Diamantveld High School


Hoërskool Diamantveld is a public Afrikaans medium co-educational high school in Kimberley in the Northern Cape province of South Africa and the oldest Afrikaans school in Kimberley.

Beginnings

It was founded on 28 January 1935 on the then closed Kimberley Teachers Training College hostels’ premises, and the first Head Master was Dr. O’Grady. It was first called Kimberley High School but in 1936 it changed to Diamantveld. Reverend Albertyn, J.R. headed the campaign to have an Afrikaans school established.

Head Masters to follow

Dr. O’Grady stayed on until 1960. While he was headmaster the school relocated to the premises of Belgravia Primary School. The head masters that followed him was: Cerff, C.F., Spangenberg, J.P., Heyns, M.G., Auret, J.P., du Toit, J. and then Hugo, M. The current head master is Victor, L.

Motto

A posse ad esse.Translated: Making a possibility, a reality

Gender and language

The school is a co-ed school in Afrikaans only.

Hostels

Two hostels exist, namely J.P. Auret House and Dugmore House.

School Performances

The school was in a partnership with PASCH Schulen, a world-wide German school group in 2010 when South Africa presented theSoccer World Cup. The partnership entailed learning German as a third or fourth language while encouraging them to play soccer. This was aimed at both boys and girls.

Sport

The Wilde Klawer National Tournament, which brings together South Africa's top performing high schools in rugby and netball is hosted at the school since 2014. The school’s rugby fields is of a standard that provincial rugby can be played on. It is the only other pitch in the region that is of an acceptable standard. The main stadium is Griqua Park. Griquas, the region’s senior rugby team, therefore play a few provincial games per season on the school’s rugby fields. The region from which Griquas draw players is called the Northern Cape.

Alumni

The school took an application to the High Court of South Africa in 2004. The Head of the Department of Education was the respondent. Diamantveld wanted to appoint teachers from outside the province, but the HOD overruled it. Judges Majiedt, J. and Tlaletsi, J. ruled against the school and in favour of the Department of Education. This created a precedent in South African law.