History

Rand Preparatory and College turned 25 years old in 2016. While the school is still a young school, it has a rich history that dates back to 1906.

The Bezuidenhout Valley Junior school was established in 1906 and grew to such an extent that its buildings were extended in 1926 and again in 1946. In the first half-century of its existence, the school gained an excellent reputation and produced many fine scholars who went on to make valuable contributions to the development of Johannesburg.

The school reached its prime and was held in high esteem by its community at the time of its 60th Jubilee in 1966. Due to population changes within Johannesburg, the school steadily declined during the next 20 years. Eventually, amidst considerable public concern, the school closed in 1989, mainly due to the building of newer, larger schools that could accommodate larger volumes of children.

In 1990, the school was sold to the Creative Vision Trust who then refurbished and cleaned up the school. After the ground work was completed, Creative Vision Trust, under the leadership of Dr Don Lomax and Mrs Anne Lomax, opened a new, fully independent primary school for both Boys and Girls. Rand Preparatory School was born and accepted its first learners in 1991!

The founding values of the school then, were as follows:

– To meet courageously the challenges of the New South Africa and to prepare our children for the 21st century;
– To provide an excellent academic education in a non-racist, non-discriminatory, non-sectarian, co-educational environment;
– To provide excellent teaching by dedicated teachers, not only within the formal curriculum, but also across a wide variety of extra-curricicular activities;
– To develop self-directed, individual learning skills;
– To encourage good manners, self-respect, personal growth, discipline and a commitment to the community;
– To stimulate and cherish those qualities of leadership which will contribute to the healthy growth of South Africa;
– To create a happy and fulfilling school life;
– To open windows on to the wider world.

All of these founding values are carried through to the Modern Day school, with obvious adaptions to preparing our children for the ever changing world they find themselves in.

From its founding, the school was raised to full membership of the Independent Schools Association of Southern Africa – ISASA. This membership promotes the pursuit of excellence as membership to ISASA is conditional to regular performance review assessments.

In August 2003, The Creative Vision sold Rand Preparatory School. The school entered a new era in 2004 with the introduction of a high school – Rand College. In order to accommodate the increase in school size, additional land, adjourning the school was purchased and new classroom blocks were added. These were build in the same style and architecture as the older buildings to retain the historical look and feel to the school.

Rand College subscribes to the IEB examinations and this too entrenches its philosophy of high academic standards. Many of our children have moved on to obtain tertiary qualifications often earning scholarships and bursaries along the way.

During the course of 2010, the school managed to prompt the Johannesburg Development Agency to refurbish the local sporting facilities a block away from the school. This offered the school an opportunity to extend its sporting programme to cover most of the popular sports, including Soccer, Netball, Athletics, Hockey, Basketball and Tennis. The school also engages in a rich variety of cultural activities and is developing a reputation for its excellent productions and plays put on by both the Preparatory and College.

Today’s school boasts modern facilities including two computer laboratories with full e-mail and internet access, a Science Laboratory and access to the Sci-Bono laboratory for advanced science experiments, Links with schools in the United States, an active community service programme and outreach to those less fortunate than our current learners such as the homeless and elderly.