NEWSLETTER

MICHAELMAS TERM No 4/2010

Dear Parents

In the newsletter you will find the new St John‟s College Steroid Testing Policy. This
has been approved by the PA Executive, the Sports Council and the Council of St
John‟s College. It appears at a very opportune time and I urge parents to discuss this
matter with their sons. Your support in educating and guiding your son to make wise
choices is appreciated.

Schalk Burger‟s first address to the boys as Head of School was inspirational. I have
printed it for your interest. It is a challenge from a young man to the “men” of St
John‟s to hold true to the values of this fine institution.

Mr Cameron, staff, fellow pupils and guests. I greet you with the words of the prophet Isaiah,
Chapter 40, verse 31: “But those who wait for the LORD will renew their strength. They shall
mount up with wings like eagles."

It seems like yesterday when I visited St John’s College for the first time. I was still in Grade 7
– a “boertjie” from Jan Celliers who had a dream to become a pupil at St John’s. After we had
written an entry exam, all the new boys were taken on a tour of the College grounds. We
walked through the school, the chapel, Pelican Quad and David Quad. We stood on Burger
field and in amazement I looked up at the extraordinary school buildings. I was in awe – as I
still am today. But the moment above all the one that I shall always remember of that first day,
is when we came to the bronze statue of the eagle in front of the science block. The
inscription on the base is from Isaiah 40, which I have just quoted. I knew then (as I still do
today) that those words captured the heart and the spirit of St John’s College and that I wished – with all my heart – to
be part of it.

Today, 4 years later, I stand here in front of you and I address you in a spirit of humbleness, trust, openness, but
above all, with a deep faith in those words of the prophet Isaiah. And I invite you – gentlemen of St John’s – to join me
and share my vision for 2011 which is:

“To soar on wings like eagles!”

As I start my term as Head of School, I asked myself what I envision for the next year. Firstly, I would like to develop
unity amongst our students. Unity is something, which does not happen by chance. We have to seek unity and work
hard to get it. It is an ethical integrity not to divide the powerful, positive forces in our life. In maths it is the smallest
numeral representation and I believe that we should group ourselves into this unit. Why? Because unity produces
strength and courage. Look at your blazer – pockets. The eagle is a symbol of strength and vigour. Through unity we
shall be able to realize our strength to soar with courage during 2011.
Secondly, I would like you to join me in seeking excellence. We at St John’s want to be excellent. There is no doubt
about that. The College is a school of excellence, academically, culturally, on the sports field and in community work.
Excellence is to process good qualities to the highest degree. True excellence is to strive to improve yourself and the
environment around you.
It can only be achieved through hard work and rising up to the challenges presented to you. It also means never to
lose sight of your goals. Eagles have the ability to fly directly into the sun without being blinded. Therefore, let us not
be blinded by anything which can weaken our focus during 2011.
Thirdly, I would like to invite you to make a commitment of loyalty to the school. Here at St John’s we need people like
you and me to have commitment – to bind ourselves intellectually and emotionally to our school. We are the products
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of one of the finest educational institutions in the world. This is a privilege and in the years to come we shall always be
thankful for the opportunity we had, which is nothing less than a gift. At St John’s, I came to understand the missionary
values of: discipline, integrity, honesty and charity, based on the teaching and examples of our teachers and those
who are part of this institution. Therefore I would like to challenge each one of you to be part of our Johannian
outreaches to underprivileged people. Let our exclusivity not blind us to the needs of others, instead let's be open to
the world outside. Let’s be exclusive in our existence but inclusive in our lives.
Mr Cameron’s message at Speech Night was to encourage us to give thanks. As a result, tomorrow morning during
chapel I will explain the project in which the whole school’s participation will be of utmost importance.
In addition I encourage all of you to strive for a healthy balance between body and soul. We need to be ethical in
everything we do. Let us remember that our mission in life is to become responsible people. We are fortunate here at
St John’s to have the best foundation ever to become dependable citizens. Life is tough and we need to be prepared
to face successes and failures. We must remember that the ten plagues of Egypt still exist today, just in other forms.
We might not so much have frogs and mosquitoes, but we have slow ADSL, computer viruses, Trevor Noah…. and,
more seriously, often also poor relationships with people around us. May we always try to resolve our differences in
2011 in such a way that we grow in the process.
And above all, let’s be gentle and caring, especially toward the young and upcoming generation here in our school.
Let us help them to fly, but like true eagles, let us also catch them when they fall.
I also want to take this opportunity and thank each and everyone (students and teachers) who trusted me enough to
give me this opportunity of being Head of School for 2011. I am committed not to fail you and to lead this school to
2012 in the best way I possibly can.
Many people have played a role in my development and of those, my parents deserve the most credit. I know that
they sometimes just shook their heads, wondering what I was up to, but never did they give up on me. They are
always willing to create new opportunities for me. Dad, Mom, I want to thank you for this. Thank you for pushing me to
my limits. Thank you for opening the door to St John’s for me. And above all, I would like to thank my Heavenly
Father, who has blessed me beyond my wildest dreams.
Finally I want to conclude with the words of Rudyard Kipling. He echoed Isaiah when he said:
“If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,
Or being hated, don’t give way to hating,
If you can dream – and not make dreams your master,
If you can think – and not make thoughts your aim,
If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken
and lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss,
If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
If all men count with you, but none too much,
Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,
And – which is more – you’ll be a Man, my son”
My prayer for 2011 is that we stay focused on the Lord, on true and honest living and ultimately to become the men
we were born to be.
Only then shall we soar on wings like eagles, shall we run and not grow weary, shall we walk and not be faint.

