Proud History
BLOEMFONTEIN HOËR HANDELSKOOL
On 17 April 1968 a new school opened its doors : Hoër Handelskool. It acted as an independent school that was managed by the Free State Education Department. Before 1968 the school was only part of the Free State Technical College as a commercial section that was managed by the Department of Higher Education. The opening of the new Commercial High School was held in the Projection Hall of the Technical College, today Motheo FET College. During 1968 the school used the old buildings of the Technical College. At the beginning of 1969 the school moved to the old Model School’s buildings. Until 1974 the school used the Franklin Girls Hostel of the Higher Department of Education as a hostel.
An interesting fact is that the school refused to send the hostel girls to a hostel evening at HTS Louis Botha due to the fact that the hostel-evening will be held in the form of a dance. The first uniform consisted of a grey dress for girls and grey long and short pants with grey socks for the boys. A junior “Volkspele Laer” was also started by Mrs. Le Roux at the school in 1968. On 16 October 1968 the staff decided on a slogan for the school emblem : DESCAMUS PRO PATRIA (Laat ons leer, vir diens aan ons vaderland/ Let us learn, for service to our country). The first principal of the school was Mr FG Schoombie till 1984. He started with a staff of 17 teachers and 3 administrative clerks in 1968. On 2 May 1969 the school celebrated its first birthday with a march in the streets, a fair at school and an evening function in the school hall. The Director of Education, Mr. Meiring, the mayor and the chairperson of the School Management Council acted as guests of honour and each received a yearbook of the school. During this event the school uniform anthem and emblem were introduced. M Reynecke became the first member of the Free State youth choir in 1972. In the same year the exit uniform for the girls became a black pleated skirt with a yellow blouse.
HOËR HANDEL EN TEGNIESE SKOOL
Skoollied
Waar rose blom, dra jy die lig
wat helder insig bring-
Die kunde en die vaardigheid
moet immer wyd uitkring.
Kommunikasie bou jy stewig uit
tot sinvolle struktuur –
Laat handel bloei; ekonomie
word goeie landsbestuur.
REFREIN
Daarom “Discamus pro Patria” –
aan jou my ewig trou.
Hoër Handel en Tegniese skool,
my liefde sal jy hou!
Jy leer ons steeds na waarheid soek,
na skoonheid van die beeld –
om skeppend ook sy doel te dien
met gawes ryk bedeeld.
So groei die gees en sal kultuur gedy,
deur jou gelei, gesterk.
Jy’s enig, roemryk in jou taak,
vir land en volk te werk.
REFREIN
Daarom “Discamus pro Patria”
aan jou my ewig trou.
Hoër Handel en Tegniese skool,
my liefde sal jy hou!
In 1975 a fire destroyed the storeroom at the hostel. In 1976 the school bought a new Datsun Nissan Micro bus for the school for the amount of R4 600 from Free State Motors. During the Easter weekend the learners toured to Cape Town and their accommodation was R1,50 per day at the Akasia Park Flats. For the first day the Standard 10 class was allowed to celebrate 40 days in 1976. They had to pay R10 to write the final examination and it had to be written in school uniform for the first time. During 1976, day scholars could eat at the hostel for 40c per meal. In 1977 the school choir sang on the television programme “Kraaines”. Bloemfontein Hoër Handelskool turned 10 years old in 1978. During the June holidays the hostel moved to a new venue. Mrs Holtzhausen created an emblem for the 10 anniversary of the school. A yearbook was compiled for the 10 anniversary and was sold for R1,50 per book. They also sold T-shirts with the emblem on it at R3,50 each. It was decided that Spring Day would be held on 7 September due to the 10 year celebrations. The anniversary dinner was held at the Officer’s Mess Hall at Tempe on 7 September 1978 @ R6 per person. A maximum of 160 people could fit in the venue. On the morning of 8 September 1978 a concert was held for the learners and the same concert was repeated for the parents in the evening. The celebrations continued with a march with “sierwaens”, majorettes, which was conducted by the army orchestra and the rest of the learners following in their black trousers and T-shirts on 9 September 1978. The celebrations concluded, during the afternoon, with an ox-barbeque for all the stakeholders of the school and their families. In 1979 the majorettes and art learners appeared in “The Friend”. The school’s majorettes performed at the “Volksblad” 75″-Anniversary Celebrations on 16 November 1979. In 1980 the Standard 10 learners got permission to wear their Matric uniform (a black shirt, stockings, white blouse for girls and black trousers and white shirt for the boys.) A new school started with preparations to move to Sentraal High School’s old premises in 38 Andries Pretorius Street in October 1980. The library moved, at the end of November, to the new premises and the rest of the school moved on 8 December 1980. On 8 January 1981 the general office was opened at the new premises. The administrative staff was Mrs Fourie, Mrs Kruger. And Mr Kotze would have his own office in Room 15. The new factotum was Mr Coetzee from Sentraal High School. The school re-opened on 16 January 1981 at 08:30. The school premises were in a bad state – especially the sport grounds and the swimming pool. The Department of Education granted permission that the first two school days may be used to sort out the stock. The school started with 545 learners. The hostel, Pro Patria, had 14 learners with Mr van Eeden as the hostel father. The boys went to Eie Haard Hostel at Sentraal High school until 1983. The first staff function was held at the swimming pool in the form of a barbeque.
