Willowridge High School (Pretoria)
Encyclopedia
Willowridge High School,, is a public, English medium
co-ed high school located in The Willows, Pretoria
, in the Gauteng
province of South Africa
.
Willowridge High School is a diverse school and has many pupils excelling in the schools four main various field: Sport, Academics, Leadership and Culture.
It has built this ethos on the lives of four prominent South Africans who were associated with Pretoria East and the early development of the Transvaal. Its four school houses are named after them and its house badges are extracts from their original family crests.
The first of these, in historical sequence, Harry Struben, is remembered as a pioneer on the gold fields. In 1860, he started a transport business between the old ZAR capital and Natal. With the profits from this business, he bought a farm, The Willows, at that time far to the east of Pretoria.
Sir Percy Fitzpatrick, another prominent person, was also a pioneer on the Gold Reef in the early days. He published Jock of the Bushveld in 1907. He became Member of Parliament for Pretoria East in 1910. During his political career, both in the ZAR and under the Union, he strove to unite English speakers. Education was one of his many interests, and he was among those who raised funds for the founding of the University of the Witwatersrand
in 1921.
Sir Thomas Cullinan, the third prominent person, was a pioneer of diamond-mining in the Transvaal. He came to South Africa in 1903 at the request of Sir Alfred Milner. Milner had written to the London Board of Education asking for several capable young men who would help to re-organise education in the Transvaal.
It was Sir John Adamson’s task to try to reconcile the conflicting interests of Boer and Briton through education. This Englishman, who became a Transvaaler by adoption and learnt to speak Dutch, played no small part in laying foundations for education in our Province. He was as much a pioneer as any of those successful prospectors who found gold or diamonds in the old days. The school has taken encouragement from this example as it reaches out the hand of education to children of all races in its community.
As early as the start of 1985 a Vigilance Committee was elected at a meeting of prospective parents. Having been named the watchdogs, they monitored the progress of the new school, while the buildings started taking shape on the site that once had been a farm. It was due to their efforts that the school cottage and the trees, which give the school its restful country atmosphere, were saved from the bulldozer.
The Committee's activities were, however, also directed at creating an ethos for their new school and establishing a fundamental philosophy. The school opened its doors on Wednesday 7 January 1987 to welcome the first 187 pupils in Forms One and Two. During the first term the name Willowridge High School became official and a badge needed to be designed.
The Coat of Arms was approved by the Bureau of Heraldry in 1988 and depicts the name of the school and its inherent philosophy. The shape is that of a spade symbolising the pioneering spirit with which the school was started. The two willow trees standing on the ridge, nurturing and protecting the Tudor Rose as it blossoms represent the name of the school.
The willow trees represent growth from the firm foundations of the ridge and symbolise the parent and teacher, while the Tudor rose identifies our English heritage and symbolises the child at its blossoming stage of development.
The centre of the rose depicts the child’s potential being developed, while the five barbed seeds represent the five facets of the child’s development, namely the spiritual, the academic, the cultural, the physical and social development.
The triad formed by the two willow trees and the Tudor Rose further depicts the protective, nurturing role of the home and school in the education of the child.
The school motto, "Strive with integrity", and the school song cemented into words the ethos of the school and the symbolic nature of its coat of arms. The words of our school song came from the pupils, while Mrs Grobler, the grandmother of the Smith family, composed the final melody.
The first Headmaster Eddie Penzhorn who came to Willowridge High from The Glen High School, had to face more than is expected of other headmasters: He first had to create a school before he could run it. Out of a wilderness of needs he found textbooks, equipment, desks, chairs, sports-fields, staff and pupils and moulded them into the modern school it has become.
In 1991, the second Headmaster Jack Birkenbach was appointed. After a year in office he confidently reflected upon the host of individual achievements pupils at Willowridge High had attained in such a short time. It was acknowledged that national and provincial honours are necessarily second to the academic results: Apart from the number of pupils who have passed with four or more distinctions in Matric, the Headmaster was proudest of our 100% matric pass-rate.
