History
2006 marked the 41st anniversary of WBHS as an all-boys high school. The roots of the school however can be traced back to 1861, when German immigrant farmers operated a school from a 9 by 4 metre wattle and daub structure sited on the main Durban-Pietermaritzburg road. They were the first large group of squatters to populate the area, named after Sir Martin West, the first Lieutenant Governor of Natal.
Details of school activities after this time range from the sketchy to the non-existent. The next recorded date of a school in Westville was in March 1935 when the Westville Kindergarten School, a private farm school, first opened its doors. Under the careful guidance of Miss Gladys Carr, the school eventually outgrew the Church Hall used at the time. In 1941 the school was moved to Bernardo's House, an old house situated on the present school site. This residence on 6 acres (24,000 m2) of land had been bequeathed by Mr and Mrs Bernard to the people of Westville for educational purposes. It was near this site that the Outspent Tree, which marked the first overnight stop for the old ox wagons travailing to the interior, once stood. The Outspan Tree today forms part of the WBHS badge.
By 1944 the admissions roll had increased to 66 pupils. The following year the co-educational Westville Government School opened as a provincial institution and operated at primary level until 1955. In 1949, Bernard's House was demolished to make way for the new school buildings which were opened in January 1950. These buildings, built at a cost of £27 500, were hailed as the finest erected by the Administration since the war. The year 2000 marked the fiftieth anniversary of the opening of these buildings that today form the inner quadrangle of the school. A special ceremony was held in recognition of the contribution made by the Bernard family, and a memorial in their honour was erected on the site of the original farmhouse.
2010 was the year in which many high achievers and revered members of the community finished their schooling career. The likes of which include Chad le Clos
Read more about this topic: Westville Boys' High School
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“The principle that human nature, in its psychological aspects, is nothing more than a product of history and given social relations removes all barriers to coercion and manipulation by the powerful.”
—Noam Chomsky (b. 1928)
“We don’t know when our name came into being or how some distant ancestor acquired it. We don’t understand our name at all, we don’t know its history and yet we bear it with exalted fidelity, we merge with it, we like it, we are ridiculously proud of it as if we had thought it up ourselves in a moment of brilliant inspiration.”
—Milan Kundera (b. 1929)
“Those who weep for the happy periods which they encounter in history acknowledge what they want; not the alleviation but the silencing of misery.”
—Albert Camus (1913–1960)