The 2025 Chronicle

PRIZE GIVING 19 FEBRUARY 2025

ADDRESS BY THE RECTOR, MR ANTONY CLARK

Good afternoon to you all, parents, boys and staff, on the occasion of our annual prize-giving. Today I extend a special welcome to you, your Royal Highness, in your capacity as our Senior Prefect’s mother. Our sincere thanks to you for travelling over the mountains from Lesotho and gracing us with your presence here today. We are delighted that you have agreed to be our guest of honour today and to add sparkle to the occasion. As everyone knows, one of the chief purposes of this afternoon is to encourage and reward those who excelled academical ly in 2024, in the B to E Blocks, but it is also to reward and encourage those who have worked with the greatest diligence and given of their very best in the classroom. And we also re ward those who have shown the most improvement. In reward ing those who have been extremely conscientious, and those who have improved dramatically, we restate our intention, as a school, which is to develop each boy to the maximum of his po tential. So this evening is not only about those who are our top academics. It also focuses on those who applied themselves wholeheartedly. And, as I look back over the years, it is plain to me that there is a different rate of academic development for each teenager and, thus, each Michaelhouse boy. A num ber of you boys will only peak academically in your university years when you begin to find your niche and develop in your enjoyment of a narrower area of study. Others peak during their school years as their academic talent is more general and they are able to excel across the board. And what is ultimately of importance to you boys is that, at each stage of your life, you should aim to “be the best that you can be”, the best version of yourself, not only academically but in every sphere of your life. At Michaelhouse we believe emphatically in a holistic educa tion – we believe in the importance of sport, music, drama and cultural activities. But it is the academic thread which is the golden one and gives a principal focus and purpose to each day, week and term. And you should know that, as teachers, we delight in experiencing those eureka moments where boys suddenly see the light in a particular subject and make rapid progress; we delight in situations where knowledge deepens and the quest to study further and in a focused way becomes part of the make-up of an individual. It is magical when teach ers and pupils are working in concert to maximise the poten tial of the student, and when the ambition and hard work of the student starts to bear fruit. These are golden moments for teachers and for pupils. Looking back on 2024, our matriculation class should general ly feel very pleased with their IEB results. The A Block group as a whole worked exceptionally hard. Michaelhouse maintained a 100% pass rate and 100% of our boys achieved a bachelor’s

degree pass, which was not the case in the majority of our com petitor boys schools. The boys averaged 2.6 As per individual, and the average mark across all subjects was 73.29%, as op posed to 71% in the previous year. Thirty-three boys out of a class of 126 achieved an A aggregate, and eight boys achieved as many as eight subject distinctions. Tracking the percentage change from the end of C Block to the end of A Block, the av erage percentage per boy increased across all subjects by as much as 2.14%, a huge endorsement of the intellectual growth and tenacity of the group. And all of this from a group of boys who were selected to come to Michaelhouse for a broad range of reasons and not just one. Special congratulations go to our dux , Patrick Lambert. Patrick achieved 91.86%, including eight distinctions across his sub jects, with Mathematics at 97%, Further Studies Maths at 95%, Economics at 95%, Physical Sciences at 93%, Accounting at 92%, Life Orientation at 90%, Afrikaans First Additional Lan guage at 87% and English Home Language at 86%. The prox ime accessit was Kian Moses, who achieved 91.14%, and in third place came Matthew Kennedy with an aggregate of 91%. Matthew had the distinction of achieving 100% for his Mathe matics, as well as 96% for Further Mathematics and EGD. In sixth place was Luke Kaufmann, who has recently heard of his being selected to go up to Cambridge University in September to read History and Politics. Returning to our dux , we are de lighted that Patrick has flown up from Cape Town to be with us this evening and will be able, later, to come forward to receive our warm congratulations on his success. Naturally, we have focused on the top three achievers but it is worth reflecting on how every single one of our boys did well enough to achieve entry to a university and how they collec tively managed to increase and develop their academic profile across the board from the C Block to the A Block. So what are the qualities which lead to academic success? I realise I have spoken of some of these before – indeed I did so earlier this year at our first assembly – but I want to reflect on six important areas today, which I hope will resonate with all of you boys. Firstly, ambition is important. Without the desire to be suc cessful you are not going to succeed. A clear goal is needed; perhaps you are keen to go to a particular university in South Africa, such as Stellenbosch, or to a university in the UK or the USA. Whatever your end goal may be, that end goal must be articulated if you are to succeed. Secondly, academic curiosity is critical if you are to succeed. This means not just taking what you are taught at face value, but going deeper into further areas of study, researching them and understanding the nuance of situations. Asking the ques tion why is all-important.

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