'Once a Saint... Always a Saint'

July 08, 2015 | Junior Preparatory

In the Junior Prep, on a daily basis we witness the importance of friendship. Little girls walking hand in hand in the playground, boys huddled in rugby scrums, with lots of deep, meaningful conversations taking place.  

The College advertises, displays and communicates the wonderful attributes it has to offer in terms of academics, sport, culture, outreach and leadership. However, we need to include the friendships that last a life time and networks that have been forged amongst our illustrious alumni.

Recently, a number of the Matric class of 1979 came together for the viewing of the Pixie Lowe Documentary. The present Saints Film Club put together a documentary about the death and myths of Pixie Lowe, who died tragically on campus in 1979, shortly before writing his matric exams. It was amazing to witness the camaraderie amongst these ‘old boys’.

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Matric class of 79

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Saints grandparents

The Old Stithian Association annually holds ‘decade reunions’ dating back to the inception of the College. These are well attended by Saints ‘Old Boys & Girls’ here at the school and also in London and Australia. We like to include the greater Saints community in many of our events. The Gr R’s celebrate ‘Special Persons’ Day’, where we have grandparents and people who are special to our children joining us for a presentation of songs and poems. Some of our grandparents are third generation alumni.

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Matric class of 2014

One of the highlights of our calendar is the ‘Matric - Gr R’ visit. Matrics, who started at St Stithians in Gr R, return to the Junior Prep at the end of their school career. It is amazing to witness those little girls, who once held hands, and the boys, who huddled in groups plotting their next adventure, now young men and ladies, revert to their childhood as they play on the jungle gyms, interact with the present Gr R group, visit old classrooms and chat to their ‘old’ teachers, many of whom are still with us.

We were gratified to receive a letter recently from one of our ‘old’ moms. Her daughter started at Saints in 1999 and matriculated in 2011. From there she moved on to study at Rhodes with two of her Saints friends. The letter included a picture of the three girls, who have recently graduated together.

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Saints at Rhodes

There are hundreds of such stories which can only be echoed in the final verse of our College Song:

When school’s a distant memory,

Of happy youthful years,

We’ll oft times look behind us

To all that still endears.

We’ll “One and All” remember,

(How could we e’er forget!)

That here our ship once anchor’d

And here its course was set.