Schalk Burger
Head of School – 2011

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 ST JOHN’S COLLEGE
PREFECTS - 2011
Head of School: Schalk Burger
Second Prefect: Jeffrey Long
Additional School Prefect: Travis Bradfield
Head of Nash: Peter Raney
Head of Hill: Dylan Feldner-Busztin
Head of Clayton: Jesse Bulabula
Head of Thomson: Markus Trengove
Head of Alston: Matthew Diepenbroek
Head of Clarke: Paul Malakou
Head of Hodgson: Kathu Ramabulana
Head of Fleming: Tebogo Lekubu
Head of Runge: Marina Ceccarelli

FIRST AID
Head of First Aid – 2011
Simon Brooks
San Co-ordinator – 2011
Matthew Wilson

INTERACT
President
Anish Daya
Vice-President
Tinaye Tengende
PRO
Keith Mhlari
Secretary
Bhaveen Kalidas
Treasurer
Shaneel Kalyan
Chief Whip
Andrew Tuma-Waku

LIBRARY Head of Library

Jarryd Wood
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ACADEMIC AWARDS MICHAELMAS TERM 2010
Upper V
ACADEMIC COLOURS
Dixit Dullabh
Edmund Wessels
ACADEMIC HONOURS
Richard Fisher Adam Maserow
Lower V
ACADEMIC COLOURS
Richard Berry
Rowan Dalton
Scott Hunt
Sahil Jamnadas
Akshar Jivan
Reshard Kolabhai
Johan Prinsloo
George Varughese
ACADEMIC HONOURS
Schalk Burger
Asiri Rathugamage
Jarryd Wood
CULTURAL AWARDS
Honours - Music
Pieter Swart Kendrick Walsh
Colours – Music
Michael Cloete
Half-Colours – Music
Jonathan Beard
Colours - Drama
Sekh-Fei de Lacy

Honours – Art
Adam Maserow
Colours – Art
Ferdi le Grange
Barry Povey
Simon Lee
Half-Colours Re-award
Devin Marder

