A few months ago DHS made it public that Mike Fennell had been appointed as the school’s CEO. The announcement generated a lot of interest and positivity about a hopeful return to prominence of rugby at ‘School’, although it must also be said that there are still a few skeptics out there who are of the opinion that Fennel will never take office on the Berea. Understandably not much focus has been placed on what’s happening at King Edward VII (KES) where Fennell is currently headmaster and an old boy. Well as it turns out Dave Lovatt has been named by KES as Fennell successor. Lovatt was the 14th headmaster of Hilton College. His time in charge at Hilton is more easily measured in months than years. After resigning from Hilton in 2009, Lovatt is reported to have become an educational consultant for a while before accepting the post of Queens College headmaster in 2011. So after spending less than two years at the helm at Hilton, Lovatt has now handed in his resignation at Queens inside of the two years as well.
The other Hilton master making news this year is Deon Scheepers. Scheepers, a Grey College old boy has some big shoes to fill when he takes over from legendary Grey College headmaster Johan Volsteedt. It’s interesting to note that Scheepers took over the Hilton 1st XV rugby coaching responsibility from Tony Richter in 2011, only to be replaced by Brad MacLeod-Henderson a few months later, following a below average season (losses included 42-0 vs Kearsney, 37-0 vs Westville and 37-12 vs College). The Afrikaans teacher and housemaster is now on the verge of heading up the most successful rugby school in South Africa. Although a headmaster is not directly responsible for rugby, it’s been seen often enough to know that there’s a strong public association between the head and the rugby success or failure of a school.
@beet: that will depend on who the new headmaster is,not all that Lovatt changed was negative,but if it’s someone who’s been at Queen’s before,we might see things revert back to pre-Lovatt,but if it’s someone completely new to Queen’s it will be very interesting
@Ludz: I wonder what will become of QC now in terms of traditions – stick with changes or revert back to pre-Lovatt time???
@Ludz: Thats quite an interesting viewpoint Ludz. I would have viewed KES as a more traditional type school. Lovatt must have some really good selling points tho. I mean Mike Fennell has turned KES into a good wicket and I’m sure there were a lot of quality candidates that were vying for the job. The very short stints at HC and QC did not seem to put the decision-makers off.
@Greenhopper: he has changed a lot of Queen’s tradition,in a way he’s diminshed the importance of certain things we did at Queen’s. You’d have to be a Queenian in the Harker era and Lovatt era to understand the major differences. In general I don’t think he’s suited to a traditional boys high school, maybe a co-ed school headmaster. Great guy,personally I had a good relationship with him,as a headmaster for Queen’s never been quite as fond of him
@Ludz: why do you say that he isnt a traditionalist??
Onto the next one for Mr Lovatt,not much of a traditionalist, he was never going to last very long at a school like Queen’s,probably for the best that he’s leaving. 1 can only hope that this time,he can’t last a little more than 2 years