The 2025 Chronicle

HOUSE AWARDS

ACADEMIC DILIGENCE CERTIFICATES

RALFE CUP ACADEMIC EFFORT: McCormick FLEISCHER SHIELD ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT: McCormick DUX 2024 ANTHONY EVANS TROPHY – DUX 2024: Patrick Lambert

Louis Ayo, Simon Bailes, Matthew Carolan, Reily Elliot, Araf El-Maamry, Christopher Gilson, Ian Graham, Christopher Grout, Ben le Sueur, Luke Macduff, Christian MacPherson, Stefan Moolman, Andreas Papadopoulos, Lerotholi Seeiso, Henry Walters

COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIP SHIELD: McCormick

MICHAELHOUSE COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIP TRUST HOUSE IMPACT AWARD: West

SPEECH DAY 17 OCTOBER 2025

ADDRESS BY THE CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD, MR ANDREW SCHAEFER

Good afternoon, Jamie Inglis, our distin guished guest speaker, parents and family members, special guests, members of the local community, staff and boys of Michaelhouse, as well as a number of my board colleagues. Thank you all for attending Speech Day this afternoon, where we come together to recognize, congratulate and celebrate noteworthy achievements across a wide range of school ac tivities and endeavours for A and B Block boys. Whilst I have first-mover advantage for my address – hopefully a captive au dience and fresh attention – I am also aware that I am an early curtain-raiser, with a full programme of speeches and prize-giv ing to follow, so I will be brief as I touch on a number of relevant topics and updates from a Board and personal perspective. It is entirely appropriate for me to begin by congratulating Ant ony Clark, who is presiding over his final Speech Day today as Rector of Michaelhouse before retiring at the end of term. Al though an official farewell programme is already planned for 21 November, along with other farewell activities leading up to the end of term, I would like to use this broader Speech Day platform to express recognition and gratitude, on behalf of the Board and the extended Michaelhouse community, for a truly outstanding term of office over the past seven years. Antony’s impact on Michaelhouse has been profoundly positive and in deed transformative, reflecting his extensive headship experi ence, exceptional work ethic, global reputation, and inspiring leadership. I joined the Board a year before Antony started his role, and have seen firsthand a range of far-reaching positive changes during his tenure. A few key highlights from my per spective which I would like to mention are as follows. The culture at Michaelhouse has evolved in a positive direc tion and trajectory over the past seven years. There has been a definite and important shift from an overly hierarchical school culture – with many negative and outdated traditions operating

under the radar – to one focused on servant leadership, men toring and active participation, ensuring every Michaelhouse boy has the opportunity to thrive in a caring and supportive boarding environment. Clear boundaries for unacceptable and non-negotiable behaviours such as bullying and racism have been established and reinforced, and a number of innovative pastoral platforms and safeguarding methods have been es tablished to support and drive this cultural shift. Harmful tradi tions have been called out and eliminated, revitalizing healthy traditions for the future in the process. I also want to acknowl edge the exceptional pastoral work done by Deputy Rectors Brendan Gittins and Sibusiso Ncamani, and the Housemasters and deputy Housemasters, who have led this all-important cul ture change which continues to strengthen. A second noteworthy feature of Antony’s term of office has been an expanded and increasing definition of a full school, with intake numbers rising steadily over the last few years to peak at 642 in the second term this year. Annual admissions applications have been reaching record numbers year on year, and there is generally a waiting list from E to C Block, which I understand was approximately 137 earlier this week. This posi tive trend is an indication of the competitive brand visibility and national reputation of Michaelhouse which Antony and his out standing Michaelhouse staff team have successfully developed and refined. Equally importantly, there is absolutely no place for complacency, and Antony has established a high-performance culture and continuous-improvement expectation and mindset across all facets of the school. Antony has managed Michaelhouse with the clear understand ing that a full school intake, converted to fee income, positions the school to complete important projects on time, to meet budget and cashflow expectations, and overall to operate high ly efficiently. This trend has become well established over Ant ony’s term of office and has enabled the extensive boarding house renovation projects to be funded from school reserves.

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