Rondebosch Boys' 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 ''Öffentlichkei ...

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

Rondebosch Rondebosch is one of the Southern Suburbs of Cape Town, South Africa. It is primarily a residential suburb, with shopping and business districts as well as the main campus of the University of Cape Town. History Four years after the first Dutch s ...

Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...

in the

Western Cape The Western Cape is a province of South Africa, situated on the south-western coast of the country. It is the fourth largest of the nine provinces with an area of , and the third most populous, with an estimated 7 million inhabitants in 2020 ...

province of

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 is one of the topmost academic schools in South Africa and one of the oldest schools in the country, having been established in 1897. Rondebosch is the only school in the Western Cape to have a Nobel Prize laureate, Allan M. Cormack in Physiology and Medicine.

History

Establishment

In the late 1800s, the residents of Rondebosch got together to consider the need for a boys' school in the near future. The idea of an English-medium school was chosen and the

Dutch Reformed Church The Dutch Reformed Church (, abbreviated NHK) was the largest Christian denomination in the Netherlands from the onset of the Protestant Reformation in the 16th century until 1930. It was the original denomination of the Dutch Royal Family and ...

representative of the district, Reverend Benard PJ Marchand, took the lead of this initiative. Marchand obtained the help of several prominent dignitaries and businessmen, including

William Philip Schreiner William Philip Schreiner (30 August 1857 – 28 June 1919) was a barrister, politician, statesman and Prime Minister of the Cape Colony during the Second Boer War. Early life Schreiner was born at Wittebergen Mission Station near Hersc ...

, an old boy of SACS and future Prime Minister of the

Cape Colony The Cape Colony ( nl, Kaapkolonie), also known as the Cape of Good Hope, was a British Empire, British colony in present-day South Africa named after the Cape of Good Hope, which existed from 1795 to 1802, and again from 1806 to 1910, when i ...

and Sir Lewis Mitchell, the manager of the Standard bank, to guarantee the initial funding that would be required. In 1897, Dr Thomas Muir, Superintendent-General of Education, approved a grant of £50 to cover the salary, and housing, allowance for the principal of this new boys' public school, the man chosen for the promising job was 38-year-old Robert MacLennan Ramage, a graduate of Edinburgh University. Ramage was an experienced teacher, gaining his experience by teaching at the flourishing new schools of the Colony, having been a teacher at the Stellenbosch ( Paul Roos) Gymnasium. On 2 February 1897 the school opened as the Rondebosch High School for Junior Boys in Glena Hall, a Dutch Reformed Church building in Erin Road. The school started modestly, with the number of pupils enrolled just 8, the maximum it could accommodate at the time. By the end of April, the number of boys on the roll had increased to 28, with the school teaching boys from standards 2 to 7. The first inspection report to Dr. Muir was a positive one, saying: 'This school has made a promising commencement and deserves the unhesitating support of the neighbourhood. The accommodation and equipment are both satisfactory. The teachers are able and zealous.' By August of the same year, the school in the little church hall was attracting a lot of interest, and its name had been changed to the Boys' High School, Rondebosch. With the large number of applications the school was receiving from the local residents, the school committee was forced to become more selective in acceptances. Before the end of the year, the committee was looking for a site to construct a new, considerably bigger school. Soon after their search began, a nearby property - The Firs, a site with an area of almost one acre of ground, at the corner of Campground and Rouwkoop roads came up for sale. The committee negotiated a loan with the Standard Bank and bought the property for an amount of £1 900. The architect commissioned to design the new school was G G Milne. Teaching in the new school commenced on 7 September 1898. In 1947 the High School on Campground Road moved to its current location on Canigou Ave. The buildings at this location, see photo attached, including the Canigou boarding house were designed by architect Kilgour Parker, who was an Old Boy of the school, and well known Cape Town architect. His firm also were the architects for Wynberg Girls' High School and Rustenburg Girls High School, as well as several other schools in the Western Cape.

School Song

Rondebosch's school song was written and published in 1914. The words were written by Cocky Wilson and the music was composed by Mrs Elsie Skaife.

