Dear Parents,
I trust that this first newsletter of the new term finds you all well, rested and ready to tackle the term ahead – as always it promises to be a really busy one. This term we welcomed many new students and of course our two newest members of academic staff – Mr Travis and Mr Coetsee, I do hope that each of them will be very happy at HBIS.
Many of you will no doubt be watching the 2018 Fifa World Cup – this year’s tournament has certainly been a most unpredictable one, with many of the “expected winners” being knocked out along the road to the finals. I find myself unexpectedly very patriotic with Croatia’s first World Cup Final appearance – maybe it’s the sound of all the surnames ending in “ich” spelled ic’, or maybe it’s the fact that over the last few months I have really started thinking of my family’s roots and where my heritage started. Either way it is good to feel that one belongs to something greater than oneself and can appreciate an identity. Sport has always had this ability to unite people of all races and genders under one nation – it’s an extremely powerful unifying agent.
A school has the ability to do the same. It has the ability to unite people from all classes, all races and most importantly from all nationalities together under a common purpose and cause. In our case – the pursuit of an International Baccalaureate education. However, in order to maximise this benefit we need to all be proud to be part of the “collective” – that means feeling a sense of pride about our school, the programme, it’s teachers, our classmates and of course what we do.
It is in this light that I wish to make an appeal to all parents (and friends of HBIS) to support the annual CHELO fundraiser scheduled for next Friday, 20 July. Our CHELO NGO’s only goal is to provide the necessary funds to facilitate the education of all the CHELO recipients – of which there are currently 10 students enrolled across all grades at HBIS. These Hout Bay residents from previously disadvantaged communities are the recipients of an IB education and everything that accompanies that. This may include extra lessons, visits to doctors, access to technology, uniforms, overseas tours, occupational therapists, psychologists etc. As you can imagine, these costs all add up and CHELO relies solely on the generosity and kindness of our HBIS families and community. And we really need your help.