About the Development Office
ABOUT THE DEVELOPMENT OFFICE Navigation The St George’s Development Office comprises of the following roles and functions: Development and Fundraising, Marketing, Alumni and Communications. The teams core mandate is to fundraise for the various development projects and initiatives. These projects cover both Hartmann House and St George’s College. For more details: https://www.stgeorges.co.zw/development/
Staff Vacancies
STAFF VACANCIES Navigation Applications in response to an advertised vacancy should; – be sent to applications@stgeorges.co.zw. – meet the minimum requirements set in the vacancy advertisement. – include the requested relevant documents
Upcoming Major Developments
UPCOMING MAJOR DEVELOPMENTS Navigation Subjects Offered at Form 1 & 2 Level Subjects Offered at IGCSE Level (Form 3 & 4) Subjects Offered at A Level (Lower & Upper6) As part of the Development Team’s core mandate, the following projects have been identified by the Board of Governors and all fundraising efforts made are directed solely to these projects: 1. Multi-Purpose Sports’ Facility This Sports facility which will be developed in various phases will allow our students to participate in sporting activities and practices year-round, regardless of season and weather conditions. Such a facility is essential to maintain our high level of competitiveness in sport. Furthermore, the Sports facility will provide a single venue that can accommodate all students and staff at the same time for events, such as the Celebration of Mass, Academy and Prize Giving and assemblies. This is especially important now as the College enrolment has risen above 750 and there is currently no single venue that can cater for this number. This facility will also allow for community engagement. 2. New College Living Museum and Archives After 125 years of students passing through the College, we have amassed an amazing collection of records, artefacts, photographs, publications, videos and other historical items that have outgrown our current College archival space. The College now aims to build a structure that will be a living museum for all the physical and digital artefacts that we have collected up to date, and will allow us to continue to collect and curate artefacts well into the future. 3. Refurbishment of the College’s Boarding Facility The reason why this facility needs to be upgraded is for us to maintain diversity at the College, remain globally relevant and competitive.This project is in the feasibility study phase with specifics to come in future communications.
Construction of the New Female Student Ablutions
CONSTRUCTION OF THE NEW FEMALE STUDENT ABLUTIONS Navigation To cater for our girls now in Sixth Form, new ablutions were constructed behind the Fr Michael Ross SJ Science Centre, parallel to the Art Department.
New Sports Offices inside the Swimming Pool Area
NEW SPORTS’ OFFICES INSIDE THE SWIMMING POOL AREA Navigation The new Sports’ Offices have been relocated and constructed inside the Swimming Pool area, where the old change rooms used to be situated. Store rooms have also been added on to allow for secure storage of all sports equipment and students’ bags.
Cambridge Professional Development Centre
CAMBRIDGE PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT CENTRE Navigation A significant development has been the awarding of St George’s College as a Cambridge Professional Development Centre. This is resourced with three internationally accredited members of staff, who deliver internationally recognised Cambridge courses. Without the well-trained, committed and experienced staff at the College, the true value of the upgraded facilities would not be optimised. Approximately, a quarter of our academic staff have completed Cambridge accredited courses and professional development for staff will be ongoing thereafter.
Development Office
DEVELOPMENT OFFICE Navigation The St George’s Development Office comprises of the following roles and functions: Development and Fundraising, Marketing, Alumni and Communications. The teams core mandate is to fundraise for the various development projects and initiatives. These projects cover both Hartmann House and St George’s College. For more details: https://www.stgeorges.co.zw/development/
Continual Classroom Refurbishments
CONTINUAL CLASSROOM REFURBISHMENTS Navigation After concluding the construction of our Fr Michael Ross SJ Science Centre, this major development was not seen in isolation as the College then made a strategic decision to redefine all the learning spaces around the College, in order to remain relevant in today’s modern world. Numerous classrooms have been refurbished into contemporary learning spaces enabling our students and staff to learn and teach in a dynamic environment. Special thanks go to the generosity of the OG (Alumni) community who raised more than USD 60,000, which went towards the construction and refurbishment of some of the new classrooms at the College. This is project is ongoing and we look forward to completing these refurbishments in the near future. The entire Mathematics Department has now relocated into these re- defined learning spaces. The Resource Centre, Computer Network Manager’s office and the IT Technicians’ Lab were all re-located to more suitable areas. The learning spaces that used to be occupied by the old science laboratories have been completely re-configured and refurbished. We have increased student numbers for Information Technology (IT) and Computer Science/CISCO at Sixth Form Level. One of the old Biology Laboratories in the Bulawayo Wing has been refurbished and now accommodates all classes for Information Technology (IT) and Computer Science. The beautiful