A school’s centenary is a major milestone. It deserves to be thoroughly celebrated. It should, also, leave its mark. In 2024, Clifton School celebrated its centenary. It was a memorable year and now, in 2025, Clifton will continue to benefit.
The most notable physical manifestation of the three years of planning that had gone into the centenary celebrations was the opening of the aptly named Centenary House boarding establishment at the beginning of the year.
With a million-dollar view overlooking the iconic arch of the Moses Mabhida Stadium, and the Indian Ocean serving as a beautiful backdrop, the impressive boarding establishment also, fittingly, harkened back to Clifton’s beginning on 5 February 1924.
The founding Headmaster, Harry Stubbs, opened the school in his own home, at 102 Lambert Road. It catered for primary school boys, including boarders, who stayed in the enclosed verandah of his house.
In 1942, when Durban came under threat during the Second World War, the school moved to Nottingham Road. When it came time to return to Durban, some boys so enjoyed the experience of boarding in the Midlands that Clifton Nottingham Road became a brother school, hosting boarders. Clifton Durban was home to day boys.
In 2024, 82 years later, the circle closed with Clifton welcoming boys to live on its Durban campus.
Sean McCabe, as one of the longest tenured teachers at Clifton College – Clifton School comprises a Pre-Primary, Prep and College – was given the responsibility of overseeing the celebrations when he was named the Chairman of the Centenary Steering Committee.
He explained that Centenary House is in the second year of a multi-year programme of expansion: “It was a growth year,” he said of 2024. “With any new business initiative, you have a three-year growth plan. It was never going to be filled in year one. You want to build on the good faith and goodwill of year one. You want to aggressively market it in year two. You want to start meeting targets in year three and year four.
“I think that what is great is that in a lot of schools boarding is the tail that wags the dog, whereas, with us, it is now fully integrated,” McCabe said, reflecting Clifton’s focus on ensuring that there is no divide between day boys and boarders, which exists in some schools. The goal is to make Clifton a home to all.
The expansion of the intake of boarders into Centenary House is happening bit-by-bit, McCabe added: ” In your first year, your senior grades are not going to be particularly big. You are going to see that follow-through, particularly in the junior grades, going into next year. The model was always to build the whole building and refurbish only half and, as the need arose, to then refurbish the rest.”
A particular highlight of the boarding establishment’s airy and tastefully designed interior is the art that adorns its walls. It’s the art that was shown on the Centenary calender, McCabe said.
“The last moment of the Centenary, which was delivