PETERHOUSE NOSTALGIA

... MEMORIES ...

RECTOR'S 1999 SPEECH DAY ADDRESS

Mr Chairman, Mr Fieldsend, Governor, Governors, Regional Director, ladies and gentlemen,

Welcome to the last Speech day of the old millennium. What has Peterhouse achieved over the last 45 years and how will it fare in the next millennium? Peterhouse has had its ups and downs. During the last few years before independence the numbers dropped to such an extent that the closure of the school must have been discussed. But it kept going despite all the problems that were faced. No one will know more about this time than Mr Bruce Fieldsend, who was Rector of Peterhouse from 1968 until 1983. It is a great pleasure to welcome you as our guest of honour today.

After independence Peterhouse was able to expand again under the visionary leadership of Dr Alan Megahey, and one small boys school, started in 1955, has expanded now to three schools, with over 1000 pupils.

Relevance

Last year the commission that is looking into the future of education in this country came down to Peterhouse and wanted to know our views. It will be very interesting to see what the final report comes up with. They are keen that education should be relevant to the society that our pupils are going to live in, and they are worried about the high number of people who leave our schools with no future ahead of them. Clearly for the majority of people, going to a university outside the country is not possible, and the number of university places available within the country is limited. Jobs are few, and many are over qualified for the jobs that there are. It is important that when choosing A levels, pupils choose subjects that are relevant to their future career. It is for this reason that we have just produced an A level prospectus for the first time.

But relevant A levels do not always guarantee success - An accountant answered an advertisement for a top job with a large firm. At the end of the interview, the chairman said "One last question, what is three times seven?" The accountant thought for a minute, and replied, "Twenty two". Outside, he took out his calculator and realized that he should have said "Twenty one". He concluded that he had lost the job. Two weeks later, however, he was offered the post. After a few weeks, he asked the chairman why he had been appointed when he had given the wrong answer. "You were the closest", the chairman replied.

We cannot stand alone and think that we are different; we are in exactly the same position as other schools, and we must ensure that our pupils here have an education that is going to prepare them for the future. Academically we feel that they should get as good results as they are capable of. It is also important that our pupils are given a Christian education, so that they know how to behave and live their lives. We introduce them to sport, music and other artistic and leisure activities so that they can use their spare time wisely. We must educate them so that they can cope with a world that is full of drugs and AIDS.

Aids awareness week

I was most impressed with the Aids awareness week run by Interact, with the help of Kerry Kay. We must continue to inform everyone of the risks that they run if they take drugs and if they get involved in sexual activities. Then it is up to them to make their decision, but at least they will be making it from an informed point of view. At a quick glance at a recent Aids awareness questionnaire, it is amazing to see that most boys replied by saying that they had learnt about sex from TV and friends. This is surely a parental responsibility?

All round education

The all round education that our pupils get at Peterhouse prepares them far better for life in the outside world, than one that is purely academic. I do not think that the value of team games can be overvalued, and the experience that one gains from having six years in a boarding school, living cheek by jowl with your next door neighbour, is going to prepare you for many problems that you might meet in later life. Later in my report you will hear how successful this year has been for the school and I would like to congratulate Matthew Hosack and his prefects for the hard work they have done this year. I believe that a few days early in the first term spent at the Outward Bound Centre at Chimanimani directed our prefects thoughts, and ensured that they would work together as a team. Our B Block, and some Vth formers, who have spent a week in the Chimanimanis during this last term will have learnt an awful lot about themselves, and their friends, during this time. It is important that everyone is extended and tested to their limits. It is at this moment that you find out a lot about people.

First term

The first term started with very bad news when we heard of the death of Jannie Cloete who was drowned in the dam on his parents farm. We held a very moving memorial service for him at the school. It was doubly sad when the O level results came out and it was seen that Jannie was one of the successes of 5A, those who take five years to O level, who produced a 77% pass rate, and 11 of the 18 boys qualified to go on to A level. Overall, at O level 86.2% of the subjects were passed with 94 out of the 95 boys passing 5 subjects or more. What was particularly gratifying was the high number of A grades passed and 25% of our boys obtained 5 A grades or better - better than all our traditional rivals. At A level, our overall pass rate was 88.2% and both of these are the best results that we have achieved in recent years. One should not however read too much into statistics such as this. We expect the best boys to get A grades, but sometimes some of the best achievers of all are those who manage to get a couple of A levels, when no one had expected them to get anything.

