Belonging

What a positive, vibrant and exhilarating week we are currently enjoying. The Grade 9’s are excited to leave for their annual two night camp in the Piketberg area while the campus has been awash over the last week or so with groups of animated Grade 7’s and their parents from various schools coming in for interviews.

Interviews take place every afternoon with girls from various schools coming to chat to me in my office for 45 minutes while their parents meet staff members over a cup of tea in the Old Library where they can ask meaty questions on any issue which they feel they would like to discuss.

I always start off by informing the girls that Springfield is not the best school in Cape Town as there are many superb schools in this part of the world returning outstanding matric results as well as world-class performances in sport, music, drama and art. After a dramatic pause as they digest this information, I tell them that their job is to research a number of schools - as not one school can possibly be the best for everyone but it is their job to find out which one is best for them individually.

Every interview goes along different lines, but at some point, I ask the question: ‘What are you looking for in a high school?’

Obviously a number of answers are returned to me, but I immediately latch on to any that refer to these points:

• ‘I am looking for a school with good facilities’.

I then invite them to look out of the window and immerse themselves in that sylvan and woody scene. They seldom say a word but just allow themselves to be engulfed in the calmness and serenity of the gardens.

• ‘Will your school prepare me for university?’

Easily resisting the impulse to rattle off matric results - except possibly to inform that two girls last year achieved 100% in Matric Art – I tell them that they will receive the greatest gift of all from our teachers, the gift of curiosity. Curiosity to explore further, to delve into issues far beyond the syllabus, to search for answers to issues which may not have right or wrong answers.

• ‘Will I fit into your school?’

I can think of no finer answer to this point than the one Luhlanganiso, Head Girl, used when answering the same question at Micklefield last week. She urged the girls to be true to themselves, to their culture, and to their talents. Girls, she told them, who took an interest in the activities of others; who made a point of understanding the journeys

others have made in their lives; who threw themselves into the extra- mural opportunities offered by the school – would always fit in.

• ‘Is Springfield a friendly school?’

In order to answer that adequately, I have to turn to our girls. No advert in a newspaper with glowing words describing our school can possibly beat a Springfield girl, proudly wearing her uniform, who genuinely greets everyone on the campus with a cheery smile and a warm demeanour. Our girls are our best advert and it is up to them to role model the answer to that question.

On Wednesday this week, various young ladies from a number of grades will be doing presentations to Grade 7’s and their parents at a New Parents Information evening.

On Saturday is our annual Open Day where Grade 8’s, together with Matrics, will be guiding groups of parents around the Campus. While I have no doubt that they will have variations of the questions above to answer, it will be their demeanour, the friendliness, their positivity which will give the best answer of all – I am at this school, because I want to be here.

Keith Richardson

Headmaster