Monday 17 February: One of the School’s most significant moments annually is the Academic Prize Giving. It’s our opportunity to recognise and honour the hard work and commitment of our students in a forum of their peers, staff, and families – all of whom have played a significant part in the academic growth and achievements of the Wynberg Men listed in the programme and the Special Awards section below.
Prize Giving is also traditionally the opportunity for WBHS to award Scrolls of Honour for exceptional service, and we take huge pride in honouring Mr Jan HH De Waal, 14th Headmaster of Wynberg Boys’ High, and Mr Edries Burton, former Chair of the School Governing Bodies of both Wynberg Boys’ High and Junior Schools. We thank them for their continued service and guidance.
Kamlin Reddy – The Ryno Greenwall Prize awarded for the most original history project of the year.
His research delves into the socio-economic and environmental impacts of illegal ‘Zama Zama’ mining in South Africa. He highlighted the dangers faced by miners and residents, exposing exploitation, crime, and safety hazards within this underground economy.
Luca Caronti – The Vincent Grainger Award for the best performance in the South African Maths Olympiad
Samuel Payne – Anthony Morris Prize awarded to the Grade 8 pupil who showed the most loyalty to the school through his participation in school activities.
Sam had a fantastic start to his high school career by contributing to school life in the following ways: 14B Water Polo, 14A Hockey, and 14A Rugby Captain. He is an academic achiever as evidenced by his Junior Blues award. He also served the school and the community by attending most, if not all, of the Service outreaches in 2024.
Ethan Strydom – Donald Simons Award to the Grade 10 pupil who has shown the most improvement over his academic performances in previous years.
Ethan improved his aggregate by 15% between Grade 9 and Grade 10 which lead to him achieving a Gold MPL.
Michail Tarentall – David Levitt Memorial Trophy awarded to the Grade 10 pupil who was an inspiration to all his fellow students.
Michail served the school in many ways during his Grade 10 year. A member of the 1st XI Cricket, and now Vice-Captain. He played U16A Hockey and toured with the 1st Team to the Nomads Hockey Festival. He is a top 20 academic with an average of over 80%. He is an Oude Wijnberg Core Committee member, and a core member of the RCL and the Sports Committee, showing that he is willing to serve the school as a leader.
Benjamin Budge – Alf Morris Award to a Grade 11 pupil who is an all-rounder.
Benjamin is a dedicated First Team Chess player, a Level-3 First Aider serving as deputy head of the society, and a strong academic performer.
Seth Trantraal – The Neil and Cecil Jowell Achiever Award.
Seth epitomises the citation for this award. He lives and demonstrates all Wynberg Values every day. He has shown significant determination and perseverance over his years at Wynberg and is a role model of how to be a true Wynberg Man.
Caedan Steyn – Fine Family Technical Bursary awarded to a deserving boy who intends to study one of the Technical Subjects in Grade
Luke Gertze – Fine Family Bursary
Luke epitomizes a true Wyberg Man through his whole-hearted embodiment of our school’s morals and values. He has overcome difficulties quietly, with grace and determination. He is someone who consistently works incredibly hard and never gives up, whether it be academically or on the rugby field. He carries himself proudly and is kind and respectful to all. He is a humble young man of outstanding character. He will do justice to the Fine Family legacy.
Supera Moras Awards – awarded for excellence across the four pillars of the school.
Chibike Bruce Igilige
Matthew Mills
Adam Uhuaba
The year 2024 has gone by in a flash and another exciting chapter has been written in the history of Wynberg Boys’ High School. During a year filled with exciting opportunities and events, all the stakeholders have contributed to the many highlights and successes, but we also acknowledge the learning opportunities that the year offered.
I shared some thoughts with the boys and staff during the year on the importance of making a difference. I came across an article named ‘Stretching gives you a shot at significance’ in which the late Indian statesman Mahatma Gandi was quoted as saying that the difference between what we do, and what we can do, would suffice to solve most of the world’s problems. I could not agree more with this statement: we often underestimate what we can accomplish if we only set our minds to it. That difference is the gap between good and great: what closes the gap is our willingness to stretch. People who exist on the “good” side of the gap live in the land of the permissible. What they do is okay, and they follow the rules and don’t make waves.
