- The primary schools in Wynberg, once part of Plumstead, have a storied history, including Broad Road Primary, Battswood Primary, and John Graham Primary, which became Wittebome High.
- These schools have shaped the educational landscape of the area, with Battswood Teachers College being a prominent institution for aspiring teachers before other colleges were established.
- The article highlights the historical significance and evolution of these schools and their impact on the community.
Primary Schools in Wynberg have a rich history and before the Group Areas Act was implemented were part of Plumstead. Three historic schools located within the Wynberg East urban enclave are Broad Road Primary School [1925], Battswood Primary School and John Graham Primary School. The latter became Wittebome High School.
When you speak to ex-teachers with more than 60 years of experience, now in the autumn of their lives (late-70s to late 80s) they have fond memories of attending primary and high schools, as well as the Battswood Teachers College in Wynberg. In the fifties aspiring teachers flocked to Battswood from all over the Western Cape to fulfil their dreams of becoming a teacher, going back to their communities and making a difference in the youth in the town or city.
The late Goliath Davids, well-known actor from Heidelberg in the Cape, attended Battswood with my late father, Antonio de Lange, and although Goliath left teaching for acting, my father stayed in his profession until he passed on in 2007. Battswood was then the only teaching college for coloureds before the establishment of Zonnebloem in Town, Hewat in Crawford, Roggebaai in Cape Town or other training colleges like Bellville Training College or the Training College Southern Cape in Oudtshoorn.
Plumstead
Mark Meyer, a resident of Wynberg, sheds light on the history of some of the schools in Wynberg.
“The entire area from Wynberg Station to Southfield was initially known as Plumstead and Broad Road Primary was known as Plumstead Mission School in 1852. The school was located at the corner of Ottery and Broad Roads catering for all families south of Wynberg Hill. The school, also known as the Ottery Road Schoolroom, was renamed the St John’s EC School. Through the years, the school was referred to by several names; the Plumstead EC School and Parkinson’s School (after the much-loved principal, George Parkinson),” he says.
In 1890, the school was taken over by the Department of Public Education and officially became the Ottery Road Public School. In 1925 the Department moved the school to a new building on the corner of Broad and Kildare Roads, formerly Broad Road Primary and now the College of Cape Town. What we know as the Ottery Road Primary School was established by the Methodist Church on their church land in Ottery Road. Anglicans living in the area (South of Wynberg Hill) used the school hall to worship and Emmanuel Church was established from this congregation,” he adds.
Karen Daniels says the buildings of Battswood Teachers College are still there and led into Battswood Primary School, since they were across the road from each other.
According to Edward Jansen Battswood was situated between Gosport and York Road in Wynberg.
The contemporary institutional landscape of the Wynberg East educational sector includes other Primary or are: Ottery Road Methodist Primary School (1903), Muhammadiyah Primary School (1929), Douglas Road Primary School (1934), St Augustine’s RC Primary School (1938), Focus College at 31 Gosport Road, Grade 1 to Grade 7, and Dominican School for Deaf Children (1962).
Mogamat Kamedien referred to teachers who qualified at the abovementioned colleges as “People who took the pedagogics seriously you know! The Cane Masters!”
