The Cultural Department continues to grow and flourish at St Dunstan’s College. Once again, the E John Butler Centre for the Arts has proved to be a hub of cultural expression and excellence. There have been numerous cultural highlights in 2023.

The Talent Showcase was a great evening, showcasing the variety of talents of our students at the College. A number of our students participated in local, regional and national eisteddfods and festivals, many of whom excelled and were awarded Gold and Prestige certificates, or were item winners. Karli Janeke, in Grade 12, was the overall winner in the Volksblad “Matriek van 2023” national competition. 

Our Drama department, under the guidance of Ms Lee has grown in strength and creative expression. The Inter-House Play festival raised the standard yet again under the guidance and directorship of the College Dramatic Arts students. The theme, together with lighting and creative stage designs made for an extremely entertaining evening. This year’s winning house was Deans, who produced an exceptional piece directed by Kaylee Harrison and Charnelle Pretorius. 

The College Music department, under the leadership of Mrs Coetzer, showcased our musical student’s diverse talents. A highlight this year was our annual St Dunstan’s Day celebrations in the second term. The event closed with a mass item including our marimba group, classical ensemble, soloists Joel Pitout, and the choir. The popular song “Weeping” by Bright Blue was brought to life by our enthusiastic performers. In October the Pre-School, Preparatory School, and College Music departments joined forces to present “Jubilate”, a celebration of choral and instrumental music. The St Dunstan’s Cathedral in town was filled to maximum capacity and the audience was thoroughly entertained as the College marimba bands, classical ensemble, and College soloists gave their best performances. 

The Marimba bands, guided by Ms Chieza and Ms Thando Dube, have been very active this year. The talented performers participated in a variety of different events. Their highlights were: The St Peter’s Festival, where the senior and intermediate marimba bands performed in September – this was an event that provided valuable exposure and opportunities for the bands to share their music and connect with their audience, and the senior marimba band also had the honour and privilege to perform at the Hospice East Rand’s 2023 Candles Celebration where a variety of music was showcased by community members, and where Jesse Clegg, a well-known South African singer-songwriter also performed. 

The St Dunstan’s College Public Speakers, under the guidance of Mrs El Haddad and Miss Naidoo, participated in the annual High School Speech Competition in the first Term. All our participating teams, from Grade 8 to Grade 12, received either a B or a B+ symbol. Chloe Vermeulen is to be commended on achieving an A symbol for the Individual trophy event in the prepared and unprepared sections.

For the annual Inter-House Public Speaking competition, the prepared speech topic was based on the stimulus “Happily Ever After”. The well-prepared participants’ speeches were presented in an excellent and authentic manner. The Best Junior Speaker trophy was awarded to Saisha Govender, and Ronin Yeo received the Most Promising Speaker award. The Best Senior Speaker award was awarded to Nissy Musakayi. Bishops was awarded the winning house trophy for 2023. Taryn Barrett, Dyaana Beharie, Alea Samuel and Isabella Martins competed in the St Peter’s Festival. Three of the speakers were placed in the top 25 speakers’ out of the 60 speakers. 

Our junior and senior Debating teams started off the year with their annual training session from SACEE held at Willowmoore High School. They received training and knowledge from well renowned SACEE coaches and adjudicators. Mrs Roux and Ms Naidoo also provided guidance along with their coach Miss Z Gando.

During the SACEE Regional Rounds, both our junior and senior teams performed exceptionally well. Both teams were placed at the top of the score tab with both impeccable individual, and overall team scores. One of our junior teams, known as “St Dunstan’s White”, made it as far as competing in the League Championship’s semi-finals, and they won. Another highlight of the year was that Ncebakazi Nkosi, a first time debater, was acknowledged as best speaker during regionals – a rare announcement to be made by SACEE. 

Both our junior and senior Debating teams competed in the Gauteng Provincial competition which took place over 2 weekends. The teams had 6 rounds of debates. Working tirelessly over the weekends, both teams managed to attain a score placing them in the top 30 of the over 80 schools competing in the province. At the seniors’ last debate at provincials they bid farewell to their coach, Miss Z Gando. We thank her for hard work and dedication to Debating at St Dunstan’s College. 

The College Science Enrichment Club, under the tutelage of Mr Goorsamy, met on Friday afternoons to conduct experiments and design simple investigations. The students developed basic skills such as data collection and handling, following instructions, and the setting up of equipment for experiments. There was an increase in the students’ confidence in conducting experiments and the club provided an opportunity for a number of students to display, and develop their love for Science. 

This year the Philosophy and Critical Thinking Club (PACT), led by Mr Wilmot, undertook a series of investigations into various fields of philosophical enquiry. They started by discussing what it means to be a critical thinker and how one can develop a toolkit to ensure rational and reasonable conjectures about the world. With an emphasis on practical philosophy that has application in our everyday lives, they explored various schools of philosophy from Zen to Plato and Socrates, to modern-day philosophical problems. The students engaged in robust debates, carried out thought experiments, imagined alternate realities and gained new perspectives on the human condition.

Some of our Visual Art students, guided by Mrs Human, participated in the St Peter’s Festival and were awarded second place in the Pavement Art category. The Art Exhibition, for our Grade 9 to Grade 12 Visual Arts students was a successful event showcasing their creative talents. 

During the August holidays, the Outdoor Club students, accompanied by Mr Matthewson, Mr Whitelaw and Mrs Dace, all embarked on an exciting hiking adventure to Mountain Sanctuary Park. Our students demonstrated excellent teamwork searching for the ideal spot with both smooth ground and shade to set up their tents and camp. During their two-night camping expedition, they set out on a daytime hike, which proved to be more challenging than expected. It was truly remarkable to witness our adventurers collaborating and strategising about how best to navigate the demanding terrain. This was especially evident when their trail appeared to “end,” leaving them no choice but to venture into the river. Remarkably, despite the obstacles, the students maintained cheerful smiles throughout the journey. Waking up in the morning to the sight of a troop of monkeys, a particularly large baboon, and a journey of giraffes was definitely a memorable experience. We look forward to more of these adventures in 2024.

2023 has proved to be a very successful year for the Chess team. In March we entered the Regional Individual Tournament held at Hans Moore. Everyone performed extremely well, especially Kayla Tyson and Dael Price who qualified for Districts, and where Dael Price managed to qualify for Nationals which will take place over December.

Next year will be a “rebuilding” year as many of the present team are Grade 12 students.   We hope to use the momentum created from this year’s growth, to take the standard of excellence of the Chess team to even greater heights.

The Writer’s Guild team led by Mr Wilmot have shown enthusiasm, dedication, and a desire to improve their writing skills. Each novice writer tries to be wackier and more creative than anyone else in the group. The writers have learned a lot, and had great fun doing it. We hope to see more students joining this creative group next year. Thanks to Dylan Adams (the 2023 captain), Kerryn Lawson, Marianna Stavrinides, Amber Cronje, Njabulo Dhlamini, and Kristen Wheatly.  

Thank you to all the teachers and students for their dedication to the cultural life of the College this year.

Mrs T Human, Head of Culture