Optimism
Start of Term 3 Assembly, term 3, 22 July 2025
Good afternoon, staff and young ladies, and welcome back to school for the start of the third term.
I hope and trust that you are feeling well rested and invigorated for the weeks to come.
A special welcome this afternoon goes to our guests seated on my left.
They include not only my two bosses, namely the chairman of the governing body Mr Hamlin and our circuit manager Mrs Dlamini, but also two past principals of GHS, a famous deputy principal, as well as my wife, my parents, my sister, some members of my family, and a number of friends who are dear to me – many of whom went to school here or taught here.
A warm welcome goes to you all!
The theme for today’s assembly and for this week is OPTIMISM, which of course refers to a hopefulness and confidence about the future.
The two readings this morning will be done by Miss Nel and the prayer to follow by Miss Phewa.
Thank you, ladies.
Before we move on to the special or add-on part of today’s assembly, we do need to attend to some school business, and I start off by thanking on your behalf the hard-working Estates staff of the school, who put in so much extra work over the holidays, INCLUDING sanding down classroom floors, painting walls, renovating the prefects’ study and especially sprucing up parts of the boarding establishment.
About the BE – and I am speaking to you as an old daybug myself – the happiness and success of our boarding establishment and its 150 boarders are very important to the success of Girls’ High itself.
I am very pleased to report that the upgrades over the holidays are the first part of an upgrade to the broader boarding precinct, and we all look forward to the long-awaited but imminent (I am told!) filling up of the repaired swimming pool, and the painting of the tennis courts, the tennis pavilion and the pallisade fence nearby.
In their absence, let’s warmly acknowledge our loyal Estates staff.
On the academic staffing front, we are pleased to welcome back to GHS as a locum teacher Mrs Randeree, who for the time being will be teaching the classes of Mrs Sheik.
We also welcome Mr Dlomo, a student teacher who will be with us in the maths and science departments until mid-August.
Let’s give them both a warm welcome.
I do have some sports announcements from the holidays to make:
On the academic front, I was very pleased to learn earlier today that an impressive tally of 29 girls have been invited to write the 2nd round of the English Olympiad on 30 July. There are too many names to read out – but good luck to those girls.
On a more serious note, ladies, a school holiday like the one that we have all just enjoyed is not just an opportunity for some downtime with our families, but also to recharge our batteries and to engage in personal reflection, in preparation for the challenges that lie ahead this term.
It is another busy term, and the next few weeks will present us with many functions and activities, including Reunion Day on the 1st of August, Founders’ Day a few days later, the Val Fowler Basketball Tournament starting on the 7th of August, two Colour Runs, and the return derby fixture against Westville Girls’ High.
Of course, lurking in the background for the grade 12s, is the dark fact that the Trial Examinations will start in not even six weeks’ time, and I urge not just the grade 12s but all of you to put the relaxed and carefree times of the holidays behind you, and to knuckle down to your academic obligations.
I certainly wish you all every success with the term.
We will end off this part of the assembly with the school prayer, followed by the school song, after which the chairman of the Board, Mr Hamlin, will say a few words.
Please stand.
Special Assembly Portion:
Mr Hamlin, Mrs Dlamini, family members and fellow honoured guests, colleagues, and most especially — young women of Pietermaritzburg Girls’ High School:
GOOD AFTERNOON, again!
This is an extraordinarily special moment for me!
I stand before you as the 13th Principal of this remarkable school – in front of my wife, my parents, my sister, members of my family and some of my dear friends who were educated at this school or have served it with distinction — proud, grateful, and deeply humbled.
Many of these fine ladies in my life are part of the ‘long green line of women’, as I described it to you at my very first assembly, and if I allowed to get personal with you, young ladies, that noble line of GHS women also includes, if I roll back the years, my very first girlfriend, which didn’t last long, and my first true love, which happily did.
To be entrusted with the leadership of Girls’ High is not only the greatest privilege of my career — it is also the greatest responsibility.
This is a school with an unshakable reputation — built over generations by formidable women and visionary educators. And among those legends, I am honoured today to be joined by two of the most distinguished — Mrs Mary-Anne Akerman and Miss Valerie Fowler — women whose leadership shaped the very soul of this institution. Ladies, your presence here today is not just gracious, but you remind us of the standards we must uphold.
