Term 2 #13 17 May 2019 NewsletterCollege St Andrew’s College

To the Andrean Community

“In Africa there is a concept Saturday dawned, much as most winter season Saturday mornings do (although the weather had forgotten that it is, at least technically, winter), with a sense of known as ‘ubuntu’ - the anticipation of the day of rugby ahead. There is always a crackle in the air ahead profound sense that we are of a sporty day, there is nothing exceptional in that – everyone knows that, in the human only through the main, College boys love their sport and, even if the actual doing of it is not ‘their humanity of others; that thing’, days on the side of a field supporting teams are, for most of us, a highlight if we are to accomplish of the week. anything in this world it will in equal measure be due to Graeme College were our hosts this week. The rugby was good, the hosting the work and achievement exceptional, and the conviviality between the schools exemplified everything of others”. that is good in schoolboy sport – intense rivalry on the field, good sportsmanship everywhere, a real sense of collegiality, and, although the results were important - Nelson Mandela (in that the teams competed 100%), the “bigger picture” was much more so, and no-one lost sight of it.

Nec Aspera Terrent St Andrew’s College Nec Aspera Terrent

Calendar Updates The day ended off with a fundraiser - cow patty bingo. Picture a herd of cattle walking around an enclosed portion of Somerset Field with a whole audience • The date for the K-Week Music (and a judge) waiting for one of them to deposit a “patty” on one of the many Concert has changed from 11 paper plates that contained the names of the competition entrants lying around June to 13 June 2019. on the field. I think that the audience caused a certain amount of performance • Parents wishing to find out more anxiety amongst the cows, as it seemed to take forever for the deed to be done about the day to day routines, (I watched Mr Watson’s own anxiety levels rising as each cow took a chomp of academic curriculum, rules, grass out of the beautiful rugby field). It was an evening of fun that completely awards, staff etc., please see the redefines the notion of “quintessential Eastern Cape”! Andrean Handbook on the Parent Portal. St Andrew’s College is better for having Graeme College as a friend and a • The Matric Exam Timetable has neighbour. been uploaded onto the Parent Portal. On Sunday as I was driving along to the Lower Albany OA Seafood lunch I resolved that I would not write about this event in my newsletter this week. Not because the event is unworthy (quite the contrary), but because every year since WEEK AT A GLANCE starting at College I have so enjoyed this amazing event that I have devoted Friday 17 May: endless words describing the incredibly strong community spirit (as OAs “man” 12h00 - Golf vs Port Alfred HS (H) (people?) the stoves and work the bar, turning out a three course meal to over 14h00 - Hockey vs Cambridge (H) 200 people), the wonderful fishy feast (and I resolved that I would not use that 17h00 - Debating League overworked alliterative adjective again), and the fantastic setting surrounded by (Auditorium) quintessential (again) Eastern Cape beauty. So I won’t (although, just quickly as 18h30 - Speakers Society an aside, it really was one of the highlights of the year!).

Saturday 18 May Instead I shall simply observe that the community that we have that forms the Rugby vs Cambridge (H) basis of our every interaction in this place should never be taken for granted. How 18h00 - 300 Club (Highlander) fortunate we are that “we are all bound together in ways that can be invisible to 19h00 - SAC Matric Dance the eye; that there is a oneness to humanity; that we achieve ourselves by sharing ourselves with others, and caring for those around us”. Monday 20 - Thursday 23 May God Bless Youth Music Festival (programme at the end of this newsletter) Visit: https://my.sacschool.com for Alan Thompson full calendar [email protected]

Somerset Field. Photo: Bernard MacKenzie

www.sacschool.com St Andrew’s College Nec Aspera Terrent

ACADEMICS Designer in Residence 2019 The Design and Technology Centre hosts a ‘Designer in Residence’ each year. This year we had the privilege of hosting Zoë Palmer (DSG Old Girl, 2008) who is a Senior Consultant in Environment and Planning at Aurecon, in Cape Town. Zoë and her colleague Tim Leeson have been working with our Grade 9 to 12 Design students, teaching them about systems design and the application of it in their own design work. Zoë and Tim both work in the engineering industry and are passionate advocators for using Design Thinking to solve some of the world’s big environmental and social problems. Zoë also presented a public lecture entitled ‘Playing with creativity to engineer a desirable future’ to which the wider Grahamstown community was invited and our senior College and DSG pupils were joined by pupils from Kingswood College and Graeme College. Our thanks to Zoë and Tim for their time and knowledge and for leaving us inspired.

www.sacschool.com St Andrew’s College Nec Aspera Terrent

Junior Interhouse Maths Competition 2019 The annual Junior Interhouse Maths Competition was recently held in the D&T Centre. Each House entered a team of four pupils – two from Grade 8 and two from Grade 9 – to vie for the coveted title of Interhouse Maths champions. There was a tight tussle for first place between Graham, Upper and Mullins, with the title of Interhouse Maths Champions ultimately going to Mullins with a single point lead. The final standings were: 6th place Espin (92), 5th Merriman (96), 4th Armstrong (104), 2nd Graham and Upper (tied on 118), and 1st place Mullins (119).

The Mullins winning team – Michael Boynton, Boineelo Tapela, Antony Baker & Ayamnkele Dongwana

www.sacschool.com St Andrew’s College Nec Aspera Terrent

Lower Albany Seafood Lunch Once again a record turnout! Old Andreans, DSG Old Girls, parents, friends and family got together for the annual Lower Albany Seafood Lunch.

It was a glorious day at The Venue at Stanley’s with almost 200 guests enjoying the magnificent seafood spread, expertly cooked and presented by the Lower Albany Committee.

Our grateful thanks to Wallo Currie (Upper 1978, OA President 2019) and his team for this event, this year celebrating Mother’s Day and our wonderful schools!

www.sacschool.com St Andrew’s College Nec Aspera Terrent

CULTURAL “Franschhoek” Quartet In Assembly On Tuesday morning, Ben Terry (cello), Yolisa Ngcola (violin), Asive Ngcebetsha (violin) and Cornelia Rocher (viola) performed the energetic Presto from Mozart’s String Quartet K157 to an engaged audience at both the SAC and DSG Assemblies. Generous applause showed appreciation of the hours spent to achieve such a high standard of instrumental skill and musicianship. The amazing cohesion these young string players developed during their week at the Franschhoek Chamber Music Workshop last term was visible, audible and tangible. After the successful precision of the technically complex classical piece, the quartet treated their audience further with a short instrumental rendition of a traditional Xhosa song, Qongqothwane also known as the Click Song. Not only does this piece generate a happy atmosphere, but being about the Toktokkie, the music is intended to bring good fortune. What a positive note on which to start a Tuesday! Well done to the performers and also to their teachers, Ms Rennie and Mr Mkula.

Mike Skipper Director of Music Music Festival The DR Wynne Music School at St Andrew’s College and The Diocesan School for Girls, in Grahamstown (Makhanda) are pleased to announce their 9th annual Music Festival to be held from 20 - 23 May 2019. The aim of this festival is to increase the awareness of both instrumental and vocal music amongst the youth of Grahamstown (Makhanda) and further afield. Young musicians will be given the opportunity to perform in a non-competitive environment and share the joy of music with their peers from other schools.

Participation is open to all bona fide junior and senior school pupils. All events will be held on the campuses of St Andrew’s College and DSG. The Music Festival will commence on Monday 20 May and will conclude on Thursday evening 23 May with a gala concert comprising a selection of the week’s performances. This concert will start at 19:00 in the St Andrew’s College Centenary Hall and entrance is free.

See programme at the end of the Newsletter

www.sacschool.com St Andrew’s College Nec Aspera Terrent

Outdoor Club

This past weekend the Outdoor Club visited the College Shack at Oyster Bay and were treated to some amazing weather all weekend. After getting settled in we got stuck into some night fishing which went long into the night.

