Two Kingswood Grade 12s have made it into the De Beers English Olympiad top twenty for 2009.  Wesley Gush has been placed 11th, and Christopher Bradshaw took the 20th place.  The De Beers English Olympiad is a national English competition that attracts more than 5000 entries each year. The competition is organised jointly by the Grahamstown Foundation and the South African Council for English Education (SACEE).

Gush (18) is the son of Richard (OK 1980) and Cathy Gush from Sidbury.  A keen soccer player and all-round academic, Wesley has also excelled at science, recently representing his school in Hungary after winning top place in the Eskom Science Expo with a project on cheetah research.  He’s hoping to achieve one of the top three positions in the English Olympiad when the final positions are announced on 16 July, which will win him a literary tour to England in December, along with a free-tuition scholarship for his first year of study at Rhodes University.

Bradshaw, originally from Zimbabwe also excels at science, having come in the top three of the Mintek Science Competition at provincial level.  He will now represent the Eastern Cape in the next round. He is a keen musician, playing the trombone in the Kingswood College concert band.

Both boys speak highly of their English teacher, Matthew Rumbold, “He doesn’t “teach” you so much as make you think,” they said.  Rumbold said the two boys were “top minds” in his English class, and the Olympiad exam, written on a poetry anthology called Ambition, dreams, pipe dreams compiled by Andrew Renard, was not just a test of knowledge, but “an exercise in lateral thinking.  Wesley and Christopher were able to give personal and creative responses.  They both have strong creativity, writing ability and individual flair” he said.

Asked whether they expected to do well after writing the Olympiad exam, the boys said the thought their results would be “decent”, but they were thrilled to be in line for the prizes for the top candidates.   All top 50 candidates are offered free-tuition scholarships for their first year of study at Rhodes University. 

Christopher Bradshaw (left) and Wesley Gush (right) with their English teacher Matthew Rumbold.

On the 3rd of March this year, 5360 entrants from Grade 10 to 12, throughout the country and some neighbouring states, wrote the three-hour examination. The theme this year was “The conundrums of ambition” and the anthology, entitled “Dreams, Pipedreams, Ambitions and Disillusionments” was made up of extracts of poetry and song lyrics. The anthology was compiled by the South African Council of English Education. Several of the poems in the anthology were taken from English Alive which is another
SACEE project organised by the Cape Town Branch. English Alive features poetry written by South African learners and it is published annually.  Andrew Renard, the Chief Examiner made the following comment about the exam, "This year's Olympiad gave entrants the opportunity to write about their dreams and ambitions. It was wonderful to read the ideas of all the candidates, both strong and weak.

It is apparent that the youth of Southern Africa have a strong sense of direction. Many of them are very goal-orientated, yet their ambitions are not necessarily selfish. Their comments and feelings on how their schooling prepares them for life after school were eye-opening. They know far more about what constitutes a good education than we give them credit for. If only more of them could help to solve the educational crisis by becoming teachers. There are many talented, critical thinkers amongst our youth."
The De Beers English Olympiad is a national English competition that draws more than 5000 entries each year. The competition is organized jointly by the Grahamstown Foundation and the South African Council for English Education (SACEE). The aim of the Olympiad is to enrich learners through the study of English and to encourage critical thinking and creative writing.

De Beers English Olympiad 2009 Top 20
1  Lauren Midgley - Redhill School
2  Jonathan Stein - Grace College
3  Ignus Van Zyl - Felixton College
4  Judith Engela - St Martins School
5  Emma Johannes - Roedean
6  Anielle Khoury - St Marys, Waverley
7  Lisa Dondashe - Riebeek College
8  Elizabeth Van der Merwe - Rhenish Girls High School
9  Aisha Mia - Parktown Girls High School
10 Arushi Raina - Crawford College, Sandton
11 Wesley Gush - Kingswood College
12 Samantha Deeb - St Peters College
13 Klyne Maharaj - Hilton College
14 Lara Williams - The Wykeham Collegiate
15 Chloë Immelman - St Marys DSG, Kloof
16 Jessica Hichens - Springfield Convent
17 Cameron Wilson - Michaelhouse
18 Amy Crankshaw - De La Salle Holy Cross
19 Shirley Ward - St Marys, Waverley
20 Christopher Bradshaw  - Kingswood College

Prizes for candidates who excel in this examination are as follows:
· The Top 3 winners are treated to a literary tour of England in December 2009.
· The Top 15 candidates are invited to attend the Standard Bank National Schools Festival in Grahamstown. Their participation is sponsored by De Beers. The Olympiad prize-giving ceremony takes place during this Festival.
· The Top 50 candidates are offered free-tuition scholarships for their first year of study at Rhodes University, subject to their meeting the relevant entry requirements, and on application to Rhodes.
· All candidates who completed the paper will receive certificates indicating classified evaluation (participation, merit, bronze, silver and gold).

De Beers has been closely associated with the English Olympiad since 1985. The De Beers Fund, the company’s dedicated social investment vehicle, has for many years contributed the lion’s share of its annual budget to supporting education initiatives as the foundation for broader social and economic development.