In 2005, the third Headmaster Mr Andre du Plessis was appointed.
Willowridge High School offers two dozen various subjects including:
meetings as spectators.
Sporting facilities include netball facilities, rugby union
facilities and cricket
facilities, a 25 metre swimming pool, athletics grounds, gym, several tennis and netball courts, a basketball court (outdoor), a rock-climbing wall and hockey fields.
The School offers the following sports:
Willowridge High School is part of the Pretoria English Medium High Schools Athletics Association (PEMHSAA) which is good spirited rivalry between all the Co-Ed Government Schools in Pretoria. The Schools have three meetings held a year including the: Swimming
Gala (held at Hillcrest Swimming Pool), Cross Country (held at the host school) and an Athletics meeting (held at Pilditch Stadium. Other schools participating in PEMHSAA are:
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
co-ed high school located in The Willows, Pretoria
Pretoria
Pretoria is a city located in the northern part of Gauteng Province, South Africa. It is one of the country's three capital cities, serving as the executive and de facto national capital; the others are Cape Town, the legislative capital, and Bloemfontein, the judicial capital.Pretoria is...
, in the Gauteng
Gauteng
Gauteng is one of the nine provinces of South Africa. It was formed from part of the old Transvaal Province after South Africa's first all-race elections on 27 April 1994...
province of South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
.
Willowridge High School is a diverse school and has many pupils excelling in the schools four main various field: Sport, Academics, Leadership and Culture.
History of The School
Willowridge High is a young school with young ideas and many talented young people who have excelled in an environment which has nurtured enthusiasm, friendship and a pioneering spirit.It has built this ethos on the lives of four prominent South Africans who were associated with Pretoria East and the early development of the Transvaal. Its four school houses are named after them and its house badges are extracts from their original family crests.
The first of these, in historical sequence, Harry Struben, is remembered as a pioneer on the gold fields. In 1860, he started a transport business between the old ZAR capital and Natal. With the profits from this business, he bought a farm, The Willows, at that time far to the east of Pretoria.
Sir Percy Fitzpatrick, another prominent person, was also a pioneer on the Gold Reef in the early days. He published Jock of the Bushveld in 1907. He became Member of Parliament for Pretoria East in 1910. During his political career, both in the ZAR and under the Union, he strove to unite English speakers. Education was one of his many interests, and he was among those who raised funds for the founding of the University of the Witwatersrand
University of the Witwatersrand
The University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg is a South African university situated in the northern areas of central Johannesburg. It is more commonly known as Wits University...
in 1921.
Sir Thomas Cullinan, the third prominent person, was a pioneer of diamond-mining in the Transvaal. He came to South Africa in 1903 at the request of Sir Alfred Milner. Milner had written to the London Board of Education asking for several capable young men who would help to re-organise education in the Transvaal.
It was Sir John Adamson’s task to try to reconcile the conflicting interests of Boer and Briton through education. This Englishman, who became a Transvaaler by adoption and learnt to speak Dutch, played no small part in laying foundations for education in our Province. He was as much a pioneer as any of those successful prospectors who found gold or diamonds in the old days. The school has taken encouragement from this example as it reaches out the hand of education to children of all races in its community.
As early as the start of 1985 a Vigilance Committee was elected at a meeting of prospective parents. Having been named the watchdogs, they monitored the progress of the new school, while the buildings started taking shape on the site that once had been a farm. It was due to their efforts that the school cottage and the trees, which give the school its restful country atmosphere, were saved from the bulldozer.
The Committee's activities were, however, also directed at creating an ethos for their new school and establishing a fundamental philosophy. The school opened its doors on Wednesday 7 January 1987 to welcome the first 187 pupils in Forms One and Two. During the first term the name Willowridge High School became official and a badge needed to be designed.
The Coat of Arms was approved by the Bureau of Heraldry in 1988 and depicts the name of the school and its inherent philosophy. The shape is that of a spade symbolising the pioneering spirit with which the school was started. The two willow trees standing on the ridge, nurturing and protecting the Tudor Rose as it blossoms represent the name of the school.