In 1981 the subject choices changed drastically-together with the Commercial and Art subjects, the school also introduced Technical subjects as well as Home Economics. The school had one of the biggest subject choices in Bloemfontein. Hence the school’s name changed to “Hoër Handel en Tegniese Skool” in 1981. The first burglary at the hostel happened on 21 May 1981 after the burglar had access via a window in the study hall. In 1993 the staff decided that there would only be one break, because the learners and teachers took too long to go to classes, and wasted unnecessary time. During 1983 Mrs Grobbelaar, the art teacher received a trophy from the Minister for the highest standard of artwork at the Show.
The learner council published their own quarterly newsletter “Kekkelbekkie”. The school was upgraded to a S1 school and qualified for a Deputy Principal during July 1983 and Mr Gary Kotze was appointed as the first Deputy Principal of the school. In 1984 it was decided, in the staff room, that the four best paintings of the learners must be framed and put on the school stock at the end of each year for the future and cultural inheritance of the school. Mr Kotze became Principal on 1 January 1985. In 1985 there was a request from the Department of Education to give the hostel’s name “Eie Haard” to Sentraal Primary School, and chose another name for our boy’s hostel. Mr Schoombie retired in December 1994. Mr Gary Kotze started on 1 January 1985 as the second principal of Hoër Handel en Tegniese Skool. Mr Colyn was appointed as Deputy principal. The eighties was a time of growth for the school. The total learners increased, they performed very well in academics as well as in sport. In 1985 the school became a Model C-school. Model C schools needed more money to pay administration costs and the school fees were raised. For a while, everything went well, but unfortunately the parents could not afford the school fees, and it became difficult to run the school financially. The total of learners decreased due to the fact that the immediate environment became more industrial and many boys went to other technical schools. 13 The effect : In 1993 the Schools Management Council decided to Matriekafskeid A Ina heamy Elsa van Rooyen Alida Enslin Nico Klopper move back to a Model D-school. Viljoen Mathee Anet Burger. Staff could apply for a retirement package. Mr Gary Kotze retired at the end of 1993, but acted a year longer as principal, due to the fact that it was too late to advertise for a new principal. The Department of Education also decided that it must be an open school for all the different races in the country, in other words a multi-cultural school. With all these changes, Navalsig High School was established. Above is a photo of the last matric farewell as “Hoër Handel en Tegniese Skool”.
NAVALSIG HIGH SCHOOL
1994 – present
During the early 1990’s a former mayor of Bloemfontein, Mr Johan Ströhfeldt, played a big role in re-zoning the Hilton area into the upper residential area and the lower commercial part. The lower section remained Hilton and the upper part was now called Navalsig. By 1993 Mr Stöhfeldt also served as the chairperson of the Hoër Handel and Tegniese Skool in Andries Pretorius Street. The School Governing Body under his leadership together with the Principal, Mr Gary Kotze, decided to take the step to change the school to a multiracial school called Navalsig High School. They would still use the buildings built in the 1940’s which were previously used by Sentraal High School and Hoër Handel en Tegniese Skool.
