PRETORIA HIGH SCHOOL FOR GIRLS

At PHSG we understand the need for parents to find a “home away from home” for their daughters. And so we offer learners a weekly boarding facility in the form of two hostels, North Lodge and School House. These gracious old buildings, erected even before the school building itself arose, still echo with the voices of generations of girls who have made their home here.

 

Two boarding schools on either side of our Formal Gardens, house 142 girls, who wear their black and white (School House) and pink (North Lodge) with pride and enthusiasm.

 

The girls are weekly boarders and while they are boarding sisters, they are also fiercely competitive and annually battle for superiority on the volleyball and netball courts, on the hockey fields, athletics track and in the pool.

 

No week goes by without some special celebration or activity: newspaper fashion shows, appreciation days, dance-offs, pool parties and good old South African braais.

 

Our school is very big and offers so many opportunities. Being a boarder allows the girls easy access in the evenings to the Astro, water polo, the pool and ballroom dancing, apart from all the other usual activities.

 

Each boarder decorates her “Cube” or private sleeping area in her own way. The boarders will tell you the food here is absolutely wonderful and the Kitchen’s apple cake and cream and the pumpkin pie are legendary!

  

Each hostel boasts a Head Girl and a Deputy Head Girl, voted in by the boarders themselves, and these leaders are instrumental in affirming the link between the boarders, the staff, and the school, as well as seeing to the well-being of their peers and charges.

 

Teachers who are resident at the school act as Hostel Mistresses and are on duty throughout the week, so that there is always a guiding adult presence for the girls. Matrons are in charge of the kitchens, to create memorable meals and generally run the hostels, which are situated within the lush, leafy school grounds. A Hostel Secretary, based in the school Reception, takes care of hostel logistics and is the first port of call for parents.

Old Girl boarders remember their school days with tremendous nostalgia because, at both North Lodge and School House, they forge friendships and establish ties that have endured long after they have left Girls' High.