Academic league tables

Thank goodness we don't have the league tables in this country as they do in the UK. I was sent a copy of the recent league tables following the A level results in England and saw a headline "Eton's slip down the tables is no mirage". Imagining that Eton's A level results this year were very bad, I investigated further. The Eton headmaster was being interviewed by the press because they had dropped to 24th position in the tables, their lowest ever results. Further investigation indicated that the 264 students who took the A level exam scored on average 2 A grades and 1 B grade - not a bad set of results! A week later I was reading reports of the Chairman's address to the headmasters conference in England in which the headmaster of Winchester was saying that A levels were not living up to their tag of the "gold standard" of British education. Syllabuses were shorter, grade boundaries had changed and rigid mark schemes had lead to "death of the notion of the essay. As the word suggests, the essay is about trying out ideas. The way examinations are structured now does not encourage trying out anything". Twenty years ago, a third of Winchester's A level candidates had achieved A grades, whereas this year almost three quarters had done so. He said " I know from the records that we keep that the leavers of 1999 were no cleverer overall than those in 1979." One of the reasons that it is easier to get top grades in England at A level is that most A levels now are taught in modules with the examinations being taken at the end of each module. It is possible to retake a module to improve the grade and the final A level grade is assessed on the best of the results obtained. It is clearly easier to obtain good results like this, rather than in the traditional examinations that we do in this country.

It is also important that the results that we get here are internationally acceptable and the proposed localization of the A level exam is worrying. We may know that the standards will still be good, but it is not just the people in Zimbabwe who will have to be satisfied that the standards are being maintained, but those at universities in England, Australia, South Africa and the United States. CHISZ, the conference of heads of independent schools in Zimbabwe, are determined that whatever leaving exam our pupils do in this country, that it will be accepted internationally. I will say little about the cultural side of the school, not because it is not important, but because the Head of School will be talking about it in his speech.

Sports results

The good rains last season produced the usual havoc with our cricket fixtures, and luckily the rains stopped before the athletics season, where we won the Peterhouse relays and came second in the Peterhouse invitation event at the national stadium. Our rugby and hockey teams toured South Africa over the Easter period. The results were not good but much was learnt and both came back to good seasons.

One of the teams that we played in South Africa at rugby was Michaelhouse, and it was interesting to hear later on that Hilton had cancelled their matches against Michaelhouse, as a protest against Michaelhouse's policy of taking in post-matric students to play sport. I wonder what parents here would feel if they had paid 5 years worth of school fees to Peterhouse, had seen their son play fly-half for the u-14A, u-15A and u-16A, and were looking forward to seeing him play for the 1st XV when suddenly a lot of new players appeared in the VIth form and found that he did not get a place. It was interesting to read a letter from the president of the old boys club of Michaelhouse, writing to the chairman of the board of governors, suggesting that " the school should re-visit the issue of boys from outside the school being accepted into the VIth form with the perceived purpose of playing sport." Our sport at Peterhouse is important, but not that important.

Hockey, rugby and squash

The 1st XI hockey won 13of their 21 matches and had 4 players chosen for the national side, and the rugby, despite losing heavily to Prince Edward in the first match of the season and again narrowly later in the season, lost to no other Zimbabwe school. The highlight was a convincing victory against Falcon before one of the biggest crowds that I can remember at Peterhouse. Overall we won 92 out of the 135 games that were played, and three players represented Zimbabwe in Craven Week. The squash teams as usual did very well and we won the third league, second league and came second in the first league. The soccer players beat Falcon, drew with Prince Edward and overall had a record of played 14, won 6, drew 4 and lost 4.

Cricket

The cricket has gone well this term with some convincing victories, and 2 of our players will represent Zimbabwe at under 19 level and five others at junior levels. The basketball players did well to reach the semi-final of the Milo tournament. The standard of swimming has improved, and the new boiler and warmer water has ensured that swimming at the beginning of this term has not been as spartan as it has been in the past. I am glad to report that our new tennis coach, Simba Muchenje, has put some pride back into our tennis, and the results are beginning to improve. The volleyball team has done well and we staged a tournament at Peterhouse last weekend for 14 schools.

Departing members of staff

At the end of last year Richard Shaw left; he had been our Director of Administration for a year, a job he had done very well. Abitone Zulu was here for one term teaching accounts and at the end of the first term Luckymore Zinyama left the school to go into business. He had been in charge of the business department and ran the soccer and was a housetutor.

