St Stithians College first opened its doors over 60 years ago, however, its first trustees had the plan in mind for well over 10 years before that.

Dr Mary Reynolds, the archivist at St Stithians College compiled some details of the school’s rich history.

St Stithians was founded in 1941 by the St Stithians Trust formed from the bequests of Albert Charles Collins and William Mountstephens, two Cornishmen who migrated to South Africa in the late 19th century. The trust intended to build a Methodist school and the name commemorates the birthplace of Albert Charles Collins, the village of Stithian in Cornwall.

It was Charles Leake, one of the trustees, who heard of the sale of Portion 3 of Driefontein Farm, consisting of 240 acres in the semi-rural farming and smallholding district north of Johannesburg.

Leake acted swiftly and the seller was pleased with the idea of the establishment of a school on the land and agreed to a purchase price of £8 500 (just R17 000 at the time). Although the land was purchased in 1943, it took a decade for the school to become a reality, finally opening its doors to the first learners in January 1953. At that time, neither Sandton nor Randburg existed.

Then in 1981, a portion of the farm was purchased by the Wilhelmini family.

 They occupied the original Pretorius farmhouse, the ruins of which can still be seen on the opposite side of the Braamfontein Spruit to the Sandton Field and Study Centre, a short distance from St Stithians.

Before the 1981 sale, the St Stithians property extended almost to the junction of Jan Smuts Avenue and Bram Fischer Drive. Hugh Huggett, a long-serving head of the English department of the college, described his arrival at the college for the first time as a student-teacher, “My travels to Saints those years ago on my first teaching practice were similar to travelling to Ultima Thule for it truly seemed as if I was travelling to the end of the world.

“When I found these sorry-looking gates, I was surprised as they looked as if they had been hit by a truck of some sort – they lent rakishly to one side as if unable to stand erect. Behind them stood a sign in large bold black letters that declared that this was the site of a school that offered education to boys.”

The college property retained its rural atmosphere for many years, and even today it is a haven of environmental preservation with the western koppie and grassland area declared a heritage site.

The current extent of the grounds is less than the original farm portion.

In the late 1970s, the portion closest to Randburg was sold off to fund the development of the college.

This portion became the suburb of Lyme Park.

A founding member of the college support staff, Elijah Dlembula, described how the cows would often get out onto the surrounding roads and needed to be traced and herded back to school.

It is remarkable to think that a marshland with thousands of bluegum trees planted to soak up the water, has now become a green lung in the heart of the financial capital of Africa and has provided education to over 10 000 learners.

Like Sandton, St Stithians College has also experienced incredible growth over the past 50 years and is no longer just a boys’ school, but a proud college of seven schools offering a synergy model of boys’ and girls’ schooling on one campus with its Junior Prep, Girls’ Prep, Boys’ Prep, Girls’ College and Boys’ College.

We take pleasure in wishing our Sandton community, one and all, a very happy 50th birthday.