Hoër Volkskool Potchefstroom, colloquially known as Potch Volkies, is a public high school located in Potchefstroom, North West, South Africa.
Early history
The emergence of Christian National Education was closely linked with the rise of Afrikaner nationhood and resultant nationalism following the Second Anglo-Boer War (1898/9 to 1902) and a number of "Volkskool" schools were established. These schools were often funded by Afrikaners from own funds and by the protestant Reformist churches, despite the devastation of Boer resources during the Anglo-Boer War. These nascent establishments had to contend with the British government's parsimony and reluctance to allocate funding for Afrikaner education. This was due, in no small measure, to Lord Milner's antipathy to the Boer plight and his policy of anglicisation. Kitchener and Milner were at odds over the treatment of the Boers after the war. Kitchener was more lenient: he wanted to promote reconciliation between the white peoples of South Africa, while Milner wanted to exclude the Boers from future political power. Milner insisted that the Dutch language would no longer be treated on equal terms with English in government, the courts and in education. He wanted completely Anglicized colonies. In 1875, a group of Afrikaans-speakers from the Cape formed the Genootskap vir Regte Afrikaanders ("Society for Real Afrikaners"), and published a number of books in Afrikaans including grammars, dictionaries, religious materials and histories.
Until the early 20th century, Afrikaans was considered a Dutch dialect, alongside Standard Dutch, which it eventually replaced as an official language. Before the Boer wars, "and indeed for some time afterwards, Afrikaans was regarded as inappropriate for educated discourse. Rather, Afrikaans was described derogatorily as 'a kitchen language' or 'a bastard jargon,' suitable for communication mainly between the Boers and their servants." The fledgling Afrikaans language gradually displaced Dutch as the Afrikaner mother tongue and the need for schools offering tuition in the language was a foregone conclusion. Milner's attempt to forcibly anglicise the Boers had failed. The Boers had responded by establishing their own schools. Afrikaans language schools based their pedagogy on Christian National Education. Afrikaans was recognised by the South African government as a distinct language, rather than simply a slang version of Dutch in 1925. Officially, Potchefstroom Volkskool thus predates the recognition of Afrikaans although the school offered Afrikaans medium education from inception.
It is in this context that the establishment of Potchefstroom Volkskool, like Heidelberg Volkskool and other Volkskool schools, should be seen. On 19 April 1922 the Afrikaanse Medium Hoërskool opened inside a small church in Potchefstroom. Originally with only 38 standard six (now grade 8) students and three teachers: Mr J.D. Grundlingh and Mrs. Nellie Chessworth, the school's first acting principal was Mr. P.M. van der Lingen. It was on 11 October 1922 that Mr. J.C. Pauw became the school's first permanent principal. Mr. A.J.P. "Koos" Burger became its first permanent teacher a few months later. In early 1923, the school moved to a refurbished iron building, now with nearly 140 students ranging from standard seven to eight (now grades 9 and 10). The school's governing body decided to change the school's name to Hoër Volkskool Potchefstroom on the 30th of October, 1923. The school was built on grounds previously used as the Potchefstroom Agricultural Showground.
The cornerstone of the permanent school building, still in use to the present day, was laid on the 10th of June 1927 and it was put into use on 23 February the following year. Amongst the speakers at the official opening was then Administrator of the Transvaal, Jan H. Hofmeyr. In 1934 Mr Pauw was appointed as the Inspector of Education in the Transvaal, and Mr. C.H. Steyn took over as principal.
Head Masters
Mr van der Lingen (acting) Mr Jack Pauw