St Joseph’s Marist College

St Joseph’s Marist College is a Catholic school in Rondebosch, Cape Town.

History

According to the college's website, the story of Saint Joseph's Academy (St Joseph's Academy), and St Joseph's Marist College began on the 16th of April 1867, when the first Marist Brothers arrived in Cape Town to found St Aloysius Primary School in in Hope Street. It was only the fourth country in the world and the first country outside Europe to which the Marist Brothers extended their teaching skills and mission.

On 6 May 1867, the Brothers established a second school on the same campus, called Saint Joseph's Academy, a fee-paying institution whose classes went higher than those of St Aloysius. St Joseph’s moved from Phoenix House (where it had been opened) to occupy Grimley Hall on the first floor above the St Aloysius school. In later years, St Joseph's Academy became known as the Marist Brothers' High School and St Aloysius as the Marist Brothers' Junior School.

Looking for more spacious grounds, the schools moved to the Belmont Estate in Rondebosh in February of 1918.

Contribution to South African theatre, film, media and performance

Besides the contributions made by alumni of the institutions over the years, the Academy and the College have, from their inception, on occasion presented plays and other forms as entertainment.

For example, during October of 1869 the pupils of the St Joseph's Academy put on an "entertainment" in the Catholic Hall, Cape Town, performing Cherry Bounce (Raymond) and The Nervous Man and the Man of Nerve (Bernard). The performers named include Master Kearns, Master Early, Master Coughlin, Master Mulhival, Master Mc Auliffe and Master Murray.