Afrikaanse Hoër Seunskool


The Afrikaanse Hoër Seunskool also known as Affies, is a public Afrikaans medium high school for boys situated in the suburb of Arcadia in Pretoria in the Gauteng province of South Africa, It is one of the top and academic Afrikaans schools in South Africa. One of the best rugby schools in the country, they play against every all boys schools in the country. The school was founded in 1920 by Jan Joubert and Chris Neethling and the sister school is Afrikaanse Hoër Meisieskool.

History

The school's founding on 28 January 1920 marked the establishment of the first purely Afrikaans-medium school in South Africa. The event predated the official recognition of the Afrikaans language by five years. With English as well as Dutch established as the official languages in South Africa, many of the Afrikaans-speaking population believed Afrikaans should also enjoy recognition. Afrikaans as language grew so fast that CJ Langenhoven tabled a motion in the Cape Provincial Council to slowly replace Dutch with Afrikaans. This thought was strongly supported by MP Mr Jan Joubert and Pastor Chris Neethling. As leaders in the community they quickly organized a group to establish a purely Afrikaans school in Pretoria.
On 27 January 1920, the first acting head, Mr Johannes Arnoldus Kruger de Lange received the new pupils. The first enrollment was a boy named Frederik Botha. There were 35 pupils in form II and 10 in form III ; 45 in total. Mr De Lange was supported by Mr DJ Malan and Miss MM de Vos who were joined on 11 February by Mr. HCP Sack. Mr De Lange later became head at the Commercial Branch at the Pretoria Technical College.
The school with 45 children and 3 teachers was housed in the home of General Piet Joubert at 218 Visagie Street, Central Pretoria. By 1927, the school had grown and new premises were required. The school was therefore moved eastward to the current premises of the Afrikaanse Hoër Meisieskool, Affies sister-school. At the end of 1927, the school took over the Hogere Oosteindschool, a Dutch-medium instruction school, suggestive of the demise of Dutch as a language in South Africa and the assumption of Afrikaans as the primary instruction medium.
By 1929 this building had also run out of space and the decision was made to split the boys and girls into separate schools, thus creating the first separate Afrikaans boys' and girls' schools in South Africa. These two schools are now situated opposite each other in Lynnwood Road.

Coat of arms

The items in the school's coat of arms:
The school has an Astro-Turf, mini-Astro, gymnasium and library. The school has three boarding-houses, the largest being House Frank Le Roux, and a few school- and memorial buildings. The school has three computer classrooms. The school hall is famed for its acoustic quality and has held numerous musical and theatrical acts and shows.
Affies has supporter clubs for most of the activities. There is an old boys / supporters' club clubhouse on the school grounds.

Museum

Afrikaans Hoër Seunskool has a rich history with a museum housed in the Media Centre in one of the beautiful old buildings on the school grounds. It shows the rich culture of the school since its establishment in 1920. The school also has a library, with thousands of books and PCs with Internet access and printing facilities. The library is rich in history, with all the walls being covered with the photos of matriculated groups since 1920. The library first was used in the early days of the school as the school hall, but it has been redone in 1999 and a brand new hall was built, making way for the library.
On 26 July 2012 the museum was opened to the public, for any interested individuals to visit and explore the heritage of the school. The museum was the brainchild of the previous headmaster, Dr. Pierre Edwards. The school has an archivist, Ms Engela Hechter, who sorts through thousands of donated and stored documents, most of which are still in their original print, related to the school.

