A dynamic 28 years later, after taking his first steps through Eunice Girls’ High School doors, Principal Paul Cassar announced his retirement yesterday. The girls’ high school will be bidding farewell to its first and only male headmaster end of the year.
Eunice Girls’ High School has maintained a 100% pass rate for 28 successive years, comfortably landing on the list of one of the best high schools in the Free State. “I was honoured and humbled by Professor Jonathan Jansen’s selection of Eunice as one of SA’s top ten schools,” enthuses Cassar.
The father of two admits that the key to working with teenagers is leadership. An approach he shared with learners during his first Opening Assembly in 1987. “To me, leadership is the all important ability to lead one’s own life, to dictate its direction, to be the master of one’s attitude and one’s time,” he explains.
Born in Cape Town, Cassar, which is a Maltese name, endorsed three significant aspects during his time as Eunice’s principal. He says “a door that’s mostly wide open, piles of paper which never seem to move anywhere and a wall of photograph memories.”
Explaining what makes Eunice a unique school, Cassar beamed, saying “Eunice is a world class state school in a city which is blessed with a healthy selection of such great public institutions. Fewer than 250 of South Africa’s more than 25 000 schools can consider themselves ‘world class’. Leading a girls’ school has been a unique privilege.”
Interestingly, the English girls’ school was founded by the Dutch Reformed Church in 1875 and has had only three principals since 1942; making Cassar the third principal to steer it to its current heights. “Qualities a principal needs these days are willingness to grapple with daily complexity, a commitment to world class standards, the absence of any self-pity and a healthy sense of humour.”
The keen traveller and avid writer confessed he isn’t much of a hobby kind of person and prefers spending his free time either with his wife’s family in Kidds Beach near East London or in their Sea Point flat in Cape Town. Cassar has a visible glow when speaking about his wife, Moira and daughters, Kerry Louise and Kristina, who both matriculated at Eunice in 2003 and 2006.
In his personal letter to the Eunice learners, which informs them of his retirement, Cassar asks that his decision (to retire) to be respected. He further acknowledges that it has been a privilege to work with the Eunice staff and Governing Body. “We still have three terms to go to work together to Catch the Spirit 2014 (theme for the year). Twenty-eight years is pretty much a lifetime career and I’m thrilled to have shared some of that time with you.”
He further apologises that the news is out so early in the year, yet maintained, from a governance and planning point of view, he had to make his intentions clear. “I have always strived to bring positivity and hope and joy to the school life and I ask you, in that spirit, to give me a special gift, approaching 2015 with excitement and responsibility.”
-Thandi Xaba