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MUSIC
The following boys passed their: Trinity Guildhall (London) - Practical Examination
Angus Mackenzie Trumpet Grade 4
Hamish Mollett Trombone Grade 6
Jason Smythe Trombone Grade 7
Matthew Lillie Harp Grade 5
Bryan Moore Cello Grade 7
Asiri Rathugamage Jazz Saxophone Grade 8
John Whittle Violin Grade 5
Murray Conway Violin Grade 5
Suleiman Sacranie Violin Grade 6
Francois Du Plessis Violin Grade 7
Robert Nutt Violin Grade 5
Michael Cloete Saxophone Grade 7
Robert MacMurray Saxophone Grade 3
Stephen Havenga Saxophone Grade 4
Oliver Vincent Saxophone Grade 5
Kiyan Kurji Saxophone Grade 5
Mohamed Sacranie Flute Grade 7
Daniel Erasmus Clarinet Grade 4
Riaan de Kock Piano Grade 8
Benedict Didcott-Marr Recorder Grade 6
Travis Bradfield Recorder Grade 8
Eric McLaughlin Piano Grade 4
Miguel Neto Piano Grade 4
Marius Vermaak Piano Grade 7
Sarah Hunt Piano Grade 7
Thomas Geffen Piano Grade 8
Matthew Taylor Piano Grade 2
Stephen de Souza Piano Grade 2
Siya Urio Piano Grade 1

CHESS
The Inter-House Chess matches were played on Friday 15 October and because they were played after
Speech Night and the awarding of the Le Sueur Cup, these points will count towards next year‟s Le Sueur
Cup:
Results:
Seventh: Hodgson
Fifth: Alston and Nash
Fourth: Thomson
Third: Hill
Second: Fleming
First: Clarke
The Captain of Clarke, Matthew Tong received the Double Knight Trophy on behalf of Clarke and Neil
Viviers received the Gold King Trophy having won all his games playing on Board 1.

World Youth Chess Championships

Jaishil Modi participated in the Boys U16 section of the World Youth Championships held in Porto Carass,
Greece, and was ranked 125 out of 150 and finished 90th.

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 MICHAELMAS TERM 2010 COLOURS AWARDS

ATHLETICS, SOCCER & ROWING

ATHLETICS AWARDS

The season consisted of four meetings. Inter-House, one Inter-Schools, Private Schools and Inter-High
meeting. Three records were broken: S Tenza in the 100m & 200m and J Van Der Bijl in High Jump .

Present position:

Team Blazer: Ferdi Le Grange Brendon Levendig

Dylan Feldner-Busztin
Honours: Senzo Tenza

NEW AWARDS:

Team Blazer: Willie Morgan Dean Gordon

Jesse Bulabula Nicholas Jelonek

Colours: Edward Butler

Honours: Jonathan Van Der Bijl Katlego Moanakoena

SOCCER AWARDS

Team results – Played 18 – Won 9, Lost 6, Drew 3 - Attended both the St David‟s and St Peters Festivals

Present position:

Team Blazer: Sandile Xayiya

Honours: Matthew Becker

NEW AWARDS:

Team Blazer: Rea Khumbane Dylaan Mafumu Thobi Ndzimande

Ethan Brownhill Pele Collins Tebogo Lekubu
Wesley Coulentianos Jared Kruger Matthew Collins
Zain Patel

Colours: Paulo Loureiro Shaldon Valjalo Jason Newton

Dave Jacobs Senzo Tenza

ROWING AWARDS
NEW AWARDS: Willie Morgan was awarded full colours for Rowing in April 2010. Subsequently he
was selected to represent South Africa at the Junior World Championships held in
Prague in August of this year. Willie has upheld the values of a Johannian at all
times, receiving compliments from senior athletes on his work ethic and attitude. For
his contribution to Rowing at St John's College and his selection for South Africa,
Willie is awarded Rowing Honours

Honours: Willie Morgan

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STAFF NEWS

Congratulations to Dr Bruce Tobias on being awarded his PhD

at a graduation ceremony on 28 July 2010 held at the University
of the Witwatersrand Great Hall.

The title of his thesis was: From textual problems to

mathematical relationships: case studies of secondary school
students and the discourses at play in interpreting word
problems.

