Northcliff High School, commonly known as Northcliff High, 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 ...
co-educational high school located in the suburb of
Blackheath in
Johannesburg
Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu and xh, eGoli ), colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, or "The City of Gold", is the largest city in South Africa, classified as a megacity, and is one of the 100 largest urban areas in the world. According to Dem ...
in the
Gauteng
Gauteng ( ) is one of the nine provinces of South Africa. The name in Sotho-Tswana languages means 'place of gold'.
Situated on the Highveld, Gauteng is the smallest province by land area in South Africa. Although Gauteng accounts for only ...
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 ...
. It is one of the top and most academic schools in Gauteng. The high school was established in 1969.
Location
The school is located on Mountain View Drive, at the bottom of Northcliff Hill.
Sporting
Northcliff High has won the A-League Inter-High Athletics competition for 22 consecutive years, from 1997 - 2018.
In 2015, construction of an astroturf hockey field started. At the time, the school was the only government school in the area to own one.
A bear was the First Rugby team mascot in 1973. It featured in every First Rugby team photo until 1987. In 2018 the mascot was returned to the school by the 1990 First Rugby team Captain.
Northcliff won the A-league inter-high gala several times.
Controversy
In June 2017, Northcliff High was embroiled in a religious sensitivity scandal after it required its female
Muslim students to carry concession cards in order to wear a
head scarf
A headscarf is a scarf covering most or all of the top of a person's, usually women's, hair and head, leaving the face uncovered. A headscarf is formed of a triangular cloth or a square cloth folded into a triangle, with which the head is cov ...
to school. It was claimed that this was to make sure that the uniform rules were upheld.
Transformation
According to a
Sunday Times investigative report, Northcliff was named as Gauteng's least representative school staff-wise, with its academic staff consisting of 96% white staff members.
The figures for Northcliff High School were according to teaching staff lists and photos on the school's website as the school refused to reveal its numbers to the press.
Past and present heads of school
The following have been the heads of the school:
* Mr Ged Dickerson (1969 - 1986)
* Mr Peter Cawdry (1986 - 1997)
* Mr David Klein (1997 - 2002)
* Mrs Samantha Jandersen (2002-2002)
* Mr Walter Essex-Clark (2003 - date)
Notable alumni
*
Shane Burger
Shane Burger (born 31 August 1982) is a South African former cricketer who played first-class cricket for KwaZulu-Natal Inland cricket team, KwaZulu-Natal Inland. In January 2019, he was appointed as the head coach of the Scotland national cricke ...
- Scotland international cricket coach
*
Connell Cruise - Singer-songwriter
*
Clive Eksteen - South African international cricket player
*
Neville Godwin
Neville Godwin (born 31 January 1975) is a former tennis player from South Africa.
Godwin turned professional in 1994. The right-hander won one singles title (2001 Newport) in his career, and reached his highest individual ranking on the ATP ...
- Professional tennis player and coach
*
Darrien Landsberg - Professional Rugby Player
*
Traverse Le Goff - Member of Parliament
*
Sean Roberts - Professional football player
*
Jonathan Roxmouth - Stage actor
*
Max Sorensen
Max Christian Sorensen (born 18 November 1985) is an Irish former international cricketer of South African origin, who played for the Irish national team. Born in Johannesburg, Sorensen is a right-handed batsman who bowls right-arm fast-medium. ...
- Irish international cricket player
*
Byron Talbot
Byron Talbot (born 15 September 1964) is a former professional tennis player from South Africa. He enjoyed most of his tennis success while playing doubles. During his career, he won seven doubles titles and finished as a runner-up six times. H ...
- Professional tennis player and Wimbledon doubles contestant
*
Emmanuel Tshituka - Professional Rugby Player
*
Vincent Tshituka - Professional Rugby Player
*
Sharne Wehmeyer - South African international field hockey player
References
External links
Northcliff High School
Schools in Gauteng
{{SouthAfrica-school-stub