Interview with Malcolm Williams – Staff 1997 – 2013 Malcolm joined the staff of St David’s as deputy headmaster in July 1997 whilst Paul Edey, the headmaster was on a pilgrimage. Malcolm came from Sandown High School where he was deputy headmaster having ... »
Interview with Malcolm Williams – Staff 1997 – 2013 Malcolm joined the staff of St David’s as deputy headmaster in July 1997 whilst Paul Edey, the headmaster was on a pilgrimage. Malcolm came from Sandown High School where he was deputy headmaster having also taught at King Edward VII High School for a number of years. Malcolm was St David’s 12th headmaster and the second longest serving head after Br Anthony. When Malcolm arrived, the sense of family and positive rapport between pupils and staff was very evident. There was a strong focus on ethos and values which permeated the school. However the school had none of the buildings it enjoys today. There was no hall, no pavilion, no media Centre, no astro and no Br Anthony wing. The construction of the hall and 6 classrooms began in 1998. In 1997 there were 350 pupils enrolled in the high school and in 2103, 563. The past four years has seen increased enrolment every year averaging 28 pupils per class. St David’s has become the school of choice in Johannesburg with 90% of the pupils coming through from the prep school. The school is also known as one of the top academic schools in the country and has been acknowledged as one of the main feeder schools to Wits University by vice chancellor, Adam Habib. In 2002 Malcolm was appointed headmaster and was determined to change the profile of the school with pupil leadership, celebrating individual talents, creating strength in academics, sport and cultural activities. He did this moving the school forward in all areas with the firm resolve to achieve excellence without compromising the core values and Marist ethos of the school. Both Paul Edey, in his new role of executive head and Malcolm were involved with professional bodies serving in various roles on ISASA , SAHISA and CASPAat provincial and national levels . Mike Greeff continues the school’s involvement in Catholic schools’ organisations, MSC etc. Malcolm is a keen sportsman and hockey player and did much to encourage development of the sport at St David’s serving as coach and convener and member of the Executive of USSASA boy’s hockey. In fact, in 2001 St David’s hockey moved into section A of Aitken Trophy with the school now one of the strongest nationally in this area. In 2003 St David’s rugby team beat KES and 1st cricket won the Johnny Waite Knockout. There has been tremendous growth in Music and Drama from almost nothing to the vibrant parts of the school they now are, as well as being academic subjects, to add to the successes in debating and public speaking. Academic records and excellence were sustained having pupils in the top 50 candidates for matric since being incorporated into the IEB. Key aspects Malcolm enjoyed seeing become part of the school include: the Marist principle of ‘Presence’, with boys and staff supported in all areas of school life; Academic excellence, which has been sustained over time and is measured by a range of outside benchmarks including the IEB examinations; the range of academic enrichment initiatives being undertaken, including participation in IEB pilot projects; the growth and development of a professional staff of high quality; a sports programme which enables the school and the boys to achieve success at provincial and national level, and also provides opportunities for all; a highperforming, broad-based, dynamic, and diverse cultural programme; increased pupil leadership opportunities and mechanisms for recognition, particularly in the matric leadership group; structures established to increase the level of involvement in outreach and partnership activities; the continued strength of the Staff Sponsorship Fund; the expansion of the school’s pastoral care structures and the house system; the excellent facilities, the most recent and visible of these being the Brother Anthony Wing; the ‘Whole School Day’ programme; the effective partnerships with a number of non-government organisations and the St David’s Foundation. Malcolm thoroughly enjoyed his years at St David’s Marist Inanda but it was not a simple matter to leave such a fine school,with its special Marist ethos. He was enriched by working with a talented, loyal and energised staff who give everything for the benefit of the boys in their care, for each other, and for the school. Many of them are good friends as well as colleagues. Malcolm enjoyed developing a strong rapport with parents over the years, who so often go the extra mile for the school. The boys themselves always inspired him with their huge commitment, their passion for their school and their tremendous sense of camaraderie, which is something special. Malcolm said it had been a privilege to be part of the growth of the high school, and the many innovations which have been evident in this growth. St David’s truly offers a holistic education where every boy is able to develop his talents. The school now has a strong national footprint across all areas of school life and the boys and staffs are achieving much success. Malcolm also believed that a measure of a school is how its pupils progress once they leave school. A most pleasing aspect being the continued success of St David’s old boys at tertiary level and beyond. They have excelled, and the old boys are clearly able to hold their own in their chosen spheres of life. Malcolm also found it most gratifying in recent years to see the growth and energy present in the old boys’ association, as well as the number of old boys who have joined the teaching profession over the past thirteen years. Malcom firmly believed that the infrastructure at St David’s is well established and has an extremely strong, professional and committed academic, administrative and support staff which he enjoyed being part of and had no doubt that the school would continue to go from strength to strength in the years ahead. JLE December 2013
Interview with Paul Saunders -Staff 1973-75 When Paul began teaching at St David’s, Br Anthony was the Headmaster but left in 1974 to go to Slough and Br Timothy took over in 1975. The school was much smaller with about 200 boys in the high school with ... »
