Rustenburg Girls' High School and Rustenburg Girls' Junior School are two separatepublic 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.
History
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
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
A Rustenburg tennis player at the 2006 Interschools Tennis
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
The highly acclaimed High School Music Department features an Orchestra, Choir, Chamber Choir, Jazz Band, Wind Band, String Quartet, Vocal Quartet, String Ensemble and Savuyisa (Marimba Band).[11]