Picture: Bruce Tobias with his wife, Liz (left)

and his sons Gareth (OJ 2008) and Mark (OJ 2006)

SACEE CREATIVE WRITING COMPETITION

Congratulations are due to the following boys who entered the Sacee Creative Writing Competition: Sacee
is the South African Council for English Education and this is very well supported competition for which
there were several hundred entries. There are four sections and St John‟s won all four. The senior prose
was won by Shaneel Kalyan (UIV), senior Poetry by Tom Geffen (LV); junior prose by Luc Feldner-Busztin
(LIV); and the junior poetry by Benedict Didcott-Marr (LIV). In addition to this Alistair Bashall (LV) and Andy
Petersen UV) were runners up in the senior prose section. All this beautiful writing will be published in the
2010 magazine. Well done, boys.
SACEE DEBATING CHAMPIONSHIPS 2010
The senior team reached the semi-finals, and were narrowly defeated by Pretoria Girls‟ High. The junior
team reached the finals, and were narrowly defeated by Pretoria Girls‟ High!

Andy Petersen, Michael Macklin, Gianluca Agostinetto, Luke Quinn: selected for provincial trials.
Michael Macklin: Best Senior Provincial Debater, 2010
Junior Best Speaker list: Gianluca Agostinetto placed 4th, Luke Quinn 5th.

ANNUAL INTER-SCHOOLS ART EXHIBITION 2010

Our sixth Annual Art Exhibition 2010 was for the third time held at the FADA
gallery, UJ, opening on the 14th September. It was again organized by the St
John‟s Art Department, and expertly curated and hung by Eugene Hon from the
UJ art department. We had the usual excellent turn-out, more schools than ever
participating, and the highest standard of art displayed so far at this prestigious
public annual exhibition. Last year, our guest speaker, world renown South African artist William Kentridge,
encouraged art teachers to emphasize the importance of perceptual drawing – still-life, models, etc, and not
only working from photographs. Many art teachers present at this year‟s exhibition felt that the lift in
standards was partly due to this salient advice from South Africa‟s most well-know artist. A wide variety of
media, conceptual and perceptual art work was represented. St John‟s College was proud to have one of
its pupils take home one of the three prizes once again – Sam Kentridge was awarded second place for his
two large gridded, collaged self-portraits – congratulations to him. We can look forward to the growth and
continued success of this exhibition in the future, now firmly established in the schools‟ art calendar.
CAMBRIDGE INTERNATIONAL EXAMINATIONS ART TEACHERS’ CONFERENCE

A very interesting, stimulating and useful conference was held at St John‟s

College on Saturday, 2nd October. Liz Castle, a well-known art educator
gave an excellent power-point presentation, high-lighting the various
emphases on standards of Cambridge marking, expectations and
assessment objectives. All the teachers present agreed that it was a most
worth-while function which we intend to repeat regularly.
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 ANNUAL MATRIC ART EXHIBITION 2010

For the first time we had our Major Matric Art Exhibition in the Rene England auditorium on Monday, 18th
October. This proved to be a spacious venue which comfortably accommodated many works, and an
attendance. 41 art boys exhibited a varied and on the whole, excellent body of work. Well-known print-
maker artist, Kim Berman gave the opening address, complimenting the boys on their high standard of
work, and the art department on their inspiring approach to attract so many art students at a time when
other schools fear the closing of their subject due to low numbers of pupils‟ choosing art as a subject Kim
also commended the art department on its ability to inspire such a high and varied standard of work. She
also encouraged the pupils to continue to make art relevant to today‟s world. Kim judged the following boys
as winners: Ferdi Le Grange – best artist on exhibition, Adam Maserow 2nd and Barry Povey 3rd.
Congratulations to those boys on this excellent achievement. Congratulations also to all the pupils who
enriched our evening with their superb work.

NATIONAL SCIENCE EXPO 1-2 OCTOBER 2010

Six projects from St John‟s College were chosen to go through to the National Expo held at the University
of Pretoria from 1-2 October. Our boys were great ambassadors for St John‟s College.
Bronze medals were awarded to:

Chris Maree and Jordan Wheeler (Remove) for “Power of Batteries”

Mohammed Kaskar and Nabeel Seedat (U4) for “Silver Solutions”

Silver Medals were awarded to:

Ahmad Soni and Ebrahim Mohamed (L5) for “Moringa Seed: Nature‟s answer to clean water in rural
South Africa”

The Kelvin award was made to Matthew Taylor and Nikita Dartchiev for “Magneto-hydrodynamic Motor”.
This award is presented for an outstanding project showing an awareness of and understanding of a
current technological challenge and offering an innovative solution.
Gold Medals were awarded to Schalk Burger and Peter Raney for “Evapo-Gravitational Generator”. They
also won Best Project and have been selected to attend an elimination round to decide if their project will
be one of five to represent South Africa at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair.
Congratulations to all our boys on excellent projects.

SHOW JUMPING
Congratulations to Heather Robertson (LVI) on being awarded provincial colours and on being selected to
represent Gauteng at the SA Junior Championships to be held in Port Elizabeth in December.

SPORTS NEWS SUMMER SPORTS CAPTAINS

Basketball

Captain: Tebogo Lekubu

Chess

Captain: Yianni Moustakis

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 Cricket

Jason Newton

Golf

Captain: John Newsome

Rowing

Captain: Paul Malakou

Vice-Captains: Ben Myers Daniel Trollip
Boatman: Grant Verheul

Swimming

Captain: Dylan Feldner-Busztin

Vice-Captain: Francois Du Plessis
Vice-Captain: Murray Bantock

Tennis

Captain: Rowan Dalton

Vice-Captain : Kirk Bolland

Water Polo

Captain : Alex du Plessis

SWIMMING

Gareth Baker (L4 - Clayton) recently took part in the Seagulls Championship Gala held in Durban and
earned Personal Bests in all nine of the events that he swam.

He made the qualifying times in five of the event for the Open South African Youth Nationals to be held in
April next year. The highlight of the Gala was in his final event, the 200 Individual Medley, where he
earned a Silver Medal against Murray McDougall (17) who had just returned from representing South Africa
at the Youth Olympics in Singapore.

KARATE

Austen Parfitt (U5 Clayton) was awarded his 2nd DAN belt at the national KWF Karate examination on 9
October by a unanimous decision from a panel of 8 examiners.

This is a great achievement as it is seldom given to a Karateka as young as Austen (18), as not only is the
technical proficiency of the candidate required, but their leadership qualities, teaching abilities, and maturity
all play a major part in passing this examination.

Zayan Daya (Rem – Alston) was awarded a gold medal for Kumite and silver for Kata at the Southern
Gauteng Goju Kai held on 4th September at Vanderbijlpark. He has subsequently been awarded Eastern
Gauteng colours for Karate. At the South African Goju Kai Nationals held 25th in September in Durban, he
was awarded a silver medal for Kumite and bronze for Unison Kata. Well done Zayan!

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 Inter-House Cross Country Results

Juniors (First eight positions)

1 Gareth Harvett 20:35 Nash

2 Kyle Lion-Cachet 20:55 Fleming
3 Justin Boyce 21:30 Nash
4 Christopher Huntley 21:37 Hodgson
5 Blake Skirving 22:03 Nash
6 Alastair Fletcher 22:18 Clayton
7 Kiyan Kurji 22:32 Thomson
8 Rowan Batzofin 22:32 Clayton
9 Oliver Vincent Nash
10 Hamish Mollett Clayton

Seniors (first ten positions)

1 Carl Coetzee 16:37 Runge

2 Dylan Feldner-Busztin 17:15 Hill
3 Ferdi le Grange 17:26 Thomson
4 Gregory Harrup 18:23 Hill
5 Willie Morgan 18:58 HodgsonHodgson
6 Dipolelo Moraba 19:08 Nash
7 Bevan Dell 19:25 Clarke
8 Jody Swartz 19:37 Nash
9 Kyle Robertson 19:49 Hodgsonodgson
10 Lebogang Mokgosi 20:01 HodgsonHodgson

Juniors (by house) Juniors (by house)

1 HodgsonHodgson 1 HodgsonHodgson
2 Nash 2 Nash
3 Hill 3 Hill
4 FlemingFleming 4 Flemingleming
5 ClaytonClayton 5 Alston
6 Clarke 6 Clarke
7 Alston 7 ThomsonClayton
8 Thomson 8 Thomson

