Hermannsburg School, South Africa
| Hermannsburg School | |
|---|---|
| Location | |
South Africa | |
| Coordinates | 29°02′30″S 30°47′47″E / 29.0416°S 30.7965°E |
| Information | |
| Type | Independent private school |
| Established | 1856 |
| Grades | Kindergarten through Grade 12 |
| Website | www |
Hermannsburg School, originally Deutsche Schule Hermannsburg, is a private school in Hermannsburg, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.
The Central Agency for Schools Abroad listed it as an international school in 2015,[1] but as of 2025 no longer lists it.[2]
History
The Deutsche Schule Hermannsburg was established by German missionaries in 1856, making it the oldest boarding school in the province, then Natal.[3]
In 1965 it had 14 teachers and 307 students.[4]
In 2015 the German government stopped funding the school, as the school would have needed to adopt the German curriculum, which it could not do. Then, a former student named Zola Mkumla, who graduated in 1997, purchased the school.[5] Mkumla acquired the school in 2020.[6]
Description
Hermannsburg School serves Grade levels RRRR (18 months) through Grade 12 (18 years).
Hermannsburg has English as its main language of instruction, although it has an intense German language programme.[7] Zulu language, as a subject, is also offered in the school, as a second language alongside Afrikaans. Music and outdoor activities are other focus areas, besides the academic programme.
The school offers boarding facilities, and day students from Greytown, 25 kilometres (16 mi) away, and Kranskop, 15 kilometres (9.3 mi) away may use a bus service provided by the school.
Campus
There are three boarding facilities in the school and they are available for students in Grades 8–12. The Männerheim serves boys in Grades 8–12. Mädchenheim serves girls in Grades 8 and 9, while Neues Mädchenheim serves girls in Grades 10–12. All the boarding establishments accommodate the students in shared rooms of 2 or 3 students per room.
The primary school and kindergarten are separate from the High School. Both the junior school and the senior school have their own computer centres and libraries.
The school has extensive sporting facilities, including a swimming pool, tennis/basketball courts, rugby, cricket, hockey and soccer fields as well as volleyball nets.
References
- ^ "Schulen in Südafrika". Central Agency for Schools Abroad. Archived from the original on 19 November 2015. Retrieved 29 July 2025.
- ^ "Weltkarte der Auslandsschulen". Central Agency for Schools Abroad. Retrieved 29 July 2025.
- ^ "About Us -". Hermannsburg School. 13 September 2021. Retrieved 10 November 2022.
- ^ "Deutscher Bundestag 4. Wahlperiode Drucksache IV/3672" (PDF) (in German). Bonn: Bundestag (West Germany). 23 June 1965. p. 30. Archived (PDF) from the original on 12 March 2016. Retrieved 12 March 2016.
- ^ "'I bought my school'". The Witness. Pietermaritzburg. 16 March 2020. Retrieved 31 July 2025.
- ^ "Previously disadvantaged scholar buys 'alma mater'". News24. Media24. Retrieved 31 July 2025.
- ^ Ngene 2013, p. 41:Dies liegt an der Konzeption der deutschsprachigen Schulen mit deutschem Schulziel, die sich als sogenannte Expertenschule größtenteils an deutsche Staatsangehörige und deutsche Muttersprachler wenden und nur in begrenztem Maße auch Kinder anderer Muttersprachen aufnehmen (Z.B. die deutsche Schule in Nigeria). Auch die Deutsche Schule Hermannsburg/Südafrika gehört als einzige geförderte landessprachige Schule mit verstärktem Deutschunterricht (L) in Afrika zu den kleineren deutschen Auslandsschulen. (The reason for this [smaller size of German-language schools compared to bilingual schools] is the school concept of the German-language schools with German educational goals. As so-called expert schools these are mostly targeted at German nationals and native German speakers and only admit a limited number of children who are native speakers of a different language (the German school in Nigeria is such an example). The only subsidised local language school with enhanced German language instruction, the German school in Hermannsburg/South Africa, is among the smaller German overseas schools.)
- Ngene, Bunye (2013). Die Stellung der deutschen Sprache in Afrika: Der Einfluss der deutschen und nigerianischen Sprachpolitik auf die deutsche Sprache in Nigeria [The position of the German language in Africa: The influence of German and Nigerian language policy on the German language in Nigeria] (in German). Diplomica Verlag. ISBN 978-3-8428-6912-7.