·
Grievance & disciplinary
procedures for parents
10. The following policies are tabled for
ratification by Council:
·
Remuneration Policy
11. The following policies are tabled for the
information of Council:
·
Amended Advertising &
Sponsorship Policy
·
Amended Level 6 Learnership /
Internship Policy
·
Relocation of Staff from
Outside Gauteng
Policy
·
Memorials Policy
·
Additional Languages Policy
12. The Executive is in the process of reviewing/
drafting/ finalising the following policies:
·
First Aid Policy for Staff
·
Comprehensive HIV/Aids Policy
·
Drug & Alcohol Policy
·
Sport & Overseas Tours Policy
·
Fundraising Policy
·
Saints Branding Policy
·
Computer, Internet, E-mail
& Telephone Usage Policy – currently with the Staff Forum
·
Medical Aid and Medical
Assistance – currently with the Staff Forum
·
Amendments to the PDP Policy
THE CO-ORDINATE MODEL &
GENDER ISSUES
13. These issues were addressed as part of the
Executive Strategic Planning Session. A
full report back to Council will take place on 15 October 2005.
CURRICULA
14. The FET Committee continues to
monitor developments and make preparations for 2006.
15. The
issue of offering Accountancy and Business Studies was raised at the Grade 9
Subject Choice Parents’ Evening and discussed at the College
Executive. It was agreed that the FET
Committee would discuss this fully at their July Meeting and then present a
proposal to the College Executive.
16. The FET curriculum would need to be approved
at the College Executive level.
EMPLOYMENT
ISSUES
17. In line with the SEC Constitution, the Skills & Equity
Committee and the College Staff Forum meet on a monthly basis during the term
and continue to report to Council each term.
LEVEL 6 LEARNERSHIPS - INTERN
PROGRAMME
18. Mrs Linda Galanakis, an English Teacher in the Girls’
College, has been appointed as the Level 6 Learnership Co-ordinator at the
College. In this capacity she will
liaise with all five schools and their interns.
She will work with both the trainee teachers and their mentors in the
school that they are attached to, as well as the Heads of schools. Her main task will be to streamline, develop
and increase our internship programme.
In the long run we are hoping to grow this programme so that it will
make a significant contribution to the training of Maths and Science teachers in
our country by recruiting more and more students to this, with funding coming
from our Foundation under the able leadership of Peter Backwell (a parent in
the Boys’ College and Boys’ Prep).
19. The
Foundation has indicated that they would be keen to become involved in the
proposal to link the Learnerships to the Maths/Science/Technology Initiative
(MSTI) and further progress on this will be communicated in due course.
COLLEGE STAFF UPDATE
20. Each Head will report on their
school’s staffing, as required by Council.
21. Dr Irene Lategan
resigned from St Stithians College with effect from 30 June 2005. Irene was offered a wonderful opportunity to
teach in Australia
and so be near her son and grandchildren.
The College Executive and relevant staff will review the Academic
Support Programme and staffing needs at a meeting scheduled for 27 July 2005.
PR/MARKETING/COMMUNICATION
22. The
PR/Marketing Committee continues to meet at least twice a term.
23. An advert was placed in The Star (Workplace) in March 2005.
·
85 applications were
received and Carel Nolte and Bev Johnson reviewed these. A list of 17 potential candidates was
identified.
·
The Rector had 30-minute
initial interviews with these candidates (5 of whom were connected to the
Saints Family) and short-listed 5 applicants for a second interview.
·
An interview panel,
comprising the Rector, Mesdames Dace & Prinsloo, and Messrs Knowles &
Nolte, interviewed the 5 applicants but could not reach consensus.
·
A late
application was received from a Marketer at one of Saints’ competitor schools,
who proved to be an excellent prospect.
The Rector made this candidate an offer but this person declined the
post.
24. The PR
Committee have discussed the way forward and are drafting a revised advert to
be placed in the Sunday Times.
SAINTS JUBILEE HISTORY
25. Several meetings have taken
place with Walter MacFarlane and Sandi Ahrennbrecht (of CREDA Publications) to
monitor progress. The agreed publication
date is 24 September 2005 (Spring Festival Day).
