St John’s College aspires in the service of God to:

• Be a home of religious discipline – meaning fair and just parameters and consequences, tempered with compassion.
• Be a home of sound learning – St John’s must be benchmarked against the best in the country (and the world) in the academic arena.
• Be a home of goodwill – involvement in charity, good works and service must be the sign of a Johannian.

Pupils leaving the College must be:

• Rightly trained in body – sport and all aspects of healthy living must form part of the curriculum.
• Rightly trained in mind – apart from the academic, where creativity, enquiry, and self learning is emphasised, pupils should be exposed to as many varied activities as possible which develop the mind and promote meaningful experience.
• Rightly trained in character – pupils must be extended continually and challenged to expand and grow, by a demanding, professional, and encouraging staff who have a passionate belief in the potential of every pupil.
• Rightly trained to serve God well – pupils must be equipped for a changing and ever more challenging world.

 

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 here.

Kindly complete the consent form 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.

   Consent form [ 39 KB ]  |     Steroids testing policy [ 133 KB ]

 

Agreement between the Gauteng Heads of Boys’ Schools Group

The Gauteng Heads of Boys’ Schools Group is an informal and non-binding association of state and independent Heads of Boys’ Schools in Gauteng. This group (GHBSG) meets on a regular basis, to discuss matters of common concern and those discussions are underpinned by common values and ethos. These schools are listed at the end of this communication.

In the past, this group has addressed issues such as alcohol abuse amongst teenagers in Gauteng which resulted in the Concerned Communities Coalition being established in Gauteng.

In January 2010, an article written by Dr Jon Patricios (President of the SA Sports Medical Association) appeared in the Sunday Times, entitled “Gym and Tonic – the sordid side of school sport.”

The GHBSG embraced the challenge laid down in this article, both as individual schools and as a group. The schools embarked on the process of amending testing policies and checking with school governing bodies in the case of state schools. Some schools invited Dr Patricios to address boys and parents of their schools and others invited other expert speakers to talk to their school about the dangers of performance-enhancing drugs as well as the use of supplements.

As a group, the GHBSG met with Dr Jon Patricios, as well as Mr Khalid Galant, Chief Executive Officer of the Institute of Drug Free Sport. Dr Patricios was also invited to address the Boys’ Schools Conference, hosted by Selborne College in East London in March 2010. This conference (held annually) is held under the auspices of the International Boys Schools Coalition.

At the end of the March 2010 conference, the following statement was issued:

Whilst all the Heads who form part of the GHBSG were united in their stance on performance enhancing drugs, there was some concern about the processes and sanctions as laid down by SAIDS and, in the end, these “Heads agreed that disciplinary action would be retained within the normal disciplinary action structures of the school” (Roger Cameron, August 2010).

As such, the Heads agreed that the minimum sanction would be a six-month ban from all sport, as well as the normal disciplinary and rehabilitative measures in practice in our schools. In addition to these sanctions and consequences, each school in the group undertook to provide an educational programme to the boys in their respective schools.

The position currently is as follows:

1. All schools in the GHBSG have amended policies, consulted or communicated with parents and other relevant bodies and are in a position to test for performance enhancing drugs on a regular basis and such testing is happening.
2. All these schools have undertaken to educate their boys on the dangers of such drugs and supplements.
3. All have agreed on a minimum sanction of a six-month ban from all sport for boys who test positive.
4. The gist of all such programmes is both educational and preventative.
5. These schools have agreed that they wish to eradicate the scourge of such drugs from our schools, not least because the use of such drugs is essentially cheating - not only against other schools but also against other boys vying for the same position in a team. There are also very serious health concerns regarding the use of steroids.
6. We are also clear that the use of such drugs is not only confined to rugby players. A large number of boys use these drugs for reasons of body image and ego. According to SAIDS, a significant number of girls are also using them.
7. The GHDSG Schools have taken a proactive and leadership role on promoting a drug free environment in school sport.  We are disappointed that some sectors of the media have sought to sensationalise this record, rather than put pressure on those schools and sports bodies who have ignored the issue so far.

Going forward, we urge other schools around the country to adopt a similar approach in dealing with this issue: in particular, schools, both monastic and co-educational, whose teams are regularly featured in national tournaments and whose scholars play provincially or nationally.

We also urge the provincial sports authorities, in particular the rugby authorities, as well as the South African Rugby Union and other national sporting bodies, to support our efforts.

 

SIGNED:

Afrikaanse Seuns Hoërskool	– Dr P Edwards
Christian Brothers’ College, Boksburg	– Mr J Connell
	– Mrs P Fitzsimons
Jeppe High School for Boys	– Mr A Dempsey
King Edward VII School	– Mr M Fennell
Parktown Boys High	– Mr C Niemand
Pretoria Boys High School	– Mr A Reeler
St Alban’s College	– Mr T Hamilton
St Benedict’s College	– Mr A Oosthuysen
St David’s Marist, Inanda	– Mr M Williams
St John’s College	– Mr R Cameron
St Stithians Boys’ College	– Mr D Knowles

 

 

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