The willow trees represent growth from the firm foundations of the ridge and symbolise the parent and teacher, while the Tudor rose identifies our English heritage and symbolises the child at its blossoming stage of development.
The centre of the rose depicts the child’s potential being developed, while the five barbed seeds represent the five facets of the child’s development, namely the spiritual, the academic, the cultural, the physical and social development.
The triad formed by the two willow trees and the Tudor Rose further depicts the protective, nurturing role of the home and school in the education of the child.
The school motto, "Strive with integrity", and the school song cemented into words the ethos of the school and the symbolic nature of its coat of arms. The words of our school song came from the pupils, while Mrs Grobler, the grandmother of the Smith family, composed the final melody.
The first Headmaster Eddie Penzhorn who came to Willowridge High from The Glen High School, had to face more than is expected of other headmasters: He first had to create a school before he could run it. Out of a wilderness of needs he found textbooks, equipment, desks, chairs, sports-fields, staff and pupils and moulded them into the modern school it has become.
In 1991, the second Headmaster Jack Birkenbach was appointed. After a year in office he confidently reflected upon the host of individual achievements pupils at Willowridge High had attained in such a short time. It was acknowledged that national and provincial honours are necessarily second to the academic results: Apart from the number of pupils who have passed with four or more distinctions in Matric, the Headmaster was proudest of our 100% matric pass-rate.
In 2005, the third Headmaster Mr Andre du Plessis was appointed.
Academics
Notice though that Academics is placed First. This is the first responsibility of the school.- Willowridge High School has had close to 100% Matric Pass Rate over the past twelve years.
- Willowridge High School's University and Provisional University Entrance Rate is reliably over 70%.
- Willowridge High School awards close to five hundred academic certificates of achievement at Valedication and Honours Evenings each year.
- Willowridge High School's student-educator ratio is one of the lowest in Pretoria with the Governing Body employing more than 20 teachers to complement the posts given to us by the Gauteng Department of Education. It is committed to keeping class sizes to an average of 30:1.
Willowridge High School offers two dozen various subjects including:
- English
- Afrikaans
- Sepedi
- Mathematics
- Mathematical Literacy
- Physical Science
- Information Technology
- Computer Application Technology (CAT)
- Economics
- Economical Management Sciences
- Life Orientation
- Business Studies
- History
- Geography
- Tourism
- Natural Science
- Visual Art (Art)
- Design
- Civil (Woodwork)
- Life Sciences (Biology)
- Hospitality Studies (Hotel)
- Dramatic Arts (Drama)
- Technology
- Sport Science
- Accounting
- Design
Sport
Sport is compulsory for junior students but not the seniors. At Willowridge High School commitment to a various type of sport means 100% commitment. For the grade 8 students of the school it is compulsory to attend most of the sportSport
A Sport is all forms of physical activity which, through casual or organised participation, aim to use, maintain or improve physical fitness and provide entertainment to participants. Sport may be competitive, where a winner or winners can be identified by objective means, and may require a degree...
meetings as spectators.
Sporting facilities include netball facilities, rugby union
Rugby union
Rugby union, often simply referred to as rugby, is a full contact team sport which originated in England in the early 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand...
facilities and cricket
Cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...
facilities, a 25 metre swimming pool, athletics grounds, gym, several tennis and netball courts, a basketball court (outdoor), a rock-climbing wall and hockey fields.
The School offers the following sports:
- Athletics (track and field)Athletics (track and field)Athletics is an exclusive collection of sporting events that involve competitive running, jumping, throwing, and walking. The most common types of athletics competitions are track and field, road running, cross country running, and race walking...
- BasketballBasketballBasketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...
- ChessChessChess is a two-player board game played on a chessboard, a square-checkered board with 64 squares arranged in an eight-by-eight grid. It is one of the world's most popular games, played by millions of people worldwide at home, in clubs, online, by correspondence, and in tournaments.Each player...
- CricketCricketCricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...
