Calling
EDITION 9 15 March 2019
Sound sessions in the Square on Wednesday‌a veritable feast of entertainment! Well done to Ms Jane Bailey and all the budding musicians who performed.
Dear Clifton Family
Executive Headmaster
And so, the summer season slips past us quietly, and suddenly we are into the winter season! Although the Prep still has a few summer fixtures to go, including the D&D gala, winter sports are in full swing in the SP and the College.
It may seem strange that the boys were playing their summer sports one weekend, and they effectively changed sports, mindsets and kit the following Monday! Happily, the first set of fixtures for the College against Michaelhouse on the Astro and Richards Bay on the rugby fields went well. There was wonderful spirit down at our Riverside campus, and some enterprising play. The two First Teams in particular, who played in orange socks to show their support for Robbie Eddles and others who are battling Leukaemia, added a special touch. I have complimented the Prefect body on arranging this initiative. We look forward to our last fixture of the term this weekend.
This is also the time of the term when we enjoy the major drama production in the College, and it has been good to hear the initial reports about “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”, and to know that the production has been sold out on all three nights. I look forward to watching the play this evening, and applaud the cast, crew and Mrs Jordaan on their thespian efforts. The second weekend of March, the weekend after the end of summer, is also traditionally the weekend when the annual Boys’ Schools Conference is held. Beginning in 1999 as an independent boys’ schools’ initiative, this conference now welcomes delegates from both state and independent boys’ schools, as well as primary and high schools. It is held under the auspices of the IBSC, and indeed, the Southern African conference is the second largest, after the annual international conference. This year the conference was hosted by Pretoria Boys’ High School, and I, along with five other Clifton staff, was privileged to attend. PBHS put on an excellent conference, with a mixture of international and local plenary speakers. David Armstrong, the Executive Director of the IBSC, joined us from the USA for the conference as well. Topics in the plenary presentations ranged from “The Art of Teaching Boys”, by Dr Abigail James, also from the USA; “The dangers of Social Media for teachers and boys”, by local expert Emma Sadlier; to “The transformation of schools” by Roy Hellenberg and Dylan Wray. College parents may remember my reference to Dr Shimi Kang in our Grade Parents meetings last year (“The Dolphin Way of Parenting”). Dr Kang was able to join us via satellite from Vancouver. She spoke about CQ (skills for the 21st Century), as opposed to IQ and EQ. She also spoke about a “healthy tech diet” for children, and her #TechDietChallenge. Please feel free to Google this or visit her website, www.drshimikang.com. Dr Phil Cummins from the CIRCLE organisation in Australia, who has spoken at Clifton before, updated us on the “Excellence in Boys’ Schools” research project, where Clifton will be one of the participating schools. There will be more communication about this initiative once the project is up and running. This session also saw David Armstrong discuss the benefits of membership of the IBSC, both for schools and for staff, in terms of their own professional development.
Aside from other plenary topics (seven in total), there were also breakaway workshops, and of course a chance to network with staff from other schools, and to catch up with old friends. There were two meetings of Heads of schools, to discuss matters of mutual concern, particularly around sport issues, and the concern around an overlycongested programme and the subsequent loads on boys and staff. The closing plenary talk was perhaps the most inspiring. Presenting on what was her 38th birthday, Ms Rachel Adams spoke about “Courage as the necessary ingredient in leadership”, and her own journey, giving up a good job as Head of the Africa policy unit at Yale University to return to her homeland, Zimbabwe, in order to make a contribution to her country. Most of us would agree that such a decision would indeed be courageous! She spoke about developing resilience in good times, in order to cope with times when things don’t go well, and quoted Ananias Nin, “life shrinks or expands in proportion
to one’s courage”. Please feel free to watch her TED talk, “A crises of Courage: Africa’s 21st Century Challenge”. The challenge of any conference or professional development course is bringing what is relevant back into the school in a meaningful way, so that the school community benefits. The staff who attended the conference look forward to doing exactly that in the coming months. Enjoy reading through this, the final edition of the Clifton Calling for Term 1, and have a wonderful weekend. Yours faithfully
DAVE KNOWLES EXECUTIVE HEADMASTER
Meander
On Friday evening Messrs Knowles, Goedeke and Bresler will be at the Gala Performance of ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’. Mr White will be at the Marimba Festival at Durban Girls’ College. On Saturday Messrs White, Boniaszczuk and Mezher will join Mrs Achmad at the Grade R 2020 Assessment Morning. Messrs Knowles, Goedeke, Mezher and Bresler will be at the College rugby matches being played away vs Michaelhouse at St Charles.
Congratulates...
The newly elected Clifton Council for 2019, pictured here with Mr Rob Church
Cameron Telfer (Grade 3) who represented Clifton at the KZN Inter-Schools Diving Competition. He placed first in his category - Level 3 Novice. Well done and keep it up, Cameron!
Karl Berger (Grade 9) who earned his full KZN Colours for Fencing.
Our Junior and Grade 8 debating teams who competed last week. Their results were as follows:
Grade 8 topic: This house supports doxing Clifton (opposing) vs DHS: Clifton won with David van Rooyen named best speaker. Junior topic: This house would include e-sports in the Olympic Games. Clifton 1 (opposing) vs DHS: Clifton won with Vyal Ramlal as Best Speaker. Clifton 2 (opposing) vs DGHS: Clifton won. Clifton 3 (proposing) vs Crawford College LL: Clifton won with Ryan Bensch named Best Speaker.
Chad Leslie-Smith (Grade 7) and Mr Tom Brown (Teacher) who both competed in a ballroom competition and placed 2nd in their respective classes! Well done to both of you!
