Mary Waters
High School.
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| Front entrance of Mary Waters High School |
Grahamstown
is known for its education institutions. The town has a number of schools, some
are even regarded as the best in the country and some can even compete with the
world’s best. Most of the schools in this town are legacy of the missionaries
that have settled in this town between the 1800s and 1900s. The churches have
played a big role in the town’s education.
Mary Waters High
Mary Waters High
School (then known as R.U.C.
Coloured Practising
School), in the other hand is the
product of the then Rhodes University College,
now Rhodes University, education department in
1940. The school was formed for two reasons; the first was to offer necessary
teaching training for student-teachers of the College. And also to offer J.C courses
(covered in Standard 7 &8), to coloured pupils. From this initiative Mary Waters
High School was formed.
The school was the first junior secondary school in the Albany Road area.
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| Mary Waters High School from western side |
In this article, Professor Morton, one of the
first teachers of the school recalls the first day of school. He still
remembers that there were sixteen pupils of both sexes who came to start the
school that year. Since the St. Clements’s Hall at the train station was
occupied by the upper classes (standard 6) of the Coloured Primary School,
they had to hold their classes in the Shaw Hall.
There was
practically nothing to run the school as there was no money, but they managed to
collect things to furnish the class. Prof Morton hadn’t taught in ten year
before accepting this job, but according to him the curriculum was partly
optional with English and Afrikaans being compulsory. Other subjects offered
where Arithmetic, History, Geography, Physiology, Hygiene, and Latin. They
taught using the syllabus of the Cape Education Department.
In 1941 the
coloured Primary School moved to a building which was apparently built for a
recreation hall just off the old King Williams Town (presumably Raglan Road). This
development led to R.U.C
Coloured Practicing
School moving to St.
Clements’s Hall. The move was very helpful since it meant there was going to be
now two class rooms available for them to use.
Now, since
there were two classes, a full-time teacher was needed. The College then,
through the persuasion of Prof Morton, Miss Elspeth Naude (later Mrs
Danckwert), who recently qualified from R.U.C, was appoint as a teacher. She
taught English and Afrikaans.
The school,
in 1955 experienced further challenges. Standard 6 was merged in the secondary
school. This expansion made teaching and learning a challenge since there was
limited teaching staff. On top of all of that, there were no funds to maintain
the school since R.U.C was not obliged to spend money on the school. With no
money to run the school, it was than decided to transfer the school from R.U.C
to the schools board. Around 1955, the school came under the Cape Education
Department. This shift took its toll on the relationship of the school and the
R.U.C. The school’s present buildings opened in 1963, making the building 49
years old and the school 72 years old.
Miss Mary Waters
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| Miss Mary Waters |
In 1942,
Miss Mary Waters (after whom the school is named after), a retired teacher was
appointed as lecturer in the Education Department at R.U.C and also to assist
in the practicing school. She soon established herself as the main teaching
force in the school. Those who knew Miss Waters, talk of her as a very
influential being. She had a lot of energy and passion for teaching. During her
time, it was very rare to see women study or work, but she was different from
the stereotype view of woman. She is said to have cared little for fashion and
was a heavy smoker.
Miss Waters was born in England.
She moved to Africa with her family since her
father and Grandfather where missionaries, her Grandfather being an Archdeacon
and Father a reverend. Miss Waters was a very involved in the field of
education. Before coming to Grahamstown she had worked in a number of missions
across the Southern Africa doing education
related duties. Her passion for education led her to be involved with various
missions, as either a teacher or a principal. She was the principal of a Native Training
College School
in Pondoland, she also successfully organised demonstration classes for a Coloured Training School
in Cape Town. Before
she came to Grahamstown she was working in Windhoek, reviving a poorly equipped church
school.
Miss Waters retired in 1942, and she was soon appointed as lecturer by
the Education Department at R.U.C. Not only was she appointed as a lecturer,
she was needed to also assist with the R.U.C. Coloured
Practicing School.
It was at this school where she had contributed extensively, not only education
for the coloured community, but also personal lifestyle.
Mr. Muriel Wood, in his article published in the Grocott’s Mail of 15
December 2009 recalls Mary Waters as untidily dressed but a brilliant teacher. Wood
says Mary Waters made Shakespeare live. She would act out the scenes for her
class making set works like 'The Tempest 'and 'A Midsummer Night’s Dream' come to
life.
Miss Mary Waters retired for the second time around 1958 a very old
woman. On here way to Britain
old habit came back again. She stopped at St. Helena Island
to yet again take up a teaching position at a local school. It was at this
island where she finally ‘rested in peace’. It said she died of heart attack
while climbing the steep hills of the island, doing her teaching duties.
