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 sociology, sociological concept of the ''Öf ...

English medium 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 ...

Cape Town Cape Town is the legislature, legislative capital city, capital of South Africa. It is the country's oldest city and the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. Cape Town is the country's List of municipalities in South Africa, second-largest ...

in the

Western Cape The Western Cape ( ; , ) is a provinces of South Africa, province of South Africa, situated on the south-western coast of the country. It is the List of South African provinces by area, fourth largest of the nine provinces with an area of , an ...

province of

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 ...

. It is 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 traditional denomination of the Dutch royal famil ...

representative of the district, Reverend Bernard PJ Marchand, took the lead of this initiative. Marchand obtained the help of several prominent dignitaries and businessmen, including William Philip Schreiner, an old boy of SACS and future Prime Minister of the

Cape Colony The Cape Colony (), 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. It existed from 1795 to 1802, and again from 1806 to 1910, when it united with three ...

and Sir Lewis Mitchell, the manager of the

Standard Bank Standard Bank (officially Standard Bank Group Limited) is the largest bank in Africa, as well as the continent's biggest lender by assets. The company's corporate headquarters, Standard Bank Centre, is located in Johannesburg, Gauteng. The ...

, 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, 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 170 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 or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

and

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. 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 exams in 2013, 46 passed at a Bachelor (Degree) level. The class achieved a 56% pass rate. Rondebosch has won the UCT Mathematics Competition for nineteen of the thirty-nine 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 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 ...

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

Bishops A bishop is an ordained member of the clergy who is entrusted with a position of Episcopal polity, authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance and administration of di ...

, SACS and Wynberg Boys' High School participate in the annual Quadrangular athletics event.

Notable alumni

Business, culture, and sciences

* Whitey Basson, Businessman, founded Shoprite * Peter Beaumont, archaeologist * Allan McLeod Cormack, 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, acco ...

for work on the development of Computer assisted tomography (CAT scan) * David Earl, composer and concert pianist * Chris Fallows, shark expert * Robert Fokkens, composer * Nick Gevers, science fiction critic and editor * Nick Hamman, broadcaster and digital content creator * Tim Jenkin, political prisoner, author, escapee from Pretoria Central Prison * Jonathan C. Knight, physicist * Daniel Rajna, principal ballet dancer with the Cape Town City Ballet Company * Athelstan Spilhaus, scientist and inventor *

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

, author * Zapiro, cartoonist * Ian Goldin founding Director of Oxford Martin School

Politician

* Ken Andrew, politician * Ryan Coetzee, strategist for the Democratic Alliance * Richard Spring, Baron Risby, 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. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

Law

* Franklin Berman, judge and international law specialist * Michael Corbett, Chief Justice of South Africa * Oliver Schreiner, judge of the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of South Africa * 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 (CAF), was a colonial federation that consisted of three southern African territories: the Self-governing colony, self-governing British colony of Southern ...

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 Cape Town is the legislature, legislative capital city, capital of South Af ...

Football

* South Africa: Gary Bailey * England: Gary Bailey

Tennis

* England: Neil Broad

Hockey

* South Africa: Andrew Cronje

Cricket

* South Africa: Gary Kirsten, HD Ackerman, John Commins, John Nel, Kenny Jackson, Paul Kirsten, Andrew Puttick,Jonathan Trott: 'The red mist happens very rarely now'
www.theguardian.com, Retrieved 29 March 2014 Zubayr Hamza * England: Jonathan Trott * Ireland: Ralph Coetzee * Netherlands: Michael Rippon *Daniel Moriarty , Surrey Cricket Player

Rugby

* South Africa ( Springboks): Frank Mellish, 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 wa ...

, Jack Gage, James Stark, Mike Lawless, Ian McCallum, Chris Pope, 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, * England: Frank Mellish * Ireland: Dion O'Cuinneagain (captain), who also captained the South African Sevens side. * USA Sevens: Dallen Stanford * Germany: Justin Melck * France: Eric Melville * USA: Marcel Brache * Hong Kong: Matthew Rosslee * South African Sevens: Zain Davids, Delvon Blood,

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