Newsletter Term 1 #11 31 March 2017 St Andrew’s COLLEGE Nec Aspera Terrent

The College debaters leave for St Andrew’s in Dublin on Sunday. We wish them well as they participate in the World Model United Nations debates

To the Andrean Community

I will never forget my first rugby match in my first year of high school. It was a game we thought we were well prepared for, and we were certainly confident as we chattered along in the bus to the game. We had all ‘played a bit’ in our respective prep schools and as we ran onto the field of Highlands North Boys’ High School in Johannesburg on a frosty early Saturday morning, we were, at that moment, completely oblivious to the fact that the ‘big fish from a small pond’ were about to meet some proper (carnivorous, it seemed) big, big fish. Three minutes into the game (in an era that preceded any consideration of health-and-safety) I was moved from flank to replace our hooker who had been carried off the field injured, and from then on my memory is a sketchy recollection of studs, hard ground, and pain - lots of pain in all parts of my body. Some incidentally obtained, some deliberately inflicted, deep in the engine room of our oft backward moving scrum.

I learned a life-long lesson about excellence as I lay face down on that hard pitch oozing blood from my nose and trying not to cry. True excellence is not about being the best of a bad bunch, or being good in a context. For excellence is context-free. It is discovered (or moved toward) through seeking out and taking on the very best in the world.

I have no interest in being ‘the best school’ in a small town. For our boys to truly flourish they should be able to stand confident that they have come up against and given their best, judged to global standards. Which is why, when we can, we try to get as much international exposure for our boys as we can.

St Andrew’s College Nec Aspera Terrent 17 March 2017

We look forward to hosting Bishops this weekend. The 1st XV kick off at 15h00 on Saturday

Next week our debaters leave for St Andrew’s in Dublin to take part in the World Model United Nations debates. Our boys are in the planning stages of a trip that will enable them to experience some of the best water polo coaching in the world, and our cricketers set sail for the UK later in the year where they will be meeting some of the top cricketing schools in the UK. These are but some of the many international experiences and exchanges that are part of the Andrean experience.

In an interconnected world, a global perspective is much more than a ‘nice to have’ for a school. It is an essential part of ensuring that the school remains relevant and keeps its sights set on absolute, unequivocal excellence.

The UK tour will not only give our boys an incredible cricket experience and College some invaluable peer-to- peer school collegiality, but will also provide an outstanding opportunity to draw the Andrean diaspora together around a (hopefully) balmy English summer’s day of cricket. Although not all of us will be there, we all benefit from our school being represented.

Details of the tour and the online auction that is helping support it, can be found elsewhere in this newsletter.

Be advised to get all the cricket you can. You will never regret it. You will do well to love it, for it is more free from anything sordid, anything dishonourable than any other game in the world.

To play it keenly, honourably, generously, self sacrificially, is a moral lesson in itself, and the classroom is God’s air and sunshine. Foster it, my brothers, so that it may attract all who can find the time to play it. Protect it from anything that would sully it, so that it may grow in favour with all men.

Marylebone Cricket Club

God bless Alan Thompson [email protected]

St Andrew’s College Nec Aspera Terrent 31 March 2017

Nicholas Kroon (Espin 2016) has been awarded a prestigious scholarship to study at St Andrew’s University in Scotland

Congratulations to Nic Kroon

Nicholas Kroon (2016 Espin) has been awarded a full scholarship, the International Excellence Scholarship, to St Andrew’s University in Scotland. It is one of only two prestigious scholarships that cover full tuition and are awarded to international undergraduates at St Andrew’s University.

Nicholas was offered a place at the university earlier in the year based on his IEB Matric results, and the award of this scholarship, which has ambassadorial commitments attached to it, has made it possible for his dream to come true.

He visited the university in December last year and immediately fell in love with the centuries-old town, its charm and quirky traditions, and the state-of-the-art facilities in the Mathematics department. In his letter of motivation, Nicholas wrote: Studying at St Andrew’s would create opportunities that allow me to succeed and ultimately give back to others using the knowledge and experience I gain. I am confident that I have much to offer as a passionate and hard-working Mathematics student and as an active and involved member of a diverse, multicultural community.

The Andrean community warmly congratulates Nicholas on this prestigious and well-deserved scholarship. It is an immense achievement and we wish him all the best. He is an inspiration to us all and testament to what we know already – that with hard work, total commitment and passion, one can achieve one’s dreams.

St Andrew’s College Nec Aspera Terrent 31 March 2017

Grade 10 Design and Technology observation drawings Grade 10 observation drawing course

Observational drawing is the ability to draw live, i.e., looking at the object in front of you and drawing what you see. The Grade 10s have been bringing their shoes to class for this exercise, scaling up from life size to A2 paper. They have displayed excellent skill and endurance in completing the task. The standard of work from the Grade 10 group for 2017 is astounding!

