Term 3 Newsletter – September 2011
Wynberg Established School on 1st July 1841, the Reverend Philip Faure of the Wynberg NG Kerk, said: “….May the youth of this school make grateful use of these favourable opportunities”.
By giving this instruction, Rev Faure set a tradition in motion which has lasted for 170 years from the Wynberg Established School to Wynberg Boys’ High School – a tradition of actively looking for
opportunities and taking advantage of them.
In his reply, the incoming Headmaster, John McNaughton said that he would be encouraging “good grooming”. It is interesting to note that two such key traditions of the school today were mentioned in the opening ceremony all those years ago. To some, the word ‘tradition’ implies that we are in some way a prisoner of the past inhibited by former prejudices and narrow-minded chauvinistic intolerance. The Founders’ Day Ceremony showed the fallacy of this view.
Watching the demeanour of Wynberg boys in the Ceremony made me realize that our traditions run deep within our collective being. The pride in uniform, the respect of those carrying the flags, the dignity of those speaking from the stage, the sincerity evident in the singing of the hymns, the reverence in the reading of the Names of the Fallen – all epitomized a deep and unspoken respect for the true traditions of this school.
Starbucks advertise their coffee houses by saying “If you want to know who we are, come and experience us.” All who came to experience our traditions on Founders’ Day, must have left impressed. I could easily imagine Faure and McNaughton at our 2011 Founders’ Day Ceremony, smiling down benignly on their school 170 years on.
Sometimes the issue of ‘tradition’ gets confused with mindless and thoughtless acts of boys who have illegally expropriated its name to explain away gratuitous and pointless practices – ’40 Day’ cavorting around comes to mind. Transient pleasure for the gratification of a privileged few is not a ‘tradition’.
Tradition needs to be backed up by the gravitas of years and compels us to enhance the reputation of our school.
“I will be educating the whole man,” said John McNaughton in that same speech. “From this will flow good habits which will form virtuous character.”
And with those words he imposed on us, the latest guardians of the Wynberg Brand, the most valuable tradition of all.
Have your say