The Chronicle 2022

farewell to May Mazibuko who had been an intern in the department for three years and was studying towards his bachelor’s degree in Education, he now serves in the capacity of a sports coordinator and sports specialist at Howick Prep School. In his place, we welcomed Anele Cebo who is also studying toward his bachelor’s degree in Education. Anele was the chairperson of the Student Representative Council at the University of Pretoria, where he oversaw the general management of the student executive committee. We also saw the arrival of Justin McDougall in the capacity of a Geography teacher and Master in Charge of waterpolo, his arrival was impactful on all spheres of school life, to the point where he has also been promoted to assistant Housemaster in Ralfe. He and his wife welcomed a baby boy by the name of Harrison this year and we wish him and his family a beautiful and healthy start to their lives here at Michaelhouse. Our long-serving departmental member and previous Head of the Department, Mr Ncamani was promoted to deputy head in charge of pastoral care, transformation, and diversity. Mr Ncamani still balances the department’s academic duties with his new office’s demanding schedule. We are proud of his appointment and his continued dedication to his boys and the department. Mr McKay leaves us this year as he heads to

Clifton Durban and becomes the deputy head of pastoral care. He has served as the Head of the Department and as a Farfield Housemaster, and his experience and wisdom will be greatly missed in the department. Also departing is the current Head of Department, Olwethu Hugo, as he heads to St Peter’s Boys’ Prep School in 2023, in the capacity of a Housemaster. This year we have seen major adjustments in the E and D Block curriculum as we broke away from History and threw our full weight behind endorsing Geography to the new boys. The content is split between physical and human geography, it is exciting and rigorous, and we hope to keep on making new and interesting changes to E Block to ensure ongoing relevance. We continue to work hard and set strong foundations in our C and B Blocks as we work towards preparing boys for their IEB finals. We are also looking at changing the order of certain aspects of our curriculum to give our boys a deeper understanding of mapwork, particularly in C and B Block. Our A Block learners have been working hard as they prepared to write their last internal examinations in their matric year, there has been a marked difference between their June examination and trial examination results already, and we wish them all the best with their final examinations. to better contextualize the environment they find themselves in, in the Midlands. D Block History students studied some of the major events of World War II before covering the brutal and harrowing effects of genocide, with both the Holocaust and Rwanda as case studies. C Block grappled with the political spectrum this year, ranging from Nationalism to Fascism and recently the focus was on the development of Communism in Russia. The B Block focused on the Cold War, from its start toward the end of World War II, to its final throes in the early 1990s. Their eyes were opened to the background of the modern conflict developing in Europe. In A Block the IEB Grade 12 Syllabus is followed. This syllabus encompasses six themes which cover 20th and 21st Century History starting with the Cold War; and also looks at Civil Protest both in South Africa and around the world, along with looking at South Africa from 1980 through to the birth of its democracy and the decolonization of Africa and the resultant issues which are still political factors. A massive thank you must go the History staff who not only taught our boys but sent them on this voyage of understanding. The value of collaboration is evident in the department which saw growth in numbers of boys taking the subject as well as the creation of a happy environment for them to learn in.

HISTORY

Head of Department: Mr Brandon Venter Staff: Mr Bradley McManus, Mrs Leigh Kotze Intern: Mr Simeon Goddard

T

he History Department felt like it was a part of living history in 2022. On the back of a pandemic, normality began to rear its head and as soon as that happened the world watched a new version of the Cold War develop in the Russian-Ukrainian conflict. This helped and engaged all the History boys to learn from the present and make links with the past. American historian, Henry Glassie once said: “History is not the past but a map of the past, drawn from a particular point of view, to be useful to the modern traveler.” The largest lesson learned by boys and staff alike is that History seems to be on a constant roundabout, destined to repeat itself. With this lesson in mind, our boys went on a voyage of knowledge to better understand the world we live in. Michaelhouse historians started their journey with the History of Michaelhouse in E Block, which then moved onto World War I and its effects. They were also able to live and experience this history through an outing to Pietermaritzburg and its surrounds,

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