Parktown High School for Girls


Parktown High School for Girls is a public English medium high school for girls nestled in the picturesque suburb of Parkview in Johannesburg in the Gauteng province of South Africa. It is one of the top and most academic schools in the Gauteng, the fellow school is Parktown Boys High School. More commonly known as Parktown Girls, it is a day school and does not have boarding facilities.

Ideologies

"We have a vision of confident and courageous young women, ready and willing to meet every challenge on the way to achieving their dreams."
Parktown is a place of possibilities: an empowered leading learning school.
This public school provides a world-class education to learners from all kinds of backgrounds which is valuable in producing the leaders of tomorrow.

History

Parktown Girls was founded in 1923. It was originally a co-ed school, but this changed as new headmistresses were introduced. There have been eight headmistresses since the opening of the school. The library was opened on 22 February 1989 by Dr. P.H. Bredenkamp, the at-the-time director of education. Since the beginning, Parktown has provided young women a chance to express themselves in academics, sports and cultural activities.

Potted Sports

Potted Sports Day has been a tradition at Parktown since the 1920s. It refers to the school's birthday, which is celebrated on the Friday closest to 1 September. The name came to birth when girls in the 1920s decided to sell pot plants and have a sports day to celebrate the school's birthday.
In modern times, Potted Sports Day is a fun day that is planned entirely by the grade elevens. There is a theme, which is kept secret from the school until the day, upon which a play and a fete is based.

Academics

Parktown Girls has a history of achieving fantastic results - which is an achievement considering each grade consists of roughly 200 learners from different backgrounds.

Curriculum

Grades 8 and 9

Grades 8 and 9 follow the National Curriculum for the General Education and Training level, using outcomes-based methods. This focuses on knowledge, values, attitudes and skills.
We encourage learners to develop a strong sense of responsibility for learning in the eight key areas of:
Grades 10 to 12 follow the National Curriculum for the National Senior Certificate, the exit point of the Further Education and Training level.
This includes four compulsory subjects:
In addition learners choose three other subjects from:

Cultural

Parktown Girls offers a wide range of extramurals which include many culturals. Some of these include:
Parktown also offers a diverse range of sports. The school competes in leagues against private schools and does very well. The sports programme consists of:
The school is also passionate about helping community and works closely with charities such as FLOC and Nkosi's Haven. There are a variety of service extramurals: