JEPPE HIGH SCHOOL FOR BOYS GDE Registration No.130633 26˚12’S; 28˚5”58” E Elevation: 1760 m

Good Hope Street PO Box 28923

Kensington 2094 Kensington

Johannesburg 2101

Tel: (011) 614 1938/9 Fax: (011) 614 2527

E-mail: hms@jeppeboys.co.za Website: www.jeppeboys.co.za

13 May 2016 Newsletter 05/2016 LETTER FROM THE HEADMASTER Dear Parents Recently we have had to make changes to the boys’ timetables due to Ms Bechus going on adoption leave at very short notice and Mr Scheepers emigrating to New Zealand. Ms Bechus, HOD English is due back in term 3 and we have employed Mrs Mc Callum who will join the English Department in term 3. Ms Edwards will retire and the end of this term. Mrs Gallucci has been appointed acting HOD of Mathematics in place of Mr Scheepers. Mr Scheepers maths classes have been accommodated by educators in the department. Unfortunately we were unable to find a suitable replacement for Mr Scheepers before his departure but continue to interview candidates to find the best replacement. I assure you that I have the best interest of all our boys at heart. Yours sincerely ANTON DEMPSEY SCHOOL TIMES ADJUSTED In the run up to the Mid-Year Examinations, the School has made the decision to run Wednesday times on Tuesdays and Fridays as there are no cycle tests taking place this term. The academic day will be unaffected and boys will still attend all six lessons. Please note that as we are running Wednesday times, there will be only one break on these days. School will end for boys at 13:10. Winter sports training will commence at 14:15. All educators will be available until 14:15 on these days (Tuesdays and Fridays) allowing your son the opportunity, should he require it, to meet with his educators for consolidation lessons or simply to use the class as a venue to start his homework before his practice session begins. The change in school times came into effect on Tuesday 10 May and will run as a pilot project until the start of the June Examinations.

DEPUTY’S ADDRESS The following speech was made by Mr. Motlogeloa during a recent Boys Assembly:

Stay positive and keep the faith It is so easy to be trapped in a cycle of negativity, to lose sight of what it is we have achieved in our personal lives and as a school community, the blessings we have been afforded and the fact that we are alive and in a better place than most people. Negativity creeps up on us both consciously and unconsciously; our state of mind makes a shift and our responses, body language and how we treat each other transforms in an instant. In my portfolio, discipline, negativity and bad vibes are often the order of the day and if one is not careful it entrenches you, and it sucks the life out of you, if you allow it to.

In writing the first draft topic of my speech and sharing thoughts about it with Mr Leathem, my mind was already made up that I felt I should make my address to you on the comparison of UK schools and our school. The crux of that message would ultimately show you how various anti-social behaviours would lead us, to some degree, to be like certain UK schools. My thinking at the time was, shock them with a video from the worst schools, spell out what you always spell out, ‘good manners, decent haircuts, greeting people, participation, boys’ school tradition’…and “boom”, surely, this negative presentation would solidify why we need to behave in an acceptable manner. I could almost sense Mr Leathem’s “yes it is a good speech” for the sake of it. I pondered over the fact that he probably thought “this dude is too much”.

After a challenging week I got to enjoy a productive training session with the Under 14A and Under 14B rugby teams and it was during this time that I realised that in and amongst some negativity that one tends to experience, one can find in the simplest of places and interactions with the youngest of people, some positivity. Their positive attitude, naive boyish outlook and faith far outweighed the heaviness that their coach/coaches were carrying after their loss to Pretoria Boys the previous weekend. Their enthusiasm to move on, good nature and true spirit became the much needed shift.

You see, after our loss to Pretoria Boys High, Mr White and I were determined to make our boys run and tackle to ensure they realised our anger and frustration at the way they played. Both of us had fallen into the trap of changing an undesired outcome, our 19 -0 loss, with a negative response. We both had demanding weeks and this had made us unconsciously give in to the negative trap. Life is a struggle and will often throw us curveballs, as Winston Churchill once said “when you are going through hell, keep going - never, never, never give up.”

We had for a while, lost the positivity and spirit that we had built up and that had been reinforced by surrounding ourselves with positive people, motivating ourselves through quotes and videos, laughter and attitude. Surrendering to situations and circumstances and negatively responding as a mechanism to cope, does not make our situations or circumstance better, rather it makes us live in that negative world, we get stuck in the rut. Ladies and Gentleman, boys, let us strive to be better in our response to negative circumstances.

