Our History

By 1994 the number of young English-speaking families in the Berg River Valley had reached the point where the concept of a local English-medium independent school moved from the realms of fantasy to realistic possibility. Equally importantly, some of those families had the entrepreneurial experience to turn the dream to reality. The Huxter, Friedman and Rands families devoted themselves tirelessly to making it happen. Graham Beck, owner of the neighbouring farm Bellingham, generously agreed to donate 10 hectares of an undeveloped corner of his farm. By the second half of 1994 the net was cast as wide as possible for pupils and staff and the financial and constitutional options were carefully evaluated. Lloyd Smuts was appointed Head.

Rezoning applications brought the inevitable delays and frustrations and finding alternative premises was no easy task but the committee was undaunted. In January 1995 the 54 pupils who would start the year moved into an unused state school building in Simondium.

In 1997 Allan Graham was appointed Head. Numbers grew significantly and it was with great jubilation that the Board was able to announce on 25 April 1997 that the application for rezoning of the proposed premises near the Berg River bridge had been approved. For the youngsters present on the chilly evening of 13 October, as the ground was broken at the Sod-turning Ceremony, the significance of the event was probably lost: for the parents - and more so the teachers - it was an occasion of excited celebration and anticipation, and who can say what emotions must have passed through the minds of the Board, particularly the 'Founding Three'.

In mid-1998 the school moved to the spacious new campus and in 1999, as if to symbolise the steady progress towards offering a comprehensive range of the best facilities, the swimming pool, the shallow pool for beginners and the tennis courts were added, followed shortly after that by the indoor sports centre. Another major development late in 1998 was the appointment of Chris Storey as Head of the Prep School.

Allan Graham retired as Head at the end of 2002 and Anne van Zyl was appointed in his place. The Barnyard Theatre (now the Theatre @ Bridge House) was built and became operational during 2003 and the new College block with 7 new classrooms, admin offices and a College Staffroom were added. There was great excitement when the boarders moved into the first new Boarding House in the third term of 2004 and in the third term of 2008 the second Boarding House was completed enabling the number of boarders to be doubled. An extra wing of classrooms in the College came into use at the start of 2009.

Since then Graham Beck has added 18 hectares to the donation of land. Once the transfer has gone through Bridge House will own 28 hectares of land in the most beautiful valley in the world. Plans are being drawn up for the use of the additional land.

In January 2010, Mike Russell takes over from Anne van Zyl as Head.

Within 15 years Bridge House itself has become a reason why families are moving to Franschhoek, or the Boland, or the Western Cape. There is no better.

(With thanks to Nick Norman for his input in recording this History)