Type public secondary Principal Ms Rose Enrollment 700 Founded 1903 Color Green and white | Established 1903 Gender Girls Phone +27 43 722 4887 Number of students 700 | |
houses Gittins (yellow)
Hunter (blue)
Ketchen (red) Address 1A Union Ave, East London, 5200, South Africa Motto Fac et Spera; Work and Hope | ||
Clarendon High School for Girls is a girls' secondary school situated in East London, Eastern Cape, South Africa. It was founded in 1903 as East London Girls' High School.
Contents
History
In 1872, Panmure Public School, a co-educational school, was founded by the German immigrant, Heinrich Muller. The boys' section became Selborne College in 1907, whereas the girls' section moved to Park Avenue in 1886 before becoming a separate school for girls from grades 1 to 10 in 1903. It was originally between Muir Street and Oxford Street, on the site currently occupied by Grens Primary but having then just been vacated by an Uitlander Refugee camp. In 1905, a new uniform was introduced, consisting of a navy gym with green and white colours on the blazers and hats. A school hostel was also established that year. In 1937, the upper grades were moved to new premises on the corner of Connaught Avenue and Oxford Street, and the lower grades remained as a separate school. The name "Clarendon" was given to both schools in 1957, after the former Governor-General of South Africa and his wife, the Lord and Lady Clarendon. In 1959, a "Clarendon green" uniform was introduced. In 1964 the school hostel, Connaught House, was destroyed by fire. The new hostel was opened in 1967. The school adopted a non-racial admissions policy in 1991.
Houses
Miss Donald, headmistress from 1925-1945, introduced the prefect system in 1933 and in 1934 appointed the first headgirl, Betty Chew, who was later a teacher at the school and coached the first hockey team until the 1980s. She also created the houses, and named them after Marjorie Ketchen (headmistress from 1912-1925), Miss Gittins who became Mrs Booty,deejo and Mrs Hunter, a teacher. These ladies donated the inter-house shield which is still competed for.