Wynberg Girls' High School
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Wynberg Girls' 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 ...
high school for girls situated in
Wynberg, Cape Town Wynberg ( ) is a southern suburb of the City of Cape Town in Western Cape, South Africa. It is situated between Plumstead, Cape Town, Plumstead and Kenilworth, Cape Town, Kenilworth, and is a main transport hub for the Southern Suburbs, Cape Town ...
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 ...
. Founded in 1886, Wynberg Girls' High School is one of the oldest all-girls schools in South Africa. The first headmistress, Miss Margaret Stewart, was supported by two teachers and catered to 27 pupils. Initially a
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 ...
school, WGHS soon became an
all-girls school Single-sex education, also known as single-gender education, same-sex education, same-gender education, and gender-isolated education, is the practice of conducting education with male and female students attending separate classes, perhaps in se ...
and was known as Ladies' Seminary. WGHS is part of the Wynberg Campus of schools, along with Wynberg Girls' Junior School, Wynberg Boys' Junior School, and
Wynberg Boys' High School Wynberg Boys' High School is a State school, public English language, English medium boys high school situated in the suburb of Wynberg, Cape Town, Wynberg of Cape Town in the Western Cape province of South Africa. Founded in 1841, it is one of ...
. The school is located in Aliwal Road in the suburb of Wynberg.


History


1895-1908

In September 1884 the Kerkraad of 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 ...
, situated on the top of Carr Hill, decided to found a school for girls in Wynberg. Wynberg at this time was a little village on the wagon road from
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 ...
. It was situated near the
military camp A military camp or bivouac is a semi-permanent military base, for the lodging of an army. Camps are erected when a military force travels away from a major installation or fort during training or operations, and often have the form of large cam ...
and surrounded by ''Little Chelsea'' with its cottages and narrow winding streets. The minister of the Dutch Reformed Church at that time lived in the old Pastorie where the boarding house is situated today. The church council decided to build a little school building (where the school library is today) and named the school "Ladies' Seminary" - it was soon nicknamed the "School in the Bush." The school was officially opened in 1885 with two teachers - Misses Annie and Nellie Brink - and twenty-seven young boys and girls. The first principal was Miss Margaret Stewart (1885-1890) The school motto was chosen in 1890 - and the phrase "Honour before Honours" means "Personal integrity and character are more important than winning prizes and awards." The first Standard Ten class matriculated in 1892, and until 1936, the school included pupils from Sub A to Standard Ten. The Cape Education department took over the running of the school in 1905. The first hostel was built in 1885, and was situated where the main hall is today. The new school was built in 1900, and had dormitories upstairs. The room now used as a staff workroom and offices for HODs used to be a dormitory. Lab One was the kitchen, and the library was the dining room. The school at this time was called Girls' Public School. During this time Physical Education and Sport were introduced into the school. Wynberg was the first girls' school in South Africa to have a fully qualified Physical Education teacher, Mrs Dolly Rees (who had studied in London). A gymnasium was erected in 1900, and a
hockey ''Hockey'' is a family of List of stick sports, stick sports where two opposing teams use hockey sticks to propel a ball or disk into a goal. There are many types of hockey, and the individual sports vary in rules, numbers of players, apparel, ...
field was laid out where the Wellington Quad is today. Activities practiced at the school were hockey, cricket and tennis.


1909-1914

The first school hall was built during Miss A Chambers' time as principal. It is now the Ballet Hall.


Miss King, 1914-1936

Under the leadership of Miss King, a new building for the Junior School was built. The Peninsula Girls' Schools Games Union was formed and Inter-schools events became a feature of school life. Prefect and House systems were introduced and the school magazine was revived, and has been published every year since 1916.


Miss Hawkins

In 1936, the Junior School became a separate school.
School colours School colors, also known as university colors or college colors, are the colors chosen by a school, academy, college, university or institute as part of its brand identity, used on building signage, web pages, branded apparel, and the uniforms ...
of the time were navy and blue, until Miss Hawkins changed these back to the original colours of brown and gold. The school is built on part of the Waterloo Estate, originally owned by Captain William Underwood. He had fought under the
Duke of Wellington Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and above sovereign princes. As royalty or nobility, they ar ...
at the
Battle of Waterloo The Battle of Waterloo was fought on Sunday 18 June 1815, near Waterloo, Belgium, Waterloo (then in the United Kingdom of the Netherlands, now in Belgium), marking the end of the Napoleonic Wars. The French Imperial Army (1804–1815), Frenc ...
before coming to live in Wynberg. In 1938, a new hostel was built and Miss Hawkins named it Waterloo House, and asked the 5th Duke of Wellington if she could use an adapted version of his
coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldry, heraldic communication design, visual design on an escutcheon (heraldry), escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the last two being outer garments), originating in Europe. The coat of arms on an escutcheon f ...
as the new school badge. A new gymnasium was built, and opened in 1944, after the old building had suffered storm damage.


