Ixopo High School is a boarding school in

Kwazulu-Natal KwaZulu-Natal (, also referred to as KZN and known as "the garden province") is a province of South Africa that was created in 1994 when the Zulu bantustan of KwaZulu ("Place of the Zulu" in Zulu) and Natal Province were merged. It is locate ...

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

. It was founded in 1895 as the Ixopo Government School in what was originally called Stuartstown. The first black pupil was admitted for the 1989–90 school year after the crumbling Apartheid policies were swept aside by

P. W. Botha Pieter Willem Botha, (; 12 January 1916 – 31 October 2006), commonly known as P. W. and af, Die Groot Krokodil (The Big Crocodile), was a South African politician. He served as the last prime minister of South Africa from 1978 to 1984 and ...

. Although the " Ixopo Government School " was opened officially in August 1895, formal education in the village dates back to as early as 1878, when the township of Stuartstown (Ixopo's former name) was first laid out by the first settlers in the village. In that same year, the enterprising village folk also founded the "Ixopo school and library Association", and built a building on the land behind the present Agricultural Hall. The first headmistress of the school was Mrs. J.T. Shum, who taught for 17 years in the "Ixopo Government Aided School". In 1895, the Natal Education Department was persuaded to assume full responsibility for education in the village and established the Ixopo Government School, with Mr J.W. Robinson as its first headmaster. The original school building was built on the corner of High Street and Commercial Road, now one of the Primary School Hostels. In 1920 the school moved to the site of the present Primary School. In 1957 the High School moved to its present site with the official opening of the new school building. And a 3-floor building was built near the field, with two grounds – one on the top near the swimming pool and one at the bottom. The school offers sports such as rugby, hockey, netball, athletics, basketball soccer, and other extramural activities. There also experienced teachers like Mrs Bame who have been teaching at the school for over 30 years. Principal: Ms. K Barenschè

Boarding establishments

Cassington House

Cassington is the senior boys hostel. It was named after Mr Cassington, who owned a large farming estate of which the lower playing fields were part of that original estate.

Ellerton House

Ellerton is the junior boys hostel. The original boarding hostel was Ellerton House. Behind it are the original school buildings that composed the entire school block in a quad. Later on, after the

Second World War 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 opposin ...

, much of the school was built and extended to become as it was in 2010. As part of the extensions, a library was built that has been dedicated to the memory of

Alan Paton Alan Stewart Paton (11 January 1903 – 12 April 1988) was a South African writer and anti-apartheid activist. His works include the novels ''Cry, the Beloved Country'' and '' Too Late the Phalarope''. Family Paton was born in Pietermaritzbu ...

Stuart House

Stuart is a girls hostel housing both junior and senior girls.

Sport

Rugby

During the Eighties and early Nineties, Ixopo became a feared name amongst the

South West and Districts South is one of the cardinal directions or compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both east and west. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Proto-Germanic ''*sunþaz ...

Rugby teams for their roughness and readiness to fight. This reputation often earned them top points for entire seasons and the "Third World War" matches against

Maritzburg College Maritzburg College is a semi-private English-medium high school for boys situated in the city of Pietermaritzburg, in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. It was founded in 1863 and it's the oldest boys' high school in KwaZulu-Natal – and one of the o ...

would often become bitter and bloody fist-fights. It was the violence of inter-schools rugby that forced the national rugby board to change the rules of

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 ...

during this period to the more gentle and gentlemanly game it has become today.

Cadets

Towards the end of the apartheid era, there were weekly sessions of Cadet Training for the young men. This was instituted throughout "white" government schools as a pre-requisite to forced conscription. Most boys would receive their call-up papers during their penultimate year of school and then either continue to university or join the army. Conscientious objectors were scorned and ridiculed. Even foreign pupils were given the same conscription orders by the

South African Defence Force The South African Defence Force (SADF) (Afrikaans: ''Suid-Afrikaanse Weermag'') comprised the armed forces of South Africa from 1957 until 1994. Shortly before the state reconstituted itself as a republic in 1961, the former Union Defence F ...

to fight in

Angola , national_anthem = " Angola Avante"() , image_map = , map_caption = , capital = Luanda , religion = , religion_year = 2020 , religion_ref = , coordina ...

Namibia Namibia (, ), officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country in Southern Africa. Its western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Zambia and Angola to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and ea ...

. Usually the first port of call was

Oudtshoorn Oudtshoorn (, ), the "ostrich capital of the world", is a town in the Western Cape province of South Africa, located between the Swartberg mountains to the north and the Outeniqua Mountains to the south. Two ostrich-feather booms, during 1865–1 ...

for training. As a result of this conscription, the school had to train the boys how to march, shoot and defend themselves.

Headmasters and staff

The current headmaster is Ms Karen Barensche

Famous people

, author of the book ''Cry the Beloved Country'' which was recently made into a Hollywood movie. He taught at the school until 1928 and met his wife, Dorrie Lusted, in Ixopo. * Lawrence Bransby, author of many books (''Downstreet'' and many others)

References

{{coord, -30.16205, 30.05635, type:edu_globe:earth_region:ZA, display=title Boarding schools in South Africa High schools in South Africa Schools in KwaZulu-Natal