However, when you cross over the gap you find yourself on the “great” side, or the land of the possible. This is where people achieve extraordinarily. They do more than they believed they could, and they make an impact. How do they manage to do this? They do this by continually leaving their comfort zones to stretch toward their capacity zone. Significance is birthed within each of us and if we are willing to stretch, that seed can grow until it begins to bear fruit in our lives.
The change within us, therefore, challenges us to make changes around us, and our growth creates the belief in us that others can also grow. When that happens, and everybody is stretching and growing, indifference is replaced with an approach of make-a-difference. And that is how we, as the Wynberg Boys’ High community, begin to change the world.
It is hard to believe that the Vision 2025 Indaba to discuss the school’s strategic vision for three years (2022-2025) was held on 16-17 September 2022 at the Newlands Cricket Grounds, just over two years ago. All the staff involved at the school were represented as well as members of the then SGB who also attended this Indaba. Through certain themes, our Vision for 2025 was defined as a narrative. Our passionate and committed staff undertook to develop the Wynberg Boy to becoming a Wynberg Man while engaging the modern parent.
We are striving to be a continually transforming and evolving school and to present and lead education innovation, evolve our Pastoral system, be of service and give back to our community, and aim to become a Top 5 sports school in the country with one of the best cultural programmes in South Africa. Building relationships with the Wynberg Old Boys’ Union, our feeder schools, and tertiary institutions are also a high priority and essential to our Vision 2025. The school’s core values of honesty, excellence, inclusivity, respect, and ‘Supera Moras’ remain the DNA of the school, and our Wynberg Men are the heirs (an acronym for these values) thereof.
By implementing Vision 2025, and looking back upon 2024, it is pleasing to note how some of our boys have already stretched themselves toward their capacity zone, achieving above all expectations and, in many ways, realising the lofty ideals of Vision 2025 in the process.
In the context of this envisioned future state, focus areas were identified with staff members who would champion these areas through a collective approach. Education innovation has been quantified by making academics our top priority and the Class of 2023 and 2014 reaching excellent academic standards of a 100% pass rate and a Bachelor’s pass around 90% in the NSC Examinations.
Developing critical thinking, creativity, collaboration, and effective communication also remains part of our modern approach to 21st century skills development. In terms of our focus on reaching excellence in sports, we have identified in Vision 2025 to be ranked as a top 5 school in the country in the major sports offered by boys’ schools, namely rugby, hockey, soccer, cricket, water polo, and basketball, and were delighted when the final rankings were published in November last year placing our school in fourth position nationally (we achieved sixth position in 2023). By combining top-quality coaching with top-quality facilities – we broke ground on our exciting Indoor Cricket Facility in August last year – excellence can also be quantified in this area of school-life.
Excellence within our multi-cultural approach entails focusing on providing a variety of opportunities for our boys and achieving exceptional standards in the execution thereof. The musical production ‘Grease’ was staged in August last year, and it was a week filled with wonder and excitement and extremely high standards not expected of a school production. It also involves serving and continually making a difference in our community through various outreach initiatives.
The numerous people and organisations that the school has not only personally touched through donations and hours of service, and by making a tangible difference in their everyday lives, speak volumes about our approach to turning hope into reality within our service pillar.
Looking after the well-being of our staff through effective development sessions, aggressive recruitment and compensation, and via effective communication, we aim to recognise our staff as a crucial component in our school. Identifying both human and physical resources is critical to ensure a well-functioning and high-performance school.
Through the support of Old Boys, parents, corporates, and sponsors our Vision 2025 initiative is in the process of being realised. Our Student Support Centre, together with our House and Tutor system, have provided our boys with the necessary support and regular counselling to deal with any emotional and academic challenges they may experience.
