School History
Bryneven Primary School was founded in 1968.
On 13 November 1967, the inaugural meeting of the caretaker committee of the “new” Primary School in Bryanston was held at the residence of Mr & Mrs J Raubenheimer, 2015 Farm Street, Bryanston.
On 24 January 1968, the newly elected “school committee” and “PTA” were tasked to establish a name for the new school, design uniforms, school colours and badges and raise funds to purchase items not provided by the Transvaal Education Department.
The name “Bryneven” was decided on because it was short, and it referred to Bryanston and its environs. It is derived from the words Bryanston and Extension Seven. (The Witwatersrand Central School Board at first rejected this name, but after numerous requests, relented).
- Bryneven Primary School opened its doors on 16 January 1968 with an enrolment of 50 boys, 43 girls and four members of staff. School fees consisted of R2 per pupil per year, and parents were asked to pay a PTA subscription of R12 per year! Originally, pupils were grouped into three houses, Falcons, Hawks and Kestrel.
- Early in January the following year, the Principal, 49-year-old Mr GJ Maree, tragically passed away at Margate. Mr WB Lamont was seconded from Yeoville Boys to act as Principal for 1969. The enrolment had grown to 421 pupils. In 1970, school commenced with Mr H Vorster as the new Principal and with no fewer than 526 pupils and 17 staff.
- At a staff meeting in 1970, it was decided to change the names of the houses to Aquarius (blue), Capricorn (green), Gemini (yellow) and Scorpio (red).
- The first Inter-House swimming gala took place at Bryanston Primary School the following year. The school pool was officially opened in 1973. In 1982, a fire caused R60 000 damage to the Media Centre.
- After Mr Vorster retired due to ill health, he was succeeded by Mr Philip Botha as Headmaster in 1985. The first Computer Centre was established in 1988. In 1991, the new Media Centre was opened, and by 1994 several new classrooms were built. Mr Botha retired in 1997.
- Mr Patrick Larsen became the headmaster of the school in June 1997 after having been the Principal at Horizon View Primary School and acting Principal at Montrose Primary School before that.
- In 1998, the newly elected SGB, together with the headmaster and staff, were able to bring about considerable improvements and additions to the school with the building of a pavilion, an additional admin wing and computer centre, a Design & Technology Centre, a new staffroom, art centre, further improvements and the development of the gardens and grounds.
- In 2001 the Grade R Centre was built with two classrooms, and by 2008 we had four classrooms. By 2009 our aftercare centre was built, together with a playground and homework centre.
- In 2011 we built tennis court seating, the K-net Centre and a new fence around the school. We also purchased two Quantum buses for the safe transport of our learners for extra murals.
- By 2012 we had smartboards in every classroom setting the standard for other schools in our area. This set the platform for technology enhancements to roll out a few years later. During the years that followed, we built a new mini Astro and new psychologist rooms, and to reduce our maintenance expenses, we sunk a borehole and installed a new sprinkler system.
- In August 2015, Mr Larsen retired, and the deputy principal Miss Pampel replaced him as Acting head for the remainder of the year, after which she took up an opportunity in the private education sector. Mr Nakooda then became our Acting head until 2019 when he was then appointed into the permanent role of school principal.
- 2016 was an exciting year of projects under the leadership of Mr Nakooda. We saw the installation of floodlights on our field, CCTV cameras, our lightning detector, shade ports over our grandstands, new computers for the K-net Centre, a new coffee shop, resurfacing of the tennis courts and upgrading of the cricket nets and surrounds. During this time, the school was hard at work implementing our new IT strategy, which was officially launched in January 2017.
This strategy saw the introduction of tablets for all students from grades 5 – 7, allowing for digital textbooks and resources to enhance learning. Bryneven has developed a blended approach using technology but still requiring written work.