In the morning with the sun barely over the horizon we were back on the rocks and early on got into some fish. In the afternoon the boys learnt how to identify cockles and dive them out so we could enjoy them later. The water was almost freezing so it was a quick in and out operation. We enjoyed a potjie in the evening and went back out to fish again that evening. It was not long before we got stuck into some big eye. It was a feeding frenzy with 4 boys having fish on at the same time and trying not to tangle each others lines.

In the morning we tried our luck but to no avail.

As a whole the weekend was a success with a number of black tail, pajarma sharks, big eye, bronze bream and silver steenbrass being caught. Some skills were learnt, some memories made and some relationships formed and that’s what the Outdoor Club is about.

Thank you to all who made the weekend possible!

Ryan Dewey Master in Charge Outdoor Club

www.sacschool.com SOME SIGNIFICANT DATES FOR 2019 Dates pertinent to Matrics are in BOLD TRINITY TERM Saturday 18 May 19h00 Matric Dance (Clapham Jubilee Hall) Monday 20 May Youth Music Festival to 23 May Friday 31 May 16h00 Matric Review Parade (Lower) Flight Booking Deadline for Half Term Wednesday 12 June 09h00 Matric Life Orientation CAT Part B to 11h00 (compulsory) 14h00 Hockey vs Kingswood (Kingswood) Thursday 13 June 09h00 Matric Drama External Integrated Task Part B (compulsory) 16h00 Grade 9 Subject Choice Information Evening 16h00 Grade 10 Cambridge A Level Information Evening (DSG Library) 19h00 K-Week Music Concert (Kingswood Chapel) Friday 14 June 08h30 Parent-Teacher Meetings @ Clapham Jubilee Hall *Note: this meeting replaces the Parent-Teacher meeting at Half Term 11h30 Youth Day Celebrations (Lower Field) 14h00 Gr 10 Cambridge A Level Information Repeat (SAC Auditorium) Saturday 15 June Kingswood Derby (Kingswood) Thursday 27 June National Arts Festival to 7 July Monday 15 July Matric Trial Exams to Monday 5 August Thursday 18 July Grade 10 – 11 Exams to Monday 5 August Friday 26 July Flight booking deadline for End of Term Monday 29 July Grade 9 Exams to Monday 5 August Tuesday 30 July Grade 8 Exams to Monday 5 August Tuesday 6 August Applications for Cambridge A Levels Stream (Grade 11 in 2020) close Matric Revision Camp Booking Deadline Wednesday 7 August 17h00 Final Assembly (compulsory attendance) Thursday 8 August Travel Day MICHAELMAS TERM Sunday 1 September Matric Revision Camp to 3 September Wednesday 4 September Michaelmas Term Commences Monday 16 September John Axe Arts Week (to Friday 20 September) Wednesday 18 September 09h00 Matric Life Sciences P3 (compulsory) Friday 4 October 14h00 Inter-House Athletics Relays (Lower Field) Monday 7 October Balloon Week commences to Thursday 10 October Tuesday 8 October 10h00 Parent-Teacher Meetings to 13h00 @ Centenary Hall Wednesday 9 October 14h00 Speech Day followed by Retreat Ceremony on Lower Field Thursday 10 October 07h45 Inter-House Athletics Lower (followed by Half Term) Wednesday 23 October Matric Final Exams to 29 November Wednesday 13 November John Jones Fish River Journey departs Tuesday 3 December John Jones Fish River Journey returns 17h00 Final Assembly (compulsory attendance) Wednesday 4 December Travel Day

