College and School Arms

There may well have been more than a thousand college and school arms (and pseudo-arms) since the inception of academic heraldry in South Africa in the 19th century.

Bearing in mind that school badges are often embroidered for wearing on uniforms, modern Bureau of Heraldry practice is to keep arms simple - usually just a shield and motto. Trefoils, trefly lines, and triquetras appear in many modern arms, to symbolise the learner/ parent/ teacher relationship.

A selection of college and school arms.

Colleges

Elsenburg Agricultural College's arms display symbols of agriculture and of the Western Cape: Per pile embowed inverted throughout Gules, Vert and Argent, dexter a single-share plough and sinister a garb Or, in base an anchor Azure, cabled Gules (BoH 1998).

The arms of the Lowveld Tertiary College are much more stylised, and no doubt allude to its motto of "reach the top": Argent, issuant from base and couped per chevron grady, three pallets Vert between four Gules, at honour point a mullet of six points also Gules (BoH 1996).

Those of the Saasveld College for Foresters allude to the field of education in which it specialises: Per pale Argent and Azure, dexter, a tree on a ground proper, sinister an axe and spade in saltire shafts upwards Or and, above, an open book Argent edged Gules bound Or (DoI 1938, BoH 1966).

Most technical college arms follow the basic pattern introduced in 1978, which comprises a demi-cogwheel (often with trefly teeth) and an appropriate local or regional emblem. Those of the former Technical College RSA, for instance, featured the national flower emblem: Per fess nowy to base Argent and Gules, in chief a protea flower seeded Argent and slipped and leaved Vert and in base a demi- cogwheel trefly Or (BoH 1984).

Schools

The Diocesan College (a.k.a. "Bishops") uses the arms of the Anglican Diocese of Cape Town: Quarterly, I & IV Azure a lion rampant Argent; II & III Sable three open crowns palewise Or; on a cross throughout Or an anchor in fess point Sable and in honour point a stag's head erased Gules, between the attires a pheon Azure (1847, CoA 1952, BoH 1972). Until 1952, the shield of the arms of Baroness Burdett-Coutts was displayed at honour point.

In sharp contrast to Bishops' Victorian arms, the Diphetoho Secondary School arms are in the Bureau of Heraldry's simple, modern style: Azure, a chevron Gules fimbriated Argent, charged with another enhanced also Argent, the lower edge grady (BoH 1995).

The arms of the Greytown Primary School allude to the Indian community which it serves: Per fess nowy of an Indian cupola Vert and Or, in base a double-handled candlestick Vert enflamed Gules (BoH 1992). Presumably the candle represents the light of knowledge.

Also in KwaZulu-Natal, Hilton College has fairly complex arms, namely Per saltire Or and Sable, a gryphon's head erased and a springbok's head couped Azure in pale, and two fleurs de lis Argent in fess; on a chief Azure an open book proper garnished and clasped Or inscribed in letters Sable wisdom is the principal thing, therefore get wisdom (CoA 1935, DoI 1947, BoH 1971).

The arms of the Hoër Landbouskool Boland (Boland Agricultural High School) are suitably allusive: Per pall, I Sable an open book Or; II Vert a garb Or; III Or a bunch of grapes with leaf Vert (BoH 1965).

The canting arms of the Hoërskool Overkruin (Overkruin High School) are: Per fess enarched Argent and Gules, in chief a trefoil issuant Gules, in base a pile inverted ployé Argent. (BoH 1975). "Overkruin" means "over the crest of the hill". The trefoil is one of the Bureau of Heraldry's symbols of education.

The Ikemisetseng Public School also has arms in the modern Bureau style: Vert, a bar dancetty surmounted by a pile inverted Or thereupon another Vert, and in chief a mullet Or (BoH 1992).

The arms of the International School of South Africa appear to have been inspired by the national flag: Per chevron inverted Gules and Azure, a pall Vert fimbriated Argent surmounted by a torch Argent enflamed Or (BoH 1998).

Khayalethu Special School is one of a dozen schools for handicapped children whose arms follow a pattern introduced in 1988: Per chevron the peak ensigned with a potent issuant Azure and Argent, in base a chevron coupled Azure ensigned of a flame Gules (BoH 1992). The potent is derived from the medieval-style crutch, and thus has connotations of support appropriate to these schools.

The canting arms of the Laerskool Monumentpark (Monument Park Junior School) allude to the monument erected to the Afrikaner pioneers ("voortrekkers") who settled in the Transvaal in the 1830s: Brunatre, a silhouette of the Voortrekker Monument Argent, overall a chevron embowed couped at the point throughout, Vert (BoH 1975). (Although blazoned as a chevron, the green portion looks more like a pile reversed).

Mamellang-Thuto Secondary School's arms feature a key, which is one of the symbols used by the Bureau to represent education: Sable, a double-warded key erect inverted, the bow in the form of a fir-twigged cross issuant, the whole within a bordure Or (BoH 1992).

The arms of the Marais Viljoen Technical & Commercial High School are Azure, a chevron Or between in chief dexter an anvil and sinister an open book Argent and in base a cogwheel Or (DEAS 1962).

The Parktown Girls' High School arms are probably the simplest of all South African school arms: Azure, a mullet Argent (1923).

Of similar vintage are the arms of the Hoërskool Rustenburg (Rustenburg High School), which allude to local vegetation and citrus farming: Argent, a fig tree proper; a bordure Orange (1930s, DoI 1956).

The arms of the Anglican St Andrew's College combine a St Andrew's cross with elements of the Grahamstown arms and a bishop's mitre: Per saltire Gules and Azure, a saltire Argent cantoned between an annulet in chief and in base and in each flank an escallop Or; on a chief Sable a mitre of the fourth (LL 1952).

References/Sources/Links

South African Heraldry Website © Arthur Radburn