Prince Edward School is a public, boarding and day school for boys aged 13 to 19 in Harare, Zimbabwe. It provides education facilities to 1200+ boys in Forms I to VI. The school is served by a graduate staff of over 100 teachers. Prince Edward School was ranked 6th out of the top 100 best high schools in Africa by Africa Almanac in 2003, based upon quality of education, student engagement, strength and activities of alumni, school profile, internet and news visibility. Prince Edward School was also ranked as one of the Top 10 High Schools in Zimbabwe in 2014.
History
Prince Edward was established in 1898 in Salisbury, Southern Rhodesia as Salisbury Grammar. It was renamed Salisbury High School in 1906 and adopted its current name in 1925 when visited by Edward VIII, who was Prince of Wales at the time. It is the second oldest boys school in Harare and in Zimbabwe after its main sporting rival, St Georges' College. The School's badge is a crown and three feathers, granted to it by Prince Edward in the 1920s. The school's colours are maroon and dark green. For its centenary, Prince Edward School adopted a new coat of arms which does not replace the school's badge. The motto of the school "Tot Facienda Parum Factum" is attributed as Cecil John Rhodes' last words. In 2010 a former master at the school, Douglas Robb, became headmaster of Oswestry School in England and developed links between the two schools.
Name controversy
In 2002, before the March 2002 presidential elections, the Ministry of Education announced plans to change names of all government schools that had colonial connotations. Scores of government schools were set to have their names changed to honour liberation war heroes, past national and African personalities and/or the suburban area in which the school is located. Prince Edward School was set to be renamed Murenga Boys High School after a Njelele high spirit said to have assisted the local heroes who fought the First Chimurenga of 1896–7. The change of names did not occur but in its wake, as a compromise, the Games Houses within the school had their colonial names changed to those of rivers in Zimbabwe.
Alumni
Prince Edward old boys are called "Old Hararians". The Old Hararians Association was founded in 1922 and maintains very close ties with the school. The Old Hararians cricket team is based the Old Hararians Sports Club in Harare, and fields a team in the Vigne Cup, the Harare Metropolitan Cricket League, as well as the National League for club cricket. Old Hararians contain many national team and "A" team, such as Vusi Sibanda, Prosper Utseya and Ryan Butterworth.