Interview with Paul Saunders -Staff 1973-75 When Paul began teaching at St David’s, Br Anthony was the Headmaster but left in 1974 to go to Slough and Br Timothy took over in 1975. The school was much smaller with about 200 boys in the high school with mainly brothers teaching in addition to 6 to 7 lay teachers. Paul and his wife Hester had just married and moved into Lowndes Gate close to the school and later moved to Woodmead Manor, Rivonia. Paul taught Afrikaans and coached U13 cricket and the 5th rugby team. Some lay teachers he remembers were Billy Karoo now in the USA, Mrs Elliott and Ron Hughes who both taught English, and Mrs Wheelan. They were a small group and bonded well. The teaching periods were much longer but very well run and hands on. The boys were scared of the brothers but Paul found them easy to work with. Br Anthony had an irritating habit of walking up and down the corridors. He could not be seen through the windows which hung at 22 degrees and would stand out of sight and listen to the teachers, checking up on them. In his first year the lay teachers originally had their lunch together with the brothers in the dining room but then moved into what is now the copying room and the lunches became a little more frugal, sandwiches and soup which didn’t please many of the staff. The chapel was upstairs and used by the brothers. The tuck shop was where the Music centre is now and was run by the parents. Some of the brothers he recalls were Br Bosco, Br Bernard, Br Andrew (Drac) who taught Maths, Br Aidan, the bursar and Br Anthony. Br Anthony had a couple of canes in his office but punishment was only given in class, corporal punishment was the norm. The matric dance was held in the boarder’s dining room with a pirate theme. The club house is now the home of the CEO, the oval is in the same location and Pete Stringer, the cricket coach used to rule the roost there. The prep playing field was the cricket pitch for all teams other than the 1st team Whilst Paul was recently substituting at the school he was using the same classroom he had when he was full time at the school. He recalled that he had a very old wooden chair which one day eventually collapsed in front of the whole class with him in it. The boys were so well behaved they didn’t laugh until he told them they could. There was a big ceremony when the auditorium was inaugurated. Most functions were held in what is now the CEO’s home. There were many well known families with children at the school – Lebos, Kourie, Daras, Zent, Allem, Marnewick, Walfords, Peel, Brian Macmillan was in the cricket team and in those days the boys played Nuffield cricket. Paul remembered Mr Manolios, the prep headmaster although he didn’t deal with him directly. Paul eventually left to teach at Damelin and later taught Science and Biology to matric. Damelin was eventually taken over by Educor. Paul said that Marist Brothers brings back a great nostalgia, it was a special place. Paul enjoyed his time at St David’s and found the boys to be extremely well behaved both in and out of the classroom. Photos that could be included – standard 9 and one with Br Bosco (Mario) and the honours boys and U13 cricket team. JLE February 2013
Interview with Dave Smith – Staff – 1997 to date Dave came to St David’s from Bryanston High School in 1997 as head of the Geography department. His first impression of the school was that it was very small having come from a big co-ed high school with 1300 ... »
Interview with Dave Smith – Staff – 1997 to date Dave came to St David’s from Bryanston High School in 1997 as head of the Geography department. His first impression of the school was that it was very small having come from a big co-ed high school with 1300 pupils to teach two matric classes with 5 pupils in one and 12 in the other whereas Bryanston had three classes with 30 pupils in each. Currently 60 to 70 pupils take Geography as a matric subject which shows the growth in the number of pupils attending the school. Paul Edey was the headmaster and together with Kevin Brewer, chairman of the board, motivated the development plan for the school. At the time the quad housed an ablution block and the pavilion was a Zozo hut! The school wasn’t very competitive apart from cricket but is now very competitive and is in the top echelon of the pantheon of boys’ schools. The leadership programme has grown enormously. In 1997 Dave took all the matrics to a camp in the Magaliesburg and now there are camps for every grade. The camp, specifically for the prefects with the main focus on leadership has also grown and now any matric can get a leadership scroll other than prefects. Thirty two matrics in 2012 received leadership scrolls. Dave was appointed housemaster of College house in 2000 and senior deputy headmaster in 2003 overseeing student affairs and school administration. He is also editor of the school magazine and sees not just the physical changes in the school but in the number of pupils and the range of activities on offer. St David’s has become one of the top boys’ schools worldwide with the vision that was created by Paul Edey and continued by Malcolm Williams. However the school does have an achilles heel, rugby. Dave believes St David’s to be an incredibly happy school with the boys having their own identity. There is a sense of tradition and what makes a good tradition. One regret Dave has is that he gave up mentoring the matrics when he became deputy headmaster. On the staff, the characters he has encountered include the likes of Rod Smith, Belinda Marais and Annika Carter to name but a few. Malcolm William’s concept of “Presence” has been unbelievable and the energy he put into everything he did. JLE December 2013
Interview with Julie Roman – Staff – 1998 to date Julie joined the staff at St David’s in the January of 1998 and is now in her 17th year. Previously, she had taught at a state school for 27 years but a tragic and traumatic incident motivated her to leave. ... »
Interview with Julie Roman – Staff – 1998 to date Julie joined the staff at St David’s in the January of 1998 and is now in her 17th year. Previously, she had taught at a state school for 27 years but a tragic and traumatic incident motivated her to leave. A young boy from the township came into her classroom and shot one of her pupils who died on the spot. She recalled that when Paul Edey interviewed her he asked her how she would feel coming to a school which had mostly affluent families and mostly white boys as pupils. It took her one day to work with the children and to realise that children will respect and love you as you love and respect them. It doesn’t matter what race you are but more important is what you give and portray. Although she is not Catholic, Julie went to a catholic boarding school as a child. St David’s has since become her second home, a place that holds her together. Julie absolutely believes in the Marist spirit and cannot imagine a grandson of hers not attending St David’s. St David’s is a caring school with an intervention system operating to ensure only getting the best for each boy and celebrates the individual and not just the boy with 9 A’s. Both Julie’s sons were pupils at St David’s, Rodney who matriculated in 1999 and because of the education he received at the school he is now an established and successful structural engineer. Craig who matriculated in 2004 as head boy is now involved with investment and financial planning which he enjoys. Belinda Marais, head of the Afrikaans department taught together with Julie at CJB Senior Secondary School and their sons Bradley and Craig were born in the same month of the same year, 14 days apart. Julie has found the parents to be wonderfully kind with the Marist belief and emblem running through the whole school, staff, parents and pupils. Julie has had the privilege of working with 3 headmasters at St David’s but the one that stands out is Paul Edey who was a care giver, true leader and he mentored her son Craig when he became head boy. Craig has learnt to master new skills and to be strong in spite of difficulties. The highlight of her career at St David’s was in 2005 when Julie went on a pilgrimage to Marcellin Champagnat’s country and origins staying at the Hermitage. Two Brothers accompanied them, Brother Jude and Brother Mario. It was an absolutely wonderful experience and the Brothers knew