Dear Parents
We have now come to the end of a wonderful year and what an exciting final week it has been.

On Monday evening we held our very special Carol Concert.  The singing was beautiful and it was a memorable start to the Christmas Season.

On Tuesday morning class parties were held and Santa paid a special visit to the Infants Classes, which caused great excitement. There was a mountain of food left over, which was sorted by the office staff and sent to Harare Children’s Home, St Josephs’ Home for Boys and B S Leon old age home.  All were so appreciative of the donations.

Last night was Prize Giving and Speech Night with our Special Guest of Honour, Mrs Davidson, who is retiring after thirty-five years of teaching at Bishopslea.  It was a lovely evening and so special to have the opportunity to acknowledge and congratulate our pupils on all the successes.

Of course it was an emotional occasion as well as we said goodbye to our wonderful Grade 7’s who have had such an exceptional year and to the members of staff who are leaving.  Final emotional good byes were said at our Final Assembly this morning.  We wished our Grade 7’s all the best in the future, and said goodbye and thanks to our J.M.’s who are leaving us, to Mr Matthee, who has been our invaluable Junior Master for the past two years and who is starting University next year, and to Miss Jones who has been a student at Bishopslea for the past three years and will be leaving to concentrate on her final year of studies.

We thank Miss Pawakwenywa for so ably standing in as our Sports Mistress for the term, and we thanked Miss Swart who is leaving us after only two terms owing to family commitments.

We also say goodbye to Mrs Bock who will not be returning after her term’s maternity leave, owing to family commitments.

It was very sad to say goodbye to Mrs Castelin who is retiring after being our Grade 7 teacher and Senior Teacher for the past eight years and whose experience, expertise and friendship have benefited us all.

Finally it was not only so sad but very special to say goodbye to Mrs Davidson who leaves us after teaching nearly one thousand pupils in her class over the pasty thirty five years.  Mrs Davidson is an exceptional teacher who has been most influential in the setting and maintaining of the standards we so enjoy.  It is an end of an era for Bishopslea but we wish her every happiness in her retirement.

Next year we will welcome Miss Olivier, who has been our sponsored student for the past four years, as Sports Mistress. We also welcome Mrs Olivier (no relation to Miss Olivier) as Grade 3 teacher, Mrs Bimha will stay on after her term as relief teacher as a Grade 2 teacher, Mrs Shaw will be joining us as Grade 5 ELP teacher and Mrs Manning will join us as our Grade 6 ELP teacher.

We would like to thank everyone for the input in such a special year and to wish everyone a Happy Christmas, a Prosperous New Year and a safe holiday.

Yours sincerely

R J Crook
HEADMASTER