Welcome to Wittedrift High – the small school with the HUGE heart.

Situated in the beautiful Bitou valley where the cry of the Fish Eagle often competes with the song of the exquisite Knysna Loerie, Wittedrift High provides schooling to children of the greater Plettenberg Bay area – some even come from Tsitsikamma in the East or Sedgefield and Knysna in the West.

A combined (Grade 1 – 12) dual-medium (English / Afrikaans) fully integrated school reflecting the broadest possible diversity of our South African community is not often found. The young people who attend our school have the unique opportunity of growing up in an environment many others envy them. The focus of our school is the holistic development of every child placed in our care. We fully endorse the philosophy of “Mens sana in sano corpore” – a healthy mind in a healthy body.

The intellectual development of our young people is our primary focus – it gave us a huge sense of accomplishment and gratitude when Wittedrift High was recognised as one of the top academic achieving schools nationally during 2010 in the Sunday Times. It then becomes self evident that the school has maintained a 99,3% pass rate for our Grade 12 learners over the past 15 years – each year providing its own crop of A – aggregate learners, distinctions and university exemptions. As much as we take pride in these results, we also honour and applaud our many, many learners who may not have produced the same high results but have overcome many obstacles and challenges on their way to the final examinations – and brought us equal joy and pride with their passes. They lived the motto of having a HUGE heart.

Extra-murally our school has proved its mettle. Despite having fewer number of learners than most schools - 424 in 2011, we compete equally in a broad spectrum of activities.

Athletics, rugby, cricket, soccer, hockey, tug-of-war, surfing and body-boarding are options open to boys; girls have athletics, netball, hockey, surfing, body boarding – yes, some even play cricket and participate in tug-of-war. Cultural activities encompass public speaking a choir, a school newspaper, Fish Eagle participation and add ones such as dancing.

Our leadership development programme is comprehensive and broad-based. We have a fully functional prefect body consisting of a headboy/headgirl, deputy headboy- and-girl and prefects; all of whom are in Grd 11 and Grade 12. Our student representative council has full representation of all the grades – grade 8 to grade 12. A chairperson and deputy chairperson is annually elected – this body also has two seats on the School Governing Body. A third level of leadership development is done by the YFC under the auspices of the WCED Pear Education Programme. Presently we are discussing the possibility of strengthening our own leadership development by supplementing it with the Outward Bound Programme.

As our focus is the holistic development of each child in our school, we expose our learner body to the broadest range of speakers possible. They are provided with the skills and value system necessary to overcome the many challenges modern day living has brought along.

Our participation in and support by the Bitou 10 Foundation has provided our school and staff with an extra dimension – our staff have all enjoyed the privilege of training by highly renowned specialists in their chosen fields – school management, literacy and numeracy programming, physical science and mathematics as well as whole school development.

You are cordially invited to visit our school when next you come down to enjoy the beauty of the Garden Route – we regard it as an honour receiving guests at Wittedrift High – the small school with the HUGE heart.