Rites of Passage
As our pupils journey through the school from Grade One to Matric, as a school we acknowledge and celebrate their various milestones. The following rites of passage have been put in place:
In Grade One the blazer ceremony is hosted early in term one. With their parents, teachers and the rest of the Prep School in attendance, the Grade ones walk up onto the stage with their new blazer over their arms. The Prep Prefects help them put on their blazer for the first time and they are then, with a firm handshake, welcomed into The Prep School by the Principal of the Prep and the Headmaster. Photos, which are then laminated and sent home, are taken with parents after the ceremony and it is really quite a grand affair.
At the advent of the Senior Primary years in Grade Four, pupils get to ring the bell at the entrance of the Prep signifying the entry to this phase. This same bellis rung when pupils leave the Prep on the last day of their Grade 7 year.
In addition to ringing the bell, the end of the Prep School career is further celebrated by the official walk from the Prep to the High School. Accompanied by the Headmaster, Principal and a number of teachers and prefects from the High School, one of whom carries a cross, we walk the 2km from the Prep to the valedictory service in our High School chapel, which is followed by a cocktail party to celebrate all that was good about the Prep and to look forward to everything that awaits the pupils in their teens.
To celebrate pupils’ entry into Form One the Key Ceremony is held during which each pupil is given an uncut key, rich with symbolism about having to make decisions on how to cut this key.
All these ceremonies are moving and often quite emotional – particularly for the parents – and they add something special to what we do at our school.