Overall

1 Hodgson
2 Nash
3 Hill
4 Flemingleming
5 Alston
6 ClaytonClayton
7 Clarke
8 Thomson

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 ST JOHN’S COLLEGE STEROID TESTING POLICY

Reasons for the policy

The desire to achieve an “enviable” body image, to succeed on the sports field, or play for the school first or
provincial team, are strong and often overriding motivators and influences in the lives of adolescent boys.
These influences can cause boys to risk their short and long-term health by using banned performance-
enhancing substances as a shortcut to meeting these goals. This is cheating and a violation of the honesty
and integrity that should be inherent in fair participation. Moreover St John‟s College is committed to act
against this behaviour by introducing a steroid testing programme and to educate boys on the health
dangers of taking anabolic steroids. The Headmasters of the boys‟ schools have also agreed to work
together in eradicating this behaviour by introducing testing in their schools.

Reasons for testing

Using steroids without a prescription and without proper medical supervision can cause serious,
adverse health effects.
Using steroids and other performance-enhancing drugs can give an unfair advantage over the
competition, and is cheating.
Testing for steroids can help deter their use among school pupils.
Steroids are drugs that should only be used to treat medical conditions. Possession, use or
dealing of most steroids without a prescription is illegal.

St John‟s recognizes that it will take a community-wide effort by parents, coaches, pupils, teachers and
physicians to attack this growing challenge. Steroid testing is one tool that can assist in discouraging pupils
from taking steroids.

Definition of Steroids
Anabolic steroids, officially known as anabolic-androgen steroids (AAS) or colloquially simply as "steroids",
are drugs which mimic the effects of the male sex hormones testosterone and dihydrotestosterone. They
increase protein synthesis within cells, which results in the build-up of cellular tissue (anabolism), especially
in muscles. Anabolic steroids also have androgenic and virilising properties, including the development and
maintenance of masculine characteristics. www.wada-ama.org

The Policy definition

It shall be considered a violation of the sportsmanship code of conduct for any student to possess, ingest or
otherwise use any substance on the list of banned substances as indicated by the South African Institute
for Drug Free Sport (SAIDS), without written prescription by a fully-licensed physician as recognised by the
South African Medical Association, to treat a medical condition.

In short, use of performance-enhancing drugs by pupils at St John’s College is considered to be

cheating and will be penalized.

Consent form
All pupils‟ parents or guardians at St John‟s consent in writing to the drug-testing policy administered at St
John‟s. Testing for performance-enhancing substances forms part of this testing programme. Failure to sign
the consent form renders the student ineligible to participate in any sports programme, whether it be at an
inter-house or inter-schools level, until the form is signed.

The testing programme

Any pupil can be tested.
The school will carry the cost of the initial test but in cases of positive results the follow-up tests‟
costs will be for the relevant parents‟ account.
Testing can be conducted at any time of the year, pre-season, during a particular season or
after.
Testing will not be restricted to any one particular sport.
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 The programme will be administered in two ways:
- Internal testing by the school through Drug Detection International (DDI) – Violations
here, as a result of a positive test, will be penalised in accordance to the school policy
and will not be reported to SAIDS.
- External testing through SAIDS and mostly for inter-schools matches – Violations here
will be dealt with at National sporting level and bans of up to two years are possible.
These tests will be conducted when playing in tournaments, festivals and inter-schools
matches, and not necessarily only at 1st team level.
Urine tests will be used.
The substances tested for will include any substances that are banned by SAIDS which falls
under the banner of the World Anti Doping Agency (WADA). Using any substance belonging
to a banned class violates the rules of sportsmanship, can be detrimental to the pupil’s
health and is considered cheating.
Nutritional and dietary supplements are not on the banned substances list but all pupils must be
aware that many supplements contain banned substances due to the unregulated nature of the
supplement industry. Impure supplements may lead to positive test results because the purity
and safety of nutritional dietary supplements cannot be guaranteed. The use of supplements
is at the student’s own risk.