exactly what they needed to learn about Catholicism. The whole experience strengthened Julie’s spirituality. Julie has made friends across the two schools, both in the prep and high, Mandy Everson, Pat Milne and Carol Ansell to mention a few. Julie has been very much involved with the Smile programme together with Belinda Marais The programme helps poor and disadvantaged children. She was also responsible for the organisation of the annual prize giving which involved co-ordinating gowns for staff, prizes for the boys, communicating with parents and academic staff and sharing in their joy. There were some special pupils such as Gabriel Ally who spoke at the recent Gr 8 – 11 Prize Giving and a special incident occurred during a prayer meeting at her church. Mention was made by a young student who had been mentored by Craig Wallington (Dux Scholar at St David’s) – he said that Craig was not only the best student at St David’s but also the best friend you could ever have. Craig motivated the students who were battling and repeating some subjects at university. St David’s has produced some very fine leaders. There were some negatives but Julie feels that negatives such as difficult parents can be turned into positives and has always had an open door policy. This way she managed to turn some situations around and the parents realised that the most important shareholder was their son and the aim was to assist him and to put aside any petty differences. JLE January 2014
Interview with Phineas Selima – 14 June 2010 Phineas started work at St David’s whilst he was still at school, his brother worked in Balmoral and moved to St David’s in 1958 to do temporary work and Phineas joined him. Initially he worked as a gardener, ... »
Interview with Phineas Selima – 14 June 2010 Phineas started work at St David’s whilst he was still at school, his brother worked in Balmoral and moved to St David’s in 1958 to do temporary work and Phineas joined him. Initially he worked as a gardener, cutting grass etc. He didn’t stay on the property but lived in Alexandra. He had been brought up by his grandparents and uncles as his father had died and his mother was disabled. Brother Anthony was the school headmaster at the time. In 1962, Phineas matriculated and also became a permanent member of staff, cleaning classrooms and assisting Brother Aidan Brother Paul signed his ID in 1960 and Brother Leonard in 1961. He was obliged to pay £1 per year in tax from which he was exempted once he was at St David’s. When he started working at St David’s in 1958, the current library was the hall and the kitchen was much bigger. The boarders were accommodated upstairs in what is now the senior prep. The heating was by coal, the kitchen had a large oven and a cook called Julius. The present committee room was the brothers’ dining room. Teaching was undertaken mainly by the brothers with just a few female teachers who helped out. Mrs Kempster was in charge of the primary school and left at the end of 1974, as did Brother Anthony. Mrs Schaafsma then took over. Phineas also remembers Mrs Kenesovitch and Buchan. When he worked with Brother Aidan, everything was done manually. Each boy had a card on which Brother Aidan typed all the details, envelopes were addressed to each parent and receipts were written out by hand. Phineas used the roneo Gestetner machine, everything was done by hand and put onto stencils, and then Phineas would roll them off, exam papers from the lower grades through to matric. The current photocopying room was Father’s dining room and Brother Mario was responsible for all the photocopying in the early days. Where the bursar’s department and Laureen Schafer and Diane Clark’s offices are, were formerly the brother’s dining room where Phineas often helped out as a waiter. He also helped out with washing dishes in the kitchen, laundry dispatch and receipt. Phineas was happy working and earning some money of his own with his wife living in Louis Trichardt. His first born in 1968 was a girl and in 1967- 68 he used to go from St David’s to Park station then on to Zone 8 Meadowlands and then home. He fathered 7 children, 3 girls and 4 boys; the second born son was sadly killed in a car accident. Phineas remembered some of the brothers, Br Andrew (Dracula), Br Timothy, head after Br Anthony with Br Aidan staying the longest until the 80’s, none of the other brothers stayed that long. Phineas recalled Mr Murphy leaving and Br Anthony returning and Willy Castle left and went to St Stithians for 3 terms. Mr Davies was a good but strict headmaster. Phineas said that Willy Castle was a naughty boy, fighting other boys, hasn’t changed much!!!! Phineas is retiring after 57 years but will miss all the staff as everyone is so kind and the school has been like home to him. He will be involved with family back home with selling fruit, vegetables and groceries with which his wife is already busy and his brother doing the gardening. His children all passed matric – the first born is a nurse and has 3 children, the second child had a diploma in marketing and died whilst working for Denel. The third went to Univ. Pretoria and acquired a degree in investment science, then honours and masters and is now working for SARS. She is married with 2 children and her husband is an electrician. The fourth has a diploma in tourism but couldn’t find a job and worked at SARS, the fifth is also working at SARS finishing a BCom through Unisa. The sixth daughter is studying electrical engineering and the seventh is at Tswane University doing graphic design. Phineas and his wife encouraged them all to write matric. As a child in grade 1, Phineas had a slate and chalks, with no shoes going barefoot to school. He had to work to get some money to get into form 1 and went to Lemana College near Elim Hospital, Louis Trichardt. The Elim Hospital was owned by a Swiss mission, he found a Swiss teacher who let him stay with him to do form 1 and eventually went through to form 5 and then St David’s where he finished his matric. He applied for the Univ. Of the North but had no money for further education, which is the reason why he was so determined that his children should be better educated. He started to live on the property at St David’s as soon as he started working and was registered there and shared a room, going home every month. In the 1990’s Paul Edey began to upgrade the rooms so that their wives could come and stay with them. In 2004, Mike Forder wrote a letter to Enoch and Phineas telling them that they had to retire and then changed his mind so Phineas finally had to retire in 2010. Phineas was not keen on Murphy. Davies he got on with the most because of his philosophy of getting the job done. The bursars were always good to him and the photocopying machines were always changing, he thought Minolta was the best. Phineas worked t St David’s for over half a century! JLE 2010
Interview - Stephen Eilertson – Staff 1994 -97 Stephen was teaching at Sandown High when Rod Smith, the former headmaster then teaching English at St David’s, introduced him to the school. Gary Norton who was the then acting headmaster employed Stephen to ... »