26. Pamphlets were distributed to
all at Founders’ Day advertising the Saints History, the costs and providing a
pre-ordering opportunity.
PARENTAL INVOLVEMENT IN THE COLLEGE
27. Mr Gary Carter and Mr Toni
Serra have been elected as the Parents’ Association Chair and Vice-Chair,
respectively, for 2005.
STATUS OF THE
PROPERTY
28. The Rector met with the Town Planner, Mrs C
Mitchell, on 11 May 2005, to discuss Erf 32 (Peter Place) and the View Road site. Mrs Mitchell continues to monitor developments on both
these properties.
PROPERTY RATES
29. Attached for information is a
memorandum from the Chairman of ISASA, Henry Bennett (Annexure C),
concerning the new property rates implemented after the Local Government
Municipal Property Rates Act (06/2004) was approved. It is hoped that when the Johannesburg Municipality
decides on the rating of schools and other PBOs it will follow National Policy
Guidelines that suggest that both public and independent schools should be
zero-rated. It is possible, however,
that schools that charge higher fees, such as Saints, might be faced with a
rates bill. This could be significant
and have major financial implications for the College. To date there is still no further clarity on
this.
RANDBURG REVITALISATION PROJECT
30. The Johannesburg Development Agency (JDA) has
recently established the Randburg Development Forum and St Stithians College
has been asked, as a key institution close to the Randburg CBD, to participate
in this forum. The main task of the
forum is to serve as a consultative body for the JDA to consult on matters
concerning urban renewal and regeneration.
The JDA has a mandate to upgrade the Randburg CBD, similar to the
improvements that are underway in the Johannesburg CBD. As the College is so close to the Randburg
CBD and in order to secure the long-term interests of St Stithians, I will be
attending these forum meetings. The JDA
has a new three-year business plan that will be presented at the June 2005
meeting. This plan involves the
upgrading of existing roads and intersections.
One of the plans under discussion is the opening of Hill Street up to Jan Smuts Avenue, owing to the decay in
the urban pedestrian mall of the Hill
Street area.
There is also a plan to upgrade and possibly even sell off all
Council-owned land, due to the deterioration, as well as to clean up the
so-called Civic Triangle, next to the taxi rank at the intersection between Jan
Smuts and Hendrik Verwoerd Drive. The College has offered to host the meetings
of the Randburg Development Forum.
CORPORATE
SPONSORSHIP & ADVERTISING
31. The Sponsorship Consultant,
Colin Hudson, has investigated how other schools are sourcing alternative
sources of income for their schools and has detailed this in his report to
Council.
ISASA & SAHISA
32. SAHISA is to hold its AGM in Cape Town, before the ICP Convention begins
on 10 July.
CONFERENCES
Round Square Regional Conference – Phillipolis -
May 2005
33. The 3rd African
Regional Conference was held in the small southern Free
State town of Philippolis
from 05-09 May 2005. The conference was
an opportunity for all participants (approximately 10 learners, two staff
members and a Head Teacher from each participating school) to become involved
in river rafting on the Orange River; the Bengali Tiger rehabilitation
programme run by former St Stithians parents; and a painting project of an
Adult Education Centre in the dormitory black township of Philippolis. A further activity was a poverty awareness
project, in which each barazza group was given R 145 (the average income per
month for a family of four in that town).
The group had to plan a menu for a family of four for the month; budget
and buy groceries and requirements for the month. I am firmly convinced that the learning experiences
that our students went through during these four short days is immeasurable in
comparison to more traditional classroom-based learning.
34. What amazed me was our
experience of the new South Africa
in what was no doubt a very conservative Free State
town in the old South Africa. It was fascinating to witness how black,
coloured and white South Africans were working to create a different reality
for their children. In a community of
dire poverty, it was wonderful to see how farmers’ wives were involved in
working with those from the depressed black and coloured communities on
projects to create employment and general upliftment in the area. We were given a real treat when one of the
wives conducted a superb choir, drawn from the local communities, which has won
awards throughout the Free State
for its performances. She was
accompanied by an “Oom”, who must have been over seventy, playing an electric
guitar with an amplifier that could easily have blown us all out of the
hall!