CEMA Awards

MERIT AWARDS

First Aid: Taha Anjum

Chamber Choir: Zadok Makani Bonani Sibiya Timothy Simpson

Chapel Choir: Benjamin Aliker Callum Francis Bradley van Heerden Cameron Lovemore Dio Tapela Jack Torres

Music: Peter Garfath Merrion Gess Bradley van Heerden Zadok Makani Joshua Marx Timothy Simpson Congratulations to the College pupils who received CEMA merit awards Jack Torres

St Andrew’s College Nec Aspera Terrent 31 March 2017

COLOURS AWARDS

Chamber Choir: Bonani Sibiya

Chapel Choir: TK Chuma Jacques Hoefnagels Gabriel Walsh

Music: Cameron Lovemore Robert Quarmby

Congratulations to the College pupils who received CEMA colours awards for Chamber and Chapel Choir as well as Music

Academic Awards

Congratulations to Luke Hobson, Michael Velloza, Alex Mullins House winners of the Inter-House Pezaroo and Alex Corner on achieving 95% and above Maths Competition in Round 1 of the Maths Olympiad

St Andrew’s College Nec Aspera Terrent 31 March 2017

President’s Awards

Congratulations to Taha Anjum who Andrew Van Vuuren and Christopher Flower were awarded was awarded the silver standard of the the bronze standard of the President’s Award. Congratulations President’s Award Wind Orchestra rocks the house in Memory Hall!

Monday morning’s full school assembly up St Andrew’s Prep contained a surprise treat for the youngsters. Memory Hall was a full house with everybody in attendance, from the pre-schoolers all the way up to grade sevens, plus staff. After a warm welcome by the new Headmaster, Mr Brendan Brady, the DSG/SAC Wind Orchestra launched into a hot rendition of the Funk classic Jungle Boogie which was first made famous by Kool and the Gang in the 1970s. This was followed by a short introduction to the various instruments found in the orchestra. The second piece was a medley of four tunes from another famous band, namely Queen. Given half a chance, the Grade 7 boys would have joined in with “we will, we will rock you!” but the orchestra moved on to Bohemian Rhapsody before their enthusiasm got the better of them. Suffice it to say, the young audience loved the music their older family members brought them!

St Andrew’s College 24 March 2017

The Wind Orchestra in action at Prep earlier this week

A cornucopia of musical variety ......

The second Senior Open Concert took place in the auditorium of the Music School on Wednesday evening. As a result of the numerous requests by students to perform, the concert was split into two halves with a short interval in the middle. The first half was kicked off by the Senior String Ensemble performing an interesting arrangement of the popular Justin Bieber’s Company. This was followed by the Wind Orchestra performing the same two pieces they took up to Memory Hall on Monday morning. Both ensembles were very well-received. The second half was opened by the Contemporary Band, under the direction of the department’s newest member of staff, Jayson Flanagan. They performed Daydream by Island Lights to great acclaim. The rest of the concert was made up of soloists and there were many highlights. Chief amongst these were: Angela Daniel Erasmus Volschenk singing Memory by Andrew Lloyd-Webber; Phillip Beynon playing Swan Song on Bass Trombone but surprisingly being accompanied by grade 10 music scholar Emily Morgan; Carla Coltman’s authoritative performance of Prelude Op. 35 No 6 by Mendelssohn for piano; Grade 8 music scholar Asive Ngcebetsha delivering Allegro Assai for Violin by Kuchler with style and grace and also from memory; Daniel Erasmus negotiating his way very well through the demanding Bourree 1 and 2 from Suite in C major for unaccompanied Cello by J.S. Bach; Justin Stoddart on trumpet with See the Glistening Snow by J.B. Arban; the exquisite Ave Maria by Bach/Gounod played so elegantly by Claire Squires on her Cello; and Umtha Sibam singing a very heartfelt If I ain’t got you by Alicia Keys. All in all, a long but excellent evening’s entertainment. Phillip Beynon

St Andrew’s College Nec Aspera Terrent 31 March 2017

The Senior Open Concert held in the David Wynne Music School Grade 10 Service Clubs With a renewed focus on relationship building, the shape of Monday service clubs has changed substantially this year. Each boy from College is able to choose one activity from the eight on offer and this becomes their commitment for the term. Options included D&T club, art club, computer club, learn to swim, visits to St Mary’s Day Care Centre and Design and Technology club hard at basketball. Through work building chairs out of pallets this programme our boys are able to engage with primary school learners from St Mary’s, Ntaba Maria, Good Shepherd and Kuyasa. This programme provides an opportunity for the learners from our partner schools to gain access to activities that they would not normally be involved in, whilst creating an opportunity for the boys from College to develop meaningful relationships and give back to members of the surrounding community. Next term there will be different activities on offer and we look forward to seeing this programme continue to go from strength to strength. In the words of Mahatma Gandhi, The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others. The art club created tie-dyed shirts with emojis St Andrew’s College Nec Aspera Terrent 31 March 2017

