NEWTON TECHNICAL HIGH SCHOOL / HOËR TEGNIESE SKOOL NEWTON, Newton Park, Port Elizabeth.
The arms were registered by the Bureau of Heraldry on 4 October 1991 (certificate No 2368, issued in Afrikaans), may be blazoned:
Arms: Quarterly gules and sable; a lozenge or voided of a quatrefoil; at its centre a cog wheel argent; the whole within a border or.
Motto: Nunc agita.
About the arms:
The arms are registered in Afrikaans only. Since the school is dual-medium, it would be worth making application for a second certificate in English.
The red, gold and black colours of this device continue the colours adopted by the school in 1963, when a new badge was taken into use. The present arms, however, differ substantially from the earlier badge.
An official explanation provided by the school states:
“The badge is quartered, red and black, representing the official school colours within a golden quatrefoil representing the four goals of our mission statement, namely, academic, cultural, physical and pastoral development; included within is a silver toothed gear emphasising the technical component; the entire emblem lies within a shield frame.”
A striking feature of the arms is the fact that the principal charge, the gold lozenge, reveals within the outline of the quatrefoil (a formally drawn four-petalled flower) the red and black colours of the main field.
The motto, Nunc agita, is a translation into Latin of the earlier school motto, “Do it now” / “Doen dit nou”.
The school explains the change of language as having been “to meet heraldic requirements”. This is not the case: heraldry does not require one language rather than another – indeed, a motto can be in any language. But using the same motto twice in each of two languages is superfluous repetition, and switching to Latin allowed the use of a single wording in a neutral language (neutral because, in the past, educated people from both communities understood Latin).
The ordinary school blazer badge shows the shield and motto scroll in ordinary stitching (with yellow for the border and lozenge). The honours badge has these elements worked in gold wire, and incorporates a laurel wreath.
About the school:
The institution now known as Newton Technical High has its origins in the Port Elizabeth Technical College (today part of the amalgamated Port Elizabeth College). The college was originally, and was later again, an institution purely of adult education. However, on 17 February 1936, 12 pupils of high school age began taking classes in technical subjects ranging from Std 7 to Std 9.
The following year, 54 pupils were enrolled, and pupil numbers grew steadily until the outbreak of war in 1939. From then until 1945 numbers remained static at between 120 and 150 pupils.
During the war years a new workshop block was built, but only in 1945 were the pupils of what was now called the Port Elizabeth Technical High School transferred there. Pupil numbers increased steadily.
Soon after, a new technology classroom block was built, but it, too, became overcrowded with THS pupils and apprentices. Enrolment reached 320, the maximum number of pupils that could be accommodated.
In 1956 the decision was taken to build an entirely new PE Technical High School on another site, and after a long search, suitable undeveloped land was found on the east side of First Avenue, Newton Park (outside the township of Newton Park).
In 1960 the contract for the erection of the building was awarded. Clearing of the site began in ’61 and the school was completed at the end of October 1962. Mr A M du Toit was appointed principal of the new school, which opened on 21 January 1963.
The boys initially wore black blazers and grey flannel trousers, but early in ’63 colours of red, gold and black were chosen, a badge devised, and blazer material selected, black with thin red stripes. A motto, “Do it now”, was also adopted.
Lyrics for a school song were written by the principal’s wife, which were then set to music by Terstegen van Huyssteen, a schools music inspector for the Orange Free State.
The school was officially opened by the Minister of Education, Arts and Science, Jan de Klerk (father of the later State President F W de Klerk). (Technical education fell under the national ministry, not the Cape provincial Education Department.)
There were 411 boys in the first year, 570 in the second, and in 1965 a total of 602 pupils were enrolled – while about 100 had to be refused because of insufficient accommodation.
A naval cadet detachment was formed at the school in 1964, as well as a brass band. In 1971 the cadet detachment changed uniforms and drill styles to become army cadets. An armoury and shooting range were taken into use in 1976. The brass band continued, and won several competitions, taking first place in the Cape Province in 1981.
The cadet detachment was eventually disbanded in 1992.
An Old Boys’ association was formed in 1984. In 2002 the association was disbanded and amalgamated into the school’s newly formed supporters’ club.
The first female pupil was enrolled in April 1988, but left before the end of that year. However, since 1995 girls have been a regular part of the school.
The school changed its name in 1991 to Newton Technical High School and registered a coat of arms with the Bureau of Heraldry.
The school appointed its first female deputy principal, Miss S D Wilson, in 2002.
The school has its own website here.
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Remarks, inquiries: Mike Oettle