Rector’s eNews 30: 16 September 2026

In the next couple of days you will be welcoming your sons home for the September holidays. I expect that they will come home tired and ready for a warm shower and a soft bed, but I hope too that they will have lots of great stories to share with you. In my experience of boys, my advice is not to ask too many questions when they get in the car or come through the door – let them tell you in their own time. I am sure they have things that they will want to share but they will also need some processing time before they are ready to talk!

I am looking forward to welcoming the C Block boys back from their journey tomorrow. All I have heard of the experience from colleagues and senior boys is that somehow things are different when you come back from CBJ. As this is my first experience of it too, I am filled with anticipation to discover how the boys found it, what they learnt, and what the impact will be. What I am confident of is that tomorrow will be a celebration of their return and that they will have some incredible shared memories.

The D and E Block boys seem to have had a good time too and the photos I have seen of the Pondoland experience have been magnificent. For the E Block boys, the significant assault of iNhlosane is part of our Michaelhouse history and they have much to be proud of.

The A Block boys finish their Trial Examinations and this holiday will be a different one for them. They will be tired, but their exhaustion will be of a completely different type. They too deserve a rest and will need to restore and recharge before their return to school. It has been a tough month for them but having completed it, they are now better placed to deal with the IEB Final Exams than they were before and they should have strategies in place to respond to the learning from Trials.

In the meantime, I have been in Durban this week meeting with fellow Heads at the annual SAHISA conference. It has been an opportunity to meet colleagues at other independent schools and to better understand the educational landscape in which we are operating. As I come to the end of my first term, I reflect on a period of great learning and this week has been an important part of that. Next week I will be making a short return to the UK to attend the Headmasters and Headmistresses Conference (HMC) in Manchester. Currently, Michaelhouse is the only member of this prestigious UK based forum and it will be good to maintain the strong links between Michaelhouse and some of the top independent schools in Britain.

I wish you a good holiday with your sons and I look forward to seeing them refreshed in October.

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