Welcome to the website of                                                                                          SOUTH PENINSULA HIGH SCHOOL     Best viewed with a resolution of 1024 x 768

Applications for Grade 8 2010: These have now closed. Unfortunately no further applications can be considered. Applicants will be informed whether they were successful or not towards the end of the second term.

       Here are some of the most recent news items.

• A jazz legend visits SP: International jazz pianist Abdulla Ibrahim, fresh from winning his SAMA Award, together with his band Ikhaya, ran a workshop for the music students of SP, Alexander Sinton, Heathfield High and Wynberg Secondary. After listening to some performances from the student musicians, including a performance of “Manenberg’ by the SP band, Ibrahim and his band entertained the gathered group with their own music, and then answered questions put to them by the students. The most important advice? Practice, practice and practice!                                                                                                                                                                                                                              
• Drama students visit Oudtshoorn: A group of Drama students, under the guidance of Drama teacher Mr John Jusa, set off for Oudtshoorn on Monday 6 April to soak in the atmosphere and experience some of the theatrical and musical delights of the Klein Karoo Nasionale Kunstefees (KKNK). On their return, they spoke about their enjoyment of the workshops, as well as the plays and shows they attended. The fact that most of the events were in Afrikaans made the event even more interesting!                                                            
• Inter-house Swimming Gala: On Tuesday 31 March the annual gala was held at Wynberg Swimming Baths. There was a record number  of entries and times were recorded for the first time. This event grows from strength to strength. There were outstanding performances on the day, notably by Nabeelah Diedericks, Jason Wilson and Ryan Williams. The event was won by Kendal (also winners of the inter-house    athletics), with Protea second, Azalea third and Mimosa fourth.

         Click here for photos.

• Annual Surf Walk: The entire school body went to Muizenberg on Monday 30 March for the annual surf walk, the biggest single fundraiser of the year.Students were dropped off opposite Coastal park and walked towards the promenade. They spent the rest of the time engaging in  various activities, such as enjoying the water-slide or playing putt-putt, volleyball, beach cricket or soccer. Click here to view more photos.

• Biodiversity Project: Mr Faiq Waghid recently took a group of Grade 11s to the Rondevlei Bird Sanctuary and surrounding areas as part of a study on biodiversity Click here for more photos.

• SP’s new bus: On Monday 2 March 2009 the school took delivery of its own, brand new minibus. This comes courtesy of the WCED and is the result of an initiative involving Arts & Culture Focus schools, of which SP is one. The WCED recognised the fact that the costs  for schools to transport students to Drama productions or Music workshops, for instance, had become prohibitive, and thus, thanks mainly to the efforts of the WCED’s Mr Eldrid Petersen, Arts & Culture Focus schools were given a sum of money with which to purchase a vehicle. SP was given a good deal by Ottery Toyota on a Quantum and a trailer. Ex-student Mr Marico Samuels was    instrumental in this deal.

  Ms Gordon, Mr Petersen, MrSamuels, Mr Isaacs

• Inter-school 2009: This year’s Southern Zone A-section athletics competition was held at Bellville Stadium on an extremely hot Thurs- day 26 February. For the past few years SP had ended a distant third behind Mondale and Steenberg, and the aim this year was at the  very least to cut the gap to less than 100 points. As it turned out, despite some outstanding performances, particularly by u/15 sprint star Nabeelah Parker, who won both the 100 and 200 metres, and Keshia Wentzel, who won the u/17 200 and 400 metres, SP was once again placed 3rd behind Steenberg, with 621 points and Mondale, with 618. SP’s points? 275 - so the gap was as wide as ever. But the spirit remains strong, with plans afoot to start an athletics club to ensure that our level of competitiveness is increased even further. Both  Nabeelah (below left) and Keshia (right) were selected to represent Western Province. By virtue of her performances Nabeelah made the Western Cape team to take part in the inter-provincial tournament. At the tournament, held in Durban, Nabeelah crowned her season with a magnificent performance, winning the 100 metres sprint, thereby becoming the u/15 short sprint champion of South Africa. We look forward to more outstanding performances over the next few years.

• Inter-house 2009: The first day of Inter-house 2009, the 50th Inter-house, took place on 16 February. The first day’s events consisted of  the Boys’  u/19 5000m, all the 3000m events, and all the field events. The standings at the end of Day 1 were as follows: 1. Kendal - 283, 2. Mimosa - 252, 3. Azalea - 234 4. Protea - 221.                                                                                                                                         Day 2 saw all the other track events taking place, and on a very hot day, the athletes certainly had their work cut out. Competition was         extremely tough, and, although the order at the end of the first day stayed the same until the start of the relays, the points difference between  the various houses fluctuated constantly. At this stage Kendal’s lead seemed to be enough to have wrapped up first place, while Mimosa seemed comfortable in second. The real fight was for 3rd and 4th positions, with Azalea holding a slender 4 point lead over Protea. When the   first two relays had Azalea finishing fourth, and thereby gaining no points, their position was even shakier. Every subsequent race would be vital. After the last relay, after two days of intense and exciting competition, the final tally read as follows: 1. Kendal - 543 2. Mimosa - 474 3. Protea - 437 4. Azalea - 436.

             Click here to view more photos.

• Grade 8 - 11 2008 Prize-Giving: On Monday 9 February the outstanding academic achievers in the final exams of 2008 were awarded     certificates of merit.

• Grade 9 excursion to District 6 Museum: On Sunday 8 February Mr Francois Cleophas took a group of Grade 9s to the District 6         Museum.

         Click here to see more photos.

• Matric Results: The matriculants of 2008 produced outstanding results in the first ever OBE-style exams, obtaining a magnificent 100%    pass rate. There were 6 students who achieved an A-aggregate, 25 who achieved B’s and 44 with C passes. The top students were Allyson Adams (87,86%), Zakarriyah Harnekar (86,57%), Jade Dreyer (83,00%), Jaime Plaatjes (83,00%), Faakhirah Waggie (81,86%) and Angela Thebus-Ford (80,57%). Below are the 6. At a subsequent awards ceremony SP was presented with R20000 by the WCED for being the top formerly disadvantaged school in terms of the number of subject distinctions achieved. Halima Zalgaonker was awarded a bursary of R6000 for being the top Maths student in the same category, while Zakarriyah Harnekar and Allyson Adams were recognised for finishing second. Click here for more.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        
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                                             L_R: Angela, Jaime, Jade, Deputy Principal Barry Saunders, Faakhirah, Zakarriyah, Allyson

• Prefect Camp: The annual Prefect Camp was held at Wortelgat in Stanford (just beyond Hermanus) from the 28 to 30 February 2009. Click here to read about it.

(Updated 27 May 2009)