HOERSKOOL WAGPOS

School Profile

Hoërskool Wagpos- Guardpost - is about five kilometres outside of Brits, the town in North West Province, north of Pretoria and on the way to Rustenburg. The school is nearly as old as the town.

The town was founded in 1924 on a farm belonging to Gert Brits, hence the name of the town. The school was founded four years later.

It is a farming area, well supplied with water from Hartebeespoort Dam, providing for tobacco, maize and citrus farming and feeding the game farms in the area.

De Wildt Cheetah Centre is nearby and the Vaalkop Dam reserve.

In 1928 the eastern canal from the Hartebeespoort Dam was completed and the centre of activity was established on the farm Krokodilpoort at the foot of the Magaliesrand. Land was then made available to the Union Education Department for the establishment of an agricultural school.

The school started in 1928 with 30 pupils in two classrooms. It provided a three-year course in agriculture. A lot of it was practical work on the school's farm which meant that there was just a two-week break for the Christmas holidays.

The secretary in 1928 was Ol Olivier - and he stayed till 1962.

In 1930 the school acquired new buildings and a hostel. In 1938 it was given to the Transvaal Education Department as a Junior High School. In 1949 it became Brits Landbou Hoërskool offering a full five-year course.

The school grew, and in 1978, its golden jubilee, the name was changed to Hoërskool Wagpos. In 1993 girls were first admitted - 23 of them to 619 boys! .

By then and increasingly so pupils taking technical subjects outnumbered those doing agricultural subjects. Later it offered hotel and catering.

School Information:

Name: Die Hoërskool Wagpos
Founded: 1928
Motto: Volhard (Stick it out)
Pupil numbers: 649 (450 boys)
website: www.wagposhs.co.za
Rugby teams: 8
Craven Week players: 11
Traditional rivals: Brits

Rugby at Wagpos

For the first two years of igts existence, the school played soccer. Rugby started in 1930.

The first really good rugby year was 1965 when 160 out of 216 boys played rugby. That year the 1st XV played 11 matches, winning 10 and drawing one.

In 1969 the 1st XV went on its first tour - down to the Cape to play against Marlow Landbou, Cradock High and Adelaide Landbou. In 1985 the team went to Namibia. In 2005 the school wen down to KwaZulu Natal, playing Piet Retief, Richardsbaai and Empangeni, winning all three matches comfortably.

The first boy to play provincial schools rugby was Louis de Villiers in 1950 - for Northern Transvaal Schools. The first to go to Craven Week was Johan Bruwer in 1964, the year of the first Craven Week. In 1987 Wilhelm Kloppers captained Northern Transvaal at Craven Week. The school was then allotted to Western Transvaal and in 1996 Lourens Boshoff captained Western Transvaal Schools. When John Powell captained the provincial team in 2003 it was called North West and is now known as the Leopards.

1st XV Rugby Captains:

1930:  O Esterhuizen
1945:  J du Plessis
1949:  K Schindler
1952:  G Taljaard
1953:  J Roode
1957:  L Prinsloo
1958: J Uechermann
1959: B Herholdt
1961: L de Villiers
1962: D Kruger
1963: D Kirchner/I Rossouw
1964: R Scott
1965: J Engelbrecht
1966: A Burger
1967: W can der Westhuizen
1968: H Kotzé
1969: P le Roux
1970: R Swanepoel
1971: J Smit
1973: P Fourie
1974: N Kotzé
1975: P Dreyer
1976: P Dreyer
1977: A Botha
1978: Jannie Pretorius
1979: Willie van Rensburg
1980: J Malan
1981: Martin Combrinck
1982: James Uechermann
1983: Herman Uechermann
1984: Hannes Swart
1985: Deon Uechermann
1986: Wilhelm Kloppers
1987: J Breet
1988: W Brits
1989: J Bester
1990: G Bester
1991: Emile Werner
1992: Joe Khourie
1993: Apie Pienaar
1994: Gerrie Scheepers
1995: C van der Merwe
1996: Lourens Boshoff
1997: Lourens Boshoff
1998: C Erasmus
1999: W Pretorius, Nico Vos
2000: J de Beer
2001: Stefan Botha
2002: R Opperman
2003: Armand Smit
2004: Wade Cox
2005: Johan Janse van Rensburg