hardwood from the old laboratory benches has been re-crafted in our own workshops into work benches for desk-top computers. The College Strategic Plan advocated increased availability for support and remedial teaching at the College. The completely refurbished Educentre (Rooms 17a and b), was opened in 2020 with a qualified teacher in Special Educational Needs (SEN)and this now provides support for students throughout the school. One of the first benefits of the additional learning spaces created after the building of the Fr Michael Ross SJ ScienceCentre, was the refurbishment of the two old biology laboratories into Design and Technology Laboratories. One of theinitiatives of the School Development Plan was to introduce practical subjects into the curriculum.Refurbishment of these spaces was completed after consultation with staff and students. Design and Technology isnow taught from Form Three to upper Six. We are currently the only school in Zimbabwe offering the electroniccomponent of this syllabus. In 2019, one of our students achieved the highest mark in Zimbabwe at Advanced level inthis subject. The beautiful old hard wood laboratory benches were recycled in our own workshops providing modern work surfaces for this subject. The Music Department was finally given a home in 2020, occupying the space previously used for the Resource Centre. This area below the Loyola Hall had been used in years gone by as the Armoury and a Weights Room. The Loyola Music Centre now offers a number of individual and group practice rooms and Office. Amongst all of these specialist learning spaces, the continual refurbishment and upgrading of general classrooms continues. Eleven classrooms have been completed so far, each with Wifi connectivity. More classrooms will be refurbished in the near future.
Structural Upgrade of the College Tower
STRUCTURAL UPGRADE OF THE COLLEGE TOWER Navigation This major refurbishment began last year with all the spaces within the College Tower being looked at with a fine tooth comb, as numerous structural issues become apparent due to the history and age of the Tower. To begin with, all of the old wooden sash window frames around the Tower had gone rotten over time and these were removed and replaced with new modern aluminium window frames of similar design, allowing for adequate lighting and ventilation to be maintained. Once this was complete, the Team next looked at the roofing of the Tower as a large majority of it was still the original galvanised sheeting from when the Tower was first constructed. Over time, this roofing had developed numerous leaks due to the bitumsing on the flat part of it having cracked, which then allowed moisture to seep into all the old farm bricks that were made in the early 1920s on campus. As a result, this then brought about all the structural challenges being faced in all of the offices, rooms, etc. A new modern sealant has now been placed on the roofing which will give it about 15 years or so until a replacement sealant is needed to be applied again. All gutters surrounding the Tower have been replaced with wider, more efficient ones, allowing for the free flow of rain water away from the building, preventing any overflow from occurring. The exterior of the Tower began to crumble due to moisture seeping through the old farm bricks as its cement coating had weathered over the years and was not waterproof anymore. As a result of this, the moisture seeped through and travelled across the whole building, causing cracks and paint to break free from the walls inside the offices and rooms. This has now been addressed by wire brushing the crumbling cement exterior right down to the farm bricks, power cleaning them and then treating them with a chemical based water proofing material. All the pointing around the Tower’s edges has also been redone to restore the exterior back to its original state. Finally, a new chemical was then sprayed onto the exterior that has crystals in it. Over time, if cracks do appear again and moisture is exposed to it, it will then activate the crystals and they will grow to block the newly formed cracks. Hopefully, this new chemical will allow the original farm bricks to be preserved and prevent any more moisture from becoming exposed to them and making them soft. This chemical will be needed to be reapplied to the Tower’s exterior potentially every five years. To top off the pristine look of the Tower’s exterior, the main plaque located on the front was treated and revarnished with a coating to restore its beautiful, copper finish back to its original state. This was last done during the College’s Centenary celebrations in 1996. Once the exterior of the Tower was complete, the Team then moved onto its interior and they found out that a lot of the plaster work on the walls inside the offices and rooms was loose and had started separating from the farm bricks due to the trapped moisture, so this was all chipped away, re plastered and repainted. All offices have now been refurbed, the new Ladies and Gents ablutions have been completed and numerous other alterations within the Tower are still yet to be done in the near future. The Tower before the external work was done: During the refurbishment: After the completed refurbishment:
Strength and Conditioning Centre
STRENGTH AND CONDITIONING CENTRE Navigation To allow our athletes to remain competitive in their respective sports, a strategic decision was made to construct a new state-of-the-art Strength and Conditioning Centre, equipped to international standards. This facility has recently been completed and we look forward to seeing our athletes using it to its full capacity and as a result, dominating on the sports field! Our vision: Our reality: