By the end of 1974, the Centenary year, the Sisters withdrew from active service in the St Michael’s School.
Their reasoning was that they were all getting on in years and there were more than enough qualified teachers around to take up teaching posts at the school.
Since then the school has grown into an educational beacon in the Free State and in South Africa, boasting an unbroken record of 44 consecutive years with a 100% bachelor pass rate.
The school’s curriculum expanded over the years and can cater for a wide variety of choices. Apart from English, Arikaans, Mathematics, Mathematical Literacy and Life Orientation, the curriculum has the additional choice of Life Sciences, Physical Sciences, Geography, History, Visual Art, Music, Sesotho, Consumer Studies, Dramatic Arts, Tourism, Accounting, Computer Application Technology (CAT), and Information Technology (IT).
On the sports field, the girls excel in hockey, netball, tennis, squash, swimming, athletics, and cross country.
Some of the girls’ results:
- Ten learners who represented the school at the Squash Country Festival and two squash players were selected for the Free State inter-provincial tournament (IPT) teams.
- Twenty-nine girls were selected for the Southern Free State (SFS) hockey teams, representing St Michael’s. The school is proud to have excellent coaches in Sulette Kotzee, who is also the head coach for the Southern Free State U18A girls team, and Melrick Maddocks who is the assistant coach for the SFS U18A boys side.
A few of the girls also excelled in certain individual sports:
- Teagan Schoeman participated in the South African Championships for Korean Martial Arts. She attained gold medals in three items.
- The school has netball teams across the board. The U13 team excelled and the U16 team lost in the finals of the Bloemfontein league.
- Chika Okoje excelled on the tennis court this year. She was chosen as the no. 1 player for the Mangaung Metro District team.
In May, St Michael’s hosted a Derby Day where Queenstown Girls’ High School came to Bloemfontein to participate against the teams of St Michael’s.
Many of the learners received gold certificates at the art competition at the BloemShow, and also at St Michael’s Arts Festival earlier in the year.
The learners also took part in the St Michael’s Music Festival and attained exemplary results. A number of girls also entered for the Royal Schools of Music practical examinations.
St Michael’s School’s debating learners have continued to be a force to be reckoned with. Over the years the school has produced some of the best debaters in the country. In the first league competition earlier this year, the Junior A team won two of three rounds, the B team one round, and the Senior B team won two rounds.
In the second league competition, the St Michael’s A and B (seniors) teams won two rounds and lost one. The Junior A team won all three of their rounds, with the B team winning one.
At the Senior All Girls Festival, St Michael’s was represented in the categories for master chef, drama, hockey, netball and cross country.
