School celebrates 135 years of ’educational excellence’
IN A week’s time, another one of our historical city’s grand old institutions will be celebrating an impressive milestone when the alumni of William Pescod High School hold a weekend of events from Friday, September 30 through to Sunday, October 2 commemorating 135 years of academic excellence.
A meet-and-greet will serve as the celebratory weekend’s opening act. And from that point onward the itinerary will unfold in impressive fashion, from each alumnus receiving a stylish ‘goody bag’, to live musical entertainment, on to the renaming of the school hall and then the release of the eagerly awaited William Pescod High History Book … and these are just the highlights of the opening evening.
Saturday, October 1 is billed to be a full day, starting at 7am when the William Pescod Memorial Route tour will begin.
Kimberley’s newest educational institution, the Sol Plaatje University (SPU) and the modern William Pescod High School are connected by this tourist route at the site of the old school. Many interesting locations along the path are important to the two institutions’ shared past.
The annual Solly Hunter Memorial lecture, which will take place in the Sol Plaatje University Library auditorium, is the next significant event that must not be missed. The lecture will be presented by the head of the Centre of Oral Immunobiology and Regenerative Medicine at Queen Mary University of London's School of Medicine and Dentistry, Professor Farida Fortune, a distinguished alumna. Fortune will shape her lecture around ‘Advancing Women's Empowerment and Human Rights’.
All attendees will then be given a guided tour of SPU'S Central Campus following the presentation. The day's proceedings are recommended for learners and their parents since it will introduce them to a fascinating first-world institution and the facilities and programmes it provides.
The various class groups will then be free to meet later on Saturday afternoon, with the Class of 1982 being the focus group for this year.
The Alumni Gala Dinner, which features a delicious three-course meal and entertainment by Madzeve Dzeve and Square 1, brings a full Saturday to an entertaining close.
An interfaith ceremony will be held on Sunday at 10am to close off a thrilling weekend. Religious leaders will assemble under the leadership of Reverend. Albert ‘Lefty’ Jacobs to bless the school and pray for the general well-being and sustenance of education.
Participants will afterwards be served a Kimberley speciality - an old favourite - those mouthwatering koeksisters, as well as their choice of beverage.
So, where did the William Pescod High School come from?
The school is named after Methodist clergyman Reverend William Pescod. The Cape Education Department took control of the school in 1898 after it was founded by the Wesleyan Church in 1887. The department later relocated the school in 1930 to a location near Bultfontein Road, close to the historic Malay Camp.
The school was uprooted and moved to its current location in Church Street in Ashburnham as a direct result of the infamous Group Areas Act.
However, decades later, the Sol Plaatje University was foresighted enough to keep the old school building and construct their new university campus around it.
At Sol Plaatje University's Central Campus, the William Pescod Precinct, pays tribute to the founding father, William Pescod. It serves both as a beacon of the passion and dedication it takes to establish a centre for learning, as well as being a sobering reminder of the harsh realities of apartheid South Africa.
Despite the stain of apartheid on our country’s educational history, the graduates of Pescod may proudly celebrate 135 years of academic achievement since the teachers and pupils who passed through the school’s halls during those years were giants on whose shoulders the current generation can proudly stand.
The alumni are leaders in various sectors, including prominent scholars, athletes, business figures, educators, artisans, lawyers, engineers, and ministers of religion and politics … all after graduating from William Pescod High School.
Some of the school’s distinguished alumni are the current chancellor and vice-chancellor of Sol Plaatje University, Professor Andrew Crouch, and Justice Steven Majiedt.
Judge Majiedt and Judge Mahomed Navsa were sitting judges on the Supreme Court of Appeal for a period of time.
Another alumni, Professor Ralph Kester, a leading expert on vascular surgery, received recognition on a global scale when in 2018 he was awarded the British Empire Medal for his contributions to Yorkshire’s rugby union game.
Professor Elaine Rosa Salo is an associate professor in the school of political science and international relations at the University of Delaware in the United States.
The impressive list just goes on and on, but suffice to say that William Pescod, over its 135-year history has proven the old adage true over and over again in impressive fashion … it’s an old saying by WB Yeats: “Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire.”