Rustenburg School for Girls

Rustenburg Girls' High School and Rustenburg Girls' Junior School are two separate public schools with a shared history, originating in the suburb of Rondebosch in Cape Town, South Africa. Rustenburg was founded in 1894 and divided into separate junior and high schools in 1932.

Rustenburg Schools for Girls
Address
Map
44 Campground Road, Rosebank (High). Main Road, Rondebosch (junior)

,
South Africa
Information
School typeAll-girls governor Body school/semi private
Mottopalmam qui meruit ferat
Established1894; 130 years ago (1894)
School districtDistrict 9
School number021 686 4066
HeadmasterB. Peterson (junior)
M. Gates (high)
GradesR–12
GenderFemale
Age5 to 18
Number of students350 (junior)
863 (high school)
LanguageEnglish
Schedule 08:00–15:00
CampusUrban Campus
Campus typeSuburban
Colour(s)   Blue & navy
NicknameRGHS/RGJS
Rivals
Accreditation Western Cape Education Department
High School Houses  Corvus

  Cygnus   Lacerta   Lepus

 Pavo
Junior School HousesWiener,Cambridge,Innes and Michael
2022 Fees (high)R53,000 – R59,000 pa (tuition)
R62,939 pa (boarding)
2022 Fees (junior)R42,645 pa
Brother SchoolRondebosch Boys' High School
Websiterustenburggirls.org.za

History

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The school was founded in 1894 in the historic Rustenburg House, which dates from the early years of the Dutch settlement at the Cape [1] In 1932, the school was divided into two schools, and the high school moved into its new buildings on Erinville Estate and Charlie's Hope in the suburb of Rosebank, while the junior school remained in Rustenburg House on Main Road, Rondebosch. Charlie's Hope was subsequently demolished in 1976, before being rebuilt closer to the school. Erinville is now the name of the High School's boarding house. Rustenburg House was declared a National Monument in 1941.

Headmistresses of the Combined School:

  • Miss Alicia Bleby, 1894–1911
  • Miss Jean Donaldson-Wright, 1912–1916
  • Miss Caroline Kemp, 1916–1933

Principals of the High School:

  • Miss Caroline Kemp, 1933–1936
  • Miss Gwen Hazell, 1937–1951
  • Miss Margaret Thomson, 1952–1979
  • Mrs Josephine McIntyre, 1980–1991
  • Mrs Mary van Blerk, 1991–1999
  • Dr Elizabeth Fullard, 1999–2006
  • Mrs Susan Schnetler (Acting), 2006-2007
  • Ms Laura Bekker, 2007–2015
  • Mrs Susan Schnetler (Acting), 2016
  • Mr Michael Gates, 2017–present

Headmistresses of the Junior School:

  • Miss Marion Roper, 1933–1944
  • Miss Zoë Orton, 1945–1967
  • Mrs Ruth Jones, 1968–1977
  • Miss Hazel Lentin, 1978–1998
  • Mrs Joyce Conway, 1998–2007
  • Mrs Di Berry, 2008–2018
  • Mrs Belinda Petersen, 2019–present

Academics

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Rustenburg Girls' High School

In 2010, Rustenberg Girls' High School was placed third in a list of the top schools in the Western Cape[2] after placing sixth in 2009.[3]

A 2013 survey by Fairlady magazine listed Rustenburg Girls' High School among the top 25 schools in the country.[4]

In 2014, Rustenburg Girls' High School again qualified for inclusion in the official top 20 schools list and was placed sixth.[5]

In 2015, the Western Cape Education Department stopped ranking the top schools in order of their performance and instead listed them alphabetically. In this year, Rustenburg Girls' High School was included in the list of the top 22 schools.[6]

In 2019, a Grade 7 student at Rustenberg Girls' Junior School came first in the Western Cape at the Horizon Maths Competition.[7]

In 2023, a matriculant from Rustenberg Girls' High School was honoured as the country's top candidate overall as well as in Maths.[8]