Sport

The sports that are offered in the school are: *
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), competitio ...
*
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 ...
*
Chess Chess is a board game for two players. It is an abstract strategy game that involves Perfect information, no hidden information and no elements of game of chance, chance. It is played on a square chessboard, board consisting of 64 squares arran ...
* Cross country *
Diving Diving most often refers to: * Diving (sport), the sport of jumping into deep water * Underwater diving, human activity underwater for recreational or occupational purposes Diving or Dive may also refer to: Sports * Dive (American football), ...
*
Equestrian The word equestrian is a reference to equestrianism, or horseback riding, derived from Latin ' and ', "horse". Horseback riding (or riding in British English) Examples of this are: *Equestrian sports *Equestrian order, one of the upper classes in ...
*
Hockey ''Hockey'' is a family of List of stick sports, stick sports where two opposing teams use hockey sticks to propel a ball or disk into a goal. There are many types of hockey, and the individual sports vary in rules, numbers of players, apparel, ...
*
Netball Netball is a ball sport played on a rectangular court by two teams of seven players. The primary objective is to shoot a ball through the defender's goal ring while preventing the opposing team from shooting through their own. It is one of a ...
*
Rowing Rowing is the act of propelling a human-powered watercraft using the sweeping motions of oars to displace water and generate reactional propulsion. Rowing is functionally similar to paddling, but rowing requires oars to be mechanically a ...
*
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 ...
*
Squash Squash most often refers to: * Squash (sport), the high-speed racquet sport also known as squash racquets * Squash (plant), the fruit of vines of the genus ''Cucurbita'' Squash may also refer to: Sports * Squash (professional wrestling), an extr ...
*
Swimming Swimming is the self-propulsion of a person through water, such as saltwater or freshwater environments, usually for recreation, sport, exercise, or survival. Swimmers achieve locomotion by coordinating limb and body movements to achieve hydrody ...
*
Table tennis Table tennis (also known as ping-pong) is a racket sport derived from tennis but distinguished by its playing surface being atop a stationary table, rather than the Tennis court, court on which players stand. Either individually or in teams of ...
*
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 ...
*
Water polo Water polo is a competitive sport, competitive team sport played in water between two teams of seven players each. The game consists of four quarters in which the teams attempt to score goals by throwing the water polo ball, ball into the oppo ...
* Barking society


Notable alumni

*
Natalie Du Toit Natalie du Toit OIG MBE (; born 29 January 1984) is a South African swimmer. She is best known for the gold medals she won at the 2004 Paralympic Games as well as the Commonwealth Games. She was one of two Paralympians to compete at the 2008 S ...
, swimmer *
Ingrid Jonker Ingrid Jonker (19 September 1933 – 19 July 1965) was a South African poet and one of the founders of modern Afrikaans literature. Her poems have been widely translated into other languages. Born into an Afrikaner family with four hundred y ...
, poet * Kirstin Lewis, archer, 1996, 2000 and 2004 Summer Olympics *
Claire-Louise Leyland Claire-Louise Vaculik (née Leyland) is an English Conservative politician. She was the leader of the Conservatives on Camden London Borough Council from 2014 to 2018, and represented Belsize on the council from 2010 to 2018. She has stood uns ...
, British politician * Alison Munro, British civil servant and headmistress of
St Paul's Girls' School St Paul's Girls' School is a private day school for girls, aged 11 to 18, located in Brook Green, Hammersmith, in west London, England. The school is included in The Schools Index as one of the world's 150 best private schools and among top ...
(London)


References


External links


Official website
{{Cape Town, education Wynberg, Cape Town Schools in Cape Town Educational institutions established in 1884 Girls' schools in South Africa School buildings completed in 1900 1884 establishments in the Cape Colony Women in Cape Town