These buildings were added to the existing buildings such as the hostel and the art class which were built in the early 1900’s. The current Hostel was one of the first hospitals in Bloemfontein (Die Volkshospitaal), hence the street in front of the school – Ambulance Street.
At the dawn of a new Democracy in South Africa, a star was born. Navalsig High School opened its doors with 21 teachers and 550 pupils as a Model D school run by the Department of Education and Culture – House of Assemblies (OFS Department of Education), but also catered for learners from the Department of Education and Training on an agency basis. The school became a multiracial school and enrolled learners in Standard 6 and with English as the medium of instruction mainly for the black communities in and around the greater Bloemfontein area. There were 27 learners in the hostel. Mr Kotze still served as principal and at a meeting of the Management Council on 20 June 1994 Mr HJ Swart was appointed as the principal from 1 January 1995. His vision was to transform this baby into a giant.
On 28 July the school was officially named as “Hoërskool NAVALSIG High School” by the Executive Director of Education in the Orange Free State, Mr GF Heyns. The school had a 100% pass rate for matrics.
In 1995 the school re-opened with 550 pupils, 24 teachers and a new principal, Mr HJ (Blackie) Swart. The chairperson of the Management Council was Mr Ströhfeldt. The Department of Education was transformed into a new unitary provincial department with Dr Ben Khoali as Deputy Superintendent General. The swimming pool and the hostel were renovated during 1995. The school introduced a new insignia. The motto for the school : “God bless our school with prosperity and love” in three languages was proposed by Mr Blackie Swart. Miss Beatrix de Klerk from Bloemfontein designed the shield/logo with a horse and sun on a capital “N” for the new Navalsig High School. One of the school’s teachers, Mr Nico Klopper, wrote and composed the new trilingual school anthem. The school started to excel on the sports fields, especially in athletics and soccer. Two learners represented national teams : Sune Roux in shooting and Enoch Skosana in cross country. Again the school had a 100% matric pass rate.
In 1996 Navalsig High School enrolled 990 pupils and the staff corps increased to 40 teachers. In Octoberdi H Men du Toit was appointed Deputy Principal. The hostel netball moved to the A league. Six learners received full colours for academic ach in 1999. was renamed as “Naledi Hostel”, meaning “star”. In the same year the school started to develop a Bill of Rights and Responsibilities for learners. It was decided that the new colours for the school would be blue, red and yellow. The girls’ new uniform consisted of : a skirt from check material, white blouse, check tie, white socks and black shoes and the boys’ uniform consisted of grey pants, grey socks, black shoes, a white shirt and check tie. The new track suit for the learners was also approved. The sport developed tremendously as 3 pupils were crowned SA Champions-1 in athletics, 1 in cross country and 1 in disabled sport with a South African record. Full colours were awarded to 4 pupils for academic achievements and 20 for sport achievements. Like the previous two years, the matrics had a 100% pass rate.
The Navalsig staff grew to 46 teachers in 1997. The number of learners also increased to 1 285. A new School Governing Body was elected and Mr Ströphfeldt stepped down. The pupils, staff and parents accepted the current Code of Conduct – Rights and Responsibilities for the school in this year. In the same year the Free State Education Department launched the (Culture of Learning, Teaching and Services) COLTS-program and the school supported it. The Navalsig premises was fenced, out of their own funds, and the school started with upgrading the gardens, grounds, buildings and sport facilities. The sport flourished and the school had 2 SA Champions in athletics. The u/19 and u/17 soccer teams also won the Bloemfontein league in 1997. Basketball and Majorettes were also introduced and seemed to be very popular. Full colours were awarded to 11 learners for academic achievements and 20 learners were awarded full colours for extra-mural achievements. Navalsig maintained the 100% pass rate for matrics.