Interview - Stephen Eilertson – Staff 1994 -97 Stephen was teaching at Sandown High when Rod Smith, the former headmaster then teaching English at St David’s, introduced him to the school. Gary Norton who was the then acting headmaster employed Stephen to implement the building and opening of the first computer centre shared by both the prep and high schools. Paul Edey was eventually appointed the headmaster with Malcolm Williams as his deputy in 1995. The IT department was successful and Stephen implemented the first Computer Literacy classes followed by Computer Science. Computer Science was not taken seriously enough and was only taught as a 7th subject for matric. The genius of St David’s revolved around its sporting achievements. Stephen remembers his notable pupils such as Daniel Wright, now with Google who wrote the algorithm for the programme that handles all advertising for Google (Google adwords). This sophisticated world class software brings Google 90%of its income. Daniel was one of the top 3 boys that Stephen taught, was an extreme computer nerd but commanded respect in his own way participating in sport at his own level. Daniel also wrote a DOS based programme identifying birds in 1996 just for fun. He now lives in Canada with his family. Another boy was Rafiq Sarlie, 1996 who headed a team competing in a South African schools competition, sponsored by Microsoft to see who could make the best website. Stephen felt that Rafiq should possibly have followed Gladwell’s ideas and become an entrepreneur and not necessarily followed the conventional route of school, matric and university. He wonders what happened to this extremely talented pupil. Some of the teaching staff he remembers well , Lesley Henning a focused academic; Mitchel who spent 4 years in jail as a conscientious objector and was tortured, he taught RE and started the “Saint of the Day” focusing on martyrs of their time. He is now head of a school in Soweto. In 1995, Debbi Cameron and Stephen organised a tour to Europe for 30 boys. One of the cities visited was Amsterdam where a free evening was planned. He recalled Adriano Iorio’s leadership skills in averting a crisis when one of the boys bought some dagga and Adriano and some of the other boys persuaded him to get rid of it. Also Adriano, in consultation with other boys on the tour, decided it would be wiser to spend the night in the hotel than roam the streets of Amsterdam. There was an incident when Stephen’s son Michael was in standard 9 when, prior to a long weekend, he took his son in full uniform to a world preview of Star Wars during the school day. Malcolm Williams was absolutely furious and Stephen believes that this incident influenced whether Michael became a prefect or not. Stephen is justifiably proud of his son, also a St David’s pupil who recently was awarded second place in Africa at the annual SMME awards and has been incorporated into a painting of the 100 greatest people, past, present and future in South Africa. Stephen left St David’s to head up Ambassador College which was later integrated into Boston City Campus. He now runs a family business investing in the internet, marketing companies using search terms and key words and graphic design. He deals with small to larger companies and also runs a course entitled “Dead Men with White Collars”. JE October 2012
Interview with Peter Stringer – 1966 – 74 - staff cricket coach Peter played professional cricket for Yorkshire and was brought out to South Africa by the Wanderer’s club who paid for his airfare and he had free accommodation at St David’s. He travelled ... »
Interview with Peter Stringer – 1966 – 74 - staff cricket coach Peter played professional cricket for Yorkshire and was brought out to South Africa by the Wanderer’s club who paid for his airfare and he had free accommodation at St David’s. He travelled here by sea on the Union Castle line. The first stop was Southampton to Las Palmas and Cape Town, then with the “Blue Train” to Johannesburg. The return fare was R480 then when the Rand was two to one Pound. He coached from September until the end of March each year until he moved to SA permanently in 1971. Br Anthony was the headmaster and Br Andrew, who was Spanish, was in charge of the grounds and had never even seen cricket played until he came to South Africa. Br Timothy was on the staff and Br Bosco. Willy Castle was a pupil at the time. When Peter first arrived at the school, the dining room was full of about 16 brothers but by the time he left there were only about 4. A young brother came out and had never seen cricket played before. After watching a practice one day he asked that the stumps be left and grabbed a ball, kept on trying to bowl and then run after the ball. After about 10 minutes of this activity he brought the stumps back declaring that this was a tough game! Willem Van der Merwe was working at the school then and Peter remembers him seeing some renovations of Rosebank where paving was being ripped up and replaced. He enquired where it was going and how much they were paying for dumping it and arranged for it to be “dumped” at St David’s where he used them. Willem also converted the dormitories into classrooms after the boarding closed and saved the school a significant amount of money when he built the swimming pool stands. Peter recalled a cocktail party at the school to welcome the new headmaster, Mr Murphy who claimed to have played rugby for Lancashire. Peter used a facility next to the Lancashire rugby grounds and knew many of the players and found it interesting that when Murphy heard this he quickly moved away and didn’t wish to chat to him any further. The initial fields were where the prep school playing fields are now. Lee McGregor who became a Springbok swimmer was a pupil at the school. His father owned an earthmoving equipment company and when the school purchased the Love farm, he purchased two old bulldozers which he serviced and, under his supervision, were used to create the cricket oval. Peter recalled that Br Anthony asked how big the Wanderer’s cricket oval was and made sure that St David’s was bigger. Wanderers enjoyed playing on the St David’s oval. At the opening of the oval in 1970 a professional cricket team was put together and played against the school team. As it was so dry and Br Anthony being a perfectionist, he organised that the pitch was painted green for the opening. The day was overcast and rain threatened but after the Bishop blessed the oval, the sun came out and a wonderful day was had by all. Dicken Bird, the famous umpire was a member of the professional team. Peter saw the ghost rumoured to haunt the Love farmhouse. Peter was sleeping in the house before leaving early for the Kruger Park with Don Wilson and Barry Leadbeater. He woke up sensing someone was in the room, sat up and saw an old lady who just faded away. Chris Clifford who coached cricket and taught Maths slept in the same room with his wife one night and she woke up screaming claiming someone was in the room but she didn’t see the ghost. Peter was Wanderers cricket coach for 42 years. He was also the convener for SA universities cricket and coached the likes of Hansie Cronje, Jonty Rhodes and Andrew Hudson. At Wanderers he also coached Brian Macmillan, who went on to play for South Africa. On another occasion he was asked by the MD of Whitbread if he would coach the Wits university team 2 days a week in exchange for a few free beers. Peter remembers a large beer truck drawing up at the school with 30 dozen beers. Needless to say a certain amount of partying was done and Br Anthony and Br Andrew also joined in. The cricket at St David’s was good in Peter’s day and he remembers bowling St Stithians out for 17. Harry Curtis was the fast bowler but had to play in tackies as he couldn’t get cricket shoes to fit him, size
