90 years of excellence at Uplands
The idea of a private English-Medium school would never have been conceived had it not been for the establishment of a settlement called White River, founded in true pioneering spirit by a variety of indomitable characters in approximately 1904.
A walk around the current campus will give you a sense of the rich history of Uplands, with the Preparatory opening in 1928 and the establishment of the College in 1997.
Uplands is an independent co-educational school, under the auspices of the Anglican Church. Uplands Preparatory School has been in existence for 90 years. From its humble beginnings the school has grown to become one of the most prestigious schools in South Africa.
1909
A settlement for ex-Boer War servicemen was established in White River by Lord Milner in 1909. This development was doomed to failure, but was resurrected as the White River Estates after the First World War in 1919.
1928
As settlers, many of them British citizens, flocked to the area, the idea of a private English medium school in White River was conceived. Miss Matilda Fuller, a newcomer to the area and a well-qualified and experienced teacher, was approached to assist. She opened her home to the first six pupils in 1928.
1946
Miss Fuller’s Homestead School flourished and grew, until, in 1946, on the retirement of its founder and namesake, it moved to the Uplands Estate, which had been purchased from the estate of the late Mr W A Webster.
1954
In Rev Driver’s first prize-giving address at Uplands in 1954, he thanked the Bishop for bringing him to Uplands to work “which I hope I shall do until I can work no longer”. He said “the most important thing I hoped to do at Uplands was to build a chapel– that has always been the crown of my hopes and plans.”
1956
Miss Fuller’s Homestead School changed its name to Uplands School in 1956. From humble beginnings with Miss Fuller, the school has been nurtured over the years by a succession of heads: – Miss Ogilvie, Miss Moll, Mr Gillatt, Rev Jos Driver, Mr Walmsley, Mr Thorpe, Mr Innes, Mr Sloane, Mr Sinclair and Mr Frost.
1957
Miss Matilda Fuller, founder of Uplands School, died on the 28th of January. She would have been astounded to know that negotiations were being made to expand the school. The staff compliment was increased to six, including two males and the Headmaster. Teachers were now receiving the princely sum of between £40 and £50 per month.
1963
Sadly, Speech Day on 29 November coincided with the departure of Rev Driver, and the reassurance to the parents of the continued support of the Church.
1980
Rev Drivers dream to build a chapel, came true. At the opening of the Hall / Chapel in March, Phillip Greathead, Vice-Chairman of the Board of Directors, paid tribute to the man in whose honour the new School Hall had been built.
1997
The need for a local high school offering a continuation of the Uplands Preparatory value based education inspired parents to build the College. The decision to found the school was made on 31st May 1997. Land was donated by Mondi and funding was received from the Anglo American Chairman’s’ Fund. The balance of the cost of erecting and establishing Phase 1 of the school was borne by individual parents in their determined struggle to meet the growing need for a quality education within the region.
The construction of College Boarding House was completed in December 1997, ready for the first pupils to arrive in January 1998. It was the first Boarding House built at the College (situated where the current Founders House is today.
1998
Uplands opened its doors to 94 pupils on the 19th of January 1998, of which more than half were boarders. College Boarding House was co-ed with David & Janine Lovatt being the first house parents, whilst College House for Girls was being built. The Colour Green was chosen as the College House Colour. It is the predominant colour in our crest and is a continuation and follow through from the Preparatory school colour.
In 1998, Founders House was essentially a Day Scholars House and consisted of less than half the school. The Colour Blue was chosen as the Founders House Colour. It represented the new colour being used by the College for our school uniform. It’s in the “Y” of the school crest, the explanation was that the “Y” denotes the ETHOS of both schools and the central CROSS the role the Church has created in the development of this Ethos. The branching denotes both schools flowing from the central theme. It also refers to the integrated nature of the Preparatory and College.
1999
At the start of 1999, the original College House became a boys only boarding house called College Boys Boarding house and the girls moved into the newly built College House for girls, which is the current Bishop Boarding House.
2000
The College had grown into an established centre of education, having opened in 1998 with ninety three pupils and had grown to an enrolment of two hundred and thirty in 2000. College Boarding House for girls grew to 60.
2001
The construction of the “Cricket / Day pavilion” was started as well as the construction of Bishop co-ed House (current College building) which was completed in February 2001. The house was named after Bishop Robin, who was our Bishop and one of our Founding fathers, he passed away in January 2002.
Bishop house Colour is Red. Red is in our badge and chosen as the colour for the College school jersey. The colour Red is also associated with the Anglican Church. The colour of Holy Week is red and the colour for the day of Pentecost is red symbolising fire.
2008
At the beginning of 2008, the Bishop co-ed moved over to where the current Bishop Girls House is today and College girls moved over to where they are today. The number of Girls increased from 60 to 80, which was the capacity in the house.
Bishop Boys opened in 2008 with 14 Boys, Mr Carl O’Connel, Mr Dave Ernstzen and Mr Derek Putter were house masters.
It is not clear when College Boys Boarding changed its name to Founders Boys boarding, however in the room allocations for 2006 entry it is referred to as Founders Boys boarding for the first time. Founders House was named after the Founding families, who had the vision and determination to build an English speaking co-educational boarding school in White River.
2014
During the 2014 season our senior boys hockey team were ranked 4th in the country, the only co-ed school ranked in the top 20. In addition to this our 1st team Cricket were ranked 10th. Over the past few years, Uplands Rugby players have furthered their careers at the Sharks academy, Lions, Stormers and Blue Bulls. Most notably are Michael Rhodes and Warwick Tecklenburg. Currently, we have hockey players playing in the Tuks, Wits and Maties sides.
2015
The College grew into an established centre of education with 500 pupils enrolled in 2015.
2018
Uplands, caters for pupils from Grade 000 through to Matric, with boarding from Grade 4 to 12. Uplands currently caters for approximately 490 Prep pupils and 500 College pupils, with an average of 274 boarders on campus. This makes us one of the largest co-ed boarding schools in South Africa. This is an achievement that we are proud of and reflects our growth, based on sound and progressive principles.
For our long distance boarders, we are just 366km from Johannesburg and 20 minutes from the Kruger Mpumalanga International Airport (KMIA).
Uplands is currently under the Executive Headship of Mr Gary Sim and Preparatory Headship of Mr Dave Ernstzen.
