Northwood School is a high school in the coastal city of

Durban Durban ( ; , from meaning "bay, lagoon") is the third-most populous city in South Africa, after Johannesburg and Cape Town, and the largest city in the Provinces of South Africa, province of KwaZulu-Natal. Situated on the east coast of South ...

, in

KwaZulu-Natal KwaZulu-Natal (, also referred to as KZN) is a Provinces of South Africa, province of South Africa that was created in 1994 when the government merged the Zulu people, Zulu bantustan of KwaZulu ("Place of the Zulu" in Zulu language, Zulu) and ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

. Northwood was founded after two schools, Beachwood High and Northlands High combined - forming Northwood School.

Curriculum

Each learner must study English home language and either

Afrikaans Afrikaans is a West Germanic languages, West Germanic language spoken in South Africa, Namibia and to a lesser extent Botswana, Zambia, Zimbabwe and also Argentina where there is a group in Sarmiento, Chubut, Sarmiento that speaks the Pat ...

or Zulu first additional language, and

mathematics Mathematics is a field of study that discovers and organizes methods, Mathematical theory, theories and theorems that are developed and Mathematical proof, proved for the needs of empirical sciences and mathematics itself. There are many ar ...

or mathematical literacy. Northwood offers a variety of subjects, including the physical, natural and social sciences; a variety of commerce subjects (ranging from Business Studies to Accounting); Technical Drawing, Graphic Design and Tourism. All learners write internally set school papers until grade 12 in which all registered pupils sit to write their National Senior Certificate.

Facilities

Northwood's sporting facilities include

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

and

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

fields,

tennis Tennis is a List of racket sports, racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles (tennis), singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles (tennis), doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket st ...

courts,

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

courts,

volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Summ ...

courts, two rock climbing walls and a number of other specialised sporting centres.

History

Northwood traces its origins back to the founding of the co-educational Durban North High School on the site of the present Northlands Girls' High School in September 1949. It started with 12 staff members and 215 pupils under headmaster George J. Armstrong. By 1951, numbers had grown so rapidly that it was decided to build a second high school in Durban North, and split the existing school into a boys' school and a girls' school. The

apartheid Apartheid ( , especially South African English: , ; , ) was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. It was characterised by an ...

regime, which lasted from 1948 until the early 1990s, enforced racial segregation in all public and private sectors, including education. Northwood was classified as a whites only, Model C school. On 30 September 1953, the Northwood campus in Kensington Drive was opened. Northlands Boys' High School opened with 338 boys and 17 staff members, under Percy Hardaker (1953–1962) and thereafter R.C. McFarquhar (1963–1974). Numbers continued to grow, requiring the building of yet another boys' school in the area. The new Beachwood Boys' High School opened in Gleneagles Drive in 1963 with 135 boys and 7 staff members under headmaster E.T. (Ted) Lewis. Other headmasters at Beachwood were HM Puzey, KL Tomlinson, MJ Ellis and CW Thorpe. At the end of 1971, Lewis retired from Beachwood and was succeeded by A.J.M. Wilkinson. In 1975, he became headmaster of Northlands Boys' High. The thaw in the relationship between the two schools had begun, but rivalry continued. During 1989 it was proposed that, for economic reasons, the two boys' schools in Durban North merge to form a single school. In 1990 Beachwood and Northlands merged to form Northwood. It was possible, with an adjustment of colours, to merge the school badges and retain both mottoes. Ian Corbishley was made headmaster of the combined school until 1996, when P. Hawkey acted as headmaster until A.P. Jordan succeeded him during 1998. Upon the retirement of Jordan at the end of 2012, P.L. McAvoy took over the post in 2013.

Notable Old Boys

* Keshav Maharaj * Andy Marinos *

Shaun Pollock Shaun Maclean Pollock (born 16 July 1973) is a South African cricket commentator and former cricketer, who was captain in all formats of the game. A bowling all-rounder, Pollock along with Allan Donald formed a bowling partnership for many year ...

* Chris Smith * Robin Smith English former cricketer. * John Steenhuisen * Neil Tovey * Brian Whitfield * Sasko Ndlovu

References

External links

* {{coord missing, South Africa Boarding schools in South Africa Schools in KwaZulu-Natal Educational institutions established in 1990 1990 establishments in South Africa