Jeppe High School for Girls is a high school in Johannesburg, South Africa for girls from grades 8 to 12. The school is known colloquially as Jeppe Girls.
Contents |
Jeppe High School for Girls and the nearby Jeppe High School for Boys were founded in 1890 as a single private Anglican school, St Michael’s College. About twenty-five students were enrolled.
In 1896, the school was financially troubled and was purchased by The Witwatersrand Council for Education. The Council re-opened the school as the Jeppestown Grammar School in April 1897, but the school continued to struggle. On October 1, 1898 a committee of Jeppestown parents pooled their resources and bought the school.
The school closed during the Anglo-Boer War in 1899. After the war, in the first quarter of 1902, the school re-opened as the Jeppestown High School for Boys and Girls.
In July 1919, the girls' school moved into a new red brick building (a structure which now is only the central wing of the present main building).
| Year | Principal |
|---|---|
| 1919 | Ellen L Cummins BA (Hons) Oxford |
| 1946 | Sylvia G Sprigg MBE BA (Wits) |
| 1949 | E Alice Ramsbottom BA |
| 1957 | Ailsa M Reid BSc |
| 1974 | Jean DE V Schutz BA |
| 1991 | Barbara JH Thompson |
| 1997 | Beckie R Tobias BA T.TED |
| 2007 | Helmien Slabber BA Ed, B Ed Hons, M Ed |
The school motto is Forti Nihil Dificilius, which is Latin and means 'Nothing is too difficult for the brave'.
Jeppe Girls offers sports programs at both the competitive and the recreational level, including:
The school holds a flower show each year in the spring.
Students practice traditional African drumming through "Mamela," a student drum group. Drummers in Mamela play djembe, dun-dun, ken keni, and sangban, among other instruments. The students play traditional South African and West African pieces, and also compose their own works.