College participated in Earth Hour last Saturday night Environmental Week – Earth Hour

Last Saturday between 20:30-21:30, the St Andrew’s campus and all six boarding Houses went into complete darkness (apart from a security light or two), in support of the international Earth Hour initiative. This might seem like an insignificant act in the bigger (energy consumption) scheme of things, but the impact of Earth Hour has been tremendous in creating awareness, sparking initiatives and changing laws. Follow the link to read more on what Earth Hour has achieved around the globe. https://www.earthhour.org/what-has-earth-hour-achieved Earth Hour’s Impact www.earthhour.org

Dear Parents

The end-of-term reports will go live on the portal from 12h00 on Thursday 13 April when you will be able to access to your son’s report on the portal.

It is important that you check you are able to log in before the release date – we cannot emphasise the importance of this strongly enough as there have been times when parents were unable to access their son’s report.

You can go to the following link to access the portal: http://dsg.schoolmagic.co.za/login.aspx

If you have any difficulties please contact Margie McLeod (during school hours) [email protected]

St Andrew’s College Nec Aspera Terrent 31 March 2017

Update on #AcademicExcellence Phase 2

The refurbishing of the Cawse Library building is in progress. The building committee met and reviewed the progress on site on Wednesday 29 March. Watch this space for more updates.

St Andrew’s College St Andrew’s COLLEGE

2017 St Andrew’s 1st XI Cricket Tour Fundraising Auction The St Andrew’s College1st Cricket XI are embarking on a cricket tour to the UK where they will play a number of prominent cricket schools including Malvern College, Sherborne School, Cheltenham College, Whitgift School, Wellington College, Kings College (Wimbledon) before travelling to Tonbridge to participate in a four day cricket festival. http://fundraising.sacschool.com/

We are launching the Cricket Online Auction from 24 March to 12 April offering a wide array of incredible auction items. Your support for this auction will be hugely appreciated.

• Settler’s Lodge - Kariega Game farm • Lion Sands – Sabi Sands, Kruger • Tsala Lodge – Harkerville • Tiger Canyons – Philippoulis • Karoo Hunt - Kosters farm • Meridian Wine Experience • Mpekweni Beach resort - Port Alfred • Morgan Bay Hotel – Wild Coast • The House Quarter - Kenton on Sea • Ken Forrester wines, dinner & accomodation – Stellenbosch • Ultimate Birding companion – book • Nespresso CitiZ&milk • Painting of Clock tower & Chapel by Mel Elliott • Kalk Bay apartment

For the most part, parents will be covering the cost of their son’s trip. However to ensure that all boys who are selected are able to join the tour, we are appealing to the St Andrew’s community to support our 1st X1’s fundraising activities.

Should you be interested the obtaining further details about the St Andrew’s UK Cricket tour or chose to support the fundraisers directly - please contact Debbie Benjamin on [email protected]. St Andrew’s College or visit: http://fundraising.sacschool.com/ Nec Aspera Terrent 31 March 2017

OA to row in the Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race The Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race takes place every year on a stretch of the River Thames. The first Boat Race was held in June 1829 at Henley on Thames after two school friends – Charles Wordsworth and Charles Merrivale - who were at Oxford and Cambridge respectively, decided to set up a challenge between the two universities. Oxford won the first race.

The 163rd edition takes place on Sunday 2 April 2017. Old Andrean and 2011 Head Boy of St Andrew’s College, William Cahill (Upper, 2011) will row in the third seat of the Oxford ISIS team.

“We started the trialling process around the end of August last year and have been training and trialling since. The technical and physiological programme at the OUBC is world class. I raced for the club in the fours heads race late last year followed by racing in the trial eights race (which is essentially two evenly matched boats made from the Oxford squad racing the boat race course). After a short Christmas break we restarted training at camp in France and have carried on non-stop since. The trialling process is quite rigorous and ongoing and the squad was eventually narrowed down to about 20 rowers from which 2 boats are selected. I have been selected for the Isis crew which is the reserve boat for the blue boat. We will race our Cambridge counterparts, the Goldie Boat, about half an hour prior to the blue race.” said William Cahill.

William was the recipient of theAntony Clark Plate for the most impressive all-rounder every year of his College career. He was a Boxer Scholar. He captained the St Andrew’s College and UCT 1st rowing crew and has South African colours for rowing. He has a Chemical Engineering degree from UCT and was awarded the Rhodes Scholarship and is now furthering his studies at Oxford University.

