Sundaysriver Primary School

Situated in the beautiful Sundays River Valley among the citrus orchards you will find Sundays River Primary School with its 240 learners. With its white gables, learners have for the past 85 years, spent their primary school years in this healthy, outdoor situation.

Sundays River Primary is rich in tradition and continues with the vision of our pioneers and founders, especially Mr J.W. Badcoch – entrepreneur and farmer – who was the first person to export citrus to England. The land that the school is situated on was donated by him in 1927. Sundays River Primary was inaugurated on 10 October 1027 by Reverent Pauw and the cornerstone was laid by Mr Arch Flack. The primary school had 103 learners and the secondary section had 16 learners.

It was by no co-incidence that the school got its motto “PERSERVERE”. The school started with basic facilities and was subsidized by the state for a period of many years. The school was electrified, a school hall, swimming pool and our sport facilities were established by the parents. To this day our parents are involved with the maintenance and development of our school. Therefore, we can proudly declare that through the Perseverance of our parents, community and dedicated teachers our school has evolved to become the heart of the Valley.

Our school forms the cornerstone for our families as it is only at the end of grade 7 that our learners need to go to high schools. It is essential that our learners, during their formative years, receive their education from home base, as at this stage the role of parents in education is a vital requisition.

Many people over the years have come to wonder what the secret is to the success of Sundays River Primary. No less than 5 boys have become headboy at Grey High in Port Elizabeth, the present head girl at Collegiate is a learner from Sundays River Primary. On the sport fields we have also had sportsmen and women who have participated at provincial as well as national level. At academic level an ex-pupil achieved first place at Provincial level and second in South Africa in the final matric examinations. So, what is our secret? Some say it is the good fruit of the Valley that we eat. Others say it is our dedicated and highly qualified teachers. Others say it is the enthusiasm of our parents. We say it is a combination of all of the above with the help of our HEAVENLY FATHER.

Our vision for the road ahead is to build on the grounding that has taken place over the last 85 years. Our school is the best, and it is our wish to give to all our learners the opportunity to develop fully in all areas and to become good ambassadors of our country.