Peter had some shoes made for him in Northampton, England and remembers paying R7 for them. John Peel, Terry Lavery, Chris Stanle, Glyn O’Leary, Peter Moni, Patrick Quarmby Frank Cattich, Greg Boys Varley, Mike Stanley and Alan Reeves were some of the school’s cricketers. Peter coached Alan’s son. Peter remembered the Marist cricket week. Joe Stravino was selected for Transvaal, became captain and was vice captain for the A side Nuffield cricket. Mike Smith who came from an Italian family was also a keen cricketer. Peter started the rugby in the primary school and coached the Peel brothers for 3 years. The team played U13, U14 and U15’s and they didn’t lose a game until grade 6. Peter often looked after the boarders and played indoor soccer with them in the old tuckshop. When Peter first came to St David’s, it was considered really far out, there was no Sandton and Rivonia was a village. The chapel was upstairs and the swimming pool was where the after care is now. Piet the school cook was the “Boss” who ran the school kitchen. He used to take the pumpkin and butternuts seeds and send them down to his family in Natal. He was a big man and if he lost his temper all the staff scattered and ran out of the kitchen. Peter finally left St David’s because he clashed with Br Timothy the then headmaster, swimming and rugby were his sports. Peter went on to King David’s, Victory Park for 20 years and has been coach at Trinity College for the past 12 years. He left SA in 1980 after his mother died and opened up a butcher’s shop with his brother which is where he met his wife Maureen and they married in 1985. Ronnie Carr was also a cricket coach at St David’s for a number of years. He owned a butcher’s shop in Darrenwood but got tired of it and asked Peter to help him become a coach. JLE October 2013
Interview with Gareth Kolkenbeck-Ruh – 2003 Gareth came to St David’s in 1999 from Rembrandt Park Primary School. Gareth’s father was a devout catholic and Gareth had had experience of the school when it hosted various primary school sporting events, and he ... »
Interview with Gareth Kolkenbeck-Ruh – 2003 Gareth came to St David’s in 1999 from Rembrandt Park Primary School. Gareth’s father was a devout catholic and Gareth had had experience of the school when it hosted various primary school sporting events, and he liked what he saw. He remembers that on his first day he was collected from the “Thatch” by prefects and taken to the amphitheatre, he was overwhelmed by both the size of the prefects and that of the school. As he was the only pupil coming from Rembrandt Park he didn’t know anyone but by the end of the day he began to fit it. The grade 8 camp was a great ice breaker and initiative where he got to know everyone. After three days the grade 8 boys went off to camp during their second week at St David’s. Belonging to a specific house gave you an immediate identity and Gareth was selected for Osmond. Initially the jump in academics was quite a shock but the teachers helped to make it manageable. It was at first strange coming from a co-ed environment into a monastic one but by the end of the first term Gareth was enjoying the change. He now firmly believes it to be a good thing to be in an all boys environment during high school. He grew not only academically but learnt how to be a man in today’s society which he appreciated enormously. The teachers he remembers in particular are Shane Gaffney, Graeme McMillan who was at times quite scary, Rod Smith, Colleen Kennedy and Paul Edey. They were good role models and one of the reasons why Gareth has chosen teaching as his profession. His last year as head boy was an unbelievable year as far as the sport was concerned. St David’s won the Johnny Waite Cricket, had an unbeaten soccer side, and the rugby team beat KES and Jeppe on their home territories for the first time. Gareth believes that, especially in a boys school, if the sport is going well then the general school vibe reflects that and is good and positive. Gareth had heard that the position of head boy was a lonely one, however he had massive support from his peer group and, so far it was the most enjoyable year of his life. He had a good relationship with Paul Edey and Malcolm Williams who took over the headship in 2003. Gareth was captain of soccer and cricket teams and was awarded honours for soccer, cricket and general honours. He played provincial cricket U17 and U19 and had a professional contract with Wits University for one year in 2003. Academically, Gareth did very well and earned 3 A’s and 3 B’s in his matric. Dave Smith helped him to catch up on the Geography syllabus in the matric year as Gareth needed the subject to enable him entry to the USA. The teaching staff was always willing to go the extra mile for the boys. Gareth was awarded a Champagnat Medal and won the Brother Edwin Award for Cricketer of the Year; the St David’s Marist old Boys Soccer Trophy; the Desmond Schatz Trophy for Sportsman of the Year; the Old Boys Trophy for Leadership and Promotion of the Marist Spirit and the Osmond Cup for study, sport and leadership. After matriculating, Gareth went on a soccer scholarship to the US to Gannon University in Pennsylvania for three and half years. He studied for a BA English and PGCE or Postgraduate Certificate in Education, graduating Suma Cum Laude.. He was tempted to stay in the US but his family was still here in South Africa and in the US the educational system is different and teachers don’t coach sport. He returned to South Africa and taught English in the high school from 2008 -9 and went on to KES in 2010 and became head of English there in 2012. He was appointed deputy head of the primary school at St David’s in 2014, is learning a lot from Willy Castle with good systems in place. Gareth was also instrumental in getting soccer up and running in the high school together with Shane Gaffney in 2002 into 2003. Gareth is an active member of MOBS . JLE March 2014
Interview with Teresa Voorendyk - Staff – 1997 to date Teresa joined the staff of St David’s in 1997 together with Dave Smith and Stuart Foulds. She was appointed as librarian and English teacher by Paul Edey, the same position she had with her former ... »
