{"id":826374,"date":"2025-06-03T16:01:12","date_gmt":"2025-06-03T14:01:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=826374"},"modified":"2025-06-03T16:01:12","modified_gmt":"2025-06-03T14:01:12","slug":"the-boys-school-in-south-africas-richest-city-that-produced-billionaires-springboks-and-protea-captains","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/lifestyle\/826374\/the-boys-school-in-south-africas-richest-city-that-produced-billionaires-springboks-and-protea-captains\/","title":{"rendered":"The boys school in South Africa\u2019s richest city that produced billionaires, Springboks, and Protea captains"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

King Edward VII High School in Houghton Estate, Johannesburg, has produced top sportsmen and businesspeople, including Gary Player, Graeme Smith, and Sir Donald Gordon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of the Financial Mail\u2019s eight greatest achievers of the past century, three were educated at King Edward VII School. This achievement is unmatched by any other South African school.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The school\u2019s history dates back to 1902, when the South African War came to an end, and there was an urgent need for schools in the Transvaal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Milner Administration looked for suitable buildings to establish temporary classrooms, and found a vacant cigar factory on the corner of Gold and Kerk Streets in Johannesburg.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It used this factory to establish \u201cThe Government High School for Boys\u201d, also known as the \u201cJohannesburg High School for Boys\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It grew so rapidly that in 1904, it was relocated to Barnato Park, where it was established in the mansion that had initially been designed for mining magnate Barney Barnato.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These premises also proved inadequate, and in 1911, the school was moved into magnificent, specially designed buildings on the Houghton Ridge, which became its final home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All this came about shortly after the founding of the Union of South Africa and the death of King Edward VII, Queen Victoria\u2019s eldest son.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To honour the king\u2019s memory, the school was granted the right to change its name to King Edward VII School, commonly known as KES.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over a century old, the school buildings of King Edward School retained their appearance and are considered national monuments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These include the school hall, the lecture theatre and library wing, the memorial wing, and the cenotaph<\/a> in the main quad<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Throughout its history and to this day, it has remained a government secondary school, with an enrolment of over 1000 boys in grades 8 to 12.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

King Edward VII Preparatory School, situated adjacent to the High School and sharing its grounds, caters to boys from Grades 1 to 7.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOver the past century, thousands of youngsters have come to us as boys and left as men,\u201d the school said on its website.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMen with the education, confidence, morals, discipline, passion and courage to shape our nation\u2019s progress.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMany are internationally renowned as leaders and captains of industry, sports icons, human rights activists, academics, artists or authors.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

King Edward VII High School\u2019s exceptional achievements<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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KES states that it remains at the cutting edge of holistic education, ever mindful of its ethos, values and heritage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe rounded and balanced environment for which our School is famed combines legacy with leadership, high moral standards with high-tech facilities,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It said these principles guide it in its goal for the boys who attend the school to achieve academic, cultural, and sporting excellence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

King Edward VII High School has produced many of South Africa\u2019s finest sportsmen, businesspeople, and cultural leaders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Its alumni include golfing legend Gary Player, billionaire business mogul Sir Donald Gordon, and former Proteas captain Graeme Smith.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Others include 2010 Kyoto Prize winner William Kentridge, Justice Johann Kriegler, Justice Richard Goldstone, and Sir Sydney Kentridge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

KES has produced numerous Springboks and other top rugby players, including Bryan Habana, Malcolm Marx, and Scarra Ntubeni.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It has a particularly impressive list of cricket players as former pupils, including Ali Bacher, Adam Bacher, Quinton de Kock, and Nic Pothas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today, King Edward VII High School in Johannesburg remains a centre of excellence in academic, sports, and cultural activities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is on par with top private schools in South Africa and goes toe-to-toe with the best the country has to offer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Inside King Edward VII High School<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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King Edward VII High School in Houghton Estate, Johannesburg, has produced top sportsmen and businesspeople, including Gary Player, Graeme Smith, and Sir Donald Gordon.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":826376,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9876],"tags":[22717,22716,22715,22718],"class_list":["post-826374","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lifestyle","tag-gary-player","tag-graeme-smith","tag-king-edward-vii-high-school","tag-sir-donald-gordon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/826374","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=826374"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/826374\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":826390,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/826374\/revisions\/826390"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/826376"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=826374"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=826374"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=826374"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}