Baton change for Jeppe’s headboy to headmasters

Jeppe High School for Boys has confirmed that legend-in-the-making Dale Jackson (Headboy 1990) will be succeeded by popular, youthful choice Brendan Gittins (Headboy 2004) as the school’s next headmaster, effective 1 January 2026.

Both men share a unique bond: they joined Jeppe in a formal capacity in 2009, and both are grounded in accounting. Dale qualified as a Chartered Accountant, while Brendan followed a teaching path after completing his BCom postgraduate studies in accounting.

Dale went on to become Jeppe’s 16th headmaster, taking the baton from Anton Dempsey in 2018. Widely respected, he has built a legacy that will endure, and his next chapter takes him to St John’s College.

Jeppe paid tribute:

“Mr Jackson has been a magnificent leader and, leveraging off the work done by headmasters before him, has moved our school to reach new heights.”

By 2022, Brendan had risen to the position of Director of Sport and then Deputy Headmaster. He left Jeppe to join Michaelhouse in the Midlands as Deputy Rector. A prominent all-round sportsman in his school days — even featuring in post-school rugby — Brendan played an integral role in Jeppe’s rugby revival during his years under both Dempsey and Jackson. His deep understanding of the Jeppe culture, the pressures rugby places on staff, and the value it brings in uniting Old Boys and attracting sponsors, will serve him well in his new role.

For Dale, despite his wealth of experience, the shift to a private-school headship may require greater adjustment. The working environment is markedly different from that of a state school. Rugby, too, is a more delicate balancing act. St John’s gives off the impression of a school with the potential to grow as a rugby force, but signals suggest it isn’t their top priority. Academically, though, they seldom rank below number one among the South African schools offering a quality rugby programme.

That academic focus shapes their rugby philosophy: sponsoring a talented player often hinges on his ability to excel in the classroom, with the bar set at securing a Varsity pass in matric — a far higher threshold than the state-school minimum of simply passing. This makes it harder to maximise rugby potential, but it also sets independent schools apart in how they balance sport and scholarship. The bottom-line is will not be as easy to acquire a rugby talent as it may have been at Jeppe.