{"id":879555,"date":"2026-10-24T17:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-10-24T15:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=879555"},"modified":"2026-10-24T17:17:32","modified_gmt":"2026-10-24T15:17:32","slug":"the-school-in-cape-town-older-than-south-africas-capital-linked-to-oxford-university","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/education\/879555\/the-school-in-cape-town-older-than-south-africas-capital-linked-to-oxford-university\/","title":{"rendered":"The school in Cape Town older than South Africa’s capital linked to Oxford University"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Founded in 1829, the South African College School (SACS) is widely regarded as one of the oldest schools in the country, with a rich history and several notable alumni.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While the school opened its doors to students in 1829, plans for SACS began earlier, when funds were set aside in 1791 to improve education in the Cape.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The funds were set aside by Dutch Commissioner General de Mist, with the final plans for SACS being completed by his successor, Sir Galbraith Lowry Cole.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The school officially opened in 1829, making it older than several parts of South Africa, including both Pretoria, the country’s administrative capital, and Johannesburg.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When it was founded, SACS was located on Long Street in Cape Town, but it soon moved to the Herbert Baker Buildings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today, these historic buildings are used by the University of Cape Town (UCT) after SACS relocated to a new site to accommodate more students.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After moving away from the Herbert Baker buildings, the school settled on the Montebello Estate, in Newlands, set against Table Mountain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Originally, the school hosted students from junior grades all the way up to those doing collegiate work, but it was later divided into separate schools.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today, both the SACS high school and junior school are located on the same estate, but operate as separate schools.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Later in its life, SACS played a role in the open schools movement, which called for the desegregation of South African schools.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The school had originally been open to all boys, but became a segregated school in 1905 following the Cape School Boards Act.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1992, the school was opened to boys of all races, and SACS notes that it was one of the few South African schools which “reopened” its doors to all learners.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The school also noted that its role in the open schools movement allowed it to desegregate “without the formal sanction of the Nationalist Government.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

South African College School today<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Since its early foundation, SACS has grown into a premier school in South Africa in both sports and academics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The school is competitive in a host of sports, including hockey, where it is ranked second in the country by SA School Sports’ combined rankings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These rankings consider the performance of each school’s top teams in each age category, with its combined rugby rankings also placing SACS in the top 30 in the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For academics, the school is one of only four in South Africa which has a Rhodes Scholarship open to its alumni.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This scholarship covers the full tuition and accommodation for a person to continue their studies at Oxford University in England, one of the world’s most prestigious universities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

SACS describes this award on its website as “one of the world\u2019s most prestigious academic scholarships.” <\/p>\n\n\n\n

While this scholarship was originally reserved for SACS alumni, it has since been opened to include learners from Rustenburg High School for Girls and Sans Souci Girls\u2019 High School.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The school fees for SACS are R71,000 per year, with fees slightly higher for grade 8 at R72,800, which is less than at many of South Africa’s other historic schools.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The school also offers boarding for R79,000 per annum, with three separate boarding houses to accommodate roughly 160 learners.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The school’s largest boarding house, Rosedale, is one of its original buildings from when it moved to Newlands in 1959, and houses grades 10-12.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Michaelis House, which accommodates grade nine boarders, was originally the home of Sir Max and Lady Michaelis after the First World War.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The building was then converted to suit the school’s needs in 1953 and currently accommodates roughly 40 learners.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Photos of South African College School<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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South African College School is regarded as the oldest school in South Africa, and its impressive history translates into a variety of offerings today.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":879608,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sma_x_autopost_status":"posted","_sma_x_autopost_error":"","_sma_x_post_id":"2114010284541010202","_sma_facebook_post_id":"191437357620492_2247769439376788","_sma_instagram_post_id":"18566870611075293","_sma_x_attempts":1,"footnotes":""},"categories":[26526],"tags":[26796,26795,7138],"class_list":["post-879555","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-education","tag-sa-school-sports","tag-south-african-college-school","tag-uct"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/879555","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=879555"}],"version-history":[{"count":26,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/879555\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":881334,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/879555\/revisions\/881334"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/879608"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=879555"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=879555"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=879555"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}