Message from the Prep Headmaster
Vital for every pupil of the St David’s Prep School (and his parents) is the sense of family and community, of belonging. For the Prep is a family, where we embrace our boys in all their diversity and offer them a caring, nurturing educational home.
It is in the Prep School that every St David’s boy’s journey through the school truly begins, where the foundations are laid for producing well-rounded, character-filled young men who will make a difference in the world they inherit from us. These foundations are based on our three fundamental Marist values: simplicity, humility and modesty.
It is important to know that each boy’s St David’s journey is not confined to a time or space in either our Prep School or College, but is rather an ongoing journey throughout his life at St David’s and even beyond as a St David’s alumnus. Our aim is to enrich his journey with many special moments through extramurals on campus, or through off-campus activities such as camps, excursions, tours and our outreach programme.
Every Prep boy is encouraged to take advantage of all the academic, sporting, cultural, spiritual and outreach opportunities we offer. We pride ourselves on our cutting-edge, inquiry- and experiential-based approach to learning, in which our boys (and teachers) are given the space in which to fail safely – because that is where true learning starts.
St David’s Prep is also an agile, adaptable school, seen vividly most recently in how we pivoted to meet the challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdown regulations. Because of our forward-looking pedagogical approach, we were able to roll out online learning without missing a beat; and the lessons learned from this experience will no doubt inform how we teach our boys in the future.
St David’s is a strong sporting school, with first-rate facilities and coaches, and our boys can choose from a wide range of codes. While we often have reason to be proud of our boys’ sporting achievements, our focus is not on winning, but on participation and the spirit in which the game is played. The friendships forged in sport serve to strengthen the St David’s family bonds.
In keeping with our Marist values, we encourage all our boys to participate in our outreach initiatives. We place emphasis on our boys understanding their position of relative privilege, and internalising that with that privilege comes responsibility – often best fulfilled in the service of others.
St David’s is a Marist Catholic school, where faith is the foundation of everything we are, and everything we do. Core to our Catholic and Marist character, however, is an embracing of boys and families of all faiths.
In an ever-changing world, and in our South African and African contexts, we are committed to celebrating our diverse heritage, and to playing a transformative role both within our school gates and far beyond them.
For that is how our boys will feel that they belong: here at St David’s, and in the global family they are a part of.
Mr Nick Clogg
Prep Headmaster
