The 2023 Chronicle

sen to stay at home and spend more time with her little boy, Grayson, at the end of the second quarter, which left the staff ing in the San under pressure once again. Fortunately, Sisters Erika Whitby and Gillian Bryant were able to fill in as locum sisters, which helped ease the pressure while HR went through the recruiting process. The San welcomed Sister Mbali Miya as our first Night Sister at the beginning of September. Mbali lives with her family in Curry’s Post and is a mum of three boys, so is well versed with the energy and rambunctiousness of boys. We trust that she will enjoy a long and happy relationship with Michaelhouse. At the beginning of the year a decision was made to relieve the Housemasters of the added responsibility of storing and ordering all the boys’ concentration medicines. The sisters in the San are now responsible for storing, packing and ordering more stock for the boys, and once a week the Housemasters are handed the week’s supply in a seven-day pill dispenser to hand to the boys first thing in the mornings. While this has increased the work load on the San exponentially, it is reassuring that these sched uled medicines are being strictly controlled. As a school we experienced the loss of Zanda Cele, who passed away suddenly in the San despite our best efforts. I would like to thank the San sisters and staff, who were excellent during and after this tragedy under difficult circumstances. We again extend our deepest condolences to Zanda’s parents and family. While the year draws to a close and we start packing up all the A Blockers’ medical records, we look forward to welcoming our new E Blockers in 2024 and trust and pray it will be a healthy and uneventful year.

observed the magnificent emergence of the new Tatham. For tunately, we managed to benefit from of the spin-off, with the exterior of the San receiving touching up and several coats of paint. Our gardens at the entrance to the San, having been used as a dumping site for building rubble for most of the year, also received a makeover. We welcomed Dr Stuart Poole as our new school doctor at the beginning of the year. He took over from Dr Cook who, after over 20 years of committed service to the school, decided to slow things down a bit and continue with his private practice only. The transition, fortunately, could not have happened more smoothly. Dr Poole’s enthusiasm and genuine commitment to providing the boys with the best possible care has been quite remarkable. His wonderful sense of humour and rapport with the boys and staff has certainly helped create a relaxed and cheerful environment for the boys to visit and for the staff to work. He also has a passion for staff development and training, and set up several clinical meetings at the end of terms for the nursing staff, which were very well received. With school life having returned to normal post Covid – and sports matches at full throttle once more – so did the increase in sports injuries. Fortunately, we managed to acquire the services of Dr David Ogg, head of the casualty department at Hilton Life Hospital, and his colleague, Dr Kasanzuma, at most of our larger matches. Their expertise and commitment to providing the boys with the most up-to-date and specialized care has been invalua ble. Dr Ogg has also been actively involved with post- injury and concussion follow-up assessments and treatment.

The San bade farewell to Sister Alex McManus, who has cho

165