Interview with Teresa Voorendyk - Staff – 1997 to date Teresa joined the staff of St David’s in 1997 together with Dave Smith and Stuart Foulds. She was appointed as librarian and English teacher by Paul Edey, the same position she had with her former employer KES. She recalled being interviewed by Paul Edey, Gary Norton and the head of English, Richard Girdwood. In her first year she taught two English classes and MUG (media user guidance) to the grade 8’s and 9’s. Teresa shared the library facility together with the prep school librarian, Mary Clover. With the different teaching hours and timetables, the conditions were not ideal however she enjoyed the freedom to buy books and encouraged her library monitors to select books within an allocated budget she set them. Teresa eventually moved into teaching English full-time and was peripatetic for a few years until she inherited her present classroom from Liz Sheratt. Teresa has filled a number of roles in her time with the school being, head of English, housemistress of Benedict, mentor to the matric group and now being head of Life Orientation, she has enthusiastically run the long distance running activity at the school and also takes the boys on corporate relays and other runs outside of school. She has seen people come and go with many changes some good some not so good. She has so many memories of events, individuals, matric groups, and the long distance runners and now some of the pupils she taught are colleagues such as Matthew Schneider, Richard Carey and Kyle Biller. She recalls the matric group of 2005 as being very special, they were an odd ball bunch of characters but she had a close bond with them. She still sees some of “her” runners, many of whom have continued to compete after leaving school. Teresa has been very happy at St David’s. It has become a very busy school and initially she and other colleagues were able to attend all the events and functions but now there are too many to cope with. In 1997 there were 42 boys in matric which are now 112 and with 610 in the school. Previously there was time to talk to each other and the boys, now it is not quite the close knit community it used to be. The school is competent in so many areas and so many things. Teresa knew not only the names of the boys she taught but of all the boys in the high school, now there are far too many. She realises that St David’s has to move with the times and has to compete with other schools. Teresa prides herself on being the only high school teacher who still has a blackboard in her classroom. This doesn’t mean that she doesn’t use technology and is not IT illiterate but she prefers the old way of teaching. For sometime Teresa was responsible for the school’s trophies, taking over from Father Brewer when he became ill. This has now been taken over by Karina George and Teresa is grateful that she no longer has to track down and ensure the return of the many trophies, ensuring they were in good condition and engraved every year in time for prize giving. Teresa always enjoys seeing the old boys and there are very few of whom she has negative memories. She helped many of the boys without charge, some appreciated this and others took it for granted. Of her colleagues she remembers Paul Edey who made people believe in themselves, he was warm and kind and made her feel special and she valued that she mattered. Although she initially didn’t get on with him, she ended up teaching grade 10’s with Rod Smith and he was immensely supportive when she was made housemaster. She regards Willy Castle as very special and she would run through a brick wall for him. During her bleakest year in 2005, he encouraged her to run the Comrades marathon and she hasn’t looked back since. He has been her mentor, friend, running partner and has the ability to make people believe in themselves. Teresa has changed direction in her career and is happy to remain at St David’s until she retires; she regards St David’s as her home. St David’s is a special place and the pride and tradition doesn’t just belong to the men and the boys and old boys. She was greatly affected by the “bus incident” and how it impacted on the school and finds it difficult to understand the mentality of the matrics and their expectations of how they want to treat the grade 8’s. Teresa believes that the school needs staff that understands and relate to what the staff actually do here and are prepared to contribute. One has to believe in what one is doing and that not every day is going to be fun. JLE February 2014
Interview with Pam Groenewald – Staff 1998 Pam came to St David’s in 1998 to work as the prep school headmaster, Rick Wilson’s PA. She found Rick to be an unbelievably, kind and well organised boss and really enjoyed working for him. He was incredibly ... »
Interview with Pam Groenewald – Staff 1998 Pam came to St David’s in 1998 to work as the prep school headmaster, Rick Wilson’s PA. She found Rick to be an unbelievably, kind and well organised boss and really enjoyed working for him. He was incredibly supportive and was amazing when Pam went through her battle with cancer five months after joining the staff. Pam is a very focused, well organised individual who believes in doing everything correctly and has been involved with schools for some time. Her parents were part of the struggle, a strong Methodist family and they often had black ministers and ANC members stay with them which has given her a great insight and empathy with people. This is essential as part of Pam’s job has always been to calm parents down when necessary. She remembers her first day very well and couldn’t believe her office, which was originally the brothers’ toilet and wondered if she would cope. To gain access she had to walk through Rick’s office and on one occasion when he had a number of visitors and she urgently needed to get out of her office, Cheryl helped her squeeze though a tiny window in order not to disturb Rick. Pam got on very well with Rick, Cheryl King and Robbie Orr, they all had a good sense of humour and to this day Rick will still mischievously hide the mouse to Pam’s PC. Pam did all the admissions to the prep school which was a heavy load but she coped. Unfortunately Pam needed to earn more money and left after 5 years only to return again after 3 months in 2003 to work as PA for Malcolm Williams, the headmaster of the high school. Pam coped well with Malcolm and his flamboyant style of leadership and found him to be a very private person. She found him to be highly intelligent with a very good brain and good heart and has a lot of respect for him. Pam’s children have also been associated with St David’s, Craig has been involved as swimming coach for the past 15 years and Cathy worked in the pre-primary for 10 years until last year. JE September 2003
Interview – Gary Norton – Staff Gary was a member of staff at St David’s from 1989 until 1996 when he was acting headmaster. He then went to Oakhill in Knysna before returning to take up his current post as headmaster of Marion College. He recalls that his ... »
Interview – Gary Norton – Staff Gary was a member of staff at St David’s from 1989 until 1996 when he was acting headmaster. He then went to Oakhill in Knysna before returning to take up his current post as headmaster of Marion College. He recalls that his sons Ryan and Shaun, together with the Edey boys started cleaning up the reservoir adding fish and feeding the ducks. In 1994/5 there was a combined Biology/Geography trip for the grade 9’s (then standard 7) that he made together with Father Brewer to Groot Marico. They used a farm as their base, it was very wild and the boys had to make their own toilets and wash their utensils properly. Gary told the boys that they had to have a knife and to make sure that they didn’t get hurt as there were no facilities or anaesthetic if needed. On the Saturday, early evening he and Father Brewer were relaxing when Gareth Simaan, Robbie Tait and Murray White came to them. Gareth said Murray had cut his hand. Thinking that the boys were conning them, it didn’t look real, they told them to go away. However, when they had a good look at the hand they saw how serious it was. They bandaged him up as best they could, got on the bus and, with