Windhoek High School (WHS) is a secondary school in

Windhoek Windhoek (, , ) is the capital and largest city of Namibia. It is located in central Namibia in the Khomas Highland plateau area, at around above sea level, almost exactly at the country's geographical centre. The population of Windhoek in 20 ...

, the capital of

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 ...

. Popularly known as ‘’The Blue School’’, it was founded on 5 February 1917, making it one of the oldest existing schools in the country. Currently, WHS is rated among the top 100 schools in

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

Headmaster (Principal)

The current headmaster of Windhoek high school is Mrs Dinnette de Beer. The previous headmaster was Mr Willem Hendrik Engels (known as Hawie). Engels was born on 27 December 1962 in

Gobabis , nickname = , settlement_type = City , motto = Ex Oriente Lux , image_skyline = Gobabis Namibia aerial.jpg , imagesize = 300px , imag ...

. Together with his two younger sisters he was raised in Gobabis by his parents. During his school years at Wennie du Plessis, he was not only head boy, but also excelled on the sports field, especially in athletics and rugby.

History

On 5 February 1917, Windhoek High School opened, and made history as South West Africa's first secondary school, with English as main medium of teaching. The first principal is Mr WJG Anderson with seven grade nine learners. In 1919 the school badge and motto was established. In 1921 the first four matrix learners wrote the National Examination. The school uniform first came into use in 1923, that year the school relocated from Robert Mugabe Street to its current location. In 1932 the school adopted Afrikaans and becomes a dual-medium school. In 1935 WHS was the only tri-medium school in Southern Africa, offering classes in English, Afrikaans and German. In 1938. the school hall was completed. In 1952 the school anthem was used for the first time. In 1961, for the first time, more than 1100 learners were registered at WHS. In 1962 the main medium of instruction was Afrikaans. In 1974 the new school hall and laboratories were inaugurated. In 1991, Namibia gained independence with a reintroduction of English as medium of instruction in all classes.

Traditions

School badge and school motto (1919) School uniform (1921) School anthem (1952) House competition (1954): Kanniedood, Swarthaak and Wag-n-Bietjie. Rugby jersey of the first team (1960) Unique uniform of the Grade 11-12 learners (1965) Honorary code of new learners (1965) Senjol (1985) Annual year book (first 1920) Unique uniforms and customs of Student Council A tradition of academic results and competitive participation in sport and cultural activities.

Facilities

WHS features a school hall for nearly 800 people, a computer centre, science laboratories, and a media centre. It also has a word-processing centre, a cafeteria and a big stadium called Vegkop, and an indoor heated swimming pool. Windhoek High School also has three rugby fields, four tennis courts, a soccer field, two hockey fields, four netball courts, a 300 square meter gymnasium, a basketball and volleyball court. WHS is consistently successful in many kinds of sport.

Cricket ground

The school's cricket ground first hosted an international match when

played

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

in a

Twenty20 Twenty20 (T20) is a shortened game format of cricket. At the professional level, it was introduced by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) in 2003 for the inter-county competition. In a Twenty20 game, the two teams have a single innin ...

match on 4 October 2011, with the teams playing one another the following day. Further Twenty20 matches were held at the ground in November 2011 when Namibia played

Kenya ) , national_anthem = "Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"() , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Nairobi , coordinates = , largest_city = Nairobi , ...

in eight matches at the school. In the fifth Twenty20 between the sides, Namibia's Louis van der Westhuizen scored 145 runs from 54 balls, which is the fifth highest score ever made in a Twenty20 match.

Notable alumni

* Prince ǃGaoseb (born 1998), rugby union player for the Tel Aviv Heat *

Max Katjijeko Muharua Wilhelm 'Max' Katjijeko (born 8 April 1995) is a Namibian rugby union player for the n national team and for the in the Currie Cup and the Rugby Challenge. His regular position is lock or flanker. Rugby career Katjijeko was born in ...

(born 1995), rugby union player for the Tel Aviv Heat * Louis van der Westhuizen (born 1995), rugby union player for the

Cheetahs The cheetah (''Acinonyx jubatus'') is a large cat native to Africa and central Iran. It is the fastest land animal, estimated to be capable of running at with the fastest reliably recorded speeds being , and as such has evolved specialized ...

Jacques Burger Jacques Burger (born 29 July 1983 in Windhoek, South West Africa) is a retired Namibian rugby union loose forward who finished his career at Saracens in the Aviva Premiership. Club career He played for Saracens, having joined them in the 2009/ ...

(born 1985), rugby union player for

Saracens file:Erhard Reuwich Sarazenen 1486.png, upright 1.5, Late 15th-century Germany in the Middle Ages, German woodcut depicting Saracens Saracen ( ) was a term used in the early centuries, both in Greek language, Greek and Latin writings, to refer ...

References

External links

Official web site

at CricketArchive {{Coord, 22, 34, 06.75, S, 17, 05, 20.75, E, type:edu_scale:2000_region:NA, display=title Schools in Windhoek Cricket grounds in Namibia Educational institutions established in 1917 1917 establishments in South West Africa