Principal's Desk

By the time you read this month’s edition of the Buzz we would be in our 2nd week of Term 3.

As always, we hit the ground running, with the Drama department having invested an extensive number of hours rehearsing for the Macbeth production during the school holiday period. Opening night took place on Thursday, 31 July. We are all super excited to see not only our learners on stage but also our Head of Drama Mr Van Zyl, taking to the stage. We hope you found the time to book for either Thursday or Friday night, to experience what the Drama department has to offer and witness the fabulous talent of our learners. In advance I need to extend our gratitude to the performers, the staff who assisted backstage, the media crew, make-up artists, with social media, set construction, photography, cleaning and ticket sales. A production of this size is not possible without many role players helping in so many different ways.

Our gratitude is extended to Mrs Miles who co-ordinated the Matric Revision School, assisted by Mr Rasmeni and the staff who sacrificed their June holidays to teach. To the Maintenance and Housekeeping staff while taking a short break, were back to clean, repair and polish the buildings for our return. To the various managers and coaches who arrived during the June holidays to fit in some extra training with the learners, thank you. To our Registrar Mrs Schmidt who put in the extra hours to ensure that all our places for the 2026 Grade 8 learners were filled. Thank you one and all!

Still on track to ensure that our learners are exposed to every possible career, Ms Murphy arranged for a few more career exhibitions in both weeks of the term. Our Grade 12 Hospitality and Consumer learners had the opportunity to visit Capsicum Culinary School to explore what they have to offer, thanks to Ms Mamhende.

On Friday, 25 and Saturday, 26 July, various sporting codes, accompanied by their coaches, managers and joined by BHS supporters (parents, staff and learners) headed off to Fishhoek High School for the annual Derby Day. Amidst some high’s and low’s for various codes, braving the bitterly code Friday evening, we welcomed a bit of sunshine later in the day on Saturday. Two good fun-filled days were enjoyed, thanks to our gracious hosts at Fishhoek High School. Thank you to our Head of Sport Mr Rimbault for arranging all the logistics and especially to the staff who accompanied the players on the busses.

The learners were officially introduced to their new teachers, as mentioned in the letter you received from Ms Jahura at the start of the new Term. We trust that they will enjoy their stay with us, whether short or long. Feedback to date from some indicated that they were very impressed with our learners and our surroundings. Great news!

Thursday, 31 July 2025 marked the official end of Mr Cohen’s tenure as a WCED employee and as our Head of Academics. He reached that milestone birthday during the mid-year break. He will however continue teaching until the end of the year at which stage we will bid him farewell as a school. He has served our school exceptionally well in that capacity.

That said, I am pleased to announce that Ms Jahura will now step into the role of Head of Academics. The transitioning started at the beginning of Term 3 but as at Friday, 1 August, we ask that all academic related questions or queries that your child’s register or subject teacher, Grade Head or House Head cannot answer, be directed to her.

She can be emailed at bjahura@bhs.org.za

Ms Jahura has several years of experience as the Head of Academics at her previous school, one of several reasons why we employed her. We wish her well in this new portfolio. She will be working closing alongside Mr Cohen over the next few months, as he hands over the reins of the Academic Portfolio.

The gap that Ms Jahura leaves as Day to Day Deputy Principal will now be filled by Mrs Bester, who will be acting in this role until the new Deputy Principal is officially announced. The date of this announcement unknown at this stage. Expect to receive communications from her in terms of school events, etc.

If your child is in Tau House, they said goodbye to Mr Pattenden at the end of Term 2. We were delighted to offer this position to Ms O’Connor who had assisted Mr Pattenden throughout the past year.

She is joined by Mrs Abrahams who vacated the role of Grade 8 Head and the new Grade 8 Head will be Ms Kriel. We are thrilled to welcome these two staff members to these positions and we wish them well for the remainder of 2025. They will each be communicating with you in their respective roles.

We have one more derby day on the horizon and we hope to see as many of you as possible on the weekend of 15 and 16 August at Westerford High School.

To our parents and all the family members who ensure that our learners are at school each day and participate fully in the school’s academic and co-curricular programmes, thank you.

Regards

Mrs P Demas

PRINCIPAL