35. One of the projects that the
community wants to develop in conjunction with our Round Square schools is to build a sewing
centre next to the DRC
Church in the coloured
township, which will enable women from the area to be trained in sewing and so
start income-generating projects. This
project is being co-ordinated by a young, dynamic teacher, Kate Groch (the
daughter of Mrs Maureen Groch, our
Director of Students in the Girls’ College).
We are hoping to take learners from all five of our South African Round Square schools to
Philippolis for two weeks in December to assist with this project. The schools themselves, through Mesdames Pope
and Kerr, will provide fuller details closer to the time. However, Round Square Africa needs to find
donations to purchase bricks and mortar for this project; hence my appeal to
the Saints Community and anyone interested in making a donation to this
project, to forward such donations marked for my attention to the College.
36. The Rector, as the Council
Representative, will be attending the International Round Square Conference in Australia in
the Third term.
Inclusion Conference
37. The
ISASA/Inclusion Conference held at Nedcor from 12-14 May 2005 was an
outstanding conference and several staff members attended the sessions. My attendance was cut short due to a bout of
bronchial pneumonia, but what I did attend was fascinating and I was amazed at how many schools
attended this conference; how many of these schools did not have formal
inclusion policies in place; and how big this issue had become for
schools.
ICP 2005 – Cape
Town – 10-14 July 2005
38. This international
convention will be attended by some 2000 international Head Teachers. St Stithians College will be represented by
Messrs Lowry, Ryan, Stewart and Mesdames Acquisto, Dace and Stead. The annual SAHISA Conference for Heads has
been incorporated into this international event.
THANKS
39. I continue
to value and appreciate, the wisdom, guidance and support that I receive from
the Chairman of Council, Vice-Chairman and Treasurer, Trustees and Council
Members on a daily basis.
40. My sincere
thanks go to the Heads and Acting Heads; the Bursar, Mr Johnny
Smith; the Operations Manager, Mr Michael
Meyers; and my Personal Assistant, Mrs Bev Johnson, for their
efforts, support and efficacy throughout the term.
STEPHEN LOWRY
RECTOR
04
JULY 2005
ANNEXURE A
Independent Schools Association of Southern Africa
M E M O R A N D U M
To: ISASA Heads and Bursars
From: Henry Bennett
Date: 23/05/2005
Subject: National Guidelines for Property
Rates
The Local Government Municipal Property
Rates Act (6 of 2004) requires municipalities to have rating policies prepared
in accordance with National Guidelines. The first draft of these National
Guidelines has now been published. The draft National Guidelines for the
treatment of public and independent schools in relation to property rates state
in conclusion that "…..municipalities should seriously consider exempting
both public and independent schools from rating". This reflects ISASA's
argument before the Portfolio Committee.
An alternative is suggested, namely, a
sliding scale of rebates or exemptions. Those for public schools could be
spread over the five quintiles, from the poorest to the "least poor",
with different treatment for independent schools depending upon whether they
are in receipt of government subsidies or not.
This is the first time the government has
officially recognised that there are poor independent schools, as has been
argued at length by ISASA over recent years (and will be again in relation to
the Convergence Bill, when ISASA presents the case to the Portfolio Committee
for all the independent school associations in NAISA on 24 June 2005).
Nevertheless, the government is not yet generous in its acknowledgement of this
fact. Public schools are still stated to be spread over the quintiles from the poorest
to the "least poor", without acknowledging the financial strength of
many of the section 21 schools; independent schools in subsidy categories 1 to
4 could qualify for rebates (it is suggested) on some sort of sliding scale,
while those in category 5 are considered to have "highly affluent
clientele"!
The relevant sections of the Draft
Guidelines appearing on pages 9 to 13 and 16 of the draft are set out below
this note. The tenor of the draft is a positive development.
Would members consider these guidelines
closely, and let me have any comments they wish to make, which might form the
basis of a further submission by ISASA on behalf of members (my e-mail address
is bennett@cliffedekker.com).
HENRY BENNETT
ISASA CHAIRMAN
