St. Charles College (South Africa)
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St. Charles College is a private boys' school in Scottsville, Pietermaritzburg, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.
[edit] History
It was established in July 1875, in Loop Street in Pietermaritzburg as a Roman Catholic grammar school in the care of the priests of the Order of Mary Immaculate. The school was later sold to the Marist Brothers in 1912. Growth was so substantial that 14 years later it was necessary to move the College to Scottsville, also in Pietermaritzburg. Undergoing rapid expansion, particularly in the 1950s, the future of St. Charles was seemingly assured until, with declining interest in the Catholic Church for religious vocations, the College almost closed down in 1978. It was saved by the eleventh-hour intervention of a small group of committed Old Boys who worked tirelessly to re-establish the College as an educational institution of standing, producing a non-denominational school with a secular Headmaster. From those shaky beginnings with 183 boys in 1979 the growth of St Charles in stature and numbers sees it today as an important boys' school in South Africa.