In accordance with a policy of general transparency, I have for a number of years posted an annual financial report and finance summary on the website when figures for the previous year have been finalised. However, due to my retirement at the end of the year I am not able to do this next year. In place of a final report, therefore, I have decided to post an interim report based on the figures as at the end of September. I do this, this year, against a background of some Private Schools finding themselves in financial difficulty: where falling enrolment and some parents not paying their school fees has led to high fee increases (to my mind, making the problem worse!).

St Benedict’s, on the other hand has had no decline in enrolment, only problems with a small number of parents not settling fees on time. [The strict policy - as traumatic as it may be for all concerned - of suspending boys where fees remain unpaid, has for the most part kept problems to a minimum.] As a result of healthy finances, our Board has been able to keep fee increases to relatively low levels: an average of only 6.9% for 2010 and 7.2% for 2011!

2010

• Out of a healthy cash-flow in 2010, in addition to meeting normal running costs, St Benedict's was able to spend:
• R2 000 000 on the completion of the R6 500 000 Cricket Centre/Sports Hall;
• R1 800 000 on the extension of boarding facilities at Bishop Grandin House;
• R1 200 000 on upgrading academic facilities. [All College classrooms and some Preparatory School classrooms are now equipped with inter-active white boards (the so-called “smart boards”)];
• R400 000 on improvements at Parnassus (furnishings; kitchen equipment; volley-ball court etc)
• R394 000 on resurfacing tennis and basketball courts;
• R380 000 on new ergo machines, single sculls and doubles/pairs (paid for largely by the rowing parents' levy);
• R4 200 000 on reducing the bank overdraft from R4 900 000 to R 700 000! [The final extent of the 2010 overdraft will, however, depend on the number of parents electing to pay 2011 fees in advance by 25th November (and effecting not inconsiderable savings for themselves!). This financial forecast is based on the expectation that 16% of parents will avail themselves of this opportunity.]
• No additional loans were raised in 2010!

2011

• School finances are expected to remain strong in 2011 and, accordingly, the following have been budgeted for:
• R1 200 000 for the further upgrading of academic facilities in the College and the Prep and Junior Preparatory Schools;
• R1 800 000 for additional buses (brand new, no HP, paying cash!);
• R350 000 for further improvements to facilities at Parnassus;
• R200 000 for an organ for the School Chapel;
• R120 000 for three permanent sound systems (in the Chapel, School Hall and Cricket Centre/Sports Hall);
• R110 000 for levelling and upgrading both grass hockey fields.
• In addition - for the first time in 25 years - it is expected that we will finally pay off the bank overdraft and end the year with cash in the bank!!! [I hope to be invited back for the party!]

I end my time at St Benedict’s, largely contented in that we have been able to provide great facilities and amenities for our boys – and all improvements have been fully paid for! Besides a small loan (R500 000) due to be paid in 2011, all that remains is a R2 600 000 mortgage bond, repayable over twenty years, raised to purchase a residence adjacent to the school for our new Headmaster (Mr Andre Oosthuysen) and his family.

The strength of St Benedict’s finances today is based very largely on wise decisions by the St Benedict’s Board of Governors, economies of scale due to our enrolment and the efficiency of our Accounts Department, particularly Coleen Mowatt, our Bursar, and Carol Pooley (whom late-fee-paying parents love to hate!).

St Benedict’s is in good hands with Mr Oosthuysen as our new Headmaster and with Mr Edwards as Principal of the Preparatory and Junior Preparatory Schools - and with the increasingly important roles being played by our deputies Marion Mackinnon in the Junior Preparatory School, Malcolm Chalmers and Colin Reed in the Preparatory School and Dave Jeffery, Toby Craig and Morné Nel in the College. While the process of providing new and improved facilities is never at an end, it can truly be said that our boys today enjoy great facilities! And given the background of the School's on-going academic and sporting success, it can also be said, that St Benedict's boys and parents get very good value for money!I am sure that with our Board maintaining its policy of keeping school fee increases to a minimum, subject to our being able to continue to provide our boys with a first class education, St Benedict's will remain successful for very many years to come!

May God continue to bless our staff, our parents and our boys!

Tony Dobson

Headmaster, October 2010