On a personal note, I acknowledge too that Mrs Akerman and Miss Fowler have over the last couple of months been very kind and considerate to me. Ladies, I am very appreciative for your friendship and your very useful bits of advice on the privilege and novel challenge – for a simple bloke like me –of working with and amongst so many women! I need your guidance!
And while we’re speaking of legends — may I take a moment to acknowledge Miss Bowness, who served Girls’ High for decades with a reputation that still echoes in these corridors.
As many of you young ladies should know, especially as the Astroturf proudly bears her name, Miss Bowness was once the captain of the South African women’s hockey team — and of even greater relevance, she – as the slightly older Old Girls present here will well recall – kept order here at GHS with the steely composure of someone who had probably faced tougher opponents on the hockey field! What many of you don’t know, though, is that when I was a teenager in the late 1980s, my family lived in the house next door to hers. At the time, Miss Bowness was in her formidable prime — the undisputed Iron Lady of Girls’ High. I, on the other hand, was a rather unruly sixteen-year-old, more interested in kicking rugby balls over the wall and occasionally setting off chlorine bombs that, if they didn’t rattle her cage, certainly rattled her windows. I’m fairly certain that back then, 40 years ago, she would never have imagined that the pimply boy from next door would one day stand here, as principal of her beloved school.
And yet — life surprises us. Paths twist, circles close, and here we are.
I am not going to speak today about three other special ladies in my life – my wife, my mother and my sister – other than to say ‘Thank you, for putting up with me all these years.’
I would also like to pay tribute to Miss Ann McLoughlin, who was the pioneering (at an all-boys’ school) Deputy Principal at Maritzburg College. In early 2004, she gave me my first teaching job – and I thank her for faith in me (I was, at the time, a young attorney), and for her friendship over these many years.
I do not take my new role as the Principal of this school lightly.
I do not walk into this office with all the answers.
But I walk in with conviction, with energy, and with deep appreciation for what this school is, and what it can still become.
I also walk in with humility. After all, I am new here, and I have much to learn.
This is a proud and complicated school, with traditions, complex dynamics, and thousands of moving parts.
So let me say this clearly: I need your help. I need the wisdom of those who have walked this journey before me. I need the insight of my colleagues, the courage of you girls, and the perspective of your parents, our alumnae and our community.
This will be a shared task — and it must be, if it is to succeed.
This is a school known for excellence — not just academic or sporting, but moral and cultural too. It is a school of strong minds, strong voices, and strong hearts.
As Margaret Thatcher once quipped, “If you want something said, ask a man. If you want something done, ask a woman.” I suspect she had Girls’ High in mind.
As many of you know, I am not a Girls’ High Old Girl — though my mother taught here, my sister is an old girl, and several of my cousins went here too. And if their example is anything to go by, I know just how formidable a GHS alumna can be.
In fact, I was once told — perhaps by a nervous male principal — that a single-gender girls’ school is not for everyone – just for those who want to rule the world. I am sure that he was right.
I do not promise perfection. But I do promise service. I do not claim brilliance. But I do promise commitment. And I do not expect this journey to be easy.
In fact, I draw strength from the words of Winston Churchill, spoken at a moment of great peril in 1940, as Western Europe faced invasion by the Nazis. He said: “I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears, and sweat.”
Well — we are fortunately not at war. But we are in a fight of another kind: a fight for the soul and the future success of our schools, our country, and our future.
And what this school needs — what every great school needs — is not a grandstander at the helm, but a principal who will give their full measure of blood, toil, tears, and sweat to the cause. So here I am – willing, ready, and optimistic. Because optimism — the theme of this week and of this assembly — is not a denial of difficulty. It is a belief in possibility. It is the light that refuses to go out, even when the clouds gather.
This great school matters. It has weight. It has voice. And I look forward to the day when it again takes its place as the great green GIANT of the KZN Midlands — admired, respected, feared perhaps, and even envied.
So let us reflect, in these first few days of the new term, on where we each stand. Let us reflect on the kind of learner we want to be. The kind of teammate. The kind of friend. The kind of teacher and coach. Let us reflect on the example we want to set. Because our story and the story of this great school is not over.
It is just beginning – and I look forward to being part of it with you.
Ladies and gentlemen, THANK YOU.