Andre Faure is one of the supporters of the Lloyd Rowley Trust, an organisation that makes it possible for two boys per year to attend the school on a scholarship managed by the TAG Foundation.

The Lloyd Rowley Trust was set up to honour the memory of Lloyd Rowley, a popular member of the class of 1992, who died of cancer during his matric year.

A group of his class mates, led by Cormac Sullivan and Adam Gunn, decided to start a trust fund in his name and use its proceeds as a bursary fund to send deserving boys to the school.

Andre is one of the major contributors to the fund, along with Giovanni Human, while a number of Lloyd’s other former classmates make monthly donations.

“It was due to Adam and Cormac’s initiative that the idea got off the ground,” Andre said. “Many old boys are keen to contribute to the school, but they aren’t always sure how to do that. By establishing the trust they made it easy for us to honour Lloyd’s memory in this way, and running it through the TAG Foundation gives us confidence that the money is well spent.”

Donating money to a cause like this is the easy part, Andre believes. “It’s more important to ensure that the recipients get full value out of the school and the TAG Foundation makes sure that happens.”

The old boys who are involved do so because they want the values that they learnt at the school passed on to a new generation of boys, including those who would not otherwise have been able to attend the school.

“These boys are the future of the country and we must ensure that they are equipped to lead once they leave school,” Andre said.

“It will become harder and harder to maintain the standards we experienced and to enjoy the opportunities we were given without the support of the old boys. It’s clear when you visit the school that this is happening and that King Edward VII School continues to offer a top class education.

“That’s why I’m happy to be part of an organisation that helps deserving youngsters to benefit by attending the school.”

We are extremely proud of our two grade 8 boys who are among the top 10 academics in their grade.

Emile Louw came 9th in the grade at the end of the third term. His average over the nine subjects was 85%, and it must be remembered that his home language is Afrikaans and he studies English 1st language as one of his subjects.

“I got 66% for English last term which was my lowest mark,” he said. “The language was very strange to me in the 1st term, but it’s become better as the year went on and I got used to speaking English at school,” he said.

“I’m putting extra effort into it and I’m aiming at a distinction at the end of the year.”

It’s been a great 1st year at KES, Emile said. “My brother Reanco and myself have been welcomed and we have made great friends, in the hostel and among the day boys too.”

Emile played B team rugby and is in the D cricket team at the moment. “I’m not a star, but I really enjoy being part of a team. I have experienced the KES brotherhood on the field.”

Tao Nel was 4th in the grade at the end of the 3rd term with an average of 87,7%. He believes his success comes from having the right mindset and from having balance in his life.

“You can’t go flat out all the time,” he said. “You will burn yourself out if you do that, so I do work hard, but I take breaks and I do other things too.”

Those things are sport and music. He was injured in the first term so he couldn’t play sport. Instead he served in the First Aid club and also participated in public speaking.

He also concentrated on his music – he is a talented guitarist and can sing. “Emile also plays the guitar and we often busk together in the hostel, there is definitely some musical chemistry between us,” he said.

In the winter season, he played for the under-14A rugby team. “That was serious and intense,” he said. “We did quite well and the coaches made us work very hard. The success made it enjoyable, but I was pleased that I could find some balance by playing music in between.”

Clearly, he was also able to balance sport and academics. His achievements have been remarkable and we are looking forward to watching his progress, and that of Emile, in the years to come.

DP Hattingh was one of a number of King Edward VII boys who recently completed a Dale Carnegie Life Skills and Leadership course.

It took a lot of discipline and commitment to get it done including a three hour session per week for eight weeks. DP showed an ability to apply himself which is going to be invaluable as he goes into matric next year.

“It was definitely a valuable experience,” he said. “We learnt many things, but the big thing I took away from it is that you shouldn’t judge people until you have taken the time to understand what they are experiencing in their lives.

“A lot of time was spent on building our communication skills. I realise now how important they are.”

In the meantime, we are happy to learn that DP is recovering well from his surgery and expects to be back in training before the end of the year. “I intend to be in the mix for next year’s 1st rugby team and will be giving it a full go.”

We are excited to be watching from the sidelines as DP Hattingh develops into a well-rounded young King Edward man.

The TAG Foundation will be breaking new ground next year when it sends it’s first female learner to school. Jessica Shaku will be starting Grade 8 at Parktown Girls’ High School in January.

Jonny Gerber believes the aim of the TAG Foundation is to contribute towards the education of our future leaders. Obviously many of those leaders will be women and if we are to be nation builders we need to provide the same education opportunities to young women.

The close ties between the TAG Foundation and King Edward VII School, as well as the quality of the education offered at KES made King Edward VII the obvious choice for our scholarship boys. We wanted a similar “home” for our girls and Parktown Girls seems to align with our ethos and values.

Jessica is the grand-daughter of the Gerber’s Housekeeper Sylvia Shaku. Jessica will be attending Parktown Girls on a Gerber Family Scholarship managed by the TAG Foundation.

We spoke to Jessica and she is delighted to be afforded the opportunity. “I’ve always wanted to go to Parktown Girls,” she said. “I attended their Open Day and was very impressed by the school and the facilities. The people there made us feel so welcome. I’m looking forward to being at a girls-only school.”

Jessica is currently at Rosebank Primary School at moment where she is the youngest in her class. “I’m a year younger that the others, so I’m quite small and I wasn’t a sports star,” she said. She did however play in the first netball team and also swam for the school. She also participates in drama and dance.

Jessica is currently averaging 70% and she has her sights set on medicine as a career. “I love babies so maybe I will become a gynaecologist,” she said. “That’s my dream and I’m going to go for it.”

“I’m really excited about going to high school and about being the first TAG Foundation girl. I hope I can make my mother, my Granny and the Gerber family proud.”

We are delighted to welcome two new additions to the TAG team.

Brayden du Toit joins us in Grade 8 and Katleho Mpemvu in grade 9.

Welcome on board boys. We look forward to getting to know you in the years that lie ahead.

We were delighted to hear that Obakeng Maila has decided to pursue a career in teaching.

He has been awarded a scholarship / internship by the Realema Teacher Intern Programme. Realema is a non-profit organisation that offers comprehensive bursaries to talented and hard-working black students, who could not otherwise afford a tertiary degree. All students study a Bachelor of Education degree, while gaining valuable work experience as full-time teacher interns at top schools.

Obakeng will be living and working at The Ridge School in Westcliff and will be provided with accommodation, university fees and books, a laptop and IT support, academic tutoring, professional counselling and multi-layered mentoring by Realema’s Director Pier Myburgh and her hardworking team.

Realema students have a university exam pass rate of over 90% which is amazing considering only 17% of students who enrol for a degree in South Africa actually graduate.

Congratulations Bazooka! We look forward to your graduation and a long and successful teaching career – maybe even back at our great school!

If you would like to find out more about the Realema Teacher Intern Programme please contact Pier at pier@global.co.za

Thursday the 31st October was always going to be a tough day for us. It was the first anniversary of my brother Chris Gerber’s passing, but we wanted to make it special and meaningful for all the right reasons.

The day started with a Golf Day in Chris’ honour, a full field of 30 four balls took part at the Wanderers Golf Club, just a short way from our new party venue The Deck @Wanderers. It really was a special day, golfing mates from the Thursday school, the horseracing fraternity, King Edward VII school and many other walks of Chris’ life all joined in and had great fun.