Recommended consequences for violating the steroid policy

Any person who tests positive in a test, or any person who refuses to provide a testing sample, or any
person who reports his own violation, through the programme at St John‟s College:

- Will be informed, along with his parents, according to the same process as per the
substance abuse policy, of the consequences in regards to the violation. This will be fully
documented.
- May immediately forfeit his eligibility to participate in any competitive sport for St John‟s
College for a period of one year from the date of the test.
- Will need to continue serving the seasonal sports chosen in whatever capacity required
i.e. linesman, scoring, table duty etc.
- May also forfeit any individual honour earned while in violation. This means that colours
awarded, during the season prior to the test being positive, may be removed.
- Will only resume eligibility for participation in sport after he has undergone counseling
and produces a negative test result from the same testing organization DDI. This will be
at his own expense.

Any pupil who deals in steroids is in violation of the substance abuse policy and will be called
before the Disciplinary Council with his parents. Selling drugs including steroids or other illegal
substances at St John's College may lead to expulsion.

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 SUBSTANCE ABUSE

The problems associated with what has become the almost free availability of drugs in society permeate all
sectors of our community, and St John‟s is no exception. Drug experimentation and use poses a threat not
only to our own well-being, but through peer group interactions, to other boys in our community.

Drugs and drug use, therefore, have the potential to significantly undermine the ethos and achievements of
our community and the individuals within it. Documented research shows that the notions of „soft drugs‟ and
„safe drugging‟ are misconceptions, and that these forms of drug taking are often the start of full-scale
abuse. The use of performance enhancing drugs in sport is damaging to health and regarded as cheating.
Additionally, these practices are illegal.

The realities of our society are such that it is likely that at some point every St John‟s boy will have access
to drugs.

For these reasons it is of critical importance that we do everything in our power to ensure that St John‟s
boys are properly prepared for such a situation, and that a programme exists to dissuade boys from
accepting, if offered drugs.

Under the auspices of the School Psychologist/Counsellor, a Life Skills programme has been introduced
which, amongst other things, educates boys on the dangers associated with drugs. Additionally, a
programme of random drug testing has been instituted at St John‟s. In addition to testing for recreational
drugs, we will also be testing boys for the use of anabolic steroids. We have become aware that some
boys are taking these to grow bigger and stronger without being aware of the serious consequences to their
health.

Simple urine tests provide an effective method of determining whether a boy has been experimenting with
drugs. The results will be strictly confidential and will only be revealed to the boy‟s parents, Housemaster,
and the Headmaster. This programme forms part of the broader pastoral role of the school. Where a boy
tests positive, he and his parents will be given full support by the school and counselling from professional
counsellors. Only in cases of a repeated positive test would a boy‟s drug taking become a matter of school
record, and a disciplinary issue. In the case of the use of anabolic steroids together with other boys‟
schools we will not allow boys to participate in the sporting programme for a period of time. Details of our
policy regarding this abuse are outlined in our steroids testing policy to be found on our website.

Kindly complete the consent form attached and return it to the School Secretary. Should you have any
queries, please feel free to phone your son‟s Housemaster or you might wish to speak to me personally.
Please note that the purpose of this programme is to be proactive and prevent drug abuse happening at St
John‟s in the future, with the support of parents in a programme to deal with a real societal threat to our
boys.

R D T Cameron
Headmaster

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 SUBSTANCE ABUSE CONSENT FORM

I (parent / guardian name) __________________________________________

as parent / guardian of (pupil‟s name) _________________________________

Pupil‟s house ____________________________________________________

do hereby give permission for my son / ward to be tested at school for the presence of drugs, including
steroids as part of a random testing programme.

I understand that the results of such tests are strictly confidential and will be disclosed only to myself, my
son‟s Housemaster, and the Headmaster. In the case of steroids, the Director of Sport and his coach will
be informed.

I understand that the tests are non-invasive (urine) tests carried out professionally and in private by
qualified medical staff.

I understand that the costs of these tests will be borne by the school, except for the subsequent tests which
will take place monthly in the event of my son testing positive for the presence of drugs, in which case such
costs will be for my account.

Signed: ________________________________________

Date: ________________________________________

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