The number of learners continued to increase in 1998 to 1 395 learners. The number of teachers also increased to 53. The School Governing Body appointed staff as assistant HOD’s to help the School Management Team with the management of specific subjects. The rose garden of the school became a major attraction in 1998. The school also won a case in the Supreme Court on the admission of learners. A computerised social behaviour report system for discipline was introduced. In the same year an educational tour to Austria was attended by two teachers and 5 learners. In 1998 the first Representative Council for Learners according to new legislation, was elected. Navalsig High School also introduced the first Matric Graduation function in 1998. Another highlight for 1998 was the Nature Conservation Club of Navalsig High School won the Free State Enviro Competition. The Rugby teams started to play leagues again and some of the teams won the leagues. Full colours were awarded to 5 learners for academic achievements and 28 learners for extra-mural achievements. Unfortunately the Grade 12 pass rate dropped to 94%.
The school re-opened in 1999 with 1 420 learners and 52 teachers. 1999 saw the first edition of our yearly school diaries. We were pioneers in this. Other schools in Bloemfontein followed and now many have this feature in their schools. We were also the first school in the Free State to have a points system for discipline. This model from Navalsig was discussed on national radio and today most schools in South Africa use a similar system. The MEC for Education in the Free State, Mr Papi Kganari, adopted the school as guardian. In the same year the Nature Conservation Club opened the Madiba Hiking Trail on Naval Hill. The Representative Council for Learners elected its first Chairpersons and adopted a constitution for the Representative Council for Learners. The School Governing Body and staff started formulating a Vision and Mission for the school together with a comprehensive School Constitution. The Chairperson (Head boy), Nicky Hill, was chosen as the Free State Matric Achiever of the Year by the Department of Education. The basketball girls won the league. Two of Navalsig Rugby players were chosen for the Craven Week.
In 2000 the learner numbers increased to 1 476. The number of teachers decreased to 47. The School Governing Body appointed two extra teachers out of school funds. Mr. Braam van Wyk was appointed as deputy principal. In the same year the school was allocated Section 21 functions. The School Governing Body elections took place in June and Mr Solly Kumalo was elected as chairperson. The computer centre for the school was established at a cost of R400 000. In the Department of Education of the Free State, Mr Luki Nkonka was appointed as Head of Education. Navalsig achieved various highlights during the year 2000 : The following sport teams won their leagues : Netball u/14, Rugby u/15 and u/19, girls Basketball, boys u/19 cross-Country, Chess D and E league, Drum majorettes Non-Prop (Novice) team and Nature Conservation Club Enviro Competition. There were also learners who performed so well that they became Provincial Representatives. In Soccer there were 2, in netball 5, in rugby 2, in basketball 9, in athletics 3 and in Cross Country 5. For the first year Navalsig had a learner who went to Germany as an exchange student for 3 months. Full colours were awarded to 5 learners for their academic performance and 27 for extra-mural performance. The pass rate of the matrics remained 97%.
The school re-opened in 2001 with 1 497 learners and 50 teachers. Mr Jose Chittilapilly was appointed as second deputy principal. Mr Luki Nkonka, Head : Department of Education died tragically in a car accident in this year. Two learners left for Germany for a year-long exchange programme and two more in August to the United States of America and the Netherlands. The Ströhfeldt Foyer was also developed during 2001 and is still used for many meetings and occasions. Cecilia Rantsho received national colours for Basketball (seniors). Mr Swart accepted a post as principal at St Michaels Girl School as from 1 July and Mr van Wyk was appointed as acting principal. The matric pass rate dropped to 87,6%, but four of Navalsig’s learners were under the top 100 performers in the province, namely Blessing Makhake, Naledi Khalema, Feziwe Phato and Seisa Modupi.
Mr van Wyk was appointed as principal in 2002. Mr Pitso Melamu, the new second deputy was appointed on 2 May 2002. The Matric pass rate for 2002 was 97%. Navalsig was under the Top 50 schools in the Free State. It was during this time that an annual Cultural Day was celebrated.
These occasions were important in celebrating “our unity in diversity”. Bokang Letlotlo, one of the learners was under the top 100 learners in the Free State. Trompie Nontsingha made rugby history when as a wing, was chosen for the Kiewiet team in 2002. The school performed well with a 92% pass rate and was under the top 50 schools in the Free State.
