FLIPPING BOOK CHRONICLE 2024

school career by gaining admission to Peterhouse, Cambridge University, to read history and politics. As many as 25 percent of our boys now go on to the top universities internationally, both in the UK and in the USA, and very often emerge with a first-class degree. For the past years we have recorded a Bachelor’s degree pass rate of 100 percent, meaning that all of our boys may go on to university or a similar course. Our staff continue to be a significant strength of Michaelhouse and give their best in every area, balancing academic focus with a keen involvement in sporting, cultural and outdoor education programmes. Deputy Rectors Win de Wet, Brendan Gittins and Sibusiso Ncamani continue to do outstanding work, as do our Housemasters, HoDs and other staff. With my retirement at the end of 2025, the announcement of the new Rector, Bart Wielenga, was warmly received. Bart is due to take up the reins at the beginning of the third quarter of 2026, with Win de Wet acting as Rector for the first two terms of that year. Bart has deep roots in KwaZulu-Natal, having gone to Alexandra High School and the University of KwaZulu-Natal. He taught at Michaelhouse and then moved abroad; he was a well-regarded housemaster at Wellington College and then went on to Blundell’s as deputy head and, six years later, became head, a position which he has occupied for the past seven years. I have no doubt that he will steer the Michaelhouse ship with care and confidence. Michaelhouse was named by the international organisation STEER as the school of the year in 2024, a tribute to our focus on the well-being of our boys. And it was named by Carfax Education in their Schools’ Index as one of the top 150 schools in the world. We were also named in the top ten independent schools internationally by Spear’s Education, and in the top two in Africa, with the other school being a prep school in Kenya. More important than such transient awards is the support of Old Boys, parents and other benefactors who give selflessly of their time and resources to enable us to fulfil, in the best possible way, the vision of our founder, James Cameron Todd.

supported by several Old Boys who have been extremely generous in our quest to ensure that all boys and all staff are able to be in a single place of worship together. Being together for this purpose has been considered critically important to achieve, and the Chapel, once completed, will house 640 boys and all of the staff, academic, administrative and operational. The opening of the new Tatham in the Pennington Quad early in the year with a Housemaster’s residence adjacent to the boarding house was a milestone in our quest to provide modernised boarding facilities, and very much appreciated by the boys. The remodelling of Pascoe, by extending it towards the Punchbowl astroturf and admitting much more light into the building, was the brainchild of our brilliant architect, Nick Grice, who has sensitively and spectacularly shaped the Michaelhouse campus over the last decades. We owe him a great debt of gratitude as he nears retirement. Nobody was better equipped to write the updated history of Michaelhouse than Gary Ralfe, Senior Prefect of 1962, Chairman of the Board (2008-2016), captain of industry and eloquent wordsmith. Stars of the Morning was published to great acclaim in mid-July and made an enormous impact on the Michaelhouse community. A richly illustrated and beautifully structured overview of the past 125 years, it was written as a labour of love over seven years and stands as one of the finest histories of any school in the world. The Senior Prefect of 2024, Carlyle Hawkins, along with his deputy, Luke Kaufmann, led with distinction. Coming from humble origins in the townships of Bloemfontein, Carlyle epitomised servant leadership and was always approachable to boys. This was of inestimable value, particularly at difficult times such as when young Garth Finnemore, a Baines E Blocker, returning with his parents from a rugby match, was killed along with them in a horrific car accident. The boys, especially the younger ones, looked to Carlyle and he supported them, as did Ross Moller, Garth’s prefect, who spoke in the most moving way at the memorial service held at the school.

Luke Kaufmann was a great support to Carlyle and crowned his