Boarding

Boarding at Rondebosch Boys' was established in 1904 to accommodate boys from the farming areas of the

. The tradition of boarding at Rondebosch continues to this day, as a large number of the boys who board at Rondebosch come from rural areas. The boarding houses at Rondebosch currently accommodate 135 boys, with the Grade 8 and 9 boys being accommodated in Mason House and the Grade 10-12 boys in Canigou.

Buildings

Memorial Hall

The Rondebosch Boys' High School Memorial Hall was built to honour the Rondebosch Old Boys who died in

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 ...

and

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 opposin ...

. The hall was built after WWII and can comfortably accommodate 950 seated people. The Memorial Hall has recently undergone construction, adding a 3rd gallery to the hall to accommodate more people.

Old Boys' Union

The Rondebosch Old Boys' Union was established in 1909 to support the Rondebosch boys and staff and to help Old Boys maintain links with the school and with each other. Over the last century the Old Boys’ Union has assumed a greater role in raising funds for the benefit of both the Prep and High schools and providing other support. Rondebosch has one of the strongest and oldest Old Boys' unions in South Africa and it has been growing exponentially ever since it was first started in 1909. On 13 March 1913 the first official Founders' Day was commemorated by a cricket match between Old Boys and school boys. This tradition is still continued today with the addition of various other sports matches as well.

Academics

Of the 158 final-year students who wrote the

Western Cape Education Department The Western Cape Education Department (abbreviated WCED) is the department of the Government of the Western Cape responsible for primary and secondary education within the Western Cape province of South Africa. The political leader of the depar ...

exams in 2013, 146 passed at a Bachelor (Degree) level. The class achieved a 100% pass rate. Rondebosch has won the UCT Mathematics Competition for twelve of the nineteen years since 1998.

Culture

Music

Music lessons are offered at the Music and Performing Arts Centre on the school premises. Rondebosch offers music as one of the grade 10-12 subject choices. In 2013, 7 candidates wrote the music exam, of those, 5 achieved "A" symbols and the class achieved an average of 83%.

Sports

Rondebosch is the traditional rival of the nearby school Diocesan College (Bishops) as well as SACS and WBHS. Bishops is considered Rondebosch's main rival in rugby, with the first match between them played in 1908. Derby sport matches between the schools are played almost every weekend during the winter sports season a year in both

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 ...

and

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 striki ...

, as well as in a number of other sports. RBHS,

Bishops A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...

and SACS participate in the annual Triangular

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 ...

event.

Notable alumni

Whitey Basson * Peter Beaumont, archaeologist *

Allan McLeod Cormack Allan MacLeod Cormack (February 23, 1924 – May 7, 1998) was a South African American physicist who won the 1979 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (along with Godfrey Hounsfield) for his work on X-ray computed tomography (CT). Early life an ...

, winner of the 1979

Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine is awarded yearly by the Nobel Assembly at the Karolinska Institute for outstanding discoveries in physiology or medicine. The Nobel Prize is not a single prize, but five separate prizes that, accord ...

for work on the development of Computer assisted tomography (CAT scan) * David Earl, composer and concert pianist *

Chris Fallows South African born Chris Fallows is an expert on great white sharks and their hunting habits. He has amassed the largest database of predatory events involving great white sharks in False Bay and was the first member of the scientific community t ...

, shark expert *

Robert Fokkens Robert Fokkens is a South African classical music composer. He is among a new generation of younger composers in post-apartheid South Africa. He was educated in Cape Town at Rondebosch Boys' School. He currently teaches composition at Cardif ...

, composer *

Nick Gevers Nick Gevers (born 1965) is a South African science fiction editor and critic, whose work has appeared in ''The Washington Post Book World'', '' Interzone'', Scifi.com, SF Site, ''The New York Review of Science Fiction'' and ''Nova Express''. H ...

, science fiction critic and editor *

Tim Jenkin Timothy Peter Jenkin (born 1948) is a South African writer, former anti-apartheid activist and political prisoner. He is best known for his 1979 escape from Pretoria Local Prison (part of the Pretoria Central Prison complex), along with Steph ...

, political prisoner, author, escapee from

Pretoria Central Prison Pretoria Central Prison, renamed Kgosi Mampuru II Management Area by former President Jacob Zuma on 13 April 2013 and sometimes referred to as Kgosi Mampuru II Correctional Services is a large prison in central Pretoria, within the City of Tshwane ...

