Perseverance School
Encyclopedia
The Perseverance School, Kimberley
, was founded as such in 1883 but might be seen as having arisen from the St Cyprian's
Mission School dating back to the early 1870s. For part of its history it was referred to in the plural as Perseverance Schools, after a teacher-training section was established; and latterly the name Perseverance applied principally to the teacher training college in Barkly Road, Kimberley.
, Kimberley, Fr John Witherston Rickards
, is credited with starting the St Cyprian's Schools, including a Mission School which was a forerunner to Perseverance. By 1877 two mission schools existed – one at Du Toit's Pan
and another at St Cyprian’s. 35 “African” and “Eurafrican” pupils attended the two schools.
, who later founded St John's College in Johannesburg, taught at the Mission School in 1883.
1884 Canon Gaul
, the Rector of St Cyprian's, used the name “Perseverance”, determined that the school should not close, as other St Cyprian's schools had. The church meant to “stick to it”. The name stuck, although officially until 1917 the school continued in fact to be the “St Cyprian’s (E.C.) Mission School”.
In 1891 Mr V.G. Teychenné became the principal, serving Perseverance in this capacity until 1924. To generations of students his initials, V.G.T., came to signify “Very Good Teacher”.
At the time of Teychenné’s appointment there were 130 students, rising to 150 in 1906.
to the Diocese of Kimberley and Kuruman.
An important development, in 1920, was the separation of pupil and teacher-training sections, which became known as the Practising School, under Betty Calmeyer, as principal, and the Training School under the continuing headship of Teychenné. The institution came to be known as the Perseverance Schools. Successive heads of the Practising School were Miss Ivy Calmeyer (at the time of whose retirement in 1943 there were 21 staff and 622 pupils on the roll, as well as newly established Nursery School), Mr John David Kester (1943–1948) and Mr M.P. Michaels.
In 1924 Mr Richard Lewis Meadows succeeded Mr Teychenné as principal of the Training School, who in turn was succeeded by Mr F.C. Beedle in 1934. Mr J.D. Kester was appointed head of the Training School in 1948 – when there were 657 children in the Practising School and 100 trainee teachers in Training School.
The Gore Browne Training Institute was established as an off-shoot of Perseverance in 1935, before which time many African teachers were trained at Perseverance.
Mr A.H. Ashworth taught music and English and was composer of the school song (with words by Meadows).
Managers of the Perseverance Schools, on behalf of the Diocese, were Canon J.W. Mogg, Fr G.W. Hewitt (from 1942 to 1944), Archdeacon H.E. Wraige (from 1944 to 1953) and Canon George A. Pullen (afterwards Dean of Kimberley).
The Perseverance School Motto: “Persevere! For honour! For loyalty! For courage! For courtesy! Play up, play fair and play the game!”
In 1958 Perseverance Schools celebrated their 75th anniversary and established the first Monday in May as Founders’ Day.
, which was indeed soon to force Perseverance to move because Lawson Street was in an area designated as "Europeans Only". A new building was erected in Barkly Road, in the area designated for Coloured persons. (At the same time, the Gore Browne Institute which had been built in Barkly Road, was forced to close because it too found itself in the wrong “Group Area”, this time an area designated for Coloureds but not for Blacks. The “Gore Browne (Native) Training School” was disestablished in December 1954.).
The link with the Diocese of Kimberley and Kuruman and the Anglican Church was severed, with government taking control of Perseverance.
Allumni include:
, based within the precinct of St Cyprian's Cathedral, Kimberley. As a church school it is a successor to Perseverance which from the start and for most of its existence was intimately connected with St Cyprian's.
Kimberley, Northern Cape
Kimberley is a city in South Africa, and the capital of the Northern Cape. It is located near the confluence of the Vaal and Orange Rivers. The town has considerable historical significance due its diamond mining past and siege during the Second Boer War...
, was founded as such in 1883 but might be seen as having arisen from the St Cyprian's
St Cyprian's Cathedral, Kimberley
The Cathedral Church of St Cyprian the Martyr, Kimberley, is the seat of the Bishop of the Anglican Diocese of Kimberley and Kuruman, Anglican Church of Southern Africa. It became a Cathedral when the Synod of Bishops gave a mandate for the formation of the new Diocese of Kimberley and Kuruman in...
Mission School dating back to the early 1870s. For part of its history it was referred to in the plural as Perseverance Schools, after a teacher-training section was established; and latterly the name Perseverance applied principally to the teacher training college in Barkly Road, Kimberley.
