Grove Primary School (South Africa)

Grove Primary school is a school from pre-primary to grade 7 in Claremont, Cape Town, Western Cape, South Africa.

History

It is one of the oldest schools in South Africa and was founded in 1885 as the Feldhausen School, named after Feldhausen Estate, which was a farm prior to the founding of the school. To this day the school is still adjacent to Feldhausen Road.

The premises contain the Sir John Frederick William Herschel obelisk, dedicated to the famous British astronomer who visited South Africa in 1833 to catalogue the stars of the southern skies, returning to Britain in 1838.

Helen Zille (leader of the DA) started her political career while a parent at the school. She spearheaded a campaign which resulted in the school taking the government to court.

The school today

Grove has one field on the grounds with another field not too far away named Lady Anne (after Lady Anne Barnard). Grove's facilities include a swimming pool, tennis courts, a playing field, cricket nets, a library and computer room. All of these facilities are very up to date.

The school is divided into four houses where pupils are placed: Troy (blue), Athens (red), Sparta (green) and Rome (yellow). Interhouse events include a sports day and cross-country where each of the houses are adversaries all trying to obtain the spirit cup and most points. Points may also be acquired for performing good deeds for teachers or for academeic excellence.

Summer sports include: mini-sport, mini-cricket, cricket, swimming, tennis and sports skills.Winter sports include: soccer, hockey, netball, cross-country and sports skills.

School fees are generally based around a rate that the surrounding area families can afford and are R10,800 per annum for the year 2008.

There are about 730 pupils at the Grove - following the departure of Principal Greg Brown to Bishops Prep, the new Head is Sally Shield.

External links

* [http://www.thegrove.co.za/ Grove official site]