Wrote and project-managed the history of Grey High School on the occasion of the school’s 150th anniversary. The story of the Junior School was also covered.

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The “school on the Hill” was named for Governor Sir George Grey but he had very little to do with its founding. The Spirit of the Tower outlines his role in signing approvals, but it was John Paterson, also the founder of the EP Herald and Standard Bank, who was in fact the leading light in establishing what was first known as the Grey Institute on a plot overlooking the city in what is now Central.

 

The book looks at the roots of the school and tracks the careers of various Rectors (headmasters) from the beginning and all of the significant events in the schools’ histories, including the great move to Mill Park in 1913, overseen by Rector Way and the vote to open the school to all South Africans in 1991 as the National Party’s apartheid policy began to crumble. Grey’s head was famously asked soon after this decision how many black and coloured children the school had. Rector Pakendorf replied that the school had only “Grey boys”.  

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The second half of the book is devoted to themes organised around the school’s motto of “Trio Juncta in Uno”, which is interpreted as Academics, Sport and Extramural. Within that framework, various themes such as Music, Cadets and even the rugby War Cry are given separate chapters.