Vghs
Education in Grahamstown

Victoria Girls' High School - VGHS Online, Top 100 South African Schools, 2007 Educational Institution of the Year.

At Victoria Girls’ High School we support and respect one another in a safe and happy environment. Our broad spectrum of activities and facilities enriches all, as we strive for excellence. We have five hostels currently run with the help of VG hostel staff and Rhodes University students. The junior hostel that is home to Grade 8 to Grade 10 is the perfect place to mould young minds and a great start for someone who is new to town and hoping to find new friends. This house is a working environment and the notion that education is important but fun is never forgotten, with the help of supporting staff and great people who make this house something special. With the help of the kind and hard working staff this hostel has become a place of more than learning; but has been to many girls a place to mature and grow. This is one of the smaller hostels currently hosting twelve girls and three staff members. The home away from home idea is made possible by the smaller house and the few residents making this an enjoyable experience for all. This is another smaller house that reinforces the idea of a homely hostel. The house is run with the help of three staff members and around 22 house mates. This small hostel creates a homely environment in which girls can focus on their academics and where they learn to be responsible and to behave maturely. The hostel currently hosts twelve girls and three staff members. Miss Bertha Mingay, a certificated teacher, started giving lessons at home. Her institution was called the Acorn School and only had eight learners. The quality of education Miss Mingay was offering was so impressive that enrolment numbers grew rapidly. The school's first official recognition was in 1896, when the Education Department of the Cape Colony invited Miss Mingay to sign her school under their name. At that stage (1986) there was no official uniform and the girls were allowed to wear brightly coloured blouses of their own choice, long dark skirts and large (frilly) white pinafores. Outside they wore hats and their hair had to be tied back with coloured ribbons. School ended at quarter past two and there were no organised games or sport as the time was diverted to studies. The first sporting facility was established in 1902 and the facilities were a tennis court and croquet lawn. As soon as the foundation stone of the the official school building had been laid, the name Victoria Girls' School was given to the school. This was in commemoration of the Queen's sixty-year reign. Although Miss Mingay resigned, her passion for education didn't stop there as she went on to become a mother and grandmother of a family of educationists, including a professor of physics at the University of Cape Town. The headmistress appointed and best suitable for the job was Miss Glennie. She is said to have established the tradition of service and chivalry, kindness and courtesy. The building the school was situated in, was too small to accommodate such a huge number of girls so it was time to build again. The reputation of the school was that of a good one and this attracted girls' that lived far from Grahamstown. The need for a hostel was recognised in 1906, but it was only in 1912 that anything was done about the situation. Since there was no money or land available for the school, they tried to find a building which they could turn into a hostel for the girls. With the expansion of the boarders Dorset House was soon too small, so this led to the school renting a cottage which was known as the Shackleton's Cottage. The girls were taught the importance of self-improvement and intellectual development through independent reading and research.