To view updates on the Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race follow their face book page: https://www.facebook.com/theboatrace/photos/a.228830813951410.1073741837.103466596487833/75692284447553 5/?type=3

For the history of the Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race please click on the link: http://home.bt.com/news/uk-news/boat-race-2017-when-is-the-oxford-and-cambridge-boat-race-what-the-boat- race-11364169092941 St Andrew’s College Nec Aspera Terrent 31 March 2017

COLLEGE SPORT

We have had a positive start to the winter season and last week was no exception. After sweltering weather mid-week, a severe electric storm and a passing cold front brought some welcome relief and greened up all the sports fields. Starting on Wednesday we played a series of hockey matches against Hudson Park High School from East London. The 1st XI played Hudson Park as part of the Tony Godding Festival, hosted by over the weekend, and had a comfortable 3-0 win, whilst the rest of the teams had good, competitive games all ending in favour of College, other than the U16As who drew. The 1st XI started their season’s campaign last Friday against Queen’s College and were taken by surprise to some extent, going down 4-1. They really re-grouped well to run rampant against Dale College and Stirling High School, along with the win against Hudson Park, all part of the Tony Godding Festival. This week the hockey club will be involved in friendly fixtures with Kingswood College, whilst the U14A side will play in the Rob Taylor Festival in East London, hosted by Selborne College.

The rugby club also took on their Hudson Park High School counterparts on Saturday, with the 1st XV game forming part of the successful Rugby Day. Conditions on the day were ideal for rugby, with rain-softened fields and glorious autumn sunshine. Whilst our U14 sides put up a good fight in a losing cause, the rest of the teams were able to run out fairly comfortable winners and played attractive rugby along the way. The 1st XV stamped their authority on the game early and never looked back, running out 31-7 winners in front of a big crowd of rugby enthusiasts. This all stacks up well for the much-anticipated visit by long-standing rivals, Bishops, who visit us this weekend with their 1st, 2nd, U16A, U15A and U14A teams. These are always tough encounters and we will have to really be on top of our game. Both schools pride themselves on an open brand of running rugby, so either way the games should provide a good spectacle. The rest of the teams will be playing a variety of local opposition. St Andrew’s College Nec Aspera Terrent 10 March 2017

College 1st XV vs Hudson Park

Last Saturday a group of our cricketers headed out to Bedford to take part in their Bedford School Family Weekend Festival. The team was made up of boys not involved in rugby or hockey that day and consisted of U15s through to Opens. Playing against the Bedford Country Club, which is made up largely of OAs, at The Mill cricket ground. They acquitted themselves well and fostered the school’s relationship with the farmers in that area. All in all, a most enjoyable day out for all concerned.

Three of our boys took part in the SA Regional Level 2 and 3 gala in Port Elizabeth this past weekend. Davoren Swales swam a colours time and secured the silver medal in the 50m breaststroke, as well as being in the 4 x 50m and 4 x 100m freestyle relay teams that won gold. Cameron Rafferty secured the bronze medal in both the U14 50m and 100m freestyle events, coming very close to the school standards time in the 100m freestyle. Iain Macpherson swam personal best time in all Swimmers Davoren Swales and Iain his races. Macpherson

We are looking forward to a good crowd on Lower for Saturday’s rugby. At this stage the weather looks pretty cool so come prepared. We are racing towards the end of term and all that the holidays have to offer. I hope that we end off well as we go into the break.

Pete Andrew Director of Sport

St Andrew’s College Nec Aspera Terrent 31 March 2017

Tennis colours were awarded to Dylan Bowker, Murray Breetzke and Scott Cuthbert (re-award)

St Andrew’s College Nec Aspera Terrent 31 March 2017

Upcoming

EVENTS 24 - 30 March 2017

30/03/2017 19h00 Drama Drama Department Senior Production

01/04/2017 08h00 Rugby vs Bishops (Grahamstown)

04/04/2017 19h00 Choir Easter Cantata (Cathedral)

05/04/1027 19h00 Choir Easter Cantata (Cathedral)

St Andrew’s College Nec Aspera Terrent 31 March 2017

Easter Cantata

The Diocesan School for Girls and St Andrew’s College

invite you to join them for a contemplative service of worship that explores the Easter message through words and music.

TUESDAY 4 April and WEDNESDAY 5 April at 19H00 in the CATHEDRAL

This contemplative service of worship, which incorporates music from composers such as Rutter, Handel, Karl Jenkins and Whitacre among others, helps us to focus on the most significant event in the Church year – Christ’s passion and resurrection. The music will be interspersed by thought-provoking readings taken from the bible and other sources.

All Grahamstonians Welcome

St Andrew’s College