Glenwood High School is a

public In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociological concept of the ''Öffentlichk ...

English medium An English-medium education system is one that uses English as the primary medium of instruction—particularly where English is not the mother tongue of the students. Initially this is associated with the expansion of English from its homeland i ...

high school for boys situated in the suburb of Glenwood in

Durban Durban ( ) ( zu, eThekwini, from meaning 'the port' also called zu, eZibubulungwini for the mountain range that terminates in the area), nicknamed ''Durbs'',Ishani ChettyCity nicknames in SA and across the worldArticle on ''news24.com'' from ...

in the KwaZulu-Natal province of

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...

. The school was established in 1910, as Durban Technical High School, and split with the Technical High School in 1928 to form Glenwood Boys High School.

History

Establishment

The school had its origins with the creation of a small institution called the ''Day Continuation School'' that was located in a double-story building on Smith St in August 1910 with a student roll of 24 boys. In 1915, due to building size limitations, the Day Continuation School moved to the Technical College building and changed its name to ''Durban Technical High School'' which by 1916 had 150 students. Student numbers continued to grow during the First World War and by 1918 there were 267 scholars. In the same year the Natal Provincial Council appointed a commission to investigate the feasibility of expanding the school and the subsequent Coleman-Dukes Report stated that ''..a large increase in the numbers'' f students''for which it is exceedingly difficult to find accommodation...'' and recommended the allotment of 10 acres of land on the corner of Alan Paton and Bulwer Roads in Glenwood. The construction of the school buildings eventually took place and by 1934 the current premises were ready for occupation. At the same time, the school subject matter was changed and all technical subjects were removed from the curriculum (these subjects were allocated to Mansfield Road Intermediate School) and the name was changed from Durban Technical High School to Glenwood High School, also reflecting the new location.

War years

World War I

In 1915 South Africa sent one brigade of Infantry to support the Allied war effort on the Western Front. The

1st South African Infantry Brigade The South African 1st Infantry Brigade was an infantry brigade of the army of the Union of South Africa during World Wars I and II. During World War I, the Brigade served as a British formation in Egypt and on the Western Front, most fa ...

comprised four battalions with the 2nd Battalion being known as the Natal & OFS Battalion, containing many men from Durban and Pietermaritzburg. In 1915, there were only 120 boys at the school, of which (from the Class of 1914 and earlier) twenty five ex-Glenwood pupils lost their lives as part of this Battalion during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

Of those killed, four were killed during the

Battle of Delville Wood The Battle of Delville Wood was a series of engagements in the 1916 Battle of the Somme in the First World War, between the armies of the German Empire and the British Empire. Delville Wood , was a thick tangle of trees, chiefly beech and ...

World War II

In 1939, at the start of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

there were 490 pupils in the school and during the six years of war, 457 Old Boys served in East Africa, the Western Desert and

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

. Of these, 109 were in the South African or Royal Airforce. Out of the 457 who served, 120 old-boys lost their lives during this war. There is a poignant picture of the school's 1st Rugby Team of 1935 where at least 15 of the 18 boys in the photograph volunteered for service in the war and six of those in the photograph were killed. These included Clement (Neville) McGarr, who was one of the prisoners of war to escape from Stalag Luft III as part of the " Great Escape".

1960s and Zoning

In the early 1960s the Natal Education Department (NED) made a controversial attempt to enforce school zoning in the core suburbs of Durban. A study conducted by the NED showed that considerable amount of money was being paid to transport students to and from school and that children travelled "further than they should" and introduced a policy that compelled students to attend the closest school to their residence. Glenwood old boys (supported by DHS old boys) defended the schools’ favouring of the children of old boys, reflecting an "English society siege-like mentality" to counter the Afrikaner policies after the National Party's election victory that threatened the perceived English school traditions. Eventually a compromise was reached between the schools and the NED whereby a zoning system was implemented that allocated points based on children's place of residence and on whether they had ties to the school through either their siblings’ or father's schooling. It was labelled as ‘preferential admissions’ or ‘restrictive admissions’ and allowed the Glenwood management the freedom to take out-of-area students when they were not full.

