Sandringham High School, Johannesburg

Sandringham High School is a South African high school in Sandringham, a north-eastern suburb of Johannesburg. The school opened in 1967^[1] and teaches grades 8 to 12.

Sandringham opened as a White co-educational English-speaking school teaching under the Transvaal Education Department (TED) of the South African government, meaning that the language of instruction was English and only Whites (as classified under Apartheid-era legislation) attended the school before 1991.

Education style

The school is situated in middle-to-upper-class Johannesburg suburbia, and during the Apartheid years it reflected a traditional British style of education, with school uniforms and corporal punishment. Although progressive compared to other similar schools in South Africa (teaching modern film, carpentry, and culinary skills in addition to basic academic subjects), it was conservative and disciplined by western standards. Like similar schools, Sandringham had many extramural facilities, including tennis courts, a 25-meter swimming pool, rugby and cricket fields, computer training facilities, theatrical stage lighting in the main hall, modern audio-visual equipment, and a pupil-teacher ratio of about 30 to 1.

Although Sandringham is not a boarding school, pupils are allocated to one of four "Houses", and made to compete against each other in a number of activities.

Sports participation was strongly encouraged and the emphasis on sporting achievement was reflected in a large number of award ceremonies and prizes available to sporting participants.

Corporal punishment

As in many South African schools, discipline was enforced by corporal punishment. South Africa had inherited this British-style system during the pre-1948 colonial era.^[2]

Corporal punishment was however only inflicted upon male students, officially with a cane specially designed for the purpose, but sometimes unofficially with a cricket bat, hockey stick, blackboard compass, beach bat, or other suitable implement as may be available, or may suit the style and preference of the teacher.

Offenses punished by official caning included talking in class, littering, hair longer than 5 cm in length, fighting, and failure to attend rugby practice. The punishment was administered to the seat of the offending boy's trousers.

Initiation ceremony

Sandringham never adopted the time-honored tradition of initiation typical of the South African school system. There was, however, widespread bullying characterised by physical and verbal abuse that is common to school environments across the globe.

Initiation was banned by the South African Schools Act in 1996.^[3]

Post-apartheid

During the early 1990s, political reforms allowed small numbers of non-white students to attend school. Because admission criteria included geographical proximity, the number of black students was initially small, but increased with time.

Corporal punishment in schools was made illegal by legislation in 1997.^[4]

References