Ruzawi School is an

Anglican Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of th ...

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

co-educational Mixed-sex education, also known as mixed-gender education, co-education, or coeducation (abbreviated to co-ed or coed), is a system of education where males and females are educated together. Whereas single-sex education was more common up to t ...

, preparatory,

boarding Boarding may refer to: *Boarding, used in the sense of "room and board", i.e. lodging and meals as in a: ** Boarding house **Boarding school *Boarding (horses) (also known as a livery yard, livery stable, or boarding stable), is a stable where ho ...

school for children aged 6 to 12. It is located near the town of

Marondera Marondera (known as Marandellas until 1982) is a city in Mashonaland East, Zimbabwe, located about 72 km east of Harare. History It was first known as Marandella's Kraal, corrupted from Marondera, chief of the ruling Rozvi Empire, VaRozv ...

Zimbabwe Zimbabwe (), officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country located in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the south-west, Zambia to the north, and Mozam ...

. Ruzawi, which was founded by Robert Grinham and Maurice Carver, has a pupil population ranging from 205 to 220 depending on the balance of boys and girls and the number of pupils in each age group. In the Infants' Department there is one class each for Grade One and Grade Two. An additional entry point at Grade Three enables there to be two classes from that level up to Grade 7. The school is situated some five kilometres south of

in extensive grounds surrounded by many hectares of indigenous miombo woodland and exotic eucalyptus plantations. Ruzawi School is a member of the

Association of Trust Schools The Association of Trust Schools (ATS) is an organisation of independent primary and secondary schools in Zimbabwe that was founded in 1962. Each of these schools are run by their own Board of Governors and are not for profit entities. The Heads ...

(ATS) and the Head is a member of the

Conference of Heads of Independent Schools in Zimbabwe A conference is a meeting of two or more experts to discuss and exchange opinions or new information about a particular topic. Conferences can be used as a form of group decision-making, although discussion, not always decisions, are the main p ...

(CHISZ).

History

In 1926, Robert Grinham and Maurice Carver decided to establish a boys' school in Southern Africa. South Africa was a possible venue but eventually it was decided to establish the school in Zimbabwe (then Southern Rhodesia). Various sites were visited in and around the capital but the most suitable venue was a few miles south of the then village of Marandellas, now

. The old Ruzawi Inn, for many years a staging post on the carriage and wagon route from the capital to the eastern border, was up for sale. Neither the new road nor the recently built railway passed close to the Inn, which was no longer, an essential stopping place for travelers. The bedrooms, dining room, kitchen and ancillary buildings proved ideal as both accommodation and classrooms for the newly established boys' boarding school. An important use was found for the old stable building close to the inn. It was appropriately converted into the School Chapel. The building, now over a hundred years old, is equally appropriately in use as the School Museum. The founders of Ruzawi enlisted academic and domestic staff to help convert the Inn to a boys' boarding school. At the time, the boys attending Ruzawi ranged in age from seven to fourteen years. From 1932 to 1934 plans were discussed and finance arranged to replace the old buildings with the present large dormitory block. It became known as the Birchenough Building in recognition of the work Sir

Henry Birchenough Sir John Henry Birchenough, 1st Baronet, (7 March 1853 – 12 May 1937) was an English businessman and public servant. Early life and education Birchenough was born in Macclesfield, Cheshire, the second son of John Birchenough, a silk manufac ...

did on behalf of the school, particularly in the field of raising funds for the new buildings. Other major events in the school's history include the building of the Robert Grinham Hall and the Maurice Carver Music Centre, the establishment of the Computer Centre. In 1955, the School Chapel was built. The Chapel is a memorial to the Ruzawi boys who died in 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 ...

. In 1978, The Grinham Carver Trust was founded by the Ruzawi Old Boys Association (now the Ruzawi Old Pupils Association) on the occasion of its 25th anniversary and in honour of the school's founders. In 2003, Ruzawi School became co-educational with the acceptance of girls into the school's student body. In 2013, Ruzawi became a registered

Cambridge International Examinations Cambridge Assessment International Education (informally known as Cambridge International or simply Cambridge and formerly known as CIE, Cambridge International Examinations) is a provider of international qualifications, offering examinations ...

centre and adopted the Cambridge Primary curriculum.

Motto

Academics

Ruzawi School, alongside the

ZIMSEC The Zimbabwe School Examinations Council (ZIMSEC) is an autonomous parastatal under the Ministry of Education, Sports and Culture of the Republic of Zimbabwe, responsible for the administration of public examinations in Zimbabwean schools. Its ...