Former Principals
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| Mr Van Niekerk Headmaster from 1968-1973 |
In 1956, under the Cape Education Department, Mr R. Crozier was appointed
as the first permanent principal of the school. Mr Crozier saw the expansion of
the school throughout the years he was principal. He saw the school move in
different buildings due to the increase of learners. Crozier was principal of
the school for 12 years.
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| Mr Crozier Headmaster from 1956-1968 |
On Crozier’s retirement in 1968, Mr. Phillip Coetzee became acting
principal until Mr Don Van Niekerk took the reigns. Van Niekerk left in 1973,
leaving Mr Marcus Parsotam the Headmaster of Mary Waters High School. Mary Waters
High School made history
in 1993. Parsotam retired, leaving a former pupil who he had recruited,
principal of the school. Mr Samuel Clyde Wessels Became the first and only
principal of Mary
Waters High
School to have been taught at the school. These are just some of the teachers and principals who have played a huge role in ensuring the school becomes a success.
From pupil to
Principal
In 1993 Samuel Wessels became the first principal of Mary Waters
High School to have been
taught at the school. Till today, he remains the only person to have done so and
he is still the principal of the school since 1993 making it 12 years since he
took over from his mentor Mr Parsotam.
Wessels was born and bred in Grahamstown, a son of a builder and a
house-wife. He had attended Mary Waters High from standard 6 till standard 10
(matric). Samuel matriculated in 1976, the year he describes as, ‘the year of
school riots in South Africa.
When our education was in turmoil, South Africa was burning. That was
the year when our education was disrupted. Many of us eventually succeeded to
pass matric’.
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| Mr Wessels Current Principal since 1993 |
Since the only university in Grahamstown, Rhodes
University, was a White-Only
university, he had to move from Grahamstown to Cape Town. He says the move was hurtful. ‘So,
imagine me leaving my home-town with a University bordering on my door-step’,
said Samuel.
He enrolled with the University
of Western Cape, where he
completed junior degree in education. Afterward he completed a teacher’s
diploma.
Samuel wanted to continue with his studies, and he already had an office
in Cape Town
with the Office of Employment when his former principal and English teacher Mr
Parsotam called and recruited him to fill in a teaching vacancy at the school. He
says he got a call from Parsotam saying that 'he believed that I was finished with
my studies, and I was needed to come back and assist at the school.'
It was in 1981 when he started as a young teacher at the school, recalls
Samuel. He remembers not being able to socialise with his colleagues because of
the age difference. He would spend most of his break time with the pupil since
they where almost in the same group. ‘When I started here, the learners I left
in standard 6 where now in standard 10 and we knew each other so I spent most
of the time at the back with the learners instead of the staff room with the
other teachers. He was then gradually promoted in the teaching profession. He
started as a teacher, then, became the H.O.D of the History Department. Finally
on Parsotam’s retirement, he became the principal.
Not only is he a passionate teacher, he also was the school’s rugby and
athletics coach. During his reign as the rugby coach, the school was border
champions for a number of years. Ten of his first team players where selected to
represent the border schools rugby team, so he had to field his second team for that
match. This was not the only time he had to play his second team because of the
unavailability of the first team. During the 1980s unrest, about 10 of his
first team players were arrested by the apartheid government for political
reasons.
The School Buildings
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| Class rooms on the front building. |
As mentioned the school started in Shaw Hall and then it moved to St.
Clements Hall. Before it finally settled in the present building, it had
held classes all around the coloured community, including the Sole Hall, Indian Temple
and the Old Bakery in Albany Road. The present building was
built around 1962 and the new school was opened on the 15th of
February 1963.
In 1993 a fire broke up in the school leaving 3 class rooms damaged. This
was added pressure on an already over crowded school, due to an increase in the
number of learners. With the help of GADRA, Mrs Thelma Henderson, and Anglo
American Company, the school was renovated and more classes where built between
2003 and 2004.
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| Assembly block of the school |
Former Learners
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| Lex Mpati, President of the Supreme Court of Appeals |
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| Allister Coetzee, head Coach of the Stormers Rugby Franchise |
Mary Waters High School has produced a
number of scholars who have after leaving the school shined the light of the
school, as it states in the school’s anthem. Some of the prominent leaders of
this country of various fields are former pupils of this school. Lex Mphati (judge
in the court of appeal), Allister Coetzee (Stormers and Western Province rugby
coach), Santy Daya (Professor at Rhodes University), Garth Van Heerden
(Scientist, Institute of Ichthyology) and Bruce Wessels (Scorpions legal firm
lawyer, also Samuel’s brother). These are some of
Mary Waters High School former
learners who have came on top and made a success of themselves. The school has
produced students who can compete and contribute to the success of this
country.
