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23rd January 1957: A historic day! The first English Medium High School on the Goldfields opened, with 235 pupils enrolled. The school, consisted of prefab classrooms, was situated where Goudveld Hoerskool now stands. The Welkom airfield was behind the school and the whole area was basically gravel and dust. The staff consisted of Mr. J van Huysteen, acting Principal, and fifteen teachers. Physical education consisted of being issued with a spade and pick and leveling the dustbowl into a sports field! In 1959 Mr. C J Haylett was appointed as vice-Principal and by the beginning of 1960 the roll stood at 306 pupils and classes ranged from Gr.8 - 12 (Std 6 – 10).
April 1961 saw the official opening of the new school situated in Falstaff Street. The previous day the pupils all carried their desks from the prefab buildings, down Long Road and into the new classrooms. This was an almost military operation, with the Traffic Department accompanying the pupils and teachers, to ensure that no accidents occurred. The new Hall was officially named the J van Huysteen Hall. This was also the first year that a Matric Farewell dance was held at the school, organized by the Std 9 class and teacher. Mr. van Huysteen retired at the end of 1962 and Mr. Eddie East assumed duty as Principal in January 1963. The roll stood at 407 pupils at the end of the first term. In 1965 the school had its first Springbok – Harold Pearce was selected to represent SA against West German swimmers! Mr. East concentrated on improving sports at the school and WHS became a force to be reckoned with on the sports fields.
In May 1974 the Hostel was opened and it could accommodate 100 pupils. It rapidly filled up and soon the Department was approached to enlarge the existing buildings.
Mr. East died in March1975 and Mr. Leon Schonken was appointed acting Principal. In 1976 Mr. Angus Pagel was appointed as Principal. The school Hostel was renamed the Eddie East Hostel in the same year. At the end of this year the school roll was at 830 pupils and WHS was now bursting at the seams. 1977 saw the introduction of the first Miss WHS and the money raised was used to add to Std 9 fundraising for the Matric Farewell. In 1978 WHS celebrated its 21st birthday in the Ferdi Meyer Hall. Present were 1957 pupils, past Head Boys and Girls, teachers of 1957 and the guest speaker was Mr. Gordon Waddell of Anglo American. 1979 saw the roll dropping to 750 pupils owing to the opening of Harmony High School to Std 6 pupils and Unitas re-admitting English-speaking pupils and Welkom Prep having their smallest Std 5 class. 1980 was a great sporting year for WHS. Wayne Tucker (Rugby captain) was selected for Craven Week Rugby and made the NFS School team. It was also the year that WHS beat Gimmies 21 – 12 at rugby! At the end of 3rd term, Mr. Pagel resigned to take up an Inspectorate position in the Transvaal. Mr. M Maree was appointed Acting Principal until the end of the year.
Mr. N J McGill was appointed Principal in 1981 and in July Mr. Maree resigned to take up an appointment as Principal of the Drakensberg Boys Choir. At this stage the roll was just over 600 pupils, giving a ratio of 15 pupils per staff member. This certainly allowed for much individual attention and pupils certainly benefited from this. Lyrics for a school song had been discovered by the singing teacher and Mr. Brian Mathieson, a local musician, kindly penned the sheet music for this. A hymn and song book was compiled and introduced at the end of 1981 and each pupil was expected to have a copy for the daily assembly. In 1982 Mr. N Padoa was appointed as Deputy Principal. A new athletics track was brought into use, which allowed for cricket and athletics to take place simultaneously. The Drum Majorettes did extremely well this year. A musical, Dracula Spectacular, was produced to mark the 25th anniversary of WHS and it was a huge success. 1983 saw our Drummies winning the OFS competition and traveling to Johannesburg to compete nationally. Mr. McGill led a cycle tour, consisting of 6 pupils and himself, to East London during the school holidays to raise funds and R8000 was collected. 1984 ushered in the return of Mr. M Maree as Deputy Principal and the start of building the Pavilion that was finally officially opened as the Angus Pagel Pavilion in August 1986.
August 1989 was the month that the building renovations started at WHS, which resulted in pupils being taught in all sorts of odd places. A Night Relay was held which was thoroughly enjoyed by all AND managed to raise over R11,000 as well. The Matric Farewell was cancelled due to an incident that took place during “40 Days”. VIVA MEXICO was the musical produced in 1990 and it played to packed houses at the Ernest Oppenheimer Theatre. The renovations continued apace and slowly more new classrooms and the staff room were handed over for use. In 1991 the school buildings were officially handed over by the Director of Education and consisted of 9 new classrooms, 3 laboratories, a gym hall and new admin block. Other classrooms received an upgrade as well.
1992 saw the introduction of the Model C school. A Spring School was organized for the September holidays and 157 pupils from the townships attended. This enabled the teachers to teach and then assess which of these pupils would be able to cope at WHS in the following year. ANY DREAM WILL DO was the musical produced this year, which was very successful. In May 1993, Mr. M Maree was appointed acting Principal as Mr. McGill was appointed Supt of Education (Mathematics) from May 1993. A farewell for the McGill’s was held in the Library at the end of the second term. 40 year celebrations were held this year and a very successful weekend that proved to be. Mr. M Maree was appointed as Principal. THE KING AND I was the musical of 1994 and praise was received from many quarters. The school won the Bewarea Award for the best school garden, doing the most conservation, education and beautifying of the city of Welkom.
In 1995 Mr. P Liebenberg was appointed Deputy Principal. In the United Nations competition (UN50), McHenry Masitsa was chosen to accompany President Mandela to New York for the UN50 celebrations and Mrs. Godfrey was the lucky teacher to accompany them. They had a wonderful tour, which included visits to Switzerland and New York and this really proved to be, “a dream come true”.
Mr. Liebenberg was appointed principal of Aurora and Mr. A Marais was appointed principal of Nanabolelo in 1997, and Mr. P Sauer was appointed Deputy Principal.
An ex-pupil and teacher, Zelda Grobler, organized the 1979 - 20 year reunion in April 1999 and this was really well attended. The 50th anniversary of WHS was celebrated in 2003. Mr. Maree retired as Principal at the end of 2003 and Mr. P Sauer was appointed as Principal in 2004. In 2009 students and teachers joined forces to do the melodrama/musical A South African Fairy Tale, it had the audience in stitches.
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