This negative energy resonated again in our prefects meeting when I asked them that the meeting only focus on the positives in the school and creating positivity therein. One of the prefects looked at me and almost laughingly asked, “What do you mean by positivity?”

So often we get to sit in a negative pit and we succumb to this negativity and we give other people the power to control our happiness and how we feel. No educator, parent or another learner should determine your attitude, happiness and zest for life. You have to be responsible for your own state of being. An educator’s bad day should not be your bad day, your parents frustration should not be your frustrations, your friends doom and gloom outlook on situations should not propel you to adopt the doom and gloom your friend is experiencing. We have to own how we feel and not play the blame game of others taking ownership of our positivity.

Personally I have found it a struggle to remind myself of such. I hope in your young years you develop a better capacity than I have to be an eternal optimist, to lose a sense of the victim mentality brought about by others who I would like to believe are just experiencing a rough patch. I hope as young learners you draw on all good, positive and building traits that adults who hold teaching jobs are trying to instill in you. I also hope that you do not take their scolding and reprimands personally but rather recognise the good place that they come from and grow from them, positively. Stay positive. It might not always be easy as we might not truly know your struggles at home, the inner turmoil within you, your fears and sometimes how others unintentionally hurt you. Stay strong, be steadfast and stay the course, it is but life, but above all stay positive. Surround yourself with people that build you up, be brave to move away from those people that do not make you happy and always, stay positive. Have faith and when you think your faith has failed you, all your hopes and dreams are gone - listen for the angel voice that whispers “just hold on”. Stay blessed. JEPPE TEACHERS RECOGNISED The following teachers were acknowledged recently and it makes us proud to share their praise in this newsletter….

Teacher of the Month awards: 1st Place: Mr. Gamede for his incredible input into Jeppe Basketball 2nd Place: Ms. Clark for all the hard work she did for the Matric Dance and all she does in the Science Department. 3rd Place: Mr. Pitman for his continued progress with the Jeppe Pipe Band

Jeppe is proud to congratulate Mr. Bechet for being re-appointed as South African U19 Cricket Selector

Jeppe received a letter from Mr. Mike Brady – Administrator for the Central Gauteng Water Polo Association. He praised Mr. Hansen’s ethos of hard work and all his efforts with the U18A side at the National Competition. Mr. Hansen spent weeks coaching the U18 squad in his own time and without any compensation. Mr. Hansen was praised for his dedication and support.

Mr. Faltermeier and Mr Pitman recently completed a WITS run course entitled “Teaching with Technology”. Both educators thoroughly enjoyed the course and finished in the Top 6 out of the 65 educators who attended. They are both implementing their technology findings in the classrooms which the boys are loving.

JEPPE BOYS EXCEL Darren Goodes and Brandon Willows competed in the Still Water Lifesaving Nationals at the beginning of May and both performed outstandingly! Brandon Willows is now ranked 3rd in South Africa for Still Water Nipper Lifesaving and achieved 10 medals out of the 13 events he entered. Darren Goodes also achieved a number of medals and has been selected for the South African Youth Academy squad (junior and senior lifesavers over the age of 15) that will be going to the Netherlands to compete in the Orange Cup in November this year.

John Brent Aspden recently took part in Round 1 of the South African Practical Shooting Association’s National Championships. He finished in 3rd place for the Junior section IPSC Production division. Anre Waters has won the District 9 U18 Individual Chess Competition and Thato Kwayiba placed in the top 7 of the U15 competition. Both boys qualify for the Gauteng Individual Competition taking place this coming weekend.

Thabo Masina and Ntuthuko Ndimande placed 1st and 2nd respectively in the senior section of the recent Cross Country league event. Mzwakhe Mashaba placed 1st in the junior category, resulting in a 3rd place overall finish for the school.

Mpho Tladi was recently acknowledged as having run the fastest 110m huddles (13.44 seconds) in the world in 2015! He was awarded the Athlete of the Year for 2015 from the Central Gauteng Athletics Association. In addition, he placed 1st in the 2015 Commonwealth Games. This young man is currently busy with his matric year and was presented with a sponsored vehicle from Fury Suzuki Fourways. At the recent Wynberg 175th Anniversary Rugby Festival, a Festival Dream Team was announced and consisted of THREE Jeppe players. Hacjivah Dayimani, Wandisile Simelane and Tebogo Ramodile were acknowledged for their incredible performances during the festival. In addition, Hacjivah was named Player of the Festival and Wandisile was named Festival Back. Well done to all these young men for their outstanding achievements. POSITIVE FEEDBACK The following email was received after the Wynberg Festival:

Congratulations and well done to everyone involved in your Cape tour. As always, I was a proud Jeppe Old Boy watching both the u 16 A and 1st Team’s brilliant wins against Bishops, played in our hard but more importantly, good sportsmanship like manner. This was undoubtedly the best 1st Team performance, that I have ever witnessed, against a spirited Bishops side.

JEPPE OLD BOYS GIVE BACK The new “state-of-the-art” indoor cricket centre, a project initiated by a core of cricketing Jeppe Old Boys, was officially opened on Thursday 21 April 2016. Mrs Angela Schoonbee, of the Schoonbee Family, who were major donors in the funding of the facility, hosted a wonderful cocktail party for Mr Dempsey (after whom the indoor centre is named) and his wife, staff members, coaches and invited guests. Mr Schoonbee was honoured for his contribution to cricket at Jeppe High School for Boys by being presented with a 1st team cricket cap from current 1st team coach, Mr Mike Bechet. The centre is fitted with the most up to date PitchVision Analysis system which combines motion tracking and video analysis into one tool. The indoor centre will play an important role in the training of Jeppe cricketer from all age groups and teams.

The spectacular new mosaic situated at the entrance to the Memorial Hall which was funded by the Jeppe Old Boys Australian Association. The “Australian Old Boys” wanted to contribute in a meaningful and dynamic way to the 125th celebrations of the school and they certainly did not disappoint.

James Carr, Jeppe Old Boy (Class of 92, Oribi) redeveloped the gardens at the Rankin Gates entrance to the school. The school is most appreciative as the plants were donated by James and the gardens have greatly enhanced the aesthetics of this area of the school.

SPORTING RESULTS Wynberg Festival Results Hockey (1st Team) Rugby (1st Team) Rugby (u/16A) Jeppe 2 – 2 Selborne Jeppe 60 – 15 Hugenote Jeppe 46 – 17 Tygerberg Jeppe 2 – 2 Grey College Jeppe 40 – 24 Bishops Jeppe 15 – 10 Bishops Jeppe 2 – 1 Wynberg Jeppe 4 – 3 SACS Jeppe 4 – 1 Hilton vs Westville Boys High School Hockey Team Jeppe Westville Team Jeppe Westville U/14A 3 - 3 U/16A 1 - 1 U/14B 2 - 2 U/16B 2 - 2 U/14C 3 - 1 U/16C 1 - 0 U/14D 1 - 0 U/16D 0 - 2 U/16E 2 - 1 U/16F 3 - 2 Team Jeppe Westville 1STS 3 - 2 2NDS 2 - 1 3RDS 1 - 2 4THS 1 - 2

Rugby Team Jeppe Westville Team Jeppe Westville U/14A 3 - 14 U/15A 17 - 14 U/14B 7 - 48 U/15B 7 - 12 U/14C 0 - 48 U/15C 0 - 21 U/14D 7 - 47 U/15D 0 - 48 U/14E 15 - 45 U/15E 10 - 15 U/14F 24 - 10 Team Jeppe Westville Team Jeppe Westville U/16A 38 - 25 1STS 45 - 14 U/16B 24 - 3 2NDS 17 - 21 U/16C 24 - 24 3RDS 24 - 27 U/16D 3 - 45 4THS 8 - 52 5THS 3 - 45 6THS 0 - 38

UPCOMING EVENTS Some of the events taking place in the coming weeks include: Cross Country League 3 16 May 2016 Pretoria Boys High Hockey vs. St. Stithians 18 May 2016 Various venues GRADS and EADS Festival: 19 May 2016 Mondeor Hockey and Rugby vs. St. Albans 21 May 2016 St. Albans Cross Country League 4 23 May 2016 Thaba Trails Hockey and Rugby vs. Affies 28 May 2016 Jeppe