St Andrew’s College Nec Aspera Terrent

SPORT

Dear All

After the cold and wet weather experienced during the hockey matches against U16A Graeme College last Wednesday, Saturday turned out to be a magnificent autumn’s day. The sky was sunny and blue, there was little to no wind to speak of, the fields were lush and green, there was a good crowd out and this all made for a really good day of running rugby. As a result we saw plenty of exciting tries being scored from early on in the day as teams took the opportunity to express themselves. By the time the 1st XV game started there was a real festive atmosphere around the ground as Graeme College went out of their way to provide for all the spectators and the FNB branding endorsed the fact that it was a Classic Clash affair. After a very bright start, during which College scored three converted tries, Graeme College came back into the game with two tries of their own and really brought the game to College in the last 15 minutes of the half. After the break the College U15A boys turned up the heat and were very dominant scoring some enterprising tries. The final score of 47-19 showed just how dominant the team had been. The rest of the day was dominated by St Andrew’s, other than two narrow losses at the U15 level. All in all it was a really good day of schoolboy rugby and epitomised the U14A healthy inter-school rivalry that exists between our two schools.

This weekend we host Cambridge High School who will be bringing in the region of 500 girls and boys through from East London to play against College and the DSG. On the hockey front, things are always competitive and we will expect a good crowd to witness the 1st XI encounter at 16h00 on Webster this afternoon. We have experienced a real flu epidemic here at College this past week and the San has been full to overflowing. The impact of this is that most all of our teams will be affected and those boys who are able to play will really have to step up to

2nds

1sts

www.sacschool.com St Andrew’s College Nec Aspera Terrent

the plate. This will have a significant impact on the rugby ranks where we are already playing without several boys at 1st and U16 team level who will be involved in Eastern Province trial games in Port Elizabeth on Saturday. The result of this is that we have had to withdraw a number of our bottom teams as we have had to promote players to fill teams. Whilst we will be very stretched across the board we would hope to be able to maintain competitive edge. The 1st XV game kicks off at 14h30 on Lower.

During the holidays Max Gifford Max Gifford travelled home to take part in a number of Enduro off-road motorbike events back in Zambia. Max managed to win both his races up there which is a really outstanding achievement. The first event took place at Dorvic Farm in Mazabuka and the second at Mindolo Dam in Kitwe.

Also during the holidays, contractors started on the refurbishment and re-orientation of the College tennis courts in Bedford Street. After re-surfacing the four Prep courts they moved onto site and are currently busy building retaining walls and increasing the surface area in order to turn two of the existing courts around to face the desired north/south direction, as well as to create more space on the court surrounds. Along with the re-surfacing of these courts, which will complete phase one of the project, a small clubhouse facility is being planned for phase two. This will certainly enhance the tennis environment here at College.

Last week our Director of , Carl Bradfield, was invited to the Eastern Province Cricket Awards Evening in Port Elizabeth where he received the trophy for the EP Schools Cricket “Team of the Year” in recognition of the success of our 1st XI in the T20 Competition and their exploits throughout the season. This is a wonderful accolade and just reward for a very successful season.

A number of Old Andreans have been making their mark on the sporting scene recently. Andrew Birch was in attendance at the rugby last Saturday after completing a very successful season with the Cricket Franchise, including having played in the T20 final the previous week. Ross Geldenhuys was in the news for setting the record for having played at the most Super Rugby franchises, a total of five, when he ran EP Schools Cricket “Team of the Year”

www.sacschool.com St Andrew’s College Nec Aspera Terrent

out for the Hurricanes last week. This includes a Super Rugby title with the Waratahs a few seasons ago. Tyler Paul returned to the Sharks team last week after a period of injury whilst it looks like Sintu Manjezi is on his way back to the EP Kings after a stint with the Cheetahs. Matt More has returned from Ireland where he was playing in the Munster set-up and has signed on with the Stormers. It is always good to see how well our old boys fare after leaving College.

Once again we look forward to an interesting weekend of sport here at College. With the Matric Dance taking place on Saturday evening there will no doubt be a good number of parents in town. We hope that you all have a great weekend.

Kind regards

Pete Andrew Andrew Birch Director of Sport

Sintu Manjezi

Tyler Paul

Matt More Ross Geldenhuys www.sacschool.com