Dryden Street Primary School

A Brief introduction to the History of Dryden Street Primary School.

The foundation stone on the austere and majestic school building reads:
This Stone Was Laid By
J. N. Jagger ESQ M.L.A.
Chairman Of The First School Board
For The Cape Division
on the
16th of September 1908.
The marking above the entrance states:
1908
Salt River
Public
School.
The impression one gets is that school began in 1908. However, this is not correct.

The school building, completed in 1908, became the ‘home’ of a group of Salt River pupils who originally attended a Cape railway station school (3rd class, Lower Grade). The Cape Railways employed many persons living in the Salt River area because the Salt River Station was an important junction. The Cape Government Railways provided facilities for the teaching/education of their employees’ children.

During the 1890s, the Education Department, intervened and started to regulate the railway station schools. It needs to be borne in mind that education at this time was far less formal than it is today. The Education Department agreed to grant ₤ 30 (thirty pounds) per annum towards each teacher’s salary provided there were better pupil attendance and the teachers were approved by the Education Department.

The Railway Department was still required to provide accommodation and furniture. [Mission Schools were the order of the day and there were few public schools]. Salt River Public School was thus the first public school to be built in the area and it replaced a Cape railway station school. An original lapel badge (donated by an ex-pupil Mr L M. Simenhoff) has as part of its design a locomotive on the badge. This is testimony to the link with the railways. Most railway schools pupils only went to Std 5 (grade 7) as that was the lowest level required for employment on the Railways.

The railway school children were often described using terms such as “coarse in speech” and “precocious in wickedness”. The railway station schools ceased to exist at the end of March 1919.

When Salt River Public School opened its doors in 1908, it catered mainly but not exclusively for ‘white’ railway employees’ children living in the immediate surroundings. The Salt River area was a mixed area (i.e. different races living together in the same area) yet the education of the non- whites was mainly the domain of the churches and mosques – Anglican, Wesleyan, Nederduitse, Muslim etc.

The first principal of the school was Mr Mac Robbie who may also have been principal of the railway station school before it was re-housed and renamed as Salt River Primary School in 1908. (Mr Simonhoff – one ex-pupil and son of former principal has indicated that Mr Mac Robbie was principal from 1903 up to 1931).

Besides the 3Rs (writing, arithmetic and reading), the school curriculum also included marching and target shooting. The discipline was very strict and army-like.

The next principal was Mr L. Simonhoff (Jewish by birth and Afrikaner by culture). He led the school 1932 to 1953 when he was transferred to Mountain Road Primary. He played a very prominent role in the Cape community. He was a renowned philatelist and an outstanding rugby referee. [He improved his qualification through further studies and qualified as a Bachelor of Arts in 1928]. With regard to the enrolment of pupils, it has been reported that Mr Simonhoff did not discriminate on grounds of race although this was accepted policy. It would thus appear that this obstinacy would again come to the fore during the 1980s.

In 1948, when the National Party came into power, public schools were forced to segregate its learners along racial lines and implement the state’s draconian Apartheid Policies. By 1953, Salt River Public School was renamed Dryden Street Primary School and classified as a school exclusively for coloured children. Most of the white learners were transferred to Mountain Road Primary School. And there nearly all the teaching personnel was transferred to other ‘white’ schools. [A Mr Gaffley remained on for a few years before accepting a transfer elsewhere].

Mr J.I. Wentworth was the first coloured principal of the school. He administered the school from 1953 - 1958. He was followed by Mr Felton (1960 - 1966) and Mr C. Roberts (1958 – 1959 & 1967 - 1979). Mr W. Paulse then lead the school from 1980 – 1986 and in 1987, Mr B. Manter became principal. When he retired in 1994, Mr B. Laattoe succeeded him and is presently still the principal.