Prep Patter is available online at www.dphs.co.za Follow us on twitter @durban_prep and Facebook at Durban Prep Parent Community DPHS NEWS AND RESULTS BULLETIN 01: WEDNESDAY 13 JANUARY 2016 The Headmaster : hpike@dphs.co.za Admissions : denise@dphs.co.za Media Centre : linda@dphs.co.za Marketing : linda@dphs.co.za Finance : michellew@dphs.co.za Sports Office : michaeldick@dphs.co.za TELEPHONE: 031-3122154 FAX: 031-3032361 FROM THE HEADMASTER Like a proud vessel setting sail at the start of another journey across the seas, so Durban Preparatory High School began its 2016 journey today: properly prepared for the excitement and challenges of the time ahead for all aboard. There is a real buzz in the school and a strong sense of excited anticipation at the beginning of the new school year. The school is confident that the boys anticipation of, and committed participation in all that is, the DPHS Experience will be properly satisfied by their own experience. DPHS is proud to be known as a welcoming and friendly school, so it is an especially warm welcome to all our new boys, and their respective families, to your school. We are confident that their experience will match their expectations. Parents are afforded many opportunities, both formal and informal, to come in to, and make contact with, the school at every level. Invitations will soon reach parents, inviting you to attend the first of these many occasions. The Grade Information Evenings will be held during the course of next week. The DPHS staff are looking forward to welcoming, engaging with, challenging, and mentoring, the boys at every level, academically, socially and emotionally. The DPHS Vision Preparing our Boys for Life and our Mission To provide a unique and balanced education and fulfilling experience within a nurturing environment, founded on the school s guiding principles of integrity and respect for self and respect for others inform the myriad elements that constitute our boys DPHS Experience.
And through the Experience, in a strong and tangible weave, are the threads of the DPHS Principles of Right Living : Excellence; Fairness; Honesty; Human Dignity; Integrity; Loyalty; Perseverance; Respect; Self-discipline; Service and Servant Leadership. Boys are mentored and encouraged, by school and home and at their particular level of maturation, to grow to understand and live by these principles. We expect our boys to give of their personal best, that they extend themselves, to be the best that they can be. The Prep Experience has evolved, and been further developed, to present real opportunity for enjoyment, activity and challenge for our boys, at whatever level they choose to be committed participants. We trust that they will grow to develop resilience, enjoying personal growth, progress and achievement in the many areas of participation and endeavour presented as part of the Experience. The adage Leaders with leaders accurately describes the expectation that all involved in the DPHS Experience; boys, staff and parents, own their respective roles and are intrinsically motivated to promote the best interests of the boys and the school. This, while working as a team to continue to cement the school s position as a leading boys preparatory school. Wishing all the very best for the year ahead and thanking you, in anticipation, for your support of our boys and your school. A ship in harbour is safe, but that is not what ships are built for. (William Shedd) STAFF NEWS This year we welcome new arrivals on the Reception Unit staff team: Sharm Malherbe has taken up her new position in the Front Office at the Reception Unit and we welcome Tayla Osler as Teacher Assistant in the Green Group. We are confident that they will come to enjoy a most rewarding time as members of the DPHS staff team. The first full Prep Patter will be emailed next week with details of forthcoming events, achievements and congratulations as well as snippets of news. Please encourage friends and family to subscribe to the Prep Patter. This can be done by sending an email to cmccarthy@dphs.co.za with the request to be added to the mailing list. The Prep Patter is particularly useful in terms of informing parents regarding the most current details of the Prep calendar
CALENDAR Wednesday 13 January Thursday 14 January Friday 15 January Saturday 16 January Sunday 17 January Monday 18 January Tuesday 19 January Wednesday 20 January School opens for boys Reception Unit Staggered Intake School Assembly U10 and U11 Cricket Trials Reception Unit Staggered Intake Grade 7 Leaders Meeting Swimming Trials All Senior Primary Staff U9 Cricket Trials Reception Unit Staggered Intake Emergency Evacuation Drill Prep Staff Meeting Functions Room U10 and U11 Cricket Trials Cricket Trials Cricket Trials Grade 5 Parent Evening Grade 7 Parents Evening Junior Primary Parents Evening Grade 4 Parents Evening Grade 6 Parents Evening Cricket vs Westville 10:00am 02:00pm 07:30am 02:00pm 02:00pm 09:45am 01:00pm 06:00pm 06:30pm 05:30pm 06:00pm 06:30pm RECEPTION UNIT NEWS Welcome to the DPHS Reception Unit. We hope that you had a wonderful break with family and friends. The boys will be settling into their groups over the next couple of days and the staggered intake will definitely assist in making this an easier transaction. Thank you for your co-operation.