On 21 February 2003 Navalsig Marjorettes performed at the opening of the Free State Parliament. At the USSASA prize giving function, Mr Braam van Wyk (Hockey), Mrs Madelene Venter (Cross Country) and Mrs Regina Ntaye (Netball) all received prizes. Mrs Ntaye was re-elected as EXCO of the Free State USSASA. At the end of the year the Grade 12’s performed well with a 91% pass rate and the school was under the 50 top schools in the Free State.
During the staff function on 22 January 2004, Mr Shuping Finger (one of the teachers), became a fire fighter when a gas cylinder caught fire he jumped in and closed the cylinder. His brave deed saved the life of a lot of teachers.
Navalsig won the category for the Businesses and Institutions for the rose garden. Again Navalsig ended as one of the top 50 schools in the Free State with a pass rate of 91,4%, 29 distinctions and 4 learners under the top 100-learners in the Free State.
In June 2005 the television (TV 2) crew visited for an interview with the principal of the school and to make a programme of the school because of Bonolo Moleme, who was head boy in 1998 was in the final stage of “Your ‘re Hired” on television. Martiens Dihlakanyane came second in the “Excellence awards for Public Servants”. Another highlight of the year was the fact that our rose gardens came second. One of our learners, Masello Moloelwa appeared in the newspaper due to the fact that he was the first black “Triathlon” athlete in the history and in 2006 he also became the first to win the provincial championships. Like the previous year, the school ended as one of the top 50 schools in the Free State.
Both the boy and girls basketball teams won the championships and represented the Free State in 2006. Mr Braam van Wyk was nominated as the principal of the year during this year. The Grade 12 pass rate decreased to 81,9%. The school received trophies for Technical Electrical and Art’s marks which were the best in the Free State.
Mrs Ntaye was chosen as President of the Netball Free State Schools league in 2007. One of the Navalsig learners, Moalasi Mothe went to Brazil to play soccer and another learner, Ayanda Nthembo, was chosen for the “Basketball without boundaries” team. One of Navalsig’s Grade 12-learners, Yvonne Tau, received 7 distinctions at the end of the year and was the best girl in Mathematics and Science in the Free State. The school results improved with 9% to 91.3%.
Navalsig became the first school where teachers participated in a “Life support course” in 2009 and all the teachers who had participated, passed. The Grade 12 results declined to 81% in 2009. One highlight was that Tholoane Makheta who received 4 A-symbols and 3 B-symbols.
In 2009 three learners went to Belgium. On 26 June 2009 Mr Braam van Wyk wrote the following in the schools diary : “Good luck, Jose (Chittilapilly) and Pitso (Melamu). May the Lord bless and guide you! I will never forget our meetings, our laughs and friendship. I know the school is in good hands.” With these words to the Deputy Principal he left the school for a Principal’s post at St Michaels High School. For the rest of 2009 to June 2010 Mr Melamu and Mr Chittilapilly acted alternatively as Principal. The Grade 12 pass rate increased to 87%.
Mr Chittilapillly was appointed as Principal on 1 July 2010. Navalsig had a Grade 12 pass rate of 89,9% and was placed in the Bronze Category. Unfortunately the Grade 12 pass rate dropped to 82,6% in 2011. In 2012, Mrs E Rossouw, was appointed as the second deputy. It was a big draw back when the matric results dropped again to a 76,36 % pass rate in this year. In 2013 all the stakeholders put a big effort in to increase the matric pass rate and the school made it again in The Top 100 schools in the Free State with a pass rate of 80,9%.
Mr Chittilapilly introduced Saturday classes at the school for matrics and Grade 9’s. He also made sure that traditions such as “Nappy Weekends”, “The V-Bash” and “40-Days” continued. Our Choir excelled in 2012 by reaching the finals of the National Choir Competition. During the last few years we have also performed well in culture, sport and academics. Every year, several matrics qualify for bursaries at Allan Gray and Thuthuka Bursary Fund. We are proud of our former learners who have made their mark at Universities all over South Africa in academics as well as in leadership.
2014 – a year to celebrate! Navalsig is 20 years old! The school’s 20th anniversary will be celebrated during the weekend of 1-3 August 2014.