St Cyprian's Mission School
The first Rector of St Cyprian's ChurchSt Cyprian's Cathedral, Kimberley
The Cathedral Church of St Cyprian the Martyr, Kimberley, is the seat of the Bishop of the Anglican Diocese of Kimberley and Kuruman, Anglican Church of Southern Africa. It became a Cathedral when the Synod of Bishops gave a mandate for the formation of the new Diocese of Kimberley and Kuruman in...
, Kimberley, Fr John Witherston Rickards
John Witherston Rickards
John Witherston Rickards, priest, founded the Anglican Parish of St Cyprian the Martyr at New Rush, Kimberley, on the South African Diamond Fields, in 1871...
, is credited with starting the St Cyprian's Schools, including a Mission School which was a forerunner to Perseverance. By 1877 two mission schools existed – one at Du Toit's Pan
Du Toit's Pan
Du Toit's Pan, now usually Dutoitspan, refers to one of the earliest diamond mining camps at what is now Kimberley, South Africa. It was renamed Beaconsfield, which existed as a separate borough from Kimberley itself until Kimberley and Beaconsfield were amalgamated as the City of Kimberley in...
and another at St Cyprian’s. 35 “African” and “Eurafrican” pupils attended the two schools.
At Clarence Street - and the origin of the name
The Mission School moved to 'Old St John's Hall' in Clarence Street in 1883. The principal was Mr J. Lean, who was assisted by his wife. The Perseverance Schools '75' anniversary booklet published in 1958 mentions that the institution started with just two teachers and a handful of pupils, although other sources suggest 200 pupils, 70 of whom were communicants. Fr John DarraghJohn T. Darragh
John Thomas Darragh D.D. was a graduate of Trinity College, Dublin, who served as a priest and school master in the Anglican Church in South Africa in the late nineteenth century, at Kimberley and in Johannesburg, where he was the founder of St John's College....
, who later founded St John's College in Johannesburg, taught at the Mission School in 1883.
1884 Canon Gaul
William Thomas Gaul
William Thomas Gaul was Rector of All Saints Church, Du Toit's Pan, Kimberley, afterwards of St Cyprian's Church, Kimberley, Rural Dean of Griqualand West, and Archdeacon in what was still the Diocese of Bloemfontein, before being elected the second Bishop of Mashonaland, where he styled himself...
, the Rector of St Cyprian's, used the name “Perseverance”, determined that the school should not close, as other St Cyprian's schools had. The church meant to “stick to it”. The name stuck, although officially until 1917 the school continued in fact to be the “St Cyprian’s (E.C.) Mission School”.
In 1891 Mr V.G. Teychenné became the principal, serving Perseverance in this capacity until 1924. To generations of students his initials, V.G.T., came to signify “Very Good Teacher”.
At the time of Teychenné’s appointment there were 130 students, rising to 150 in 1906.
Perseverance becomes a Diocesan School
In 1913 Bishop Wilfrid Gore Browne transferred ownership of Perseverance from St Cyprian's CathedralSt Cyprian's Cathedral, Kimberley
The Cathedral Church of St Cyprian the Martyr, Kimberley, is the seat of the Bishop of the Anglican Diocese of Kimberley and Kuruman, Anglican Church of Southern Africa. It became a Cathedral when the Synod of Bishops gave a mandate for the formation of the new Diocese of Kimberley and Kuruman in...
to the Diocese of Kimberley and Kuruman.
An important development, in 1920, was the separation of pupil and teacher-training sections, which became known as the Practising School, under Betty Calmeyer, as principal, and the Training School under the continuing headship of Teychenné. The institution came to be known as the Perseverance Schools. Successive heads of the Practising School were Miss Ivy Calmeyer (at the time of whose retirement in 1943 there were 21 staff and 622 pupils on the roll, as well as newly established Nursery School), Mr John David Kester (1943–1948) and Mr M.P. Michaels.
In 1924 Mr Richard Lewis Meadows succeeded Mr Teychenné as principal of the Training School, who in turn was succeeded by Mr F.C. Beedle in 1934. Mr J.D. Kester was appointed head of the Training School in 1948 – when there were 657 children in the Practising School and 100 trainee teachers in Training School.
The Gore Browne Training Institute was established as an off-shoot of Perseverance in 1935, before which time many African teachers were trained at Perseverance.
Mr A.H. Ashworth taught music and English and was composer of the school song (with words by Meadows).
Managers of the Perseverance Schools, on behalf of the Diocese, were Canon J.W. Mogg, Fr G.W. Hewitt (from 1942 to 1944), Archdeacon H.E. Wraige (from 1944 to 1953) and Canon George A. Pullen (afterwards Dean of Kimberley).