A list of important Dates to Remember for 2016 will be sent out shortly. Details of each event will be sent out closer to the time. The first event of the year is a Parents Information Evening (Thursday 21 January from 18h00 to 18h45) - a brief and informal meeting with your group teacher and teacher assistant, to explain our programme and outline our aims and expectations for the year. It will also give you a chance to ask any general questions that you may have and also give you an opportunity to meet parents of boys in your son s class. Please gather in the classroom by 17h55. This evening is for adults only and it is imperative that at least one parent attend. We look forward to seeing you. Please remember to refer to the Reception Unit booklet that you received at our Orientation Day, which contains all the information that you will need. If you have any queries however, do not hesitate to chat to your son s class teacher, our School Secretary, Sharm Malherbe or myself, Les Phipson. JUNIOR PRIMARY NEWS Welcome! It was a great pleasure this morning to welcome all the Junior Primary boys as they returned to school for the start of a new adventure in their new class. Their eagerness and enthusiasm made for a wonderfully positive start to the school year and we are all looking forward to an exciting and educationally stimulating 2016. Sincere thanks are extended to our parents for ensuring that the boys were properly equipped and well prepared for the first day. Extra-Curricular : The busy Prep programme has begun and while the initial priority is for the boys to settle into their new classrooms, the Extra-Curricular activities will commence shortly with the U9 Cricket trials which are scheduled for tomorrow afternoon being the first of these. Parents Welcome and Information Evening : This is a very important function at the start of the new school year and it is scheduled for Tuesday 19 January at 17h30. The meeting will begin with a presentation entitled Raising Emotionally intelligent Boys by Kerry Salvesen, who is a well-respected Educational Psychologist and dynamic speaker. This will be followed by meetings with the class teachers. These enable the teacher and parents to meet each other in the classroom environment and to establish positive communication between school and home. The teacher will discuss the work to be covered during the year as well as matters relating to homework, sport and general school policy. There will be a short period of time allocated at the end of the talk for questions. Michael Dick, Director of Sport, will brief the parents of Grade 3/U9 boys and Annette Briscoe, Director of Performing Arts, will be available to discuss the private Instrumental Music programme on offer with interested parents. Weather permitting; parking will be available on the school field. The Grade Two meetings should be finished by approximately 19h00 and the Grade One and Three sessions by 19h30. This promises to be a very informative evening and time well spent. The teachers are looking forward to meeting the parents on Tuesday evening. DPHS ASSOCIATION Director: Richard Neave rneave@dphs.co.za GOOD WISHES Good wishes to the Reception Unit, Junior Primary and Senior Primary boys, staff and parents for a very happy and successful year. Your Association is looking forward in 2016 to once again marching triumphantly alongside the school in a joyful celebration of DPHS s immeasurable capacity for hard work, abundance of talent, boundless spirit and relentless will to succeed. A special good wish from the Association to the Gr 7 boys for a most fulfilling final year at DPHS!