- Girls Cricket
- Cross CountryCross country runningCross country running is a sport in which people run a race on open-air courses over natural terrain. The course, typically long, may include surfaces of grass and earth, pass through woodlands and open country, and include hills, flat ground and sometimes gravel road...
- Field HockeyField hockeyField Hockey, or Hockey, is a team sport in which a team of players attempts to score goals by hitting, pushing or flicking a ball into an opposing team's goal using sticks...
- NetballNetballNetball is a ball sport played between two teams of seven players. Its development, derived from early versions of basketball, began in England in the 1890s. By 1960 international playing rules had been standardised for the game, and the International Federation of Netball and Women's Basketball ...
- Squash (sport)Squash (sport)Squash is a high-speed racquet sport played by two players in a four-walled court with a small, hollow rubber ball...
- SwimmingSwimming (sport)Swimming is a sport governed by the Fédération Internationale de Natation .-History: Competitive swimming in Europe began around 1800 BCE, mostly in the form of the freestyle. In 1873 Steve Bowyer introduced the trudgen to Western swimming competitions, after copying the front crawl used by Native...
- TennisTennisTennis is a sport usually played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a racket that is strung to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society at all...
- GolfGolfGolf is a precision club and ball sport, in which competing players use many types of clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a golf course using the fewest number of strokes....
- RowingRowing (sport)Rowing is a sport in which athletes race against each other on rivers, on lakes or on the ocean, depending upon the type of race and the discipline. The boats are propelled by the reaction forces on the oar blades as they are pushed against the water...
- SoftballSoftballSoftball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of 10 to 14 players. It is a direct descendant of baseball although there are some key differences: softballs are larger than baseballs, and the pitches are thrown underhand rather than overhand...
- Rugby unionRugby unionRugby union, often simply referred to as rugby, is a full contact team sport which originated in England in the early 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand...
Willowridge High School is part of the Pretoria English Medium High Schools Athletics Association (PEMHSAA) which is good spirited rivalry between all the Co-Ed Government Schools in Pretoria. The Schools have three meetings held a year including the: Swimming
Swimming (sport)
Swimming is a sport governed by the Fédération Internationale de Natation .-History: Competitive swimming in Europe began around 1800 BCE, mostly in the form of the freestyle. In 1873 Steve Bowyer introduced the trudgen to Western swimming competitions, after copying the front crawl used by Native...
Gala (held at Hillcrest Swimming Pool), Cross Country (held at the host school) and an Athletics meeting (held at Pilditch Stadium. Other schools participating in PEMHSAA are:
- Clapham High School
- Hillview High SchoolHillview High SchoolHillview High School is a public English medium co-ed high school located in Roseville, Pretoria, Gauteng, South Africa.-Location:The school was founded in 1955 on the site of the former Prinshof Primary School near the city centre. The school moved from the city centre to Franzina Street in...
- Lyttleton Manor High School
- Pretoria Technical High School
- Pretoria Secondary School
- Sutherland High School
- The Glen High School
Leadership
At Willowridge High School there are two different types of leadership positions within the school: RCL and EClRCL & ECL
Every year in October the students from each of the grades democratically vote for students who they think will do well in/on the council. The council is divided into many different groups each for how they want to benefit the community.Culture
At Willowridge High School pride is taken in all cultural activities. The school has an excellent dramatic arts department and art department who annually produce excellent works of art. The school song is sung twice a week at Assembly's on a Monday and Friday.The School Song
- "With a spirit of devotion in our heart and mind and soul
- We will honour our name and emblem as we strive to meet our goal.
- Willowridge, well serve our Country and to men both great and small
- We’ll extend our hand of friendship, practice tolerance to all.
- Truth and honesty and friendship, increase as we all grow
- And all our talents we will further, as through life we go.
- Willowridge, we’ll try our utmost academically and at sport,
- In the true pursuit of knowledge may enlightenment be sought.
- we’ll be brave and we’ll stand taller, and strive with one accord
- To be humble and obedient, and faithful to the Lord.
- Truth and honesty and friendship, increase as we all grow
- and all our talents we will further, as through life we go."