Jeppe High School for Girls

Jeppe High School for Girls
Address
160 Roberts Avenue, Kensington Johannesburg, Gauteng, South Africa 2094  South Africa
Information
Type	Public
Motto	"Forti Nihil Diffilcilius"
Established	1919
Founder	Sir Julius Jeppe
School board	National Senior Certificate
School district	D9
Principal	Dina Gonҫalves
Grades	8–12
Enrollment	950
Average class size	33
Color(s)	Black      White      Gold
Song	[Jeppe School Song]
School fees	R24 500
Alumni	Jeppe Old Girls
Houses	Harveya, Disa, Protea, Nerine, Crassula, Gerbera
Website	www.jeppegirls.co.za

Jeppe High School for Girls is an all-girls high school in Kensington. The school's address is 160 Roberts Ave, Kensington, Johannesburg, 2094, South Africa (on the corner of Roberts Avenue and Lynx Street). The school boasted a 100% matric pass rate in 2014. It was once part of the oldest public school in Johannesburg, Jeppe High School for Boys (known then as Jeppestown High School for Boys and Girls) until 1919, when a separate premises for the girls was built.

The current headmistress of the school (from 2011-2015) is Ms. Dina Gonçalves who has been working at Jeppe for 21 years.

The predecessor of the Jeppe Schools, was St. Michael's College. This was an Anglican private school on the corner of Commissioner and Crowns Street in Fairview. The initial amount of learners when the school opened was 25. The headmaster of the school was Rev. H B Sidwell. His successor was Rev. George Perry, in 1891.

The buildings of the college and the site on which its grounds lay were bought by the Witwatersrand Council for education, in 1896, as the school was struggling to function. The school was re-opened, in April 1897, by the council as Jeppestown Grammar School. 15 boys enrolled into the school and the first headmaster of the school was Mr. H Hardwick. However, financial issues of the school forced the council to reduce its disbursement. As a result, Mr. Hardwick and the rest of the schools staff were given notice. On the 1st of October, 1898, a group of Jeppestown parents bought the school from the council for £2 500. The staff had been replaced, but Mr. Hardwick remained the headmaster of the school.

In 1899, the outbreak of the Anglo-Boer War forced the school to close down the amount of students slowly decreased. Mr. Harwick left in 1899, in September.

The school re-opened, after the war, as Jeppestown High School for Girls and Boys. It was opened in the same building of the Grammar School, and was one of the first co-educational schools, opened by the Transvaal Education Department (T.E.D). The precise date of the re-opening is unknown. it is believed to be during the first quarter of the year 1902, as a letter sent to the Department of education by the school about the teachers being unwilling to teach under the conditions of the unfinished building as well as there not being enough space for the number of children, was sent on April 9 of that year.

The Parents' Committee experienced financial hardships at the same time of the school's construction. In September 1902, the Education Department was presented with an ultimatum, which stated that either they purchase the premises or vacate it, by October that year. The Public Works Department advised for. Purchase to be made, until a new school building could be constructed.

The new headmaster of the school, in 1902, was Mr. C D Hope. He remained headmaster until he left in 1904. He was succeeded by Mr. J H Payne, who became a staff member in 1902 and remained headmaster until his death, in 1917, during his service in the First World War. Mr. Payne acquired the building that the Jeppe Boys students currently occupy.

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Wikipedia