Eagle School
| Eagle School | |
|---|---|
|
Eagle School Badge Arduus Ad Solem | |
| Location | |
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Vumba Mountains Manicaland Zimbabwe | |
| Information | |
| Type | Independent, preparatory boarding school |
| Established | 1948 |
| Closed | 1976 |
| Gender | Boys |
| Houses |
|
 View of Eagle School from the access road | |
Eagle School was an independent, preparatory boarding school for boys aged 7 to 14 years situated in the Vumba Mountains near Umtali, Rhodesia (now Mutare, Zimbabwe). The school was founded in 1948 and closed in 1976.[1] The remaining pupils were then integrated into Springvale School.[2] Geoffrey Nyarota, whose was not an Old Eagle boy, but who might have wished to be one, described the school as a "prestigious institution for wealthy white boys." It is true that only caucasian males were admitted, which was typical of British colonial segregation in the last century, but it would be untrue to say all boys came from a wealthy background - many had parents of humble means, particularly those from nearby Umtali. More to the point, the school served the ex-patriate communities throughout Central Africa, with large contingents from Northern Rhodesia, Nyasaland and Mocambique. Among Southern Rhodesians many of the boys came from rural farms where there were no educational facilities other than school by radio. Consequently Eagle was a complete boarding school with a majority of pupils from adjoining territories and indeed many of its staff came from Great Britain or other British colonies. The school therefore had a character and a culture which was unlike the Rhodesian Government schools[3][1] Eagle was one of the nine founding members of the Conference of Heads of Independent Schools in Zimbabwe (CHISZ) as it was formed in the 1950s.[4]
Motto
The motto of Eagle School was Arduus Ad Solem, a Latin phrase which means "Striving towards the Sun". The school shares the motto with the former Victoria University of Manchester (now the University of Manchester, but has a different motto) and the Dragon School, a co-educational, prep school in Oxford, England.
School Structure
The school was a boarding school with places for 126 boys. Each boy was given a number upon admission and that number remained his number until the day he left. The number and name of the boy was stitched or marked on to articles of clothing, books and sports equipment. The boarding part of the school was divided into three sections, namely the Junior Block, the Middle Block and the Senior Block. Within the blocks, life revolved around the dormitories. The dormitories were named after birds of prey. Life began in Shrike, followed in the second year by Auger and Falcon. Thereafter a boy moved up to the Middle Block, usually in the third and fourth years, passing through the dormitories Kestrel, Batchelor and Martial. Finally in the fifth and sixth years a boy graduated to the Senior Block moving through the dormitories Kite, Harrier and finally Hawk. Hawk was reserved for school prefects.
Academics
On the academic side a boy passed through six forms, beginning at form one and ending with form six. The forms were divided into two streams, namely A and B, the A stream being for the brighter boys who were being groomed as scholars. By a unique quirk of the academic system, boys in the A stream skipped form 5 and entered the sixth form directly. Here, if a boy was deemed to be a scholar he could spend two years, the final year under special tutorial-type tuition. The scholars then sat scholarship examinations to qualify for scholarships to the two senior schools Peterhouse and Falcon and, rarely, to British public schools. The best achieving scholar in the sixth form received the Gold Medal, issued annually and engraved on a board in the dining room. Scholars and Bursars also won a place on a school engraving board. The school excelled in the teaching of Latin, French, English and Mathematics. Latin and French commenced in form 3 and by form 6 a boy was proficient in these languages and also Latin Literature - whereas in English lessons and periods only grammar and composition was practised and English Literature was omitted. History followed the English curriculum, beginning with the Druids, the Romans, Alfred the Great, the Anglo-Saxon kings, the Norman invasion of 1066, the Magna Carta and thence onwards through all the Norman Kings to the War of the Roses. Many of the histories, comedies and tragedies of Shakespeare were played at the school and naturally dove-tailed with the English history syllabus. Geography focused on the British Commonwealth and the United States. Rhodesian history and geography were studied briefly only in the sixth form. There were Science classes for boys in the Middle and Senior Blocks, with Physics being taught in the Easter term, Chemistry in Winter term and Biology in the Christmas term. Another feature of the academy were the institutions known as 'prep' and 'detention'. Every boy in the middle and senior blocks had to do two sessions of evening preparation, usually things like Latin and French translations and sentences, Mathematical exercises and English grammar exercises and composition. Boys who were not completing their 'prep' properly would be detained in 'detention' for a couple of hours in free time to do extra lessons or more 'prep'.
Sports
The school had excellent sports facilities and participation in rugby, cricket, soccer, athletics and swimming was compulsory with tennis being an option. Rival schools against which sports were played were Ruzawi, Springvale, Chancellor, Umtali Junior School, Carmel College, Baring, Vumba Heights and John Cowie.