A distinguishing feature of our school is its community-focused, caring approach and the willingness of the staff to go the extra mile. I would also like to thank the school finance team for meeting all the financial challenges that most schools are experiencing in these trying economic times. All these stakeholders have contributed to the many successes of the year and do not always receive the accolades that they deserve.
However, our Wynberg Men remain our primary export products, and they have exceeded all expectations. With the cries of “Hoya! Hoya!” still echoing on various platforms both nationally and abroad, we are raising our profile as a school and developing resilience amongst our boys through our caring and empathetic approach.
Our boys are major stakeholders and role players in the marketing of our school and were fully involved in various events and activities on our school calendar. Some highlights include hosting several successful Open Days, various Inter-House events, Derby Days against our traditional rivals, hosting successful rugby, soccer, water polo, and basketball festivals, additional assemblies on Thursdays to improve the esprit de corps, and several other initiatives.
The Grade 8 boys could not have asked for better ‘buddies’ and role models and this special bond epitomises the camaraderie that exists between the Wynberg Men. In 2025 we also include our Grade 11 boys as ‘buddies’ to the new Grade 8s – this will provide the necessary continuity and support when the Grade 12s start focusing on their important examinations towards the latter part of the year.
During the year we continued to focus on the four pillars of the school and to renew our efforts to provide boys with opportunities to grow and develop in the areas of academics, sport, cultural activities, and service. Our philosophy at the school is that these opportunities will enable our boys to develop holistically and prepare them to make meaningful contributions to society as Wynberg Men.
Our school cannot function without the boys and many activities were initiated to educate our boys so they are fully prepared to leave the Memorial Gates to make significant contributions. The Grade 8s had Mark Russell speak to them and their parents at the Grade 8 Evening during Term 1. He dealt with topics such as addiction (both physical and digital), self-esteem, and bullying. Several Life Orientation Days were also hosted for all the grades during which different themes and topics were covered particularly by our Student Support Centre and Counselling department.
The school continued during the year with a ‘theme of the week’ initiative providing topics discussed with boys by the tutors during tutor periods, giving more structure to these valuable sessions with pertinent issues addressed. Some of the themes addressed with the boys included goal setting, to be 10% braver, the state of the school blazers (“the fabric that binds us”), Balcony vs Basement people, background on Heritage week and Founders’ Day, punctuality, Wynberg awards, and corresponding dress, litter on campus, study skills and planning, to name but a few.
The school will be increasing the number of benches on the campus as requested by the RCL. Sandwiches are also prepared daily and made available at the Help Desk for those boys in need of food. All social media platforms were blocked from 1 March 2024 for boys during school hours. Cell phones have become a huge distraction and are often used to visit social media platforms and not for educational purposes. This was communicated to both parents and boys and was generally well-received. Television monitors were also placed at strategic locations around the school and pre-recorded clips were shown to the boys to build spirit in the lead-up to our Derby Days.
Our school community, and parents, in particular, make up some of the school’s major stakeholders and play a leading role in existing partnerships. The parents are represented by a newly elected School Governing Body elected in March 2024.
I would like to thank Mr. Edries Burton, as outgoing Chairperson of the School Governing Body, and all the other outgoing members, for their leadership and continued support during the past three years. They sacrificed family and personal time to support and serve the school and were always willing to represent the parents selflessly and without remuneration. For this, I commend and thank them.
The education landscape in South Africa has become extremely challenging and complex, and schools need parents willing to volunteer and serve their communities – the outgoing School Governing Body of Wynberg Boys’ High School is a fine example to us all of what can be accomplished.
Looking back on the year, we are thankful for all our successes in the school’s key performance areas and the willingness of all involved to embrace the challenges of education within the South African context. While we remain humble in our endeavours, the Wynberg Boys’ High brand is vibrant and exciting.
I would like to thank our committed and dedicated staff, our enthusiastic and selfless SGB members, our supportive parents, Old Boys, friends of the school, and our enthusiastic ‘Wynberg Men’ who all contributed to making the year 2024 such a memorable one. 2025 is beckoning … and I can’t wait.
