Dear Parents and Guardians,
RE: FROM THE RECTOR’S DESK
Trunks are being packed and there is an air of expectation around the campus as the last days of term
transition into the start of the Easter holiday. It has been a long term, and I have no doubt that, on their
return, your children will be feeling quite fatigued and will be looking forward to the break away from
school routines. On reflection, it has been a term of many twists and turns, and we have spent a
considerable amount of time reassessing and refining areas of our academic programme. At the top end of
the school, Mrs Myrna Simpson has become Head of the Upper School with a brief that will build a more
intentional approach to careers development, leadership and driving an academic rigour that focuses on
the demands and expectations of tertiary education. She will be joined in May by Mrs Alethea Rous, who
will oversee the careers development in the school. Elsewhere, we have invested considerable energy into
accessing our 2024 IGSCE results. To this end, we recognized, as one major concern, that the erosion of
academic time was impacting on our results. We have, during the course of the term, addressed this.
Once again, can I ask you in your holiday planning to respect our term dates. Equally, and based on some
very frank conversations with Heads of Department, we have revisited Curriculum Support in the school.
Mrs Jennifer Nell joins the Department in May. Under the guidance of the Director of Studies and the
Deputy Headmaster, the department will focus more directly on individual needs alongside the
introduction of a 5th set, in the lower school, for Mathematics and English. This set will be small in
number and offer more specialized tuition. In addition, the school has ring fenced time for academic
support into the timetable. This is available to all the boys in the school albeit staff may also direct pupils
to this tuition space. Please read your child’s report carefully, particularly if they are in the public
examination classes given the “mock examinations” come round very quickly next term.
One of the highlights of the last three weeks has been the performances of our musicians at the NIAA
Eisteddfod in Harare. Both in the instrumental and choral sections our entrants performed well and
walked away with a number of accolades and trophies. On Monday evening, in the Chapel, the
Highlights Concert showcased the best of our performances. What an evening it was as it profiled some
incredible talent and ability. With a couple of trophies and a clutch of Honours certificates the Music
School can be incredibly proud of its 2025 achievements. Next term we welcome the return of the London
College of Music examiners and, once again, we look forward to producing some good results. As part of
the 70th celebrations we will be producing “Peterhouse Rocks – Music Through the Ages” Concert next
term. Whilst on cultural activity, the term ended with the “Poetry Slam” in the Fieldsend Hall where boys’
presented their own written works. There were some incredible presentations particularly amongst the
more junior participants.
Last weekend saw considerable activity on, and off, our campuses. On the sporting front, we hosted a
festival of short game rugby on Sunday with Watershed, Bernard Mizeki, Hillcrest, St Ignatius and Wise
Owl. We enjoyed some excellent pre-season rugby. Our athletes, on Saturday, were in action in the
interhouse relays and there were some notable performances in the field and on the track. Away from the
school, both the boys’ and girls’ hockey teams were involved in the Western Cape Hockey festival in
Cape Town. With over ninety teams participating in this festival, it offered our players a great insight into
the level of school competition in the Cape. They have returned to school having had a great experience
and, hopefully, well primed for our upcoming season. Whilst on tours, our cricketers head to the United
Kingdom where Radley, near Oxford, will be hosting them for a series of T20, One Day and declaration
games. They will also be playing against a Petrean team. Our rugby teams depart, just before Easter, to
participate in festival games at Kearsney and Michaelhouse. This tour will culminate in games against
Michaelhouse in recognition of our link to the school and our shared history. Interestingly, the first game
played against Michaelhouse was an U15 game (at home) in 1956. Regrettably we lost 3 -6.
Whilst dwelling on our history, the 70th Anniversary was celebrated in style in Harare last Saturday. The
Gala Dinner, at Wild Geese, was an incredible testament to the school’s 70 Year journey. Through the
evening the 290 guests were taken on a ride, in dispersed by some incredible opera singing by Nigel
Hopkins, through seven decades of Peterhouse history. The Peterhouse story is one which shows
remarkable vision, wisdom and resilience. To Stuart and Tracy Carlisle, and their organizing Committee,
our sincere go to you for overseeing an entertaining evening of celebration. As the year continues to
unfold, we still have a number of celebratory events to look forward to; please watch the calendar.
The Trinity Term calendar is, as usual, a very full one. With this in mind, please note and diarise the
parental presentation by Emma Sadlier on Wednesday 28 May (18h00). We will provide more details
closer to the time. Many of you will know Emma Sadlier by reputation given her insight into the
complexities of managing the adolescent digital space. We are delighted that she will be in Zimbabwe to
share her expertise with us. She will also be visiting the school on Thursday 29th to speak to all our pupils
(Grade 7 – VIth Form).
As we start the holiday, I would like to express my thanks to all those families whose children are
involved in tours this Easter. I do appreciate the commitment made to support our sports teams. Similarly,
to the coaches for their time; thank you. In closing, please note that pupils returning for the Trinity Term
need to be back at school by 17h00 on Sunday 11 May. The Trinity term ends for PHG / SVH on Friday
1 August and for PHB on Saturday 2 August (after the home St George’s rugby fixture).
May I wish you all a very restful Easter break. For those travelling I wish you safe journeys.
With warm regards,
Jon Trafford
Rector
- Peterhouse Newsletters
