Grey High School is a semi-private English-medium high school (grades 8 to 12) for boys situated in the suburb of Mill Park in Gqeberha in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. It is one of the top sporting schools in the country, with consistently strong academics and an extensive culture of musical performance, and is one of the oldest schools in South Africa.[1]
A recent photo of the original Grey Institute building opposite the Donkin Reserve on Belmont Terrace, Port ElizabethGrey High School main entrance on the current College Drive, Mill Park campus.
The school was founded as The Grey Institute by John Paterson, who also founded Standard Bank and The Herald newspaper, and named after Sir George Grey, Governor of the Cape Colony for the period 5 December 1854 – 15 August 1861, who was the benefactor for the original school to be constructed adjacent to the Donkin Reserve in Central, Port Elizabeth. The foundation stone was laid on 4 June 1856 and The Grey Institute officially opened for classes in 1859.[2]
Sir George Grey, during his times as governor in South Africa, Australia and New Zealand is also affiliated with the establishment of other educational institutions such as Grey College in Bloemfontein, Auckland Grammar School in Auckland, New Zealand, and Whanganui Collegiate School, in Whanganui, New Zealand.
Due to significant growth from the "twice one hundred boys" referenced in "The Grey" school song[3] written as the poem "The School on the Hill" by William Chubb Meredith, rector from 1892 to 1910, the school relocated to College Drive, Mill Park in 1915.
In 1930, Grey Junior School separated from the high school into newly constructed buildings to the south east of the high school on the same campus and references to "The Grey Institute" were dropped in favour of "Grey High School" and "Grey Junior School". The school is, however, still affectionately referred to as "The Grey" by alumni.
The school motto of "Tria Juncta in Uno", Latin for "Three Joined in One" is derived from the Most Honourable Order of the Bath of which Sir George Grey was made Knight Commander in 1848. (Three past South African presidents have been made Honorary Knights of Order of the Bath.) While the motto likely originally referred to the Holy Trinity, it has been reinterpreted to refer to the body, mind and spirit that make up a scholar at Grey.
Traditions
Quad Races: Inspired by the film Chariots of Fire, which deals with the rivalry between two famous Olympic athletes, Grey High School had both the cloisters and the necessary clock tower to perform this, and thus created its own version of a "Quad Race", held annually.
Matric students (final-year students) participate in time trials and the two most athletic qualifiers are chosen to compete in the race. The two participants begin the race directly in front of the war memorial and race against each other as well as against the ten chimes which take approximately 20 seconds to ring. The record, achieved in 1991, stands to the name of past scholar and staff member, Greg Miller, with a time of 19.8 seconds. He is one of less than a handful who have beaten the clock.[4]
Robert Selley Memorial Concert: Selley Concert was inaugurated in 1986 in conjunction with the Founder's Day celebrations. The Selley Concert recognises the contributions Robert Selley made to the school's music department. The event is hosted annually on the Wednesday coinciding with the Reunion Week in May.[5]
The concert typically comprises The Grey Junior School Concert Band and String Orchestra, and from the high school, The Grey Voices (choir) The Grey String Orchestra and The Grey Orchestra. A Jazz Band of senior high school musicians also regularly performs. The Old Grey Band is included in the program every second year, and consists of Old Greys of any age with musical experience who wish to be part of the show.[6]
Trooping the Colour: This parade is performed by senior members of the Cadet Detachment. First performed in 1938, this includes cadets from grade 10 to 12 parading to a marching band with local South African military officials in attendance.
Reunion Week: The Old Greys' Union arranges a series of events and functions annually at the beginning of May. This is particurly well attended by Old Greys and the events include a golf day, reunion dinner, Selley memorial concert, Trooping the Colour, Old Grey Club nights, and a weekend sports derby against a traditional rival school.
Remembrance Day: Attended by local senior military personnel on the 11th of November annually and open to war veterans and members of the public who lost family in the First or Second World Wars. The Last Post is played by the lead trumpeter and there is an opportunity to lay wreaths at the war memorial in the Memorial Quad with a fly past of vintage military aircraft (typically including an Harvard T-6) courtesy of the Davidson family.[7]
The school offers a number of major sports including rugby, hockey, athletics, cricket, rowing, swimming, water polo, tennis, squash, air-rifle shooting, golf, basketball, mountain biking and cross-country with several provincial and national representatives at age-group level over the years, and many provincial and national representatives at senior levels of international competition.
Grey High School has a long history of producing cricketers of international standard and rivals King Edward School in Johannesburg, and Bishops College, for second place after Durban High School for the most South African representatives at senior level,[8] and has outright produced the most South African Schools cricketers of any school.[9]
The Pollock Oval is the main cricket oval in front of the school, named in 1987 for alumnus Graeme Pollock, voted South Africa's Cricketer of the 20th Century.[10]
The Kolisi Field is the main rugby field at the back of the school, renamed during the annual reunion week in May 2022, for alumnus Siya Kolisi, Captain of the Springboks during their victorious 2019 Rugby World Cup campaign.[11][12]
The Grey Rugby Festival is hosted annually by the school and includes under-19 and age-group teams from various schools from around South Africa.
The Hibbert Shield hockey tournament has recently been established and hosts schools from all areas of South Africa. This shield was named for a family of alumni of the school who have been extensively involved in hockey for several decades as staff and coaches at the school, and national representatives in the sport. The Hibbert Shield is awarded to U19 teams and the Hibbert Cup is awarded to U16 teams at the tournament.
Grey is the only school in Port Elizabeth to offer sweep-oar rowing as a sport.[14] This sees the rowing crews travel to East London, Knysna, Port Alfred and Pretoria to compete in regattas with other rowing schools from around the country, with the culmination of the season being the South African Schools Championships in Pretoria.[14] In 2014, two U16 boys were selected to represent South African Schools Rowing in Belgium and returned with gold and silver medals.[14]
In 2020, SA School Sports magazine named Grey High School as the "Top Boys Sports School of the Decade" taking into account performances from across the sport codes of rugby, cricket, water polo and hockey.[1] Alumnus Greg Miller holds the distinction of being one of 11 boys in South African history to obtain South African Schools colours for both cricket and rugby, going on to play both cricket and rugby at senior provincial level.
Cliff Drysdale, 1972 US Open Tennis doubles champion as well as a number of other singles and doubles championships; represented South Africa in the Davis Cup
David Maynier, South African parliamentarian for Democratic Alliance; Western Cape Provincial Minister of Education
Philanthropy
Vincent Mai, South African-American businessman, financier, and philanthropist. Benefactor of the Grey Outreach Programme, the Grey Junior & Grey High bursary scheme.
The Grey Cycle Tour 2008 was a cycle around the country of South Africa completed by seven students from Grey High School. All the funds raised went to the Childhood Cancer Foundation South Africa (CHOC). The idea of the Grey Cycle Tour was to include young people in the fight against cancer. The total distance traveled was 2300km. In total, R580,000 was raised.[citation needed]
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