Figure 1.--This South African boy had his portrait taken on his first day of school. The portrait is undated, but looks to be from the 1950s--notice the wide lapels. He may have attended a private school, but many state schools also required uniforms. He wears a traditional British school uniform, but does not wear socks with his school sandals. We also see thst it Britain, but usually not with blazers.

South African parents like parents in other countries often take photographs on their children's first day of school. We do have some first day portraits which provide useful view of school uniforms and clothing over time. South African children seem to begin school at about 6 years of age. These first day portraits over time provide an interesting view of changing school trends. The first schools in South Africa were for Europeam children. Some missionary schools appeared for the African children, but for the most part African children went uneducated until well into the 20th century. Public schools werecevebtually founded for non white children, both colored abd blacks. Colored means Asian children, but the schools for non-white children were poorly funded. As a result of this and the poverty of the African population, nost of the school images we have found are of white children. Since the end of Apartheid (1994), conditions have improved, but the images we have found are still mostly of white children. Schools in South Africa include both uniform and non uniform schools. The uniforms as was common throughout the Empire were British style uniforms.. We seeb both in the photograpic recvord. And we a range of images, including photographs taken by the parent at home and dropping the children off at school as well as how the new childrenn are recived at school. We do not know of any special ceremony or practice at school associated with the beginning of school in South Adrica. Most South African school traditions are based on British schools We do not know of any special ceremony or practice at school associated with the beginning of school in South Adrica. Most South African school traditions are based on British schools.

Chronology

South African parents like parents in other countries often take photographs on their children's first day of school. We do have some first day portraits which provide useful view of school uniforms and clothing over time. South African children seem to begin school at about 6 years of age. These first day portraits over time provide an interesting view of changing school trends. The first schools in South Africa were for Europeam children. Some missionary schools appeared for the African children, but fir the most part African children went uneducated until well into the 20th century. Public schools werecevebtually founded for non white children, both colored abd blacks. Colored mwan asiabn children, but gthe schools gor non-whire children were poorly funded. As aesult of this and the povert of the African population, nost of the school images we have found are of white children. Since the end of Apartheid (1994), conditiions have improved, but the images we have found are still mostly of white children. Schools in South Africa include both uniform and non uniform schools. The uniforms as was common throughout the Empire were British style uniforms.. We seeb both in the photograpic recvord. And we a range of images, including photographs taken by the parent at home and dropping the children off at school as well as how the new childrenn are recived at school. We do not know of any special ceremony or practice at school associated with the beginning of school in South Adrica. Most South African school traditions are based on British schools.

The 19th Century

We have very little information on South African school trends during the 19th century. We are not sure how common photography was in South frica duting the 19th century, but we have not been able to finf many sdhool images.

The 20th Century

We know much more about South African school trends in the 20th century, although e have not found a lot of first day piortraits yet. We see children wearing British-style school uniforms. In many cases only the background tells us that we are not in Britain. Schools at private scgools might have elaborate uniforms, just like British prep and public (private secondary schools) with English style uniforms. This was not just the English schools, but the Afrikaans schools as well. The formal uniforms were still common in the 1960s, but we begin to see more unformal uniforms by the 70s. We are less sure about the state schools. We know that British styles were also widely worn in the state schools. We are not sure just how many schools had iniforms or when uniforms began to be introduced. Another factor was economucs. Afrikaaners in the early-20th century were mostly rural and several affected by the Boer War. Only slowly did they recover from the War and begin to prosper. A factor here was the expanding urban population. We suspect thst differences in schoolwear was primarily an economic matter.

The 21st Century

The trend toward casual schoolwear that we noticed in the late 20th century, continued in the early 21st century. This trend was most pronounced at the schools without uniforms. Here the younger children essentially wore play clothes to school. We also see the trend at schools with uniforms. A few schools still had tradituoinal BVritish-style uniforms including caps, ties, and blazers. Much more common were schools with casual style uniforms. The girls still wore dresses, but the boys often wore open-collar polo-styled shirts and shorts. Quite a few scghools allowed the children to come to school barefoot.

Reception at School

We do not know of any special ceremony or practice at school associated with the beginning of school in South Africa. Most South African school traditions are based on British schools. And there are no notable school traditiions for beginning new students. We note nuch more fanfare, for example, weloming new students in Japan and Russia. We do not see that in Britain or British Empire countries like South Africa. Of course this varies from school to school and some schools are more serious aboutb welcoming new students than others. This seems more common in recent years.

Navigate the Relate Boys Historical Clothing Style Pages
[Main country page]
[Long pants suits] [Short pants suits] [Lederhosen] [Kneesocks] [Eton suits]
[Jacket and trousers] [Blazer [School sandals]

Navigate the Boys' Historical Clothing School Uniform Pages
[Return to the Main South African school special day Page] [Return to the Main South African school Page] [Return to the Main School Uniform Page]
[Return to the Main Country First School Day Page]
[Return to the Main National School Uniform Page]
[Australia] [England] [France] [Germany]
[Ireland] [Italy] [Japan]
[New Zealand] [Poland] [Scotland] [United States]

Navigate the HBC School Sectione
[About Us]
[Activities] [Chronology] [Clothing styles] [Countries] [Debate] [Economics] [Garment] [Gender] [Hair] [History] [Home trends] [Literary characters]
[School types] [Significance] [Transport and travel [Uniform regulations] [Year level] [Other topics]
[Images] [Links] [Registration] [Search] [Tools]
[Return to the Historic Boys' School Home]

Created: 2:19 PM 1/24/2007
Last updated: 1:16 AM 3/14/2023