A Great Past - A Glorious Future

With the launching of the Wynberg-Allen School website, we hope parents, both present and prospective, will have access more readily to information about the School and its activities. Through the Alumni Guest Book, we aim to bring together the large number of former students of our School, many of whom would like to renew their association with their Alma Mater and also with their old school friends.

In general, we hope that all visitors to our website will find the site not only informative but also a pleasant experience. As far as possible, we will update the site from time to time and would welcome feedback in this regard. On behalf of the Wynberg-Allen family, I wish you an enjoyable visit to our site and a lasting association with the School.

I conclude with an excerpt from Longfellow's poem "Excelsior" which is the School motto and which means to strive for the highest, to strive for the best. The poem tells the story of a youth who perishes in the snow while attempting to climb an impossible mountain-pass:

"Try not the Pass" the old man said, "Dark lowers the tempest overhead, The roaring torrent is deep and wide!" And loud that clarion voice replied,                                   Excelsior! The shades of night were falling fast As through the Alpine village passed A youth who bore mid snow and ice A banner with a strange device -                                  Excelsior! "Beware the pine tree's withered branch, Beware the awful avalanche!" This was the peasant's last goodnight. A voice replied far up the height,                                  Excelsior! A traveller, by the faithful hound Half buried in the snow was found, Still grasping in his hand of ice That banner with the strange device -                                  Excelsior! There in the twilight cold and gray, Lifeless, but beautiful, he lay, And from the sky, serene and far, A voice fell, like a falling star,                                  Excelsior!

More than a hundred years have passed since the Founders chose that motto for the School, and the banner with the strange device still inspires its members, past and present, with that same clarion call: "Excelsior!"

TERENCE W. PHILLIPS
PRINCIPAL