Afrikaanse Hoër Seunskool (also known as Affies), is a publicAfrikaans medium high school for boys situated in the suburb of Elandspoort in Pretoria in the Gauteng province of South Africa. The school was founded in 1920 by Jan Joubert and reverend Chris Neethling.
All-boys public school in Pretoria, Gauteng, South Africa
The school's founding on 28 January 1920 marked the establishment of the first purely Afrikaans-medium high school in South Africa. The event predated the official recognition of the Afrikaans language by five years. With English as well as Dutch established as the official languages in South Africa, many of the Afrikaans-speaking population believed Afrikaans should also enjoy recognition. Afrikaans as language grew so fast that CJ Langenhoven tabled a motion in the Cape Provincial Council to slowly replace Dutch with Afrikaans. This thought was strongly supported by MP Jan Joubert and Chris Neethling. As leaders in the community they quickly organized a group to establish a purely Afrikaans school in Pretoria.
On 27 January 1920, the first acting head, Johannes Arnoldus Kruger de Lange received the new pupils. The first enrollment was a boy named Frederik Botha. There were 35 pupils in form II (grade 9) and 10 in form III (grade 10); 45 in total. De Lange was supported by DJ (Dawie) Malan and MM de Vos who were joined on 11 February by HCP Sack. De Lange later became head at the Commercial Branch at the Pretoria Technical College.
The school with 45 children and 3 teachers was housed in the home of General Piet Joubert at 218 Visagie Street, Central Pretoria.
Current building (1927)
By 1927, the school had grown and new premises were required. The school was therefore moved eastward to the current premises of the Afrikaanse Hoër Meisieskool, Affies sister-school. At the end of 1927, the school took over the Hogere Oosteindschool, a Dutch-medium instruction school, suggestive of the demise of Dutch as a language in South Africa and the assumption of Afrikaans as the primary instruction medium.
Present (1928-)
By 1929 this building had also run out of space and the decision was made to split the boys and girls into separate schools, thus creating the first separate Afrikaans boys' and girls' schools in South Africa. These two schools are now situated opposite each other in Lynnwood Road.
Headmasters
List of the headmasters of Afrikaanse Hoër Seunskool.