and was placed 5th Overall. Both lads were selected to represent South Africa at the World Championships in Shanghai, China in 2020.
The Clifton Basketball Team who beat the Kearsney Invitational side 41-27 at the Kearsney Stayers Tournament.
Skye Meaker who has been extremely busy during the holidays. One of his photographs, Blur, has sold for R18 000.00 in support of the young leaders on the ‘Make A Difference Leadership Foundation scholarship programme’. Skye was a guest speaker at the World Economic Forum in Cape Town. He will also be one of the speakers at the upcoming Canon student roadshow this weekend: http://canonmarketing.co.za/…/…/ student_roadshow_dbn_01.html Awesome stuff, Skye!
Ben Maehler and Jarryd Walker who both participated in the Fish River Canoe Marathon over the holidays. Jarryd achieved a podium finish in the U16 age group K2 category, finishing 3rd and 40th overall, while Ben, paddling with his father, finished 80th overall.
Cade Cryer (Grade 12) who was selected for the SA High Schools Golf Team. The IPT was hosted by Ekuruleni at the South Downs Country Club in Alberton from 22-24 September. The KZN team finished second behind Gauteng North. The SA Schools team will play against a combined SA University and Sunshine tour pro team at Waterkloof Country Club on Sunday.
Connor Jackson who bowled a hattrick at the U10A Cricket Festival at Clifton Nottingham Road.
Ben Holmes (Grade 10) who is currently taking part in the Obstacle Course Racing World Championships in London.
Cameos The U14 cricket team who are away in the Cape enjoyed a tour of Newlands and had the privilege of playing on the pristine Jacques Kallis Oval.
Clifton lads participated in the U14 Basketball Festival hosted by St Andrew's College in Grahamstown. The boys showed great heart! Jibran Mulla went on exchange to Azabu High School for Boys in Tokyo, Japan! What a great time it was for him to be in Japan!
NikNaks are popular with people around the world. The Clifton - DGC cultural display at The Normandy International Youth Summit 2019 was a huge success. Mrs Campbell accompanied Guillaume Fivaz, Marc Latouf and Shyur Beekrun to the Summit at Institute St Joseph, Le Havre, France.
Our Gr 6 UK Exchange lads are having a wonderful time. They have visited many places of interest and two of the boys actually spent the weekend at the home of the Headmaster of Eton College!
During the Grade 11 Leadership Camp to TO Strand last term, our gents got to spend some time at Nombuso High School where they worked with the learners and staff of the school. Spencer Klue and Mathew Gourley were compassionately affected by the lack of supplies that the learners had access to. Spencer and Mat chatted about their experience and the lack of supplies to Spencer’s cousin, Savannah Volmrich in the USA. With some assistance from her mom, she ran a micro-donation, collecting stationery and calculators for the learners.
On Monday, Mat, Spencer and their moms headed off to Nombuso High School with a wonderful boot load of stationery, books and a few sweet treats for everyone. The staff and learners were absolutely delighted and sang enthusiastically as the boys handed out the goods! A wonderful initiative to have brought to South Africa, gents! #NAMserves #reachoutwithus
The Grade 4 boys are having a wonderful time at Roselands!
The Grade 2 boys relish a bit of competition! They are exploring measurement and found out the Vivek has the longest pencil and Ahmed the shortest!
Old Boys Clifton Congrats to Old Boy Todd Howard who has been in Barcelona, Spain, for pre-season training for CNGranollers First Water Polo Division League, which commenced on 1 October. He was spotted at the SA U18 World Champs in the Czech Republic in 2018 where he was awarded Man of the Match on two occasions. From that, he was invited by a Spanish Coach to be a part of his team for the 2019/2020 waterpolo season. Wishing you everything of the best, Todd!
We also congratulate old boy Connor Simpson who was selected for the Sharks U19 team who are currently on tour. The first game was against Eastern Province which the Sharks won 47-23. In the second game vs Boland, they won 78-7 with Connor scoring 2 tries.
Senuran Muthusamy has done exceptionally well, taking a wicket in his Cricket Test debut. Awesome stuff, Sen!