The Perseverance School Motto: “Persevere! For honour! For loyalty! For courage! For courtesy! Play up, play fair and play the game!”
In 1958 Perseverance Schools celebrated their 75th anniversary and established the first Monday in May as Founders’ Day.
Impact of Apartheid
Ending his message in the 75th anniversary booklet, Canon Pullen sounds an ominous note when he writes: “What of the future? We may have to move: when, we do not know.” This was in reference to the Apartheid government’s notorious Group Areas ActGroup Areas Act
The Group Areas Act of 1950 was an act of parliament created under the apartheid government of South Africa on 27th April 1950. The act assigned racial groups to different residential and business sections in urban areas in a system of urban apartheid...
, which was indeed soon to force Perseverance to move because Lawson Street was in an area designated as "Europeans Only". A new building was erected in Barkly Road, in the area designated for Coloured persons. (At the same time, the Gore Browne Institute which had been built in Barkly Road, was forced to close because it too found itself in the wrong “Group Area”, this time an area designated for Coloureds but not for Blacks. The “Gore Browne (Native) Training School” was disestablished in December 1954.).
The link with the Diocese of Kimberley and Kuruman and the Anglican Church was severed, with government taking control of Perseverance.
Legacy
Many fine teachers and achievers in other fields were educated at Perseverance.Allumni include:
- John David Kester who died 24 Jun 2009, aged 96, in Millbrook, Ontario. Growing up in Beaconsfield, Kimberley, he was educated at the Beaconsfield Primary School, Perseverance Practising School, qualified as a teacher at Perseverance Training College, completed consecutively his Matriculation Certificate and his Bachelor of Arts degree by correspondence in South Africa, and, after emigrating, his Master of Education degree at the Ontario Institute for Education in Toronto, Canada. Kester was principal of Perseverance Practising School from 1943, principal of Perseverance (Teachers) Training College, 1948–1962, principal of Arcadia High School, Cape Town, South Africa, 1962-1967. After emigrating to Canada he continued his teaching career in Milton, Ontario, Dixon Grove Middle School, Etobicoke, 1968, vice-principal at Millwood Junior School Etobicoke, 1969, and vice-principal at Rosethorn Junior School, Etobicoke, 1970-1979. In retirement he returned to his first love of teaching and became an occasional teacher from 1989–1994, finally retiring from his beloved profession after 55 years of teaching experience. While living in South Africa John played rugby for many years afterward becoming involved with rugby administration culminating in being appointed President of the South African Rugby Union (SARU). In Canada John became an active member, and eventual President of the Queensway Lions Club in Etobicoke. In 1996 John and Christine relocated to Peterborough, Ontario, where he joined the Peterborough Lions Club.
- Frances BaardFrances BaardFrances Goitsemang Baard was a South African trade unionist, organiser for the African National Congress Women's League and a Patron of the United Democratic Front, who was commemorated in the renaming of the Diamantveld District Municipality as the Frances Baard District Municipality.-Background...
. “My father, Herman Maswabi, was a well-educated man. He came from Ramotswa in Bechuanaland, to Kimberley to find work on the mines. It was there that he met my mother, Sarah Voss. She was a Tswana like him, but she was from Kimberley. They got married there, and then they had us children…When I passed standard six, my father sent me to Perseverance Training School where they used to train teachers. They used to give lessons there in teaching the lower classes. I passed my first year there, and I started my second year. I was 16 years, 16 or 17 at that time. I was learning very well, but then during my second year, my father passed away. … now, since my father had passed away, there was no one to look after me, or pay for my school any more, and I had to leave school at the June holidays. … I got a post for me to go and teach at a place called Pardieberg. It's somewhere in the Free State. You go out from Kimberley, and when you get into the Free State, it is just there. I went to teach at Pardieberg for about a year or so. It was almost like a farm school. Some of the children were small, but some of them were nearly as big as me! I was teaching general subjects to all the children, ABC, and the 1, 2, 3, and so forth. I taught those children reading and writing for about a year, and things were going quite well for me.”
- John Matthews, brother of Z.K. Matthews.
Education at St Cyprian's in the 21st century
The Anglican Church in Kimberley recommitted itself to education in January 2009 in the (re)opening of St Cyprian's Grammar SchoolSt Cyprian's Grammar School, Kimberley
St. Cyprian's Grammar School in Kimberley, South Africa, is a co-educational English-medium independent school for Grades 1-12, attached to St Cyprian's Cathedral...
, based within the precinct of St Cyprian's Cathedral, Kimberley. As a church school it is a successor to Perseverance which from the start and for most of its existence was intimately connected with St Cyprian's.