Primary curriculum, adopted the Cambridge Primary curriculum which was developed by

Sports

Ruzawi School offers the following sports:

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), competiti ...

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 ...

cross-country Cross country or cross-country may refer to: Places * Cross Country, Baltimore, a neighborhood in northwest Baltimore, Maryland * Cross County Parkway, an east–west parkway in Westchester County, NY * Cross County Shopping Center, a mall in Yo ...

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 ...

netball Netball is a ball sport played on a court by two teams of seven players. It is among a rare number of sports which have been created exclusively for female competitors. The sport is played on indoor and outdoor netball courts and is specifical ...

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 ...

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 ...

and

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 ...

Clubs and Societies

Ruzawi School has the following cultural and extramural activities:

Ballet Ballet () is a type of performance dance that originated during the Italian Renaissance in the fifteenth century and later developed into a concert dance form in France and Russia. It has since become a widespread and highly technical form of ...

, Conservation Club,

Cub Scouts Cub Scouts, Cubs or Wolf Cubs are programs associated with Scouting for young children usually between 7 and 12, depending on the organization to which they belong. A participant in the program is called a Cub. A group of Cubs is called a 'P ...

, Design and Technology Club,

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 wi ...

, Guitar, Music & Drama,

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 ...

Table Tennis Table tennis, also known as ping-pong and whiff-whaff, is a sport in which two or four players hit a lightweight ball, also known as the ping-pong ball, back and forth across a table using small solid rackets. It takes place on a hard table div ...

, WildLife Quiz.

Houses

Within the school, students are divided up into two 'houses' that compete along academic and sporting lines. The houses are named Grenfell, represented by olive green and named after

Julian Grenfell Julian Henry Francis Grenfell (30 March 1888 – 26 May 1915) was a British soldier and a war poet of World War I. Early life Julian Grenfell was born at 4 St James's Square, London, the eldest son of William Grenfell, later Baron Desborough, ...

the first born of William Grenfell – Baron of Desborough; and Fairbridge, represented by light blue and named after

Kingsley Fairbridge Kingsley Ogilvie Fairbridge (5 May 1885 – 19 July 1924) was the founder of a child migration, child emigration scheme from Britain to British Empire, its colonies and the Fairbridge Schools. His life work was the founding of the "Society for t ...

, a South African educator and statesman. The link between the houses, comes from the apt and fierce competition between Julian and Kingsley at

Oxford University Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

in the sport of Boxing.

Notable alumni

Andy Blignaut Arnoldus Mauritius Blignaut (born 1 August 1978) is a former Zimbabwean cricketer, who played all formats of the game. He was a right-arm fast-medium bowler, also known as a hard-hitting batsman in ODIs, where he frequently scored a fast rate; ...

- former Zimbabwean

Cricketer 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 ...

* Ryan Higgins - former England under-19 cricketer *

Kennedy Tsimba Kennedy Chiedza Tsimba (Zimbabwean pronunciation: Shining Light; born 23 July 1974) is a 2012 World Rugby Hall of Fame inductee, South African professional Rugby coach and former player who is the current Director of Rugby at St Alban's College ...

- former Zimbabwean

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

player *

Guy Whittall Guy James Whittall (born 5 September 1972) is a former Zimbabwean international cricketer who played 46 Test matches and 147 One Day Internationals (ODIs) and captained Zimbabwe in four ODIs. He played as an all-rounder and was known as an a ...

- former Zimbabwean

cricketer 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 ...

References

External links

Ruzawi School
Official website
Ruzawi School Profile
on the

ATS ATS or Ats may refer to: Businesses * ATS Wheels, or ''Auto Technisches Spezialzubehör'', a German wheel manufacturer and sponsor of a Formula One racing team * ATS Automation Tooling Systems, an Ontario, Canada-based factory automation company ...

website {{Zimbabwe private schools Educational institutions established in 1928 Anglican schools in Zimbabwe Private schools in Zimbabwe Cambridge schools in Zimbabwe Co-educational schools in Zimbabwe Boarding schools in Zimbabwe Marondera Buildings and structures in Mashonaland East Province Education in Mashonaland East Province Member schools of the Association of Trust Schools 1920s establishments in Southern Rhodesia 1928 establishments in the British Empire

History

Motto

Academics

Sports

Clubs and Societies

Houses

Notable alumni

See also

References

External links