Open Days and Parents Information Sessions

Culture and services introduction

CULTURE at Westerford is probably one of the most exciting features of the school. Westerford has in excess of 50 clubs and societies that cover all possible aspects of culture and service, including.

Religious societies (for example Hindu Students’ Association, Christian Union, Muslim Students’ Association and the Student Jewish Association), language societies (for example Afrikaans Klub, English Society, Xhosa Club), political and activism clubs (for example Animal Rights Advocates, History and Current Affairs, Green Schools’ Initiative), hobbies and crafts societies (for example Film Society, Outdoor Club, Philosophy Society, Photographic Society, Garb Lifestyle, Chess Club) and various service societies aimed at helping Westerford (for example Costume Wardrobe, Lost Property, First Aid, Library Committee, Media, Sound, Lighting, Tuck Shop, Web Page, Spirit Portfolio) and the broader community (for example Interact, Habitat for Humanity).

Culture and service at Westerford are pupil-driven.

This means that all initiatives, events held, services performed, and more are initiated, organised, advertised, followed up and finally attended by the pupils themselves.

In order to achieve this, each club or society is lead by a committee consisting of 4 – 8 members, depending on their function and how busy they are, which in turn is spearheaded by a pupil-chairperson.

Each of these clubs or societies has a teacher-in-charge who attends the compulsory weekly meeting for disciplinary purposes, to give advice, guidance, skills training and to serve as a link between the staff and the committee.

In charge of all these clubs and societies are the Cultural Co-ordinating Council and the Service Co-ordinating Council.

These councils consist of 4 prefects and 4 non-prefects each and ensure the smooth over-all running of service and culture at Westerford. They are guardians of societies, which mean they are the second level of quality-control after the teacher, initiate whole-school cultural events such as the annual Cultural Day and Societies Day, the Comedy Fortnight and the Junior Week.