Sports were taught by age-groups to all boys and at the end of terms the boys competed against each other through their sporting houses Swifts, Swallows and Martins. In the Easter Term the sports were swimming, cricket and for the juniors, rounders. At half-term athletics replaced cricket: in the later sports the boys moved between track running, long jump and high jump each afternoon in succession. At the end of term was the inter-house athletics competition, held on Mellor Field and Bottom Field, the latter being the venue for the steeplechase. In the Winter term football and rugby were played exclusively, with occasional walks and runs along the school drive on rainy or foggy days. Rugby was played only when a boy entered the senior block. In the Christmas Term, cricket was played on three afternoons per week, and also there was swimming twice a week. Swimming moved through four grades, namely beginners, greens, yellows and oranges. To attain the orange standard a boy must dive head first from the high board and complete minimum times in the back stroke, crawl and breast-stroke. All boys became very proficient at swimming and swam most days in summer, both for pleasure and sport. The school fielded two teams to play against other schools in cricket and football; these were the Colts for boys in the Middle Block and the First Eleven for boys in the Senior Block. The Athletics Team was a mixed team of all ages. The best sportsman in each year was awarded the Hulley Medal and his named was engraved on a special board in the dining room.
Boys' Games
Informal games were avidly played by nearly all boys. The most popular game was 'Open Gates' played on the lawn outside the class-rooms between two drainage ditches. A boy was put 'on' (usually the champ from the previous session) and he would issue a challenge to another boy standing with the mob at one of the drainage ditches. If the challenged boy made his way past the challenger to the opposite ditch without being touched it was 'open gates' and the whole mob dashed to the other side. The boy who was 'on' had to grab any boy he could lay hands on. Those he touched had to join him in the middle of the lawn for the next challenge and the next 'open gates' if such was declared. Eventually there would be a single boy who survived being caught and he would be the winner, and the boy who would be put 'on' at the next game. Another popular game was dubbed 'The Game' pronounced 'Thee Game'. This game was played over the entire school estate, particularly in the pine and cypress forest and the 'Old Oak' forest below it. A boy was put 'on' and would count to one hundred while the others boys would run and hide. The boy who was 'on' would then commence the hunt for the others and would have to run them down and capture them. Often a boy would show himself and challenge the boy who was 'on' to catch him if he could. When a boy was caught, subdued, tackled and brought under control he would be 'on' as well and join the band of hunters. One quirk of the game was that if you were still one of the 'hunted' you often didn't know if another boy was now 'on' or not, and thus pretence and guile, as well as speed, agility and strength, counted for success in the game. The Game could run for an hour or more and was mostly played on Friday afternoons, which were free, or on Saturday mornings during Detention. Another favourite game was 'Kick the Tin' which was played opposite the carpentry shop.
Cultural and related activities
Activities on offer included archaeology club, horse riding, music, carpentry and the Young Farmers Club.[1] Plays and concerts were regular term events. Variety concerts were held at the end of every term, and comprised singing, poetry recitals, dances, musical solos and duets, the later being played mostly on the piano. At half-term in the Winter a school play was presented, with Shakespeare's plays taking pride of place during the years of headmaster Claude Mellor, who directed them (up to 1968). The school was non-denominational and Christian. Assemblies were held on weekdays and church services on Sundays, during which readings from the bible were given by the boys and masters and sermons by visiting ministers from the Umtali area, in rotation - Catholics, Anglicans, Methodists and Lutherans being among those who preached, and not a few masters gave sermons as well. Hobbies were encouraged at the school. Among the favourites was model aeroplane flying, flying kites, artwork, small-animal husbandry and gardening (at the YFC). Occasional crazes hit the school - among these can be numbered the yo-yo craze, tick-tocks, conkers, blow-pipes, fly-catties, keeping slug-eating snakes, etc. The main holidays at the school were the School's Birthday, Claude's Birthday and Guy Fawkes. On the annual birthdays boys would be organised into groups and be sent to Old Oak to cut bamboo spits for roasting sausages. Fires were made on Top Lawn to cook the sausages. Masters set up a fair, with stalls where various competitions could be attempted for prizes. The school also had a Tuck Shop where boys were given a weekly allowance of about 6d to 1/- in order to buy sweetmeats of various types.
School plays: 1965: -- 1966: Macbeth 1967: Hamlet 1968: A Midsummer Night's Dream 1969: The Pirates of Penzance (staff play) 1970: -- 1971: The Ghost Train 1972: --
The natural environment
The school was situated on a large estate, approximately 100 acres in extent, in the Vumba Mountains of Southern Rhodesia. The adjoining properties were farms and small-holdings. Mountains surrounded the school, most notably Maduma in the west, Lion Rock to the north, Castle Beacon to south-east and Camel's Hump to the south-west. Most of the estate was covered in coarse mountain grass, with a valley and stream on the south-east side which was covered in jungle - known to the boys as Old Oak. The boys spent what little free time they had playing in the jungles or walking on the grassy hill slopes. A favourite venue was the 'slide' lying further down the stream, where water flowed over smooth granite smeared with algae and slime. The boys would strip to the skin and slide down the waterway on their buttocks which could be a hair-raising experience, or a bruising one, when the wrong line was taken. Sunday walking expeditions were allowed under a prefect or master, where longer walks were made to Castle Beacon, the summit of Maduma or the Nyachowa Falls. The outdoors life was strongly encouraged and often the whole school would be turned out of bed to run the 3 kilometres to Cripps' Grave and back of a rainy afternoon, or to take early morning swims in the pool. There was at one time an assault course built near the swimming pool where boys had to climb ropes and make their way through tunnels and along poles and overcome other obstacles.
School characters
Frank Cary was obviously a visionary figure, being the school founder, but little is known about him. Claude, the longest serving headmaster, had to be the most famous schoolmaster at Eagle. He was universally loved by the boys. Claude came from the Dragon School in Oxford and he played the accordion to the boys in their dormitories on many evenings. His favourite attire was a white safari suit and stockings with highly polished tan shoes. 'Dick' Moore was the second master, later headmaster, and was the longest serving member of staff - he was a typical Rhodesian-born schoolmaster, a product of Plumtree school and had a reputation for being a disciplinarian. Mr Hammond, the last headmaster, came from Springvale School and was well received by the boys in the school's final years. Another character was Mr Bantoft, known by his nickname of 'Batu' who was a great favourite among the boys, especially when 'dooks' were dispensed to defaulters at school roll-call and prep on Wednesday evenings. Another school character was Mr Ehlinger, known as 'Elly' who ran the junior block, supervised the labour and the school grounds and was responsible for physical education and swimming; he was a disciplinarian but will be remembered also for his compassion to the junior boys who suffered from 'homesickness'. The English and French master Mr Herring was another long-serving staff member, who set a fine example and was also a great actor and singing instructor and who played the piano during assembly and church services. Many, if not most, of the masters came from Britain and brought with them a wealth of culture acquired from their own prep schools. Among the African staff, the headwaiter, Benny, and his deputy, Elijah, both served the school through most of its life and will be best remembered for dispensing extra bread and jam at the hatch in the dining room, and also for their peregrinations through the school corridors beating the dinner gong.
Closure and integration into Springvale
Eagle was at the time precariously placed in its mountainous home because of the security situation and its proximity to Mozambique. The school had approached the Springvale School board "in general terms" on a previous occasion about the possibility of a move and in March 1976 met specifically to ask if Springvale School would consider taking on the pupils and staff who remained after the school had officially closed in the Bvumba. Eagle Headmaster Michael Hammond, who had taught at Springvale for many years before moving to Eagle, was faced with an agonising decision: to close completely or to move the school somewhere where "we could continue to preserve our identity for the rest of the year". Thus Eagle joined the ranks of Springvale at the opening of the second term, 1976. Springvale temporarily benefitted from the influx of 70 Eagle boys but circumstances beyond the schools control forced it to close in 1979.[1][2]
Post closure
The school site was subsequently taken over by the Elim Mission Society. On the night of the 23rd of June in 1978, 12 members of the mission were murdered by members of ZANU PF.[5] The site was taken over by ZANU PF and access to it is restricted.[1]
List of Heads at Eagle School
Between 1948 and 1976 there were only 4 headmasters:
- Frank Cary (1948-1953)
- Claude de Clegg Mellor (1953-1968)
- Richard Moore (1968-1973)
- Michael Hammond (1973-1976)
See also
References
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Eagle School, Umtali". The Petrean Society. The Petrean Society. Retrieved 15 December 2015.
- 1 2 Sylvester, Penny (2003). "Springvale School 1953-1979". The Petrean Society. The Petrean Society. Retrieved 15 December 2015.
- ↑ Nyarota, Geoffrey (2006). Against the Grain: Memoirs of a Zimbabwean Newsman. Zebra. p. 73.
- ↑ "ATS CHISZ » HISTORY". ATS CHISZ. ATS CHISZ. Retrieved 20 December 2015.
- ↑ "Vumba. A summary of tragic events" (PDF). www.elimmissions.co.uk.
External links
- Eagle School on Facebook