Hillcrest High School was established in 1976, a significant year in the history of our country, and was officially opened on 8 October in that year by Mr PRT Nel, then Director of Education in the province of Natal. To start with, there were 250 learners in Grades 8 – 10 and a staff of 10. The first principal was Mr Clive Talbot who, together with the parent advisory committee at the time, decided on a school uniform, badge and motto.
In the past 49 years, Hillcrest High School has advanced in leaps and bounds. There is now a student population of over 1200 and a staff complement (academic and non-academic) of over 100. Mr Talbot was succeeded as principal by Mr Philip Hawkins, Mr Malcolm Garrett, Mr Gerald Delport and Mr Craig Girvin held the position of principal from 1 September 1999 until 25 March 2022. Mrs Denise Knight took over the reins as acting principal in 2022 and was appointed to the role of principal on 4 March 2024.
Whilst not wanting to go into school history in detail, one event bears mentioning. On 14 February 1991 the parents of the school voted by overwhelming majority (88,2%) to admit students of colour for the first time and the school became a Model B school. 11 students of colour entered the school on 11 March 1991, the pioneers for what has now become a fully multi-cultural, and therefore greatly enriched, school.
The school has enjoyed consistent success over the years, and has sustained a broad range of educational offerings at the school. The Prospectus contains details of the school’s educational programme (both academic and extramural activities) and also attests to the successes of a selection of past students. The summary of Matric results over the past few years attests to the quality of teaching at the school. The school magazine gives a broad overview of the activities of the school whilst the list of student achievers and achievements over the past few years attests to the many successes of our students across a broad range of activities.
The school’s many successes can be ascribed to five cornerstones:
The school has aimed also to cater for students across the academic spectrum. More able students are extended and are encouraged to enter academic extension competitions. We have enjoyed much success in competitions like the Eskom Science Expo (a student selected to attend an international event in Beijing in 2018 and placed second), the Old Mutual Mathematics Olympiad (two students in the Top 100 in KZN in 2017) and the Afrikaans Taalbond Examination (a student placed 13th in KZN in 2018).
There is academic support for students who struggle in the form of extra lessons but, most significantly, in the Learner Support Unit (LSU) which, since 2006, has been specifically catering for students with mild learning difficulties. Students who have come through the LSU have ended up getting good Matric results, even in cases where parents had previously been advised that it was unlikely that their son or daughter would be able to get to Matric!
The school has also been a pioneer in the field of e-learning and was selected as a Microsoft Showcase School in 2017, the only one in KZN at the time, one of 15 in South Africa and one of 290 in the world. The school employs a Technology Integrator (TI) to assist staff with the integration of technology into their lessons and to drive the e-learning programme. The TI established firm contacts with Microsoft through the Microsoft Schools Programme and also with the Department of Basic Education and we were selected by the DBE as one of three schools in South Africa to pilot Operation Phakisa, a technology in education project. Sadly this project has not got off the ground.
In summary, then, Hillcrest High School prides itself on the many opportunities it has created for its students over the past 46 years, and on their many achievements. It is a school that is co-educational, multi-racial and multi-cultural and which draws its students from a wide range of socio-economic groups. Its staff and student population thus represents a broad cross section of South African society. It is built on three firm principles:
- Honour
- Hard Work
- Service
These principles are embodied in the qualities that we try to develop in our students, including honesty and integrity, and speak to the academic focus of the school and its strong community service ethos. It is a school that contributes positively to the development of South Africa’s future generations.
Hillcrest High School has its origins at Hillcrest Primary School where, for two years, Grade 8 and 9 classes were accommodated. On 20 January 1976, our high school opened its doors for the first time with an enrolment of 276 students and a staff of 18. Director of Education, Mr P Nel, officially opened the school in October 1976. The founding principal, Mr Clive Talbot, served the school for a year before being promoted to Head Office.
Under the enthusiastic and visionary guidance of Mr Talbot and his successors, Messrs Phillip Hawkins, Malcolm Garrett, Gerald Delport and Craig Girvin, the school has advanced in leaps and bounds. Today with a student population of 1 100, an academic staff of 65, and the support of many ancillary staff, Hillcrest High enjoys a fine reputation in academics, sport, service and cultural activities.
Class of 1976
The original school badge was designed by the first principal, Mr C J Talbot, and members of his Parent Advisory Committee. The book in the badge speaks for itself; the wildebeest formed part of the old Natal coat-of-arms; and the stone wall symbolises a wall built long ago by the Gillitt family to mark the boundary of their land which, at that time, included most of the village of Hillcrest. It is an extremely long dry-stacked stone wall, much of which still exists today and forms a prominent feature of the region. The Latin motto "Adspirat Fortuna Labori", taken from Virgil's "Aeneid", means "Fortune Favours Endeavour".
In 2001, to coincide with the school's 25th Anniversary, a new badge was adopted. It was felt that the badge needed to be more relevant to the era in which we find ourselves. To the original badge were added the silver leaves of the tree Cussonia spicata (the kiepersol or cabbage tree) which is indigenous to the area. The badge is crowned with the brown-hooded kingfisher, also indigenous to the area, and part of Hillcrest's coat of arms. The new badge was officially adopted on 1 January 2002.
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