Facilities

Glenwood High is one of the few Durban public schools with a boarding establishment. The boarding establishment was opened in 1935 and is known as Gibson House, named after Roy Gibson, the first pupil to be killed in World War 2. He was the son of "The Lady in White" who saw off soldiers at the docks embarking on ships for tours at the front during the Second World War. Gibson House is situated on the corner of Alan Paton and Esther Roberts Roads, a short walk from the main school. The original boarding school took only a small number of boys (three dormitories) but has been expanded.

Notable alumni

Sport

Politics, law and government

Sports

The sports that are offered in the school are: *

Athletics Athletics may refer to: Sports * Sport of athletics, a collection of sporting events that involve competitive running, jumping, throwing, and walking ** Track and field, a sub-category of the above sport * Athletics (physical culture), competi ...

Basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

Chess Chess is a board game for two players, called White and Black, each controlling an army of chess pieces in their color, with the objective to checkmate the opponent's king. It is sometimes called international chess or Western chess to dist ...

Cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by str ...

* Cross country * eSports *

Golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping ...

Hockey Hockey is a term used to denote a family of various types of both summer and winter team sports which originated on either an outdoor field, sheet of ice, or dry floor such as in a gymnasium. While these sports vary in specific rules, numbers o ...

Rugby Rugby may refer to: Sport * Rugby football in many forms: ** Rugby league: 13 players per side *** Masters Rugby League *** Mod league *** Rugby league nines *** Rugby league sevens *** Touch (sport) *** Wheelchair rugby league ** Rugby union: 1 ...

Sailing Sailing employs the wind—acting on sails, wingsails or kites—to propel a craft on the surface of the ''water'' (sailing ship, sailboat, raft, windsurfer, or kitesurfer), on ''ice'' (iceboat) or on ''land'' (land yacht) over a chosen cou ...

* Soccer *

Softball Softball is a game similar to baseball played with a larger ball on a smaller field. Softball is played competitively at club levels, the college level, and the professional level. The game was first created in 1887 in Chicago by George Hanc ...

Squash Squash may refer to: Sports * Squash (sport), the high-speed racquet sport also known as squash racquets * Squash (professional wrestling), an extremely one-sided match in professional wrestling * Squash tennis, a game similar to squash but pla ...

* Surfing *

Swimming Swimming is the self-propulsion of a person through water, or other liquid, usually for recreation, sport, exercise, or survival. Locomotion is achieved through coordinated movement of the limbs and the body to achieve hydrodynamic thrust that r ...

Target shooting Shooting sports is a group of competitive and recreational sporting activities involving proficiency tests of accuracy, precision and speed in shooting — the art of using ranged weapons, mainly small arms ( firearms and airguns, in forms su ...

Water polo Water polo is a competitive sport, competitive team sport played in water between two teams of seven players each. The game consists of four quarters in which the teams attempt to score goals by throwing the water polo ball, ball into the oppo ...

Trevor Kershaw fraud scandal

In 2019, Trevor Kershaw, who was headmaster between 1999 and 2015, pleaded guilty to charges of defrauding the school of over R5 million. After reaching a plea bargain with the State, he was sentenced to three years of correctional supervision, and a ten year prison sentence was suspended.

Notes

References

External links

100 Best Schools in AfricaGlenwood High School official site
* Roll of Honour: World War
Roll of Honour: World War I , Glenwood High School
* Roll of Honour: World War I
Roll of Honour: World War II , Glenwood High School
{{coord, -29.86409, 30.99341, type:edu_globe:earth_region:ZA, display=title Schools in KwaZulu-Natal Educational institutions established in 1910 Boys' schools in South Africa 1910 establishments in South Africa High schools in South Africa