School sports and activities

Rugby
Affies has produced Springboks in the past and continues to supply talent to the SA Schools and SA Academy sides. There are more than 10 senior teams each year, and at all ages teams as far as G-teams are filled up. Affies have not played in the Beeld trophy rugby tournament since 2006 as the B to G teams are excluded from these fixtures. The school prefers to engage in fixtures where all the teams are accommodated.
Each year Affies challenges the country's leading rugby schools such as Pretoria Boys High School, Grey College, Maritzburg College, Glenwood High School, Hoërskool Diamandveld, Paarl Gimnasium, Paarl Boys' High School, Paul Roos Gymnasium and many more. These elite derby matches take place annually.
Affies has produced top players such as Louis Schmidt, Pierre Edwards, Wynand Olivier, Fourie du Preez, Pierre Spies and Dean Greyling.
Up-and-coming stars include Jannes Kirsten, R. G. Snyman, Nico Lee and Pierre Schoeman.
Perhaps Affies' most unknown star was Francois 'Swys' Swart who played fly-half for Die Witbulle alongside scrum-half Fourie du Preez. The formidable duo later played for The Blue Bulls and were strong contenders to become the next Springbok scrum- and fly-half pair. Tragically Francois Swart died in 2004 and since then Affies hosts an under-15 rugby tournament during Easter Holidays bearing the name of Francois Swart.
Cricket
Affies has produced world players such as AB de Villiers, Francois du Plessis and Jacques Rudolph. Tours overseas are the highlight of the season, where the school team plays against the best the world has to offer. Affies is considered to be a leader within the Afrikaans schools society for developing and promoting cricket for Afrikaans speaking boys and to be competitive against the dominant English schools. Coach Deon Botes has worked with the school's first team for the last 19 years and has produced players such as Kruger van Wyk and Neil Wagner, Heino Kuhn and upcoming all-rounders Thomas Kaber and Lues du Plooy.
Golf
Teams compete in the city's school golf league. The annual internal Affies Golf Tournament also serves as trials for the teams. George Coetzee attended Affies.
Tennis
The school has produced international players such as Danie Visser and Johan Kriek. It participates in SA Schools, Northern Gauteng and both the Pretoria and Johannesburg leagues. Eleven teams play competitive tennis during the year.
Athletics
It has won the annual Inter High athletics championship from 2005-2011. In 2011 the school sent five athletes to the World Junior Athletics Championships and won two medals. The school also participates in two leagues across Gauteng throughout the year. The athletes take part in 25 events over the year. Affies prides itself in the short- and middle-distance running events, as well as the field items. Fanie Grobler coaches the Affie relay teams. In 2010 the first 4×100 m relay team known as Die Witblitse ran a record breaking 41.26 at the Inter High Championship and in 2012 at the Jacaranda Inter High they finished the item in 40.41 seconds.
Hockey
With more than thirteen hockey teams in the school, it is able to compete against the best traditional hockey schools in South Africa. The school has a modern astro on which the teams train and play, a mini-astro and nearby grounds with a hockey clubhouse situated on the site. In 2011, two of the school's teams toured the Netherlands.
Cross country
The school has an active cross country club who compete and run regularly.
Chess
Each year the school has many players at all levels of competition.
Swimming
The school has a 25m swimming pool and it competes each year against the best of Gauteng's swimming schools.
In recent years Affies has expanded their reputation as one of the best water polo schools in the country and it regularly contributes players to provincial and national levels.
Squash
The school has squash teams who play in the regional leagues. In recent years it has delivered a few national under 18 players.
Table tennis
There is a table tennis club, where the students can play and relax in the afternoons.
Jukskei
Affies also competes in the Jukskei leagues in Pretoria.
Culture
The "Affie Choir", also known as "Die Rooidasse" owing to the red ties worn during performances, consists of about 100 boys between the age 13 and 18. Since the permanent choir was established about 18 years ago, the choir has won awards both locally and internationally and in 2009 made it to the final round of the National Competition ATKV Applous for the 13th time.
The choir has undertaken domestic and foreign tours, and visited countries including Germany, Holland, France, Hungary, Belgium, England, Wales, Scotland, Ireland, Austria and the Czech Republic on tour in 1996, 2000, 2004, 2008 and 2012 visits. The choir won a gold medal in the "Young Male Choirs" category at the 2004 World Choir Games held in Bremen, Germany. In 2012 they won the Folk Showcase at the Llangollen International Musical Eisteddfod in Wales.
The choir was invited to be part of the 85th anniversary celebrations of former president Nelson Mandela and sang in 2009 and 2010 by invitation of the Drakensberg Boys Choir's festival weekend.
Debating
The last seven years Affies was represented at the national ATKV Nasionale Debatsfinaal. In 2010 one of the Affies teams won the senior category and in 2011 one of the junior teams won the junior category and the runner-up was the other Affie team. Furthermore, in 2012 of the 14 teams at the ATKV Nasionale Debatsfinaal three were from Affies, and the winner was one of these teams.
School plays
Each year a school play is performed by the students of Affies and on many attempts the school has reached the ATKV Finals.
Orchestra
Affies has two orchestras and a jazz band. The bands perform at school events and sometimes outside the school.
Adventure club
The Adventure Club who goes touring twice every year. They have canoed the Orange River, bungy jumped from the Victoria Falls, done hiking tours and camped.

Headmasters

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