Rustenburg Girls' High School and Rustenburg Girls'Junior School are two separate public schools with a shared history,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, Western Cape 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 ( ...

, South Africa. Rustenburg was founded in 1894 and divided into Junior and High Schools in 1932. The school offers a range of cultural activities and societies.

History

The school was founded in 1894 in the historic Rustenburg House, which dates from the early years of the Dutch settlement at the Cape In 1932, the school was divided into two schools, and the High School moved into its new buildings on Erinville Estate and Charlie's Hope, while the Junior School remained in Rustenburg House on Main Road. Charlie's Hope was subsequently demolished in 1976, before being rebuilt closer to the school. Erinville is now the name of the High School's boarding house. Rustenburg House was declared a National Monument in 1941. Headmistresses of the Combined School: * Miss Alicia Bleby, 1894–1911 * Miss Jean Donaldson-Wright, 1912–1916 * Miss Caroline Kemp, 1916–1933 Principals of the High School: * Miss Caroline Kemp, 1933–1936 * Miss Gwen Hazell, 1937–1951 * Miss Margaret Thomson, 1952–1979 * Mrs Josephine McIntyre, 1980–1991 * Mrs Mary van Blerk, 1991–1999 * Dr Elizabeth Fullard, 1999–2006 * Mrs Susan Schnetler (Acting), 2006-2007 * Ms Laura Bekker, 2007–2015 * Mrs Susan Schnetler (Acting), 2016 * Mr Michael Gates, 2017–present Headmistresses of the Junior School: * Miss Marion Roper, 1933–1944 * Miss Zoë Orton, 1945–1967 * Mrs Ruth Jones, 1968–1977 * Miss Hazel Lentin, 1978–1998 * Mrs Joyce Conway, 1998–2007 * Mrs Di Berry, 2008–2018 * Mrs Belinda Peterson, 2019–present

Academics

In 2009, the Sunday Times published a list of the top 100 government schools in the country, based on the 2008 matric results and Rustenburg was placed fifth. In 2011 the school was placed as the top school in the Western Cape, up from position three in 2010 and position six in 2009. A 2013 survey by "Fairlady" magazine listed Rustenburg Girls' High School among the top 25 schools in the country. In 2014, Rustenburg Girls' High School again qualified for inclusion in the top 20 list and was placed sixth. In 2015, the Western Cape Education Department stopped ranking the top schools in performance order and instead listed them alphabetically, Rustenburg Girls' High School was included in the list of the top 22 schools. In 2019, a Grade 7 girl, was number one in the Western Cape for Horizon Maths Competition.

Sport

Rustenburg has always been well represented in South African and

Western Province Western Province or West Province may refer to: *Western Province, Cameroon *Western Province, Rwanda *Western Province (Kenya) *Western Province (Papua New Guinea) *Western Province (Solomon Islands) *Western Province, Sri Lanka *Western Provinc ...

teams. In 2012, two girls represented

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 ...

tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball ...

and

Artistic gymnastics Artistic gymnastics is a discipline of gymnastics in which athletes perform short routines on different apparatuses. The sport is governed by the Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique (FIG), which designs the Code of Points and regulates ...

while two staff members represented South Africa in sevens rugby and

triathlon A triathlon is an endurance multisport race consisting of Swimming (sport), swimming, Cycle sport, cycling, and running over various distances. Triathletes compete for fastest overall completion time, racing each segment sequentially with the t ...

. The High School has nine tennis/netball courts, a swimming pool and two hockey/cricket fields. An Astroturf playing field was installed during 2014 with floodlights added in 2016. The following sports are offered by Rustenburg Girls' High School: cricket, cross-country, hockey, indoor hockey, netball, running, football, squash, swimming, tennis, touch rugby, waterpolo.

Music

The highly acclaimed High School Music Department features an Orchestra, Choir, Chamber Choir, Jazz Band, Wind Band, String Quartet, Vocal Quartet, String Ensemble and Savuyisa (Marimba Band).

Notable Old Girls

Frances Ames Frances Rix Ames (; 20 April 1920 – 11 November 2002) was a South African neurologist, psychiatrist, and human rights activist, best known for leading the medical ethics inquiry into the death of anti-apartheid activist Steve Biko, who die ...