Kristian Muller, Luke Achmad and Matthew Doyle who Matthew Doyle: Gold medal for 1st place in: competed in the 2019 Lifesaving SA Open Water • Boys 15-16 300 Malibu Board National at Maselspoort Dam in Bloemfontein. They posted these excellent results: • Men 15-16 330 Long Swim Kristian Muller: Gold medal for 1st place in:
• Boys 13 Year Olds 200 Run Swim Run Nipper
• Boys 15-16 330 Run Swim Run • Men 240 LC Meter Taplin Relay
• Boys 13 Year Olds 200 Long Swim Nipper
Silver medal for 2nd place in:
• Boys 13 Year Olds 200 Malibu Board Nipper
• Men 19 & Over 300 Malibu Board
• Mixed 12-13 200 LC Meter Taplin Relay Nipper
• Men 180 LC Meter Rescue Tube Relay
Kristian won overall U14 Male competitor of the tournament.
Bronze medal for 3rd place in:
Luke Achmad: Silver medal for 2nd place in:
• Boys 14 Year Olds 300 Malibu Board
• Men 19 & Over 330 Long Swim • Boys 15-16 330 Run Swim Run Matthew Doyle (pictured here) won overall U17 Male competitor of the tournament. Fantastic job, gents! You continue to do yourselves and Clifton proud.
With the Term 1 Swimming Gala season coming to an end, we congratulate the following Prep and College boys on their results at the Championship Galas: 2019 PREP CHAMPIONSHIP GALA
2019 COLLEGE CHAMPIONSHIP GALA
Winner U10: Benjamin Wilson
Victor Ludorum Age Group winners:
Winner U11: Andrew Schnell
Winner U14: Jedd Poovan
Winner U12: Andrew Allen
Winner U15: Joshua Balfour
Winner Open: Jonathan Hoarau
Winner U16: Guy Brooks
Andrew Schnell was Junior Victor Ludorum
Winner U17: James Matthews
Andrew Allen was Senior Victor Ludorum
Winner Open: Dominic Garreau
Well done to all swimmers for giving their best in the pool!
Newsy bits... DUKE OF EDINBURGH INTERNATIONAL AWARD
The Duke of Edinburgh International Award is a highly regarded and sought-after recognition of young people and their capabilities. Clifton gents already do many of the required activities, which include mastering a skill, committing to a sport and actively engaging in service to various communities. The extended overnight hike is the one area which has proved challenging to our candidates, but with our new Outdoor Education Programme, hikes will begin to feature more often at Clifton. Because Nelson Mandela was such a supporter of this initiative, it has the double honour of also being called “The President’s Award” in South Africa, although our certificate also bears the Duke of Edinburgh’s emblem and signature. With local politics being what they were last year, any successful candidates had to wait for Mr Cyril Ramaphosa’s signature to be added to the certificate as South Africa’s new Patron-inChief before certificates could be issued. It gives me great pleasure to announce that last year, George Tattari attained the Bronze Standard of this International Award. His certificate and badge have been awarded to him. We trust this will serve as motivation for him to complete his Silver and Gold standards.
INTERNATIONAL YOUTH SUMMIT Four Grade 10 boys pictured below with Mrs Tiffany Callaghan (Luke Kennedy, Jeremy Gourley, Luca Economou and Kevin Pretorius) will be participating in the 2019 Loudoun International Youth Leadership Summit (LIYLS) in Virginia, USA from 30 March to 6 April. Whilst attending the summit, the boys will be hosted by families from Dominion High School in Leesburg, Virginia. At the summit, the boys will be required to participate in various discussions and dialogues with students from around the world, covering topics such as Collective Identity and Historical Preservation, the Environment and Human and Political Rights relevant to each country. They will also participate in various field trips in and around the Virginia area, and perform a cultural dance, and assemble a stand depicting the culture and diversity of South Africa.
THE ROTARY TEAM SPEAKING COMPETITION
After hosting one of the first rounds of the 2019 competition at Clifton, the team, consisting of Sahaan Juggernath, Oliver Kidd and Michael Bensch, progressed to one of the Semi Final rounds of the competition held on 7 March. Competing schools had also advanced from their respective first rounds and the standard was very high indeed. The team enjoyed the hospitality of the Rotarians who turned out in their numbers to support the speakers hosted in the Chatsworth Hospice Conference Centre. Clifton addressed environmental concerns raised by the team, and considered how schools and the youth in them can do their best to begin making a positive difference. Competition for limited places at the upcoming final round was fierce, and the Clifton speakers, though praised for their approach, did not get chosen to progress further. All three speakers are to be congratulated. Their effort, choice of concern, and the manner in which they represented the school did Clifton proud. PHOTO: The Grade 11 team of Sahaan Juggernath, Oliver Kidd and Michael Bensch DELOITTE INTERSCHOOL’S GENERAL KNOWLEDGE QUIZ On 7 March, Clifton hosted the final round of the Deloitte Interschool’s General Knowledge Quiz. Sixteen school teams from the Durban and Pietermaritzburg areas competed in the quiz in which categories ranged from music to flags to South African knowledge. The youngsters all had a great time and there was enthusiastic feedback. Everyone is looking forward to 2020! Clifton won the final round with Eden College and Kloof High School in second and third place respectively. Well done to Ethan Buchanan, Claudio Lehman, Tejas Rajput and Ibrahim Khan.
Cameos The Grade 11 boys come and spend time playing with our Red Ants in the mornings. The little ones love it and by the looks of it, so do the Grade 11’s!
Mrs Gandy’s Grade 1 display for Book Week. Boys+books=FUN!
The FP staff are collecting empty Purity bottles with lids. If you have any, please do send them to school with your son.
The SP Rugby trials were held up at the Whitehead Oval on Saturday. The boys all gave of their best and did themselves proud. There is much excitement brewing for the upcoming winter sport season!