The 2025 Chronicle

your important role in understanding the complexity of putting in place the building blocks which create a happy and success ful environment in an all-boys, all-boarding school. You have giv en your heart and soul to Michaelhouse in all you have done, and earned huge respect across all the age groups. Well done to you both. And well done to the Heads of Houses, who, as School Prefects, have guided and nurtured the boys under them. I started a tradition a couple of years ago and, yes, traditions can develop over just a couple of years. This tradition is that I refer to about a dozen matriculants to mark their final Speech Day. Please understand that this is random and that I cannot give airtime to all the triumphs, the total impact or the personal ities of everyone in the A Block. So I’m being eclectic and high lighting some memories we will have. As I said, this is random. We remember Asande Nkosi, along with Sumbi Tshivase, for a great soccer season; Craig Cribbins, not only for his canoeing successes but also for his turning a hand to looking after in jured boys on the side of the sports field; Ian Graham for his bril liance on the piano; Franko Bocking for his courage; Reily Elliot for keeping the number one academic slot under lock and key; Simon Bailes for his sharpness and wit; Ethan Muir for towering sixes and two centuries in succession at the beginning of this term; Alex Ardé for carrying an arsenal of bullets in his hand lug gage and for courage in a season that never was; Aras Apteker for his sense of humour; Funi Kanyongolo and Makena Githiri for passion on the basketball courts; Lulu Nzama for his dev astating tackling of opposition wings; TJ Mogashoa for starting, along with friends, a tutor programme helping less privileged young people; Sithsaba Simukonda for his dazzling skills on the astro; Gregor von Mayer for overhead passes; Ollie Bruyns and Ollie Davis for leading their Houses with such pride; Cole Karan for always being on hand to help out everywhere, anywhere, any time for the school, and for getting into the First Cricket XI on one occasion when he was waterboy to cover for an injury; Luke Mitchell for his huge versatility on the sporting field; Keagan El liott for determination in the pool. Thank you, boys, for adding to the character and fibre of the A Block of 2025. And thank you to those that I have not mentioned. I did say that it was a sample of boys, and the role of the whole A Block group in leading the school forward over the past year has been so heart-warming. I was also pleased to be able to show you some of my dance moves at the Matric Dance, especially those around “Sweet Caroline”. I can’t resist showing your parents, and so we will It remains extremely important for our boys to recognise and act upon the fact that Michaelhouse is an oasis in a fragmented so ciety where other young people are growing up in poverty, and to do something positive to address that issue in however small a way it may be. Sometimes small acts collectively can make a dif ference, and so the visits to our 16 footprint schools have been important in making an impact on the lives of others and also in positioning our boys to understand the depth of the notion that to those to whom much is given, much will be required. I thank Mrs Peta Roberts and her helpers for her organisation of the House visits on a daily basis, and I thank the Community Part nership Trust group of volunteers and staff under Ms Akhona Sikhakhane for caring and making a difference. Michaelhouse has also linked arms with Absa Bank in creating financial sup port for five underprivileged boys per year to attend this school and to experience a life-changing situation. We are very grateful, therefore, to Absa and are in discussion with other organisa turn up the volume for a couple of minutes. It has been an excellent year. Thank you, all.

the implication being that there is no one to replace them. I am pleased to say that, counter to this trend, we have a wonderful blend of youth and experience on our staff and, though it is inevitable that we will lose some on promotion over the next few years, we are blessed with an exceptional academic, ad ministrative and operations staff. For any advertised position, we attract a host of applicants and are able to be selective in choosing outstanding people who will make a difference to the lives of boys here and to their colleagues. We are also developing young teachers of the future through our intern programme, and testimony to the effectiveness of this programme is that this year we had more than 800 appli cants to fill eight places. These young teachers move on from us once they have qualified, and gain experience and then come back to us as fully fledged teachers, as is the case with Siphesihle Bhengu, who is joining us as an Economics teacher next year. And, similarly, an Old Boy, Dominic Leslie, will take on a role as a part-time Maths teacher in 2026. Retiring from Michaelhouse this year is Mary McMichael, who has taught English, coached hockey and squash and interacted with boys as a tutor over 23 years. It is her ability to articu late clearly the nuance of the complex English language and her human empathy which has led to her being so valued by the boys. We thank Mary for her enormous contribution to Mi chaelhouse. No other classroom teachers are due to leave us this year. But we will sadly say farewell to these interns who will leave us next month, having completed their degrees and teaching qualifications. Having gained valuable experience at Michaelhouse, they are now off to make an impact on other schools before, hopefully in some cases, returning to Michael house if and when we have a vacancy. Interns play a vital role in the lives of the boys here as junior mentors, and we are grate ful for the significant contributions of Joshua August, Haydon Hankinson, William Hodgkinson, James Kiln, Thabani Mchunu, Luyanda Zondi and Nkanyiso Zuma. We also wish to pay tribute to: Mr Ishmael Zuma, a tractor driv er in the Estates Department, who is retiring after 19 years with us; Miss Florian Ndlovu, an Estates supervisor who has given 23 years of service to the school; Miss Bongekile Nsimanga, a housekeeper in Baines who leaves us after 25 years; and Miss Joyce Nxumalo, who is retiring from the San after serving the school for 37 years. Could I please ask you all to step forward to receive a gift from the school? Long-service awards for working at Michaelhouse for 25 years go to Ms Martine de Maroussem, our HOD French, Ms Fikile Msimanga, Ms Jynette Shelembe and Ms Bongekile Nsimanga, the last three of whom are from Housekeeping. Please could you all come up to receive your long-service certificates? Then, Mrs Delsie Ndlovu has been a seamstress in the laundry for the past 35 years. Delsie, thank you for your faithfulness over so many years. And, believe it or not, Pushpa Ramharack has served in our Finance Department for 40 years. What a remarkable tenure! Delsie cannot be with us today, so I ask Mrs Londi Hearthstones to receive your certificate and a gift on your behalf, and I ask Pushpa please to come up, too, to receive her certificate and a gift. I now want to thank and congratulate Lerotholi Seeiso and Dom inic Sesink Clee for leading the school with the calmness and authority of a king in the making, on the one hand, and an enor mously energetic and popular young man on the other; and for

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