Afrikaanse Hoër Seunskool

Coordinates: 25°45′27″S 28°13′17″E / 25.7574°S 28.2215°E / -25.7574; 28.2215

The Afrikaanse Hoër Seunskool (Afrikaans Boys' High School) also known as Affies, is a public high school for boys situated in the city of Pretoria, Gauteng, South Africa.

Early 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.

The school with 44 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 across each other in Lynnwood Road.

Coat of Arms

The items in the school's coat of arms:

• The ox wagon symbolizes the balance of the Afrikaner nation. The wagon is settled and the journey is concluded.
• Ahead there lie acres of ground naked and clean, behind raise the mountains which were overcome.
• Everything is born out of the morning sun's bright rays and it is a new day for our nation.
• The coat of arms is surrounded by ox horns, the symbol of our protection.

Buildings

The school has an Astro-Turf, mini Astro, gymnasium and library. The school has three boarding-houses, the largest being House Frank Le Roux (named after the first headmaster), 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 all of the activities. These have clubhouses situated on the school grounds.

Uniform

The Affie cap is the oldest part of the uniform, and has remained unchanged since its first use in 1932. The cap is known as the "Pet", and a long-standing tradition is that every boy wears his cap on a Friday.

There are eight possible ties worn by pupils:

• The school tie.
• The Matric tie, worn by Grade 12.
• The Prefect tie, worn by the members of the elected learner representative body.
• The Sport Team tie, worn by team members of sports.
• The Academics tie, for those who have maintained an academic average of 80% during an academic year.
• The Culture tie, for those learners representing the school in cultural activities.
• The Headboy tie is passed on each year to the next headboy.
• Since 1970 there has been a tie for each decade of the school's existence, the latest being the 2010-tie.

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 PC 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 current headmaster, Dr. Pierre Edwards. The school has an archivist Gustav Pfeil, who sorts through thousands of donated and stored documents, most of which are still in its 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 did not play in the Beeldtrofee rugby tournament since 2006 as the B to G teams would struggle to all play on a Saturday.

Each year Affies challenges the country's leading rugby schools such as Pretoria Boys High School, Grey College (Bloemfontein), 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, Wynand Olivier, Fourie du Preez, Pierre Spies and Dean Greyling.

Up and coming stars include Jannes Kirsten, RG Snyman, Nico Lee and Pierre Schoeman.

Perhaps Affies' most unknown star was Francois 'Swys' Swart who played fly-half for Die Witbulle (the school's first team) 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.^[1] Coach Deon Botes has worked with the school's first team for the last 15 years and has produced players such as Kruger van Wyk and Neil Wagner^[2] (New Zealand international test players), Heino Kuhn (Titans wicket keeper) 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 participate 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.^[3] In 2012 they won the Folk Showcase at the Llangollen International Musical Eisteddfod in Wales.^[4]

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 ("Music in the Mountains").

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 (Blyde River and Sandloper) and camped.

Headmasters

• F.J. le Roux : (1920 - 1946)
• Dr. G.J. Potgieter : (1947 - 1963)
• J.A. Fourie : (1964 - 1968)
• J.D.V Terblanche : (1970 - 1973)
• N.C. Roesch : (1974 - 1984)
• T.L.P. Kruger : (1985 - 1991)
• Dr. P. Edwards : (1992 - )

Notable alumni

Rugby

• Louis Schmidt (1954) : Springbok rugby player 1958 to 1962, and the original Blue Bull;
• Tonie Roux (1964) : Springbok rugby player 1969 to 1974;
• Grant Esterhuizen (1994) : Springbok rugby player 2000;
• Skipper Badenhorst (1996) : Natal Sharks / SA Under 21 / Cheetahs Super 14 rugby player;
• Fourie du Preez (2000) : Springbok rugby player 2004-2015 and Springbok Captain.
• Wynand Olivier (2001) : Springbok rugby player 2006-;
• Pierre Spies (2003) : Springbok rugby player 2006-;
• Dean Greyling (2004) : Springbok rugby player 2009-;
• Quinn Roux (2008) : Ireland International Rugby 2016-;

Cricket

• AB de Villiers (2002) : Teams: South African International cricket team, Royal Challengers Bangalore;
• Francois du Plessis (2002): Teams: South African International cricket team, Chennai Super Kings;
• Kruger Van Wyk (1998): Titans, South Africa A and New Zealand Black Caps cricket player;
• Heino Kuhn (2002): Titans and South Africa cricket player;
• Jacques Rudolph (1999) : South African international cricket player 2003 to 2011;
• Neil Wagner (2004) : New Zealand Black Caps cricket player.

Golf

• George Coetzee (2004) : South African professional golfer.

Tennis

• Johan Kriek (1976) : South African tennis player, twice winner of Australian Open singles title;
• Danie Visser (1979) : South African tennis player, three times Grand Slam doubles winner.

Other

• Sebastiaan Rothmann (1993) : former IBO and WBO cruiser weight boxing champion;
• Jacques Freitag (2000) : South African Olympic high jumper, gold medalist at 2003 IAAF World Championship;
• Lehann Fourie (2005) : South African hurdler.

Academics

• Professor D. C. S. Oosthuizen : philosopher, Christian, critic of South Africa, although his schooling was completed in Graaf Reinet;
• Professor Fransjohan Pretorius (1966) : prominent (A-graded) South African historian;
• Pierre Edwards (1970) : Springbok rugby player 1980, and current head master;
• Senior Professor Pieter Carstens : Head of the Department of Public Law, Faculty of Law, UP and is the chairperson of the Unit for Medicine and Law, a joint venture between the University of Pretoria and UNISA.

Politics

• Magnus Malan : former Minister of Defence during 1980–1991;
• Gerrit Viljoen : former Minister of Education and Minister of Constitutional Development;
• Hendrik Schoeman : former Cabinet Minister.

Arts

• Ben Schoeman (2002) : pianist; winner of the 2008 Vodacom Unisa International Piano Competition;
• Marius Weyers (1962) : South African actor;
• Reinhardt Retief/Retief van der Liefde (2006): actor (Binnelanders) as Dr. Christiaan du Preez.

Business

• Giam Swiegers: CEO of Deloitte Australia (2003–2015).

References

External links

• Official school website
• Oud Affie Bond (Afrikaans)
• Chior information (Afrikaans)