SGB Welcome to 2010

Dear Parents, educators and learners
Welcome to our Grade 8s and their parents. We hope that you will enjoy your time at Rustenburg. This is the first of my quarterly letters to the school community.

OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENTS
Our girls have continued to excel on numerous fronts in the past few months. Our 2009 matrics performed very well and, as a grade, were placed first in the province in English and Latin and in the top 3 in a number of other subjects. A number of our girls also individually achieved places in the top 10 in various subjects. The newsletters and website are filled with articles describing numerous academic, sporting and cultural successes. Despite these successes, I was struck the other day in conversations with various parents whose daughters are trying to decide on a high school at how ill- informed (and misinformed) they were about Rustenburg. It occurred to me that we cannot leave the marketing of Rustenburg to the principal (although she does an outstanding job). It is up to each parent and each girl to “gossip” good news about Rustenburg if we want to attract the top girls from primary schools. Whilst a few girls are looking for who will offer them the best scholarships, most girls and parents make their decisions on the basis of what they hear from people who are already in the school. A few well chosen words from a girl or a parent can make the difference.

LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT
We are fortunate to have an outstanding leadership team at Rustenburg because part of our vision is to develop “girls who are leading courageously”. It is gratifying to see the work done by Mrs Schnetler and her team coming together to provide the girls with a leadership development programme. We are thrilled that every girl in the school will be included in the programme and that the staff is looking at ways in which to give each girl an opportunity to lead in some way. The SGB voted more than R100,000 this year to pilot this programme and I have no doubt that it will be money well spent. Apart from the outstanding academic grounding that our girls get, I think that this programme will give them the competitive edge when they enter the job market in years to come.

INTERNATIONAL BENCHMARKING
Rustenburg continues to attract international attention and each year we are visited by educationalists who are interested to see how we do things. The SGB has recognised that we need to continually measure ourselves against the best in the world and not just against the best in Cape Town. To this end we continue to engage with agencies that can assist us with international benchmarking and inform us about international best practice. This year the SGB has decided to send both Ms Bekker and Mrs Schnetler overseas to explore further opportunities in this area. We can expect to hear more from them in this regard.

BUILDING WORK
Three years ago we embarked on a project to improve the first impressions of the school. A number of projects have already been completed to accomplish this including the redesign of the administration block. This year we want to give this project impetus by making substantial improvements to the front entrance of the school and to the area at the back of the school which most visitors to the school encounter.

The front entrance will be revamped during the June holidays. Improvements include:

A more substantial entrance using a combination of brickwork and palisade fencing
The gate will be set back further from the road to allow for 6 cars to be off the road
The road will be widened to accommodate 2 lanes and parking bays will be moved to allow free flow of traffic
The gardens at the front entrance will be extended and more clearly defined
A parking bay and a ramp for the disabled will be built on the right hand side of the front entrance
Flag poles will be erected at the front of the school so that the school flag and the national flag can be flown

Some of you will have noticed that the courtyard outside the school shop has been cleared and some trees felled. This is in preparation for the following work that will begin in the next few weeks:

New indigenous trees will be planted in this area and seating, shrubs and a water feature will be introduced under the trees
A shelter will be built for girls to wait under when it is raining or hot
The road and parking will be rationalized and a pedestrian crossing introduced to ensure greater order and safety for the girls
The area on the corner of the cricket field will be terraced to allow for seating under the trees
Walkways will be lined with low level lighting to improve visibility at night
A new sports office will be built next to the change rooms with access from the courtyard.
The sport’s change rooms will be upgraded and the access to them will be improved
Glass doors will be fitted on the north side of the hall to allow overflow into the new courtyard.
The area outside the hall that leads into this courtyard will be extended and partially covered
The entrance to the Music Department will be given greater prominence

Smaller projects this year include the upgrading of the Matric courtyard, the Kemp hall foyer and toilets. New signage will be introduced around the school as well.

FINANCIAL MATTERS
We have been encouraged by the positive commitment parents have shown to paying school fees in full and on time this year. We are also grateful to the parents who have already made voluntary contributions of R76 400 and pledged a further R61,000. This is hugely encouraging to us as a Governing Body particularly with all the building projects that we have planned. Voluntary donations to the school can be made throughout the school year and they are tax deductible in terms of section 18A of the Income Tax Act.

A WORD ABOUT THE SGB
Congratulations are in order to Adv Ronel Berg who serves on the Rustenburg SGB. She was recently appointed as the Vice Chairperson of the National Governing Body Foundation. Our sub committees continue to do sterling work. The Campus Development and Maintenance (CDM) committee oversees all the repairs and building work that has to be done on our campus. The Marketing committee has produced a DVD as well as a prospectus and pamphlet about the school. The HR committee has drafted a number of new policies for the school. The finance committee ensures that we run a tight ship. The fundraising committee has been planning and you will hear more about their plans in the coming weeks. The Erinville committee has been proactive in refurbishing the hostel and it is beginning to look more like home from home for the girls. Our RCL members on SGB do an outstanding job of keeping us informed about the needs and aspirations of the girls.

We greatly appreciate the words of encouragement and concern we receive from parents and we are always open to ideas and constructive criticism. Feel free to give us feedback on sgb@rghs.org.za

DAVID NEWBY