Father Brewer got to Ventersdorp where they got directions to a doctor. They had to open a gate and two large alsatians came running toward them, they managed to get past them and find the doctor who wasn’t impressed saying “You guys from town don’t know anything”. So the hand was stitched up without anaesthetic just as Gary had warned the boys! There was another memorable trip to Hoedspruit, Blydepoort, also a Biology/Geography camp. On the Sunday the boys were playing touch rugby by the pool and Bradley Geldenhuys managed to break his foot. During this camp an impala was shot and the boys had to cut it up, bleed it and make a potjie. They also went hunting as a part of a culling exercise. One of the boys was stung by a scorpion, very venomous with urotoxic venom; fortunately they managed to treat it. Bradley Geldenhuys then disappeared, at 3am, he saw a zebra and went to pat it and it promptly kicked Bradley on the head. On leaving they had a chicken parade, checking no rubbish was left behind when Bradley called out that he had seen something in the grass – Gary promptly told them all to get on the bus! On another occasion, one of the teachers, Robin Henderson took the grade 8 boys to the weather station; he came back in tears as they had been so badly behaved. Gary summoned all the boys and asked them to write down who was really naughty. He then dismissed the boys but told them that if they had been naughty they should come to his classroom. Out of 75 boys, 72 went to his classroom and when he asked one of the smaller boys why he was there to get a hiding, he replied that he thought he had better come just in case his name was on the list. Another pupil, Kieran Rowan was diagnosed with leukaemia and Gary remembers telling him to think that, like Pacman, his cells were gobbling up the cancer – he survived and is still alive. On a Friday afternoons Gary would take some of the boys fishing and many of the naughty boys would come along. Gary recalls asking one boy why his father never came and fished with him, he replied that his father did spend one afternoon with him but told him he had given up R15 000 he would have earned had he been working instead. Needless to say the boy didn’t ask his father again. Gary’s wife Alison is a prep school teacher at St David’s JE August 2011
Interview – Peter Habberton – Staff 1975 - 80 Peter grew up in Benoni, son of an Anglican minister who was forced to leave South Africa in
As a consequence, Peter finished his schooling and university education in England returning to South Africa in 1974. As a member of the Wanderers cricket club at the time he learnt that Peter Stringer the current St David’s cricket coach was leaving. He went to see Brother Timothy and was subsequently employed as cricket coach and P.E. teacher in October 1975. Br Timothy gave Peter and his new wife Jackie 3 rooms upstairs overlooking the cricket fields in what is now the CEO’s house. Their daughter was born there in 1978. Peter had a dog called Shane who went with him everywhere and tracked down his son, aged 2 when he once went missing walking out through the school grounds to a nearby shopping centre. Peter taught Physical Education from the prep through to the high school having a PE degree from the UK. He then started to teach English and became part of the school’s management team together with Trudy Elliott, the then head of English. Peter coached the 1st team cricket and 1st team rugby and was in charge of athletics. Later on Peter started the Art department also painting the scenery and sets for the annual matric dance. There were still many brothers teaching including Br Timothy, Br Mario, Br Bernard, a keen photographer and artist, Br Aidan the bursar. Br Jude was the Brother Provincial. Br Anthony was no longer around but popped in occasionally. Other teachers were Ken Lipschitz, Maths; Tom Macfadden, History; John Vahey, Geography ; Heather Joseph taught in the prep school together with Willy Castle and Terry O’Mahoney both of whom joined as students whilst studying at JCE. Willy eventually took over the prep soccer. Terrry O’Mahoney, coming from a strong Marist family was a fellow student who went on to St John’s. In 1980 Peter Swanson was the assistant coach for rugby. Mrs Gilroy, Br Timothy’s secretary, ruled the roost in the admin block. In those days the school had fewer pupils and not many resources but managed to climb up to the A league and become competitive especially in the Catholic schools league. Peter remembered an occasion when Walter Cronje was victim of a dirty player on the Observatory side. The player had been sent off, was allowed to return to the field again and immediately homed in on Walter tackling him and rupturing his spleen in the process. The land was sold off where the Inandas now stand but it was believed that the money was used not only for St David’s but other Marist schools. However, there was a good spirit in the school with a very supportive parent community. There were on average 27 boys in a class and Br Timothy was a firm but understanding headmaster. Some of the boys he remembers are Mike Peel, a brilliant cricketer now living in the Nelspruit area who is now an environmental scientist. He was the first of Peter’s charges to get into the Transvaal Nuffield cricket team. Sasha Martinengo who now presents motor racing on Super Sport was in the prep school in those days JE October 2012
Interview with Paul Edey 1995 – 2006 Paul Edey was appointed as college headmaster during 1994 to start in January 1995. He had previously taught at St John’s College and King Edward VII School, where he was a viceprincipal. The search for a new head to ... »
Interview with Paul Edey 1995 – 2006 Paul Edey was appointed as college headmaster during 1994 to start in January 1995. He had previously taught at St John’s College and King Edward VII School, where he was a viceprincipal. The search for a new head to take over from P Davies was led by Tony Frost, head of human resources at Lonhro,and a colleague of the chairman of the board,Terence Wilkinson. 1994 had been a difficult year for the school with the board conducting a survey which had resulted in the headmaster, Paul Davies, stepping down. The deputy head, Gary Norton, acted as head for eight months with Paul Davies continuing to live at Mary Knoll for 7 months and only moving out in the December of 1994. The school was battling financially and had endured a succession of lay headmasters in the college following the last Marist Brother, Brother Timothy Mc Krindle ( (1967-81) South Africa was in a state of flux with the first free and democratic elections resulting in Nelson Mandela coming to power in April 1994. The relationship between the prep school , which was thriving and successful and the college which was battling for numbers was poor Paul’s biggest challenges were to win the confidence of the prep school and the parents to encourage them to send their sons to the high school rather than local rivals St Stithians and St John’s College. In 1995 sixty four boys were admitted into grade 8 and split into three classes. Some of the top prep boys had been awarded scholarships to rival senior schools, but for the first time in many years the numbers were up in the college. The school wrote the Transvaal education department matriculation examination (TED) and the results were generally undistinguished. There were 267 boys in the High School in 1995 with Michael von Guilleaume,head boy and Jeremy Wickens, deputy, leading a small but very talented matric group. Although Anglican, Paul made doubly sure that the Catholic ethos remained and strengthened. The numbers picked up from 1996 with a small but stable staff of 18 with some very strong teachers such as Lesley Henning (HOD Maths), Belinda Marais (HOD Afrikaans), Richard Girdwood (English and senior housemaster) and Rod Smith, former headmaster of Sandown High School. We were very fortunate to have a very successful rugby team in 1995 with the side winning 18 out of 19 matches and going on a very rewarding tour of Australia to round off the season. Of interest was the fact that the touring squad had 5 boys in it from Jabulani Technical High School in Soweto whose tour was paid for through the fundraising efforts of the St David’s community. 