Port Alfred
High School
The Heart of Port Alfred
Port Alfred School is a family school. We cater for children from nursery school to matric on one beautiful campus with one Principal and one Governing Body.
We celebrate our origin at a special Founders Day Assembly in August each year. On this special day, everyone takes the time to reflect on just how far our town’s oldest school has come since those early days of 1883. This was the year that the school was officially converted into a Government School and it was housed in an Anglican church building in Park Road. The school then had an enrolment of about fifty boys and girls.Over the years, the school has grown to nearly 1000 children from nursery school to matric. Rooted in a proud past, the Port Alfred School staff, governing body, alumni and greater community work together to move with the times, catering for the needs of our children on a multitude of levels.The school’s motto, “Facta Non Verba” meaning “Deeds and not Words” is an constant theme which the School underpins at every opportunity. Honesty, integrity, grit and determination, perseverance, loyalty and commitment are qualities held in high regard by one and all at Port Alfred School.
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Our journey starting in 1882
As one of the oldest schools in the Eastern Cape we are exceptionally proud of our heritage
1882 | These schools were small and elementary and thus amalgamated. During this period, a guarantee system was in operation and the Government ruled that management of the institution should be in the hands of either a Committee elected by the guarantors, who made themselves responsible for all expenses, or of the local authority. (The State would supply a grant only on these conditions). Guarantees could be furnished for a one, two or three-year period and were generally furnished to supplement the salaries of teachers. The first guarantors and thus founders of our School were: – R.P. Venning, J.A. Guest, N.A. Nesbitt, J.W. Orren and Augustus R.R. Preston. |
1874 | Two small private schools were operating in the town. A Girls’ School apparently run by a Miss Hockley and another by the Rev. Douglas Dodd. |
1871 – 1877 | W.C. Holesgrove succeeded Rev. C.R. Lange and remained until 1877 in which year the Government paid R100 towards his stipend. |
1838 | James Murray is recorded as being a Schoolmaster at a salary of R120 per year and he appears to have run a moderately successful institution averaging about 28 students until 1841 when once more it ceased to function. |
1832 | Turpin was informed by the Governor that the School was to be closed, a fact which was accomplished on 10th October 1832. The reason for the closure remains a mystery. |
1828 | Major William Dundas visited the town with the purpose of arranging for a school to be opened in the Court House, the whole building being taken over for this purpose. The school was furnished and repainted at a cost of R30 and R6,75 respectively and a certain Joseph Turpin was installed as Schoolmaster. Students were enrolled in February 1828. |
1826 | Thomas Jarman was a Schoolmaster in Port Alfred, at that time known as Port Frances. The school’s name was Port Francis School. |
1883 | The town’s school was converted into a Government School, the Principal being the Rev. Douglas Dodd, who was also the Anglican Minister, and was housed in the Anglican Church building in Park Rd. Rev. Dodd, an Eton graduate was “a man of exceptional scholastic ability, culture and background.” The school then had an enrolment of about 50 boys and girls. Founders Day is celebrated in August each year, commemorating 1883 as the School’s official “date of birth”. |
1889 | Rev. Douglas Dodd was succeeded as Headmaster by the Rev. Francis Flack, a brilliant mathematician who had received his Master’s Degree at Cambridge. A second campus was established on the West Bank and subjects taught included Latin, French, Algebra and the Elements of Natural Science. |
1896 | The Church/School relationship came to an end. It would appear that the school had grown sufficiently to warrant a full-time headmaster. The Rev. Flack was succeeded by James Lean. |
1900 – 1901 | The two schools were united and moved from the rented Church buildings in Park Road to their new buildings, which are today situated between the Post Office and the Magistrate’s buildings. It is fondly referred to by locals as “the old Post Office”. There were almost 100 children. |
1906 | The first School Board was established. |