The Wesleyan Church in 1880 where Friedman and Cohen is today.
1902. The new school in Fagan Street.
The larger Somerset West/Strand School in 1922, with 23 classrooms.
Mr. H.A. Louw served as the Principal of Somerset West Strand School from 1916 to 1946. In honor of his significant contributions, the school was renamed Laerskool Hendrik Louw Primary School.
Our first badge originally designed by authoress Helena Lochner and redesigned by the famous cartoonist, Mr T.O. Honiball.
The first government school opened in 1893 in the St Andrews Hall. The first teacher appointed there was Mr Hugo.
In 1901 a loan of £2 100 (payable over 25 years) was granted to the Trustees of the proposed new school. Crown land was obtained in Fagan Street and the building of the Somerset West/Strand School commenced. The new school was inaugurated in 1902.
Even during those years the climate provided us with interesting phenomena. In winter the municipal and school grounds were occasionally flooded up to and including Sarel Cilliers Street. Contrary to this, in summer the school’s drinking water had to be carted by horse cart from as far as ‘Half Way’.
By 1907 there was a decline in pupil enrolment from 172 to 136 learners. An inquiry was held and an effort was even made to persuade pupils from the small school at Gordon’s Bay to come across to the Somerset West/Strand School in order to maintain the assistant teacher’s post.
In 1912 H.A. Louw was appointed as deputy principal at the school. At that stage there was also an application pending to incorporate a Std VIII class. Mr Louw succeeded Mr Badenhorst as principal in 1915.
Hendrik Arnoldus Louw, better known as Dick, was a man of deep religious faith and was blessed with good qualities such as integrity and discipline. In addition to this he was also an excellent sportsman who played first league rugby, tennis and golf.
Over the years as the enrolment of learners increased, additional plans had to be made to accommodate them. The Town Hall, Empire Hall and a large tent were used for this purpose. In 1922 learners returned to a school consisting of 23 classrooms and 22 toilets, after extensions costing £4 000 had been carried out.
In 1927 the school was nearly destroyed during Guy Fawkes celebrations on 5 November when someone tried to burn the school down. Fortunately they didn’t succeed. Later that same year, further damage was caused to the school by faulty explosives used by De Beers (an old dynamite factory). Twelve large windows were broken during the explosion.
Mr A.K. (Karl) Kielblock, an interesting personality in the school’s history, was appointed at the school in 1928. He contributed a great deal to the education of the youth in the Strand. Children from all over South Africa have read many of the books written by him.
The best results ever achieved by the Strand Public school were published in ‘Die Burger’ of January 1930. All eighteen candidates enrolled at the school for the Junior Certificate passed – nine of them obtained a first class pass.
Hereafter the difficult years of the Second World War followed.
In 1943 Mr J. Greeff was appointed as the first special class teacher at the school.
A crushing blow was dealt to the school in 1946 when Mr Dick Louw, who had meant so much to the school and the community, had to resign because of failing eyesight. The school committee accepted his resignation with sadness.
Mr M.A. Potgieter from the Graaff-Reinet Training School was his successor. He experienced first hand what Dick Louw had achieved at the school and in 1948 he persuaded the authorities to rename the school Hendrik Louw Primary School.
In 1952 Mr Potgieter and the school committee were faced with the problem that Hendrik Louw was bursting at the seams. Representation was made to the authorities to address the problem by reconstituting the Rhoda school as a second primary school. Eventually this request was successful.
In 1956 Mr Kielblock, the deputy principal, was approached to be the acting principal at Lochnerhof, a new Afrikaans medium school. The school opened with 240 learners.
A year after the secession Mr Potgieter accepted a promotional appointment. Mr H.J. Roelofse from Stanford succeeded him as principal in January 1958.
During the late fifties the parents of the school showed a growing interest in the school’s activities. In 1959 a Parent-Teacher Association was established. One of the Association’s first priorities was to have a school hall built. In 1960 a long-term fundraising project was started. It was also during this time (1966) that grade 7 learners constructed a rugby field by themselves. They conveyed over 700 loads of soil using wheelbarrows. Subsequently the ground was levelled and grass was planted. At the end of the 1960’s, Mr Hubert Thompson, the chairman of the Parent-Teacher Association at the time, helped to raise the substantial amount of R10 000 with his legendary cake sales. Luckily a change in departmental policy regarding subsidies resulted in the school hall being built without using the R10 000 that had been raised for this purpose.
The Director of Education, Mr S. Theron, officially opened the hall complex in 1970. Shortly afterwards Mr Roelofse retired and Mr G.J.J. Swart was appointed principal. During his association with the school Mr Swart furthered his studies at the University of Stellenbosch where he received his doctorate in education.
Mr Lubbe, M.E.C. inaugurated the present school building on 13 October 1972. The old Missionary church erected on our premises in 1906, was later converted into the pre-primary section of the school.
In April 1978 Mr S.D. Naude, the circuit inspector, opened two new tennis court. The athletics track was first used in 1980.
During the school’s centenary year, it was decided that a memorial stone would be unveiled to commemorate the centenary celebrations and to honour everyone who had helped to build up and develop the school during the previous 100 years.