1996 was a very weak year academically but the numbers were increasing and things were looking up. Rick Wilson was appointed head of the prep at the beginning of 1996. He took over from the very successful and charismatic Greg Royce, who had left in the middle of 1995 to become headmaster of St Peter’s Preparatory. The senior school suffered a blow at the end of 1996 when the loyal and hardworking deputy headmaster Gary Norton left to take up the headship of Oakhill School in Knysna. Pete Geldenhuys, Andrew Brownlee, Greg Lamb and Richard Girdwood, all four housemasters left during the course of 1996. In one year the entire college management team apart from the head and bursar had left. Malcolm Williams, an old friend and colleague of Paul’s from Wits and King Edward’s, was appointed as the deputy head during
A number of other colleagues from the King Edward’s days joined the staff with Simon Fry and Stuart Foulds coming in as the heads of department of History and English respectively. Teresa Vroom became the librarian. Critically, at this time Kevin Brewer became chairman of the board and together with the school management team and the support of the Marist Brothers an exciting development plan was put together for the school. Under the leadership of Bill Carter and Gerrit Wessels of the architectural firm Taljaard Carter, this was to result in the complete redevelopment of the school over the next decade. The development plan covered a 10 year period. In 1997 the grade O block was built and the high school pavilion replaced the long serving zozo hut from which tea at sports fixtures had been served. For years the long suffering mother’s committee, under the extremely capable leadership of Mary von Guilleaume, had complained how the cream scones and cakes had gone sour in the heat of the summer. These developments were followed by 6 new classrooms, the redevelopment of the quadrangle, the amphitheatre and the Champagnat hall. Two new libraries, a music school and a design and technology centre were to follow in quick succession when the astroturf and the new car park were developed the school was almost unrecognisable from its rustic appearance of the mid 1990’s. The school borrowed R12m with an unsecured loan from Standard Bank after Br Jude and Kevin Brewer went to see Myles Ruck. It has to be noted that there was some uncertainty over tenure as the land and buildings belonged to the Marist Brothers and all major capital projects over R500 000 had to be approved by Rome. Over the next seven years the numbers in the senior school increased to 500 and there were now more applicants than places. Scholarships were offered to top children which culminated in 2001 when Garth Horsten, Kyle Wales, Jean Paulo Peirera were in the top 50 IEB matrics for that year. The sport showed steady improvement under the leadership of Graeme McMillan with cricket in particular able to compete against the top state and independent schools. Hockey was driven by Malcolm Williams and the school had reasonably good rugby sides. The prep was also very strong in athletics, soccer and swimming., this began to have important spin –offs for the college. Father Brewer died in 1999, the boys adored him, he was always on the sports field or backstage providing support to the boys, but he hated authority and didn’t like headmasters! The school was now being headed up by non-Catholics and there was a lot of talk about ethos. The brothers started the pilgrimage to France and Rome in order to give lay school administrators and teachers a feel for, and understanding, of the Marist ethos and charism. It was comforting to have brothers at the school as a buffer against the board which became increasingly secular. The school was now being run in a far more business-like manner, but it was essential that the Marist ethos be maintained, something which was quite difficult given its location in the richest business centre on the african continent. Kevin Brewer had had the time and energy to really set the school development plan on its way and at the same time to keep a close eye on the finances. He was followed as chairman by Tony Reilly, Eric Annegarn, and Tony Chappel. Certainly the board and PTA had some very strong people like the Brocco’s, Emmanuels, O’Shea, Busschau, Van Linden families and Trevor and Glenda Anderson played a major role. The characters on the staff were Anderson, Ansell, Joseph, Castle and Marais. Paul was made executive head (CEO) in 2002 which was motivated by Kevin Brewer. Paul had been head for 7 years and had started looking around elsewhere to further his career. With numbers around 1,100 the school had to think about where it was going next with the building having largely been completed. Hence the idea of a super head to deal with the CIE, brothers, and JOCASCO and to build up the Foundation office. In the first year of the new headship there was no deputy, or clarity on Paul’s role. It was a difficult period for Paul and his great friend Malcolm Williams, who was appointed as head of the high school as the new roles were established. Malcolm was studying for his Master’s in Education and initially had no deputy until the appointment of David Smith to the role. Paul seldom interfered with the prep school and only when there was flack did he get involved. The prep probably got limited value from the new structure. The philosophy behind the appointment of a non teacher in the CEO role was that Mike Greeff brought experience of strategic planning, HR, and financial skills with him. He was adept at handling the non- teaching aspects of school administration. The admin staff Paul recalled were the bursar Malcom Smit, the charming and efficient pair of June Anderson (college secretary) and Lindsay Van Heerden, head’s secretary, Genny Carvalho, Audrey Williams, Mary von Guilleaume, Sister Mary Ryan and Willem van der Merwe and his great team on the grounds George Ndlovu, Big Julius Shivambu, Thomas Ramutsindela and of course the long serving Phineas Selima and Julius Shibambu (Zimbabwean) who had worked in the brothers dining room for years, deceased who worked for the school for 45 years. Paul mentioned that the book written by Margeurite Poland “The Boy in You” about the history of St Andrew’s College sold for R450 per copy when it was published in 2008 and a limited edition of 100 leather bound copies sold for R5000. Paul is currently headmaster of St John’s College. JE 2016
