PINELANDS HIGH SCHOOL, Pinelands, Cape Town.
It is not certain whether the arms have been registered under the Heraldry Act. They may be blazoned:
Arms: Argent, upon a chevron gules three annulets or between three pine trees proper; upon a chief azure, an open book proper.
Motto: Fides prudentia labor.
About the arms:
This coat of arms borrows heavily on the arms of the town of Pinelands, yet is sufficiently different from the town arms to stand on its own.
What the two devices have in common is a red chevron charged with the three gold annulets of Van Riebeeck, recalling the fact that the town was laid out on a plantation originally planted by the Dutch East India Company (or VOC) – although the plantation was probably laid out following the departure of the Cape settlement’s first commander, Jan van Riebeeck.
But where the town arms feature a gold field and three pine cones slipped, the school arms have a field of argent (silver or white), and three pine trees in their natural colouring.
In addition the school has a blue chief (the top part of the shield) charged with an open book, symbolising learning. The book is chiefly white.
The colours of the high school arms also reflect those of the three primary schools that serve the garden town of Pinelands: Pinelands Primary, in the Central Square (or “old village”) area of the development, also known as the “Blue School”; Pinelands North Primary (the “Red School”), close to Mutual Park; and Pinehurst Primary (the “Green School”), to the east side of the Elsieskraal River canal.
About the school and its location:
The town of Pinelands had its beginnings in 1919, when Richard Stuttaford persuaded the Government to grant a portion of the Uitvlugt forest reserve (as it was known – far from being a natural forest, it was a plantation, chiefly of pine trees) for development as a modern garden city.
The development had its beginnings near the (then) Pinelands railway station on the Cape Flats line, and around Central Square. In the early years, children from Pinelands attended high schools in Observatory and Rondebosch.
A local board was established in 1921, and municipal status was attained in 1948.
In 1952, after the town had spread northwards, Pinelands High School opened in a row of prefabricated classrooms close to Forest Drive (the main thoroughfare) and to Howard Centre (the “new” shopping area in Pinelands). Despite the erection of a comprehensive brick-built school building in the mid-1950s, the prefab classrooms remain in use to this day.
It remains the only high school in Pinelands, although some pupils still travel daily into Mowbray, Rondebosch and Newlands to other high schools, including Oude Molen Technical High School, just across the railway line. The Pinelands Municipality was absorbed into Greater Cape Town in 1995.
Website:
The school has its own website here.
Afrikaanse blasoen:
Die wapen kan in Afrikaans so geblasoeneer word:
Wapen: In silwer, op ’n keper van rooi drie goue ringe tussen drie dennebome van natuurlike kleur; op ’n skildhoof van blou, ’n oop boek in sy natuurlike kleure.
Leuse: Fides prudentia labor.
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