, neurologist, psychiatrist, and human rights activist *

Jodi Balfour Jodi Balfour (born October 29, 1986) is a South African film and television actress, known for her role as Gladys Witham in the Canadian television drama series ''Bomb Girls'' and Ellen Waverly Wilson in the Apple TV+ space drama series '' For Al ...

, film and television actress *

Louise Carver Louise Carver (June 9, 1869 - June 19, 1956) was an American actress who performed in grand opera, stage, nickelodeon, and motion pictures. Early years and career Born Mary Louise Steiger in Davenport, Iowa, she was the daughter of Mr. and Mr ...

, singer *

Janette Deacon Janette Deacon (née Buckland, born 25 November 1939) is a South African archaeologist specialising in heritage management and rock art conservation. She has studied the changes in stone tools from sites in the southern Cape in relation to climat ...

, archaeologist *

Mabel Malherbe Mabel Catherine Malherbe (9 August 1879 – 1 February 1964) was a South African politician and activist for women's suffrage. She was the first woman mayor of Pretoria from 1931 to 1932. She also became the first woman to be a member of the So ...

, South African politician *

Debora Patta Debora Patta (born 1 September 1964) is a South African broadcast journalist and television producer investigative journalist. She was born in Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) and has origins from Calabria, Italy. Patta is the Africa correspond ...

, broadcast journalist and television producer *

Leila Reitz Leila Agnes Buissinné Reitz, (née Wright ; 13 December 1887 – 27 December 1959) was a South African politician who served as the first woman elected to Parliament in South Africa. She represented Parktown in the House of Assembly of South A ...

, the first woman elected to South Africa's parliament *

Edith Layard Stephens Edith Layard Stephens (1884-1966) was a South African botanist, a leading authority on algae and fungi, particularly edible and poisonous mushrooms. Early life and education Stephens was born on December 6, 1884 in Cape Town, Cape Colony, as the ...

, botanist *

Désirée Talbot Professor Désirée Talbot (born 24 October 1926, Cape Town, South Africa – 24 July 2020) was a South African opera soprano and one of the founding members of the UCT Opera Company. Early life and education She was educated at Collegiate G ...

, opera singer *

Marjorie van Heerden Marjorie Hope van Heerden (born October 8, 1949) is a South African writer and illustrator of children’s books. Since the publication of her first children’s picture book in 1983, van Heerden has been published as an illustrator or writer/ill ...

, book illustrator *

Pauline Vogelpoel Pauline Vogelpoel MBE (24 April 1926 in Lourenço Marques, Portuguese East Africa – 22 December 2002 in Basle, Switzerland) was a South African arts administrator. She was educated at both Herschel Girls' School and Rustenburg Girls' School i ...

MBE Mbe may refer to: * Mbé, a town in the Republic of the Congo * Mbe Mountains Community Forest, in Nigeria * Mbe language, a language of Nigeria * Mbe' language, language of Cameroon * ''mbe'', ISO 639 code for the extinct Molala language Molal ...

, late director of the

Contemporary Art Society The Contemporary Art Society (CAS) is an independent charity that champions the collecting of outstanding contemporary art and craft for UK museum collections. Since its founding in 1910 the organisation has donated over 10,000 works to museums ...

and member of the International Council of the

Tate Tate is an institution that houses, in a network of four art galleries, the United Kingdom's national collection of British art, and international modern and contemporary art. It is not a government institution, but its main sponsor is the U ...

Gallery * Elizabeth Voigt, late director of the

McGregor Museum The McGregor Museum in Kimberley, South Africa, originally known as the Alexander McGregor Memorial Museum, is a multidisciplinary museum which serves Kimberley and the Northern Cape, established in 1907. Overview Housed at first in a purpos ...

Kimberley Kimberly or Kimberley may refer to: Places and historical events Australia * Kimberley (Western Australia) ** Roman Catholic Diocese of Kimberley * Kimberley Warm Springs, Tasmania * Kimberley, Tasmania a small town * County of Kimberley, a ...

In popular culture

Scenes in the films Spud 2: The Madness Continues and Spud 3: Learning to Fly were shot at the school.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rustenburg School For Girls Rondebosch Boarding schools in South Africa Schools in Cape Town Educational institutions established in 1894 Girls' schools in South Africa 1894 establishments in the Cape Colony