3 A final thank you goes to my wife, Tracey, for her energy and enthusiasm for Kearsney, and her unwavering support of me in my role. Her hosting of functions at our home, ke Lapeng, and accompanying me on official duties, makes my job a lot easier and more pleasant. Nothing is ever too much, and she takes it all in her stride. The Headmaster of the Methodist school, Kingswood College, in England, Mr Gary Best, on celebrating that school’s 250th year of existence in 1998, said of his position as Headmaster, "I am not here to guard a museum but rather to cultivate a garden". He was referring to his duties as principal as not being primarily to maintain the status quo but rather to be the guardian of growth, regeneration, pruning where necessary and ultimately ensuring beauty and sustainability. I think the pupils of that school must have been relieved that the Wesleyan status quo in some respects wouldn't be perpetuated. Its founder, John Wesley, drafted the first general rule for the school which was, and I quote, "The children rise at four, winter and summer, and spend the time till five in private; partly in reading, partly in singing, partly in self-examination or meditation. At five, there was an act of worship together to start the day's activities: Lessons then occupied most of the day. When not being taught or attending worship or meals, Kingswood pupils were to "work according to their strength in the garden: and, on rainy days, in the house", unless they were involved in another approved activity. Industriousness was a sign of moral character: "without industry, we are neither fit for this world nor the world to come". Pupils at Kingswood were to have no holidays "for children may unlearn as much in one week as they have learned in several". Indeed, there was to be no time for play on any day for "he that plays when he is a child will play when he is a man". Two hundred and fifty years later, Gary Best emphasised that his duty, or a Principal's duty, cannot be to maintain the status quo (imagine running a school these days on strictly Wesleyan lines of 1748). We at Kearsney need to cultivate a garden with all the garden and gardening metaphors applied to a school that I am sure you can imagine. As we stand on the brink of the 2020s, I thought to mention a few of the many challenges that the garden, in this case, Kearsney College, has faced, and continues to grapple with into the 2020s. On the administration side, we implement measures to protect ourselves from cyber threats by continually enhancing our firewall through providers like Kaspersky to protect our data and digital records from being held to ransom or risking it to cyber fraud. Risk analysis is a common practice, as is reviewing insurance against such risks. Strategic financial sustainability, and the threat of declining numbers of potential applicants due to increasing emigration–which has been reported from all primary and prep schools within our living standards number, and which feed boys into our schools, has sharpened our marketing efforts. The low economic growth in the country over recent years is no cause for celebration. Yet, we at Kearsney are experiencing unprecedented demand for places at the College and for boarding in particular. Next year will see another record intake of Grade 8 boys into the College, and the number of boarders is at an all-time high. The statistics speak for themselves of a school in demand and a healthy climate within the boarding houses that is attractive to our customers. Further challenges have been in the unreliable supply of both power by Eskom and water from the municipality. Fortunately, the Board has been proactive to shield us from the detrimental effects that these disruptions could cause by the installation of a diesel generator and the commissioning of underground reservoirs holding standby water. These reservoirs can see us through a four-day municipal water cut, such as the one we experienced earlier this year over our Open Weekend. Our pursuit of following sound environmental policies in looking at alternate sources of power and in recycling continues. Within the classroom environment, the fourteen classrooms in the newly completed Centenary Centre are providing learning environments consistent with world standards, supporting 21st Century teaching methodologies of collaborative learning, discussion forums and individual internet research options. Much attention has been paid to the importance of sound and reverberation time in the classrooms with the installation of acoustic panels and other features to enhance the learning environment. Allan Gray Investment Management has supported the Entrepreneurship programme at the College, culminating with the Changemaker Day held earlier this term. We believe that key to addressing the ills of the South African economy is the development of the business sector and the encouragement of small business and entrepreneurship. Our boys need to develop an entrepreneurial mindset in identifying problems and working to address those positively and in so doing, providing benefit to both social and environmental elements of our country. We have introduced a course in robotics at the junior level and are preparing our boys for the demands of the fourth industrial revolution. ...the newly completed Centenary Centre are providing learning environments consistent with world standards, supporting 21st Century teaching methodologies Headmaster's Report
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTc3MDU5Nw==