Rector’s eNews 12: 30 April 2025

It has been wonderful to feel the pulse of the school again, after what was, hopefully, a relaxing holiday for the boys, even if a number of them were involved with sports tours and cultural events. It does not take them long to settle back into a purposeful mode and to set their goals for the term ahead. In assembly last week, I thanked those who had represented Michaelhouse with pride in the above activities and the staff who accompanied them and coached them and did their utmost to ensure that our boys gave of their best. We are proud of our staff across the board and the values they espouse and seek to instill in the boys as they guide them in the academic, sporting and cultural realms. I am particularly inspired by the fact that several of our interns are Michaelhouse Old Boys who understand at the most profound level the nature of our school and are enthusiastic about entering the teaching profession. Indeed, we value the professionalism of all of our interns and the focus and drive they demonstrate. Recently, we advertised for a Geography position and had a number of excellent candidates; we finally appointed a young teacher from King Edward’s in Johannesburg, Mr Vincent Jordaan. Apart from teaching Geography, he coaches the First Cricket XI as well as A Team rugby sides and we look forward to his joining us in the third quarter. He, amongst other young staff, are great prospects for the future.

Many of you will have seen the series Adolescence on television and have drawn the conclusion that we are extremely fortunate in South Africa not to experience that side of education and, in many schools, we are blessed to have good standards of discipline and behaviour, but the range of schools in the UK or other countries is not dissimilar to those in South Africa. Recently, a publication from ISASA quoted other sources suggesting that half South Africa’s teachers would be leaving the profession within the next ten years owing to poor infrastructure, lack of support, and a growing threat of violence.  A Stellenbosch University researcher, Siboniso Mkobothi, has identified KwaZulu-Natal, particularly Pinetown, Inanda, Ntuzuma and KwaMashu amongst other areas, as being places where teachers have found themselves in the cross-fire between learners who are “often affiliated with gangs or been exposed to violent environments”. It is tragic that some young people experience that degree of violence in their formative years.

The small but, nevertheless, important role played by our boys under the aegis of our Community Partnership Trust in impacting on our sixteen footprint schools around us may be a drop in the ocean in terms of outcomes for the vast majority of South African learners, but it is a start and gives our boys a keener perspective on wider national issues and, we hope, raises aspiration in many of them. I am proud of our Farfield D and E Block boys who spent Sunday painting the new Early Child Development Centre (ECD) at Zenzani Village.

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