MAD About The Future

By Dino Cambanos

When the school was founded in 1998 it faced the same problems that all new schools do. One of the problems was the small number of facilities St Peter’s College offered to the students.

Many years have passed and great facilities have been built on our campus. Examples are the three dams that keep our fields green and one of the best indoor aquatic centres in Africa. Recently our Parent’s Association provided the funds for the Tak Hiemstra Pavilion.  This facility offers a tuck shop, a first aid room, and the new Old Petrians facility where alumni students can meet and socialise.

And now for the next phase… The MAD (Music, Art, and Drama) Centre.  Construction is expected to start late in 2013. This centre is impressive and architecturally striking. This beautiful build offers state of the art facilities that will serve the needs of students and teachers for a long time to come.

Music: The Music section of the building will contain soundproof music rooms and practice rooms. It will be equipped with the state-of-the-art sound and light technology. Vaughan Van Zyl is the Director of Music for the St Peter’s schools. He  has a huge passion for music and the MAD centre will be a great setting for him show off the College’s music department flourish.

Art: The MAD centre will have some of the best art studios of independent school in South Africa. The new art centre will be graced with an Apple computer centre hosting a variety of movie, photo and design courses. It will also offer a huge creative space, where art students can make props for drama and, of course, to design their art pieces.

Drama: Drama is very popular subject and has resulted in many achievements for our students. RAPS is the biggest high school drama competition in South Africa and St Peter’s has made the finals many times; even winning one year. The MAD centre will boast two auditoriums. An outdoor amphitheatre is planned as well as a magnificent indoor theatre. These choices of venue will host many productions in the future.

Dance: This is a rapidly growing cultural activity at St Peter’s College. There are many dancers amongst our students, with five of them representing South Africa. The MAD centre will provide dancers with a stunning dance studio.