On Tuesday, 13 June the official opening of the Girls’ Boarding House at Asithuthuke took place. Over the past two years, Mr. Steuart Pennington (East 1968) has raised the money to build boarding facilities for the Grade 12 boys and girls to enable matric revision to take place in the afternoons, evenings, and Saturdays ‘in a conducive and safe space’. This is necessary because taxi transport for the whole school leaves at 14h00 and revision becomes nigh on impossible. Establishing these boarding facilities has significantly improved the matric results, from below 50% only some two years ago to in excess of 90%. The boys' boarding facility was built in the old computer center on the property, and the girls' boarding facility has utilized unused library space – with permission from the Peter Brown family, who donated the building in 1992.
The money for this project was donated by the Eric Thorrington-Smith Trust represented by Mr David Thorrington-Smith (Baines 1971). It was a special occasion with votes of thanks from the Acting Principal, Mrs Duduzo Kanyile, Chairman of the Michaelhouse Board Mr. Andrew Schaefer, Boarding Caretaker, Mrs. Duma, DoE representative Mr. Siya Mnikathi, Chairman of the SGB, Mr. Ntombela and two of the Grade 12 girls. Each boarding house is capable of sleeping 16 individuals, and the parents make a modest contribution to both board and food. This initiative is integral to improving our 16 Footprint Schools as ‘Functional Places of Learning’ with an emphasis on improving the quality of leadership, the effectiveness of instruction, and the standard of the infrastructure. The special day was concluded with a blessing for the building by the Michaelhouse Chaplain, Rev. Chris Meyer.