* Jonathan C. Knight, physicist *

Daniel Rajna Daniel Rajna born 1968, is a South African ballet dancer. After gaining a BSc in applied mathematics at UCT, he trained at the UCT Ballet school, Cape Town. He joined the former CAPAB Ballet in 1990, before leaving in 1997 to join PACT Ballet ...

, principal ballet dancer with the Cape Town City Ballet Company *

Athelstan Spilhaus Athelstan Frederick Spilhaus (November 25, 1911 – March 30, 1998) was a South African-American geophysicist and oceanographer. Among other accomplishments, Spilhaus is credited with proposing the establishment of Sea Grant Colleges at a meeting ...

, scientist and inventor *

Lyall Watson Lyall Watson (12 April 1939 – 25 June 2008) was a South African botanist, zoologist, biologist, anthropologist, ethologist, and author of many books, among the most popular of which is the best seller ''Supernature''. Lyall Watson tried to mak ...

, author *

Zapiro Jonathan Shapiro (born 27 October 1958) is a South African cartoonist, known as Zapiro, whose work appears in numerous South African publications and has been exhibited internationally on many occasions. He is the nephew of British magician ...

, cartoonist *

Ian Goldin Ian Andrew Goldin is a South African-born British professor at the University of Oxford in England, and was the founding director of the Oxford Martin School at the University of Oxford. He is Professor of Globalisation and Development, holds a ...

Politician

* Ken Andrew, politician * Ryan Coetzee, strategist for the Democratic Alliance *

Richard Spring, Baron Risby Richard John Grenville Spring, Baron Risby (born 24 September 1946) is a former Conservative Party politician in the United Kingdom. He served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Bury St Edmunds from 1992 to 1997, and for West Suffolk from 1997 ...

, former

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

Law

Franklin Berman Sir Franklin Delow Berman, (born 23 December 1939) is a British barrister and leading authority in international law. He was Legal Adviser to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office from 1991 to 1999. Background and education Berman was born in So ...

, judge and international law specialist * Michael Corbett,

Chief Justice of South Africa The Chief Justice of South Africa is the most senior judge of the Constitutional Court of South Africa, Constitutional Court and head of the judiciary of South Africa, who exercises final authority over the functioning and management of all the c ...

Oliver Schreiner Oliver Deneys Schreiner Military Cross, MC King's Counsel, KC (29 December 1890 – 27 July 1980), was a judge of the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of South Africa. One of the most renowned South African judges, he was passed over twice ...

, judge of the Appellate Division of the

Supreme Court of South Africa The Supreme Court of South Africa was a superior court of law in South Africa from 1910 to 1997. It was made up of various provincial and local divisions with jurisdiction over specific geographical areas, and an Appellate Division which was t ...

* Sir Robert Clarkson Tredgold, Chief Justice of the

Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland The Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland, also known as the Central African Federation or CAF, was a colonial federation that consisted of three southern African territories: the Self-governing colony, self-governing British colony of Southe ...

International sports players

Athletics

* Italy:

Marcello Fiasconaro Marcello Luigi Fiasconaro (born 19 July 1949) is an Italian-South African athlete, who set a world record in the 800 m in 1973. Early life Born in Cape Town to an Italian father and South African mother, Fiasconaro spent his youth in this ...

Football

* South Africa:

Gary Bailey Gary Richard Bailey (born 9 August 1958) is a former footballer who made nearly 300 appearances in the Football League playing as a goalkeeper for Manchester United. Born in Ipswich, Suffolk, he grew up in South Africa, but went on to be capped ...

* England: Gary Bailey

Tennis

* England:

Neil Broad Neil Broad (born 20 November 1966) is a former professional tennis player who represented Great Britain for most of his playing career. He is a former UK number 1 who won seven ATP tour doubles titles in his career, and won the silver medal in ...

Hockey

* South Africa: Andrew Cronje

Cricket

* South Africa:

Gary Kirsten Gary Kirsten (born 23 November 1967) is a South African cricket coach and former cricketer. He has coached the Indian Cricket Team as well as the South African Cricket team. Kirsten played 101 Test matches and 185 One Day Internationals for So ...

