About Us > History of Queensburgh Primary School, 1966 – 2024 (Previously Werda Junior Primêre Skool)

An Afrikaans Parents Committee was established during the late fifties. There was a small group of parents who had a real need for an Afrikaans School in this area. Mrs Jo Naude was one of the pioneers.The Afrikaans speaking learners attended Malvern Primary School, which was Parallel medium, at that stage.

Parkside School was built in the meantime. They tried to persuade the authorities to make it an Afrikaans Medium School. This request was denied, as the Department was not convinced that there were enough Afrikaans learners to justify such a school. This really edged on the parents.

The co-operation and enthusiasm of the pioneers were even admired by the former Administrator, Mr A E Trollip. The road to Pietermaritzburg was well travelled. Through persistence permission was granted to build a separate Afrikaans school. The Department purchased a piece of land to serve this purpose. But the problems did not end there. It was an overgrown area consisting of a deep ravine and there was no road from Malvern to the new terrain. The parents committee’s application for Coronation Road to be extended was denied. The parents nevertheless never lost hope.

Mr P Naude offered a section of his land to serve as a path for the children to use. The parents cleared this area over weekends. A bridge had to be built over the creek. Mr W van Niekerk and C van Heerden used their engineering skills to build a small bridge using bamboo poles and wooden planks. The municipality built a strong bridge in time. This bridge and bush path was used by the Afrikaans learners.The Parent Committee also applied for a bus service at the Durban Municipality. This application was denied. To solve this problem, some of the parents and teachers decided to transport the learners with their own cars to and from the school.

In spite of these problems, the doors of a brand new school opened on 25 July 1961 to welcome the learners of the area. This was the former Werda S.P School (Now West Park School).The school was called Werda S. P which means “Who goes there?” The school opened with 334 learners. Mr W van Niekerk was the principal.The school’s enrolment increased to such an extent that it was decided to build a separate school for the Junior Primary learners. It was the Werda Bewaarskool which opened its doors on 25 January 1966 with an enrolment of 360 learners (the present Queensburgh Primary School). The principal was Ms M E Kruger and Ms Leonore Strobos was the Dep. Principal. On the 21st of July 1970 Ms PML Van Rensburg was appointed as the new principal. This post she held for 5 years.

On 1st July 1975 Ms Leonore Strobos was appointed the new principal. This post she held for 16 ½ years.The builders were not finished yet. There was no playgrounds and no garden. Attempts were made from 1975 to buy the 4 adjacent stands on the Beldon Drive side to serve as playgrounds.The Department was of the view that the school grounds was on par with other Junior Primary Schools and that they did not consider extending it. The need for more playgrounds did increase as the enrolment became higher and the erection of temporary classrooms diminished the grounds even more. It seemed as if the issue of purchasing the grounds was going to die a quiet death, but it was decided to take the matter to Parliament.

Mr N J Pretoriu’s(MP) services was co-opted. Through his mediation the purchase of 4 lots of land was approved. The 4 lots was purchased on 4 September 1980. The lots was fenced in 1984 and grass and trees were planted. A pathway was laid in 1985 and a new entrance was made on Beldon Drive. On 01 July 1992 Ms Marietjie v. d Ahee was appointed as principal. This position she held until the 31st of January 1996. As from the 1st of February 1996.

Ms J E Barnard was appointed acting principal and on the 1st of July 1997 she received the permanent principal’s post. On the 20th of October 2005 the Education Department granted the school permission to become a Parallel Medium School and change its name from Werda Junior Primêre Skool to Queensburgh Primary School. Unfortunately with this status change we lost a lot of Afrikaans speaking learners to Werda Skool. Nevertheless we fought fiercely to keep the Afrikaans medium open for as long as possible, but with an enrolment of only 58 Afrikaans speaking learners in 2009, this became impossible. Thus as from 2010 we changed to an English medium school. A very important chapter in the school’s book came to a close after 44 successful years. As we move confidently into the future, we will always remember the fighting spirit and perseverance of our school’s founders.