St Stithians College

The idea of setting up a Methodist school in Johannesburg came to Gilbert Tucker, who wanted to base it on the pattern of his old school, Kingswood College in Grahamstown. The Methodist accountant did not have the money so he turned to people who would be interested in financing it.

He met two Cornishmen, both born in 1859, Albert Collins and William Mountstephens, who were Methodists and promising new businessmen who had started to make a name for themselves in their new country.

Collins, who never married, died first and this led to the creation of the Trust for building the Methodist school Tucker had dreamt of. The Trust was formally opened in April 1941 and, at Mountstephens' suggestion, was named after Collins' birthplace, Stithians, a village in Cornwall.

These trustees were D.F. Corlett, C.H. Leake, J.B. Webb and G.K. Tucker.

The Trust was able to purchase a piece of land, which was part of the farm Driefontein (one of the "fonteins" can be found on the grounds) for an amount of £8713 in 1943 but nothing further was achieved until after the War. At first it was thought that building costs might drop and so the trustees waited until it became obvious that prices would not drop and so the decision to build was made in 1951.

Mountstephens lived to see the land purchased, but not the school built; his widow on the other hand, was to take an active interest in the school until her death. The school was to have been a secondary school only and at first, the debate on co-education was open. Circumstances were to make decisions for the Trustees: the area was new and remote; its people wanted a boys' school and a preparatory school as well as a secondary school.

The first classes began on 28 January 1953, with Grades 1 and 2, and 8 and 9. On 3 February 1953 there was a formal opening ceremony. W.G.A. (Wally) Mears, formerly of Rondebosch Boys High School, was the first headmaster, and taught English, Latin, History and Geography to the high school classes, with Mr E.M. Harris teaching Maths, Science and Scripture, and Mr Minnaar teaching Afrikaans. In the second year (1954) classes in the school ran from Grade 1 to Grade 10, and in 1956 the first group wrote the matriculation examination. As the school grew, Wally Mears, the headmaster, did less teaching, and became more an administrator. The school's hall is named for him.

St Stithians Girls College was opened in 1995 to form the coordinate module with the Boys College. The founding headmistress was Mrs Anne Van Zyl. The initial opening classes were grade 0 - 3 which was to expand rapidly to include all the grades up to and including grade 11 with the first grade 12 class being inducted in 1997. The Girls College was originally named the St Stithians Girls Collegiate, which would subsequently be changed when expanded. During 1994 the first classes would be held on the boys 'side of the rugby field' using already available infrastructure. As a part of the co-ordination module girls and boys school often have mixed classes in Drama, English, isiZulu, Afrikaans, Art and Computer Science. In 1996 the Collegiate would move across the field to newly developed complete school. The College facilities was further developed to include a large library, several computer rooms, a 'tuck shop' and gymnasium as well as a lecture theatre - used for assemblies and individual class plays. The first Matriculents of the college would sit their exams 1997.

In 1999 the founding houses of the Girls College were chosen. They were all named after towns within Cornwall, linking the college to its fore bearers. The girls were then to pick a name out of a hat to randomly divide the grades into the four houses. The names of the houses are Cambourne, Kenwyn, Stratton and Trewen respectively. These individual houses compete in various cultural and sporting house competitions as well as part take in different philanthropic endeavours. The uniform has changed over the years, with initially the girls wearing white floral dresses - which the girls prep still use as a summer uniform - to a Blue and red checked skirt and white blouse. The first top was a white golf shirt but this was changed to a white blouse in 2008.

The Badge is based on the coat of arms of the Duke of Cornwall, which is a Crusader shield on which are displayed 15 golden Bezants in the shape of a triangle with the motto 'One and All'. The story of the 15 bezants occurs during the Crusades when the Duke of Cornwall was captured by the Saracens. A ransom of 15 bezants was set up. All the people of Cornwall contributed to raise the money for the ransom. It was paid and the Duke was set free. The inhabitants had all helped together One and All to raise the money – hence the motto.

The founders decided that the shield would have to be modified to suit the school, as a new badge. It was then decided that it should have a dark blue border along the outside edge of the shield with 15 gold bezants arranged equally along either side on the blue border. On the inside would be a silver shield on which the red cross stands out boldly to signify the Christian foundation of the college.

The sports that are played at the school are:

• Athletics
• Basketball
• Canoeing
• Chess
• Cricket
• Cross country
• Cycling
• Diving
• Equestrian
• Fencing
• Golf
• Hockey
• Mountain bike
• Rowing
• Rugby
• Shooting
• Softball
• Squash
• Swimming
• Table tennis
• Tennis
• Water polo

The Girls College has been performing very well on sports during the year

The sports that are played at the school are:

• Athletics
• Basketball
• Chess
• Cross country
• Cycling
• Diving
• Equestrian
• Fencing
• Hockey
• Karate
• Mountain bike
• Netball
• Rowing
• Shooting
• Softball
• Squash
• Swimming
• Table tennis
• Tennis
• Water polo

• Hayden Porteous, South African Professional Golfer

• Kevin Anderson, South African Tennis Player

• Jean Basson, Olympic Swimmer

• Lwazi Madi, South African Goalkeeper

• Grant Elliott, New Zealand Cricketer
• Michael Lumb, England cricketer
• Craig Meier, South African cricketer
• Wiaan Mulder South African cricketer
• Roy Pienaar, South African cricketer
• Kagiso Rabada, South African cricketer
• Brandon Glover, Dutch cricketer
• Marques Ackerman, South African first-class cricketer
• Ricardo Vasconcelos, South African first-class cricketer
• David Rundle, South African cricketer
• David Terbrugge, South African cricketer
• Curtis Campher, South Africa U19; Ireland International cricketer
• Yassar Cook, South African first-class cricketer
• Ryan Rickelton, South African first-class cricketer

• Innocent Radebe South African rugby player
• Jono Ross, Blue Bulls/Sale Sharks rugby player
• Brent Russell, Springbok Rugby player
• Lance Sherrell, Springbok rugby player
• Asenathi Ntlabakanye, Lions and South Africa U20 rugby player
• Dave Wessels, Head Coach of the Melbourne Rebels

• Ian Shapiro Political Scientist
• James Lorimer M.P. shadow minister for the Democratic Alliance

• Gavin Hood, writer and director of Academy Award-winning foreign language film Tsotsi
• Dave Matthews, lead singer of the Dave Matthews Band
• Tokollo Tshabalala, Kabelo Mabalane, and Zwai Bala, members of TKZee
• Jon Blair, multi award-winning film and television producer/director, winner of Emmy and Academy Award winning feature documentary Anne Frank Remembered, a BAFTA Award winning documentary telling the true story of Oskar Schindler, 10 years before Spielberg's film, and many others, as well as being honoured with a CBE for his contribution to film

• Dr. Tinashe Chandauka, 2015.