School Sport and Traditions
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| Matric learners of Mary Waters High School on the day of the Mud Bath |
Mary Waters
High School has traditions that
are as old as the school and some adapted throughout the years of the school’s existence.
In Grahamstown, when you ask people about the school, they will tell you about
the school’s rich rugby history and it’s achievement of the school’s rugby
team; most probably about the 1st XV rugby team of 1996. This squad
is considered the most successful 1st rugby team the school has ever
had. Mary Waters
High School is known for their Black
and White kit, resembling that of the New Zealand national rugby team.
The kit is not the only thing the school shares with the All-Blacks; they too do
the “Hakka”, a New Zealand
tribe war dance originally done before warfare. The school has won numerous trophies
for rugby and other sport codes. They have been champions in Grahamstown and
other town tournaments throughout the years. Other than the Hakka, Mary Waters’s
rugby team has another tradition they perform. This is an initiation for new
players and old players who advance to a senior team. After the game the initiate
runs through a tunnel of players while he is being smacked by his
team-mates.
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| Some of the school's trophies they won over the years |
The school’s matric class also participates in another old tradition of
the school. The exact origins of this tradition are unknown. It is believed to
have started during the mid or late 80s. The tradition involves the matriculants
swimming in a mud bath in their school uniform. This happens every year on
their last day of school just before the end of year exams. The reason is
confusing, but the explanation that makes sense is that of Mr Jacob, a teacher
and former learner of the school. He says the tradition resembles that of an
Elephant. Elephants take mud baths to cool-off and to remove ticks and other parasites,
so the learners, since they are done with the school, are cleansing themselves of high school, getting ready for the next step of their lives,
University.
Bully Day
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| Coffin bearers at Bullie's funeral |
Bully Day was a day that was used to commemorate the death of Aliston “Bully”
Kohl. Bully Kohl is a pupil who was shot during a funeral by the police of the
apartheid government on the 12th of May 1985. Bullie was not only a
student at the school; he was also a member of the school’s SRC and also part of
GYM (Grahamstown Youth Movement). GYM was a political movement that fought for the
rights of the youth in the coloured community of Grahamstown.
He was also a
soccer player, he played for the school’s soccer team and part of the reason he
went to the funeral was because of soccer. According to transcripts of the Truth
and Reconciliation Commission’s case of 17 May 1996 in East London, Bully went to the funeral to say his final goodbyes to a respected soccer opponent he
had knew from their playing days. He was shot at this funeral when it was
disrupted by the police of that regime.
Ever since that time till some years
ago, pupils of
Mary
Waters High
School have always observed the12th of May as
Bully day. On this day learners, teachers and community members would gather
for a prayer and speeches, they will then advance to the burial grounds where
Bully is buried to lay flowers and remember a hero who, through sport and
politics did his part in the fight against the injustice of the apartheid government.
Mary Waters High School has undoubtedly, throughout the years experienced a lot of changes, and those changes are the reason the school is a success today. The school has faced every challenge brought about to it and came out on top. The school has a reach history, that if correctly documented and preserved, could inspire future generations to live up to the traditions of the school. As a former learner of this school, you have the courage and the ability to prosper like the former teachers, principals and learners of Mary Waters High School.
By: Theo Sinethemba Yame
It was once said that Nathaniel Nyaluza is school that has been involved in shaping and developing Graham’s town east. From 1970 soccer was becoming famous and everybody wanted to play. There was a great migration of players from rugby to soccer. A man from Johannesburg Mr Monaheng who came to Eastern to work in police force was very influential in founding black soccer in Graham’s town. Rhodes University, Proteas, Wanderers and Defenders were already playing in Graham’s town Football association. The teams from Grahams town‘s west had the best football fields to play like Village green and Rhodes University soccer field. Now he is the president of the team he founded himselfsoccer. There were only four teams which were Early Birds and Young Tigers from Tantyi location Joza Callies and Eleven Attackers from Joza location. The Grahams town‘s east soccer under Grassa –Grahams towns soccer association banner .These teams were playing at Egazini field a home ground to teenagers’ Forleys ground in Tantyi home ground of Early Birds and J.D Dlepu stadium for Joza teams.