At the end of the second term we said goodbye to Farai Chininga who had been with us for two terms, first as a student teacher and then as a junior master, and Bryan Kamota who had been here for a year teaching in the metalwork and technical graphics department. Munyaradzi Juru left to go to teach in Botswana having spent three years with us in the design centre, coaching rugby and water polo and running our Christian Forum. Pippa Sex, who had been here nearly three years, returned to England; during her time here she had been head of geography and a house tutor, and coached various sports. Anne Mackenzie also went to England to go to a permanent post at Trent College where she went on a year's exchange. She spent 8 years at Peterhouse during which time she taught English and History, was an assistant housemaster in Malvern and coached hockey and swimming. It was a great sadness to say goodbye to all of these teachers.

Unfortunately the list is not complete because at the end of this term we say goodbye to some more. During the Easter holidays there was a history trip to Egypt and Greece which was organized by Mr Merchant. It was a great sadness when he came to tell me last term that he would be leaving at the end of this year. He has been here for 9 years during which time he has taught mathematics, and history, been housemaster of Malvern and has coached rugby and cricket. Terrence Msuku who has been with us for 5 years teaching French, being an assistant housemaster in Grinham and coaching hockey cricket and basketball is also leaving. We will be sad to say goodbye to Bob, Pauline and Terrence and wish them all the best in Harare. Miss Mansfield has also said that she would like to retire from Ellis. She is not leaving the school, but I would like to thank her for her hard work in running the house, where she has been housemaster for the past eight years.

1999 Peterhouse Festival

One of the highlights of last term was the Peterhouse biennial festival. In addition to the Schubert Mass, a performance by the jazz band, very interesting displays from the art department, design centre and science department, there was a falconry display and some music by twilight. We also had two major productions during the week with the girls school putting on "Twelfth Night" and the boys putting on "Murder in the cathedral".

I would like at this stage to pay tribute to Guy Cary who masterminded this weekend. Those who know Guy will realize that he is not satisfied with second best. In addition to his roles of a senior A level English teacher, and housemaster of Tinokura, he gets involved in numerous other activities at Peterhouse, such as Interact, Kokura Neshungu, Toastmasters, running the B Block Chimanimani trips as well as finding time to play the organ, sing in the choir, and teach small boys musical instruments. Those who have sons in Tinokura will be staggered by the insight shown in his reports. In addition to all of these things, he managed to find the time to produce the magnificent performance of "Murder in the Cathedral" that we saw last term. When I try to explain the difference between a teacher and a school master, Guy is an excellent example. A teacher would teach English; a schoolmaster would teach English and get as involved as he can in the running of the school. Peterhouse cannot survive without truly dedicated teachers and all who work here have to get involved.

We have survived without a chaplain for the past four terms, and I would like to thank all those staff who have been prepared to take services. We are very lucky to have such a depth and talent. In particular though I must mention Robert Tandi, Allen French and Paul PT Davies who have organized most of the services. If everything goes according to plan we should have a new chaplain next term.

I would like to pay tribute at this moment to our governors and the members of the executive and finance committee. All of them are incredibly busy people, but find time to contribute a lot more to Peterhouse. They are also rather more realistic about how a school is run, than a governor at another school who was overheard by the headmaster saying "Isn't it fantastic how this place runs itself, on just 4 hours a term."

I would also like to thank my wife very much for her support this year - particularly over the past couple of months since our baby boy was born. Our daughter Charlotte is now three but still sucking her thumb. In desperation my wife said to her, "If you keep sucking your thumb, you are going to blow up like a balloon. The next day we had to attend a social gathering. Among those present was a woman who was obviously pregnant. Charlotte spotted her and could not contain herself. She walked up to the expectant mother said, "I know what you have been doing!"

I was privileged yesterday to be the guest of honour at Peterhouse girls' school speech day. It is important that we all appreciate the importance of the girls' school. The boys gain a lot by the presence of the girls in our A level classes. Social interaction is important, and this term there have also been many sporting contests against the girls' school. I feel that our boys are better equipped to face the outside world because of this contact.

I think that Mr Calderwood would agree with me that, being a headmaster in 1999, is akin to competing in a marathon held on a high sand dune, carrying a heavy load. As the race develops, the organisers reduce the number of feeding stations, increase the slope of the hill and move the finishing post.

I hope that those who have public exams this term will fare well and I wish all the best to our leavers.

Thank you very much.

MW BAWDEN
Rector