Rector’s eNews 33: 21 October 2026

It has been a very good past week at school. The 1^st XI won the Eston Night League T20 cricket competition beating DHS in the final, we had an excellent Michaelhouse Golf Championship at Gowrie on Sunday, and a very good Prefect Induction ceremony in chapel on Sunday – amongst many other things. I was on the road to attend Old Boy functions in Durban and Cape Town too – both well attended and most enjoyable.

I wanted to share with you a bit of the message from the Prefects Induction on Sunday.

Excerpt from the sermon on Leadership, 17^th October 2026

We do not expect perfection from you. Just because you now have a badge, you have not suddenly become someone who must be perfect – and let me just clarify that none of you were elected because you were perfect before.

 All I can ask is that you take seriously the pledge you have made today and that you continue to work out for yourselves how you can use your opportunity to lead, to help your Houses be happier, kinder, and better places than they already are. Every day you are building a legacy – and if nothing else, make sure that you leave the campsite better than you found it.

My challenge to you is to continue to reflect intentionally on your character and the choices you make. You have the most wonderful opportunity to flex your young leadership muscles. You have been given a voice – a platform – one that you have earned – and the question now is how you will use it. What will you do with this opportunity. What will your legacy be.

 I want you to embrace this moment twofold: one, as an opportunity to develop your character intentionally and thoughtfully, and two, as an opportunity to serve your House and to make it a better place for all the boys in it.

 I started off by saying that leadership is a combination of character and strategy. The strategy part of the role can be quite enjoyable as you help to shape a direction for your House – or in my case, for the school. But strategy and fulfilling your strategic objectives can be difficult and at times frustrating. Undoubtedly, there are times when progress can be slow and self-doubt creeps in, you wonder what difference you are really making and whether you are the right man for the job. These are things I grapple with every day.

 In those moments of self-doubt, I return to the other side of the coin – that of character – and I reflect on how I can use my character strengths to make a difference. I strip it all back to the fundamental purpose of leadership, and that is to help to make things better, and I set myself the simplest of targets: I set out at the start out my day with the express intention to make the lives of three people better. That may be by giving them the time to talk. It may be about resolving a problem for them. It may just be finding them and asking them how they are or dropping someone a note to encourage them.

 When it is all stripped back, the job of a leader is to make things better: and little acts of kindness help make other people’s lives better, but they are also affirming and reassuring to us as leaders. They are the little life-affirming choices that strengthen our character. They are the things that remind us that we can make a difference. And it is a reminder that it is in giving that we receive and that the best thing you can do for yourself is to be selfless.

 One final quote – often attributed to Pope Francis but apparently, it is an old Sanskrit proverb:

 “Rivers do not drink their own water; trees do not eat their own fruit; the sun does not shine on itself and flowers do not spread their fragrance for themselves. Living for others is a rule of nature. We are all born to help each other. No matter how difficult it is… Life is good when you are happy; but much better when others are happy because of you.”

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