Grade 12 NSC Results 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022
Number of candidates 127 130? 142 152 161 154 136 143 151 152 149 171 143 166 163 154 165
Pass Rate (%) 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 98.8 100 100
Matriculation Exemption/
Bachelors Pass
98.4% 97% 99% 97% 97.5% 98% 99.3% 97.9% 98.7% 99.3% 99.3% 99.4% 99.3% 100% 97.5% 98.7% 98.2%
Subject A's - 262 324 313 373 458 467 430 508 607 581 631 510 614 558 611 647
Top aggregate - 106.1% 92.3% 90.8% 90.8% 94% 93% 96% 96.7% 96.2% 97.5% 96% 97.8% 96.0% 95.8% 96.5% 97.8%

Sport

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A Rustenburg tennis player at the 2006 Interschools Tennis

Rustenburg has historically been well represented in South African and Western Province teams. In 2012, two girls represented South Africa in tennis and artistic gymnastics, while two staff members represented South Africa in sevens rugby and triathlon.[9]

The high school has nine tennis/netball courts, a swimming pool and two hockey/cricket fields. An astroturf playing field was installed during 2014 with floodlights added in 2016

The following sports are offered by Rustenburg Girls' High School: cricket, cross-country, hockey, indoor hockey, netball, running, football, squash, swimming, tennis, touch rugby, waterpolo [10]

Music

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The school has an orchestra, choir, chamber choir, jazz band, wind band, string quartet, vocal quartet, string ensemble and savuyisa (marimba band).[11]

Notable Old Girls

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Sketch of Rustenburg House by Montrose Cloete
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Scenes in the films Spud 2: The Madness Continues and Spud 3: Learning to Fly were shot at the school.[20]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ McIntyre, Josephine (1994) White stoep on the highway
  2. ^ "Western Cape Education Department". wced.wcape.gov.za. Retrieved 26 January 2023.
  3. ^ "Western Cape Education Department". wced.wcape.gov.za. Retrieved 26 January 2023.
  4. ^ "Fairlady magazine survey finds top 25 government high schools in SA | Rustenburg High School for Girls". Archived from the original on 7 January 2014. Retrieved 7 January 2014.
  5. ^ "WCED: 2014 Matric Results". Archived from the original on 5 February 2015. Retrieved 4 February 2016.
  6. ^ "WCED: 2015 Matric Results". Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 4 February 2016.
  7. ^ "Horizon Maths Competition | Western Cape Education Department". wcedonline.westerncape.gov.za. Retrieved 26 January 2023.
  8. ^ "Western Cape matriculants among 'best of the best'". TimesLIVE. Retrieved 26 January 2023.
  9. ^ "At 61, the iron woman of SA triathlons is still a colossus". Retrieved 31 May 2023.
  10. ^ "RGHS Sports". Retrieved 31 May 2023.
  11. ^ "RGHS Music". Retrieved 31 May 2023.
  12. ^ Bateman, Chris (January 2003). Frances Ames – Human Rights Champion. South African Medical Journal, 93 (1): 14–15. Retrieved October 31, 2019.
  13. ^ "SUBJECT CHOICE Grade 10 2019" (PDF). Rustenburg Girls' High School. Retrieved 14 June 2020.
  14. ^ Louise Carver Archived 2 May 2007 at the Wayback Machine
  15. ^ Women Marching Into the 21st Century: Wathint' Abafazi, Wathint' Imbokodo. HSRC Press. 2000. pp. 254–. ISBN 978-0-7969-1966-3.
  16. ^ Standard Encyclopaedia of Southern Africa, Cape Town, Volume 7, page 154, 1972
  17. ^ "Newsletter Number 52" (PDF). RGJS. July 2010. Retrieved 3 March 2013.[permanent dead link]
  18. ^ Plug, C. (25 December 2014). "Stephens, Miss Edith Layard (botany)". S2A3 Biographical Database of Southern African Science. Retrieved 31 October 2019.
  19. ^ Désirée Talbot
  20. ^ Prince, Natasha (12 July 2013). "Spud 3 brings craziness back to CT". Cape Argus. Retrieved 14 June 2020.

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