HD Ackerman Hylton Deon Ackerman, also known as HD Ackerman, (born 14 February 1973) is a South African cricket commentator, coach, and former cricketer. He commentates for Supersport. He is currently also the head coach of the First XI and director at Gui ...

, John Commins, John Nel,

Kenny Jackson Kenny Jackson (born February 15, 1962) is an American former football player. He played wide receiver for eight seasons in the National Football League (NFL) with the Philadelphia Eagles and Houston Oilers and was twice named a collegiate All- ...

, Paul Kirsten,

Andrew Puttick Andrew George Puttick (born 11 December 1980) is a South African cricket coach and former cricketer. He is the current batting coach of the Afghanistan national cricket team. International career A left-handed opening batsman, Puttick represent ...

,Jonathan Trott: 'The red mist happens very rarely now'
www.theguardian.com, Retrieved 29 March 2014

Zubayr Hamza Mogammad Zubayr Hamza (born 19 June 1995) is a South African cricketer. He made his Test debut for the South Africa cricket team in January 2019, becoming South Africa's 100th Test player since readmission. In domestic cricket, he was named as th ...

* England:

Jonathan Trott Ian Jonathan Leonard Trott (born 22 April 1981) is a South African-born English former professional cricketer who played international cricket for the England cricket team. Domestically, he played for Warwickshire County Cricket Club as well as ...

* Ireland: Ralph Coetzee * Netherlands:

Michael Rippon Michael James Rippon (born 14 September 1991) is a South African-born cricketer. He current plays international cricket for New Zealand, having previously also played for the Netherlands national cricket team. He is a right-handed batsman who bo ...

Rugby

* South Africa (

Springboks The South Africa national rugby union team, commonly known as the Springboks (colloquially the Boks, Bokke or Amabokoboko), is the country's national team governed by the South African Rugby Union. The Springboks play in green and gold jersey ...

Frank Mellish Frank Whitmore Mellish, MC (26 April 1897 – 21 August 1965) was a rugby union footballer who played internationally for England and South Africa. After his rugby career, he served as a selector for the South African team and as the manager of ...

, Albertus Viljoen van der Merwe

Bennie Osler Benjamin Louwrens Osler (23 November 1901 – 28 April 1962) was a rugby union footballer who played internationally for South Africa. Osler played mainly at fly-half for both South Africa, and his provincial team of Western Province. Osler w ...

, Jack Gage, James Stark, Mike Lawless, Ian McCallum,

Chris Pope Chris Pope is an American internet personality, video game developer, producer, social media professional, podcast A podcast is a program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. For example, an episodic series of ...

, Roy McCallum

Joel Stransky Joel Theodore Stransky (born 16 July 1967) is a South African former rugby union player. A fly-half, he is known for scoring all of South Africa's points, including the winning drop goal, against New Zealand in the 1995 Rugby World Cup final. ...

(at Rondebosch till his under 16 year), Hanyani Shimange,

Gcobani Bobo Gcobani Bobo (born 12 September 1979
Scrum.com) is a former

* Ireland: Dion O'Cuinneagain (captain), who also captained the South African Sevens side. *

USA Sevens The USA Sevens is a rugby sevens tournament held annually during March in the United States. The USA Sevens is the largest annual rugby competition in North America, drawing over 60,000 fans, and is broadcast live in the United States by ESPN. ...

: Dallen Stanford * Germany: Justin Melck * France: Eric Melville * USA:

Marcel Brache Marcel Girard Brache (born 15 October 1987) is an American rugby union player. Brache was born in Los Angeles, California and was raised primarily in South Africa. He currently plays for the Austin Gilgronis of Major League Rugby (MLR), generall ...

* South African Sevens: Zain Davids, Delvon Blood, Whitey Basson

Notable past teachers

* Sydney Skaife

References

External links

RBHS official website

Rondebosch Boys' portal

Some photographs of Rondebosch Boys' High School
{{Coord, 33, 58, 5, S, 18, 28, 35, E, region:ZA_type:edu, display=title Rondebosch Boys' schools in South Africa Boarding schools in South Africa Schools in Cape Town Educational institutions established in 1897 1897 establishments in the Cape Colony High schools in South Africa