Reunion Day Address
Reunion Day Address, 1 August 2025
Good morning, ladies, gentlemen and young ladies— and, most especially, our noble alumnae of this Girls High School.
A special, warm welcome goes to you all — from the furthest-flung corners of the country and the world, back to this
green hill, this gathering place, this school of ours.
Today, ladies, you do not merely visit — you return, you reconnect, and you remind us who we are.
As the newly-minted 13th Principal of this remarkable school, it is my profound honour to address you today, Reunion
Day, precisely two months after assuming this great responsibility.
As the staff and girls already know, Girls High loomed large over me, as a little boy, because my mother taught here in
the 1970s – and names like the great ‘Macduff’, Mrs Dowse, Miss Bailey, Miss Murdoch, and more recently, Miss
Bowness, were all very familiar to me.
To assume the role that in days gone had been performed with distinction by the great headmistresses of the past is the
greatest honour of my career – and I can assure YOU, the alumnae of this school, that I have assumed my role with
humility, determination and, yes, AMBITION.
And I do of course admit that I am very new to this role — but let me assure you, ladies, I have been thoroughly
inducted by your successors in green: during my daily rounds, beneath the friendly smiles and cheery greetings of ‘Good
Morning, Sir’, I’ve been met with searching questions, a few suspicious looks, and — most intimidatingly of all — the
quiet scrutiny of teenage girls who can spot an insincere sentence at 20 paces.
During such moments, I have not been so thoroughly demoralised since that day in January 1989, when a friend of mine
and I gate-crashed a GHS Monday assembly in our green dresses. We were soon singled out and, yes, booted out by Dr
Vietzen, and outside the old hall we came face to face with the fire-eating Miss Bowness. Her precise words to me – as I
merrily reminded her only a month ago – were, ‘And who the hell are you?!’
But, of course, that’s a story for another day.
Today, ladies, is your day — and yet, it’s not only about the past. It’s about that unique space where memory and
mission meet. Today is an act of celebration, yes, but also an act of continuity.
You are not simply visitors today — you are vessels of a great legacy in green that stretches back to the pioneering days
of Miss Norma Burns in August 1920. You are not just spectators of today’s GHS — I’d like to think that you are co-
authors of its next chapter.
Allow me a moment of light-hearted reflection. I recently came across an anecdote from a reunion much like this one,
where an Old Girl approached the Principal and asked, with a conspiratorial grin, “Does the staircase to the Art Room
still creak in the middle?” When told that it did, she beamed and said, “Then I know the soul of the school is still intact.”
There is truth in that.
In every creaky floorboard, every old tree in the quad, every fading photograph on the wall — there is story, and
memory, and continuity.
But we are not only curators of the past. We are architects of the future.
Let me reassure you, our returning Old Girls — GHS is thriving.
It remains a place of industry and of energy, of youthful joy and academic ambition. Our girls are achieving remarkable
things — on the sports fields, in Olympiads, on stage, in service, and in leadership. The ‘Cheerfulness with Industry’ that
you remember is alive — though occasionally amplified now by the soundtrack of TikTok videos and the steady hum of
Wi-Fi.
Whether it’s the 93–96% bachelor pass rate achieved consistently each year in the NSC examinations, or the five KZN
champion debaters announced just this week — including positions 1, 2 and 3 in the entire province — GHS continues to
punch well above its weight.
Our magnificent orchestra draws praise and envy from far and wide, our top athletes compete nationally in basketball,
netball, hockey, table tennis and more, and our annual STEM Fair showcases innovation and excellence from Grade 7
girls across the city.
I think of some of the events of only the last seven days – the Movie Night on Friday night – with its popcorn, blankets
and perhaps hint of a stolen kiss; the good form shown on the following morning by the first team soccer in winning the
silver medal at Riverwood High; the jazz band performance in the suburbs; the magnificent annual Hindu Society event
in the Norma Burns Hall on Saturday afternoon, with the girls stunning in their traditional attire, the elegant dancing,
the stirring recitals, and the music that had the audience entranced; and the much-anticipated Cook-Off on Tuesday
night, with its Italian fare, air of sophistication, and quirky master of ceremonies!
Some of these girls and these events are the headline-makers — but perhaps most impressive is the quiet confidence
and all-round grace of the girls you don’t necessarily read about on social media. The so-called ‘Plain Janes’ — who are,
in truth, anything but plain — are poised, well-spoken, kind and capable.
They are being raised in a school culture that prizes balance and character as much as brilliance. They are prepared —
not just for exams, but for life. And they are a credit to this school.
And yes, we are ambitious, too.
In the months and years ahead, we are planning a bold programme of regeneration: 15 classrooms were upgraded over
the recent June holidays, the BE foyer and common rooms are now places of both comfort and elegance, and we will be
breathing fresh life into our beloved buildings — all while protecting the character and beauty of this special place.
I am pleased to report to you today that we will with immediate effect, from today, be offering a handful of scholarships
to the daughters of Old Girls to board from 2026 onwards. So, if you have a daughter looking to follow her mother to
GHS and are from Margate to Mahlabathini, Eston to Eshowe, then please have a quiet word with me afterwards.
Here, we continue to speak openly of excellence, not as an aspiration for the elite, but as a standard for every girl in
every field.
We want our girls to leave GHS – this great, GREEN MACHINE – with curiosity, courage, and a deep, unshakable belief in
their own potential.
As in your day, whether it was 1965 or 2015, we want our girls to walk into universities, into boardrooms, into
laboratories, into NGOs and parliaments and start-ups and classrooms — not with arrogance, but with assurance. And,
when asked where they come from, they must be able to say, without hesitation or apology, “I come from GIRLS’ HIGH.”
Let me pause for a line of poetry — from the Pulitzer Prize-winner, Mary Oliver, who wrote: “Tell me, what is it you plan
to do / with your one wild and precious life?”
That is the question I will exhort the staff to ask of our girls. That is the challenge we will pose, the opportunity we will
prepare them for. That is the horizon towards which we will move, with courage, compassion and conviction.
“What will you do with your one wild and precious life?”
And to you, our Old Girls — thank you. For returning, for remembering, for renewing your bonds. But more than that —
thank you for being proof.
Proof that a GHS girl goes far. That she contributes, she creates, she challenges, she changes the world.
Please enjoy the day — reconnect, laugh, roam the corridors. Peep into your old classrooms. Walk your old path across
the lawn. Forgive the changes. Relish the continuities.
And if, by chance, the staircase to the Art Room still creaks underfoot — smile. It means we’ve done something right.
Welcome home.
THANK YOU