Highbury School moved its pre-primary school to new quarters this year. Peta Lee gets a guided tour.
Old, very old boys, are probably spinning in their graves. I’m wandering through the immaculately trimmed grounds of historic Highbury School in Hillcrest, and I can hear the distinctive sound of little girls shrieking as they play rough and tumble on the colourful jungle gyms.
Girls? At this traditionally all-boys school? Times have changed!
“So have demographics,” smiles headmaster Richard Stanley. Founded in 1903, the school has a proud, and quite superb, tradition of quality education encompassing academics, culture and sport. But scholars at this independent school have always been boys. “With times changing, and family demographics shifting, it was no longer sustainable for us to maintain our boarding establishment,” says Stanley. “So two years ago a decision was taken to phase out the boarders. But we’re delighted that we’ve been able to put the old boarding establishment to good use.”
Excellent use, in fact. The old quarters have been magically revamped and transformed to accommodate the new Weavers’ Nest Pre-Primary unit – a wonderfully spacious facility, far larger than the old pre-primary quarters, and which is co-educational. Hence the little girls running around the garden.
Years ago, Hillcrest was a remote village, seen as being a long way from the city of Durban.
“Over the years, the city has actually come to Hillcrest,” observes Stanley. “As such, there’s no longer much need for boys to board up here.”
Apparently, something like 5 00 families have moved to the Upper Highway area over the past decade, and it’s hardly surprising that the Weaver’s Nest Pre-Primary had no trouble filling its classes of three- to five-year-olds.
The new Pre-Primary Weavers’ Nest was re-opened officially on January 19 this year and, he tells us, 83 little Weavers are currently enjoying this bigger and better Highbury facility. These wonderfully active little boys and girls are learning through play as they run around the playground, climb the jungle gyms, dig in the sand pit, paint, build with blocks, read, colour in … They are very busy little bodies and he says he can hear just how busy and noisy they are from his office, but “it’s so lovely to hear those sounds of children at play”.
Highbury caters for more than 580 boys, up to Grade 7, in a vibrant and stimulating learning environment.
And for those who might be wondering, “No, there are absolutely no plans for us to go co-ed all the way up,” says Stanley quite emphatically. “Teaching boys is very specialised: we know boys, we do everything we can to make sure whatever we do is absolutely right for them, and we do it – and always have done it – superbly.”
* Useful info: Contact Highbury at 031 765 9800.