DPHS OLD BOYS WOW SA SCHOOLBOY WATER POLO Congratulations to the KZN teams for playing excellent water polo and competing very successfully at the SA Schools Inter Provincial in Cape Town in December of last year. You will see from the long list of DPHS Old Boys in these teams that Prep boys are an integral part of High School water polo at the highest level. At international level the SA U18 Team won the series against Australia in Cape Town 4 0. The team included three DPHS Old Boys, Massimo Conversano, Matthew Hamilton and Todd Petterson. The KZN U19A team won 1st place at the Provincial Week. DPHS Old Boys in the team were Aston Lawson, Michael Paul, Caleb Simpson and Matthew Trichardt - who won player of the tournament. KZN U19B team included DPHS Old Boys Luke Crowshaw and Joshua Spooner. KZN U16A included DPHS Old Boys Christian Deare and Jono Bennett. KZN U15A team won 1st place included DPHS Old Boys William Dowsett, Jack Koch and Josh Porter. KZN U14A team won 1st place include DPHS Old Boys Mark Armstrong, Josh Bennett, Michael Bennett, Luke Hansen, Jordan Mills, Josh Muller and Bulelani Mzimela KZN U13A team included DPHS boys Conna Steadman and Simon Taylor. DPHS teacher Shaun Ferreira was the coach of the team. The DPHS Association proudly acknowledges the inspirational water polo accomplishments and success of these DPHS Old Boys. VISIT FROM OLD BOY LIVING IN NEW ZEALAND The school was privileged to receive a visit on Monday from DPHS Old Boy, Darren Allen 87 now living in Christchurch, New Zealand. Darren is the uncle of Trent Rayson in Grade 2. Darren was amazed and very impressed by all the changes that have taken place at DPHS since leaving the school nearly thirty years ago. He extends very good wishes to the school. GENERAL 2016 TERM DATES (Dates for learners are as listed below. Staff returned to school on 11 January 2016 and finish the year on 09 December 2016) 2016 TERM DATES as supplied by Naptosa TERM 1: 13 January 18 March TERM 2: 05 April 24 June TERM 3: 18 July 30 September TERM 4: 10 October 07 December NEWS FROM DHS Supplied by Barry Coskey Welcome back to an eventful and exciting 2016. On behalf of the DHS Family, we would like to extend our best wishes to the DPHS Family. May 2016 be even bigger and better. We kicked off our 150th year with an exciting cricket festival played in and around Durban. We hosted 20 of the top schools in South Africa and Churchie from Brisbane, Australia. The festival was a huge success and talent on show was outstanding. For more info on upcoming events, please visit: www.durbanhighschool.co.za News from the end of 2015
Matthew Hamilton and Jeandre Peterson were part of the South African U18 water polo team which comprehensively beat an Australian U18 team in a five-match Test Series held in conjunction with the Inter-Provincial tournament in Cape Town in December. The South African boys completely outplayed their Aussie opponents winning the series 4-0 with one game being drawn 10 all. Our boys acquitted themselves with distinction and carried the school flag proudly. At the recent South African Schools Inter-Provincial Water Polo Championships held in Cape Town, the boys from KZN really did the province and their individual schools proud. Out of the five age-group sections, they took three gold medals and one silver. The U19 team played out of their boots considering that no less than seven of their top players were representing their country in a five-test series against Australia. At the conclusion of the tournament Matthew Trichardt (DHS) was selected as the Tournament s Most Valuable Player (MVP) and thus the Player of the Tournament. Matthew Trichardt Matthew Trichardt gained selection to the South African Schools Tournament team for 2015. In addition, Matt was voted the tournament s Most Valuable Player (MVP) and as such stamped himself as the best participating player. From DHS s point of view this was an award thoroughly deserved as during the games, Matt was the go-to-man and whenever the team needed a vital goal the coach turned to him to provide it and Matt duly obliged. This was a just reward for the hard work that Matthew put in to his game after his return from the School s tour of Serbia. He absorbed what he was shown and learnt and on his return he put in long hard hours honing those skills. Well done Matt, DHS is proud of you. DHS also had Mike Paul and Josh Spooner in the triumphant U19 team whilst Steven Waites represented the U19B team which played in the A Section. CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL THESE BOYS!! Follow us on twitter @durban_prep and on Facebook at Durban Prep Parent Community