April 27, 2022

Rector’s eNews – 27 April 2022

/ Rector's eNews

In this week, the attention of most of our boys is directed towards the matches against Hilton on Saturday when our oldest rivals will be celebrating their 150th anniversary. Many of our boys have yet to experience a traditional winter Hilton-Michaelhouse day as the last such occasion occurred three years ago in 2019 and, naturally, it is exciting for them to visualise what may be entailed in such a day. They will want to give of their very best in all that they do and to “play their guts out”, but we also want them to enjoy the day and not to be over-pressurised. We want them to recognise that they represent Michaelhouse and to maintain good standards of behaviour on and off the field. I hope you will recall that the Hilton Head, George Harris, and I wrote jointly to you at the end of last term in connection with vigilance because we do not wish there to be a really unpleasant incident or, worse still, a tragedy associated with what should be a great day of healthy competition and friendly rivalry. We all have a role to play, directly or indirectly, in preventing something going badly wrong and I am sure that the tone set by staff, parents and others can help significantly in this regard. I wish you a thoroughly enjoyable day if you are to be here in the Midlands for the occasion.

Hilton College will be live streaming some of the matches on Saturday, and a link to these games will be sent in a separate email to you before the weekend.

Parents should please be aware of the steps that are needed to gain access to Hilton College on Saturday for the fixtures. This involves going into The Avenues Shopping Centre, Hilton, to obtain a sticker for your car.

To purchase your tickets you may use the link: https://www.howler.co.za/events/hilton-v-michaelhouse-150th-celebration-sports-day-2e74

Below is verbatim a print out of the instructions required to get a sticker without which admission to Hilton College is not allowed.

Hilton Michaelhouse Instructions

Over the past week, Luke Lamprecht, whom I described in last week’s eNews as a consultant in the sphere of child development spoke at Michaelhouse to our community. His wide-ranging talks were tailored to meet the needs of staff, senior and junior boys separately and highlighted, inter alia, aspects of abuse, grooming, misogynistic actions, the ramifications of trauma, toxic masculinity and how there is now a more modern approach to masculinity which is in alignment to the world in 2022. Overall, his various messages were profound, wide-ranging and effective in their challenge and his good reputation is well deserved.

At the end of last year, I indicated that a strategic plan was in the process of being developed by our staff and Board. Indeed, as is the case with many such Plans, this was a lengthy process taking several months, but now the outline of this is in a format in which it can be published. It is attached as Appendix A – there is a covering outline to the Plan and this is followed by a page which resembles a Greek temple: the bedrock values support columns which, in turn, link the vision and mission of the school to the values contained in the bedrock.

On Saturday we held our Grandparents’ Day. We had looked forward to this for some time and, though it was a pleasant day weather-wise, there were some aspects of the day, particularly around the catering, which were a disappointment, I apologise to those who felt let down: we want to operate at the highest possible level in all we do and our execution of key things could have been better. It is, undoubtedly, a challenge having as many as 30 matches taking place on the various fields/astroturfs with coaches involved in referring/umpiring and hosting opposite numbers; and boys not only being involved with their own teams, but coming off the bench for others. We will revisit our options for Grandparents’ Day and, perhaps, select another day when there is more targeted activity and on which the boys will be able to relax more easily with grandparents. In the meantime, I am sorry that we were less than our best.

Read the full Rector’s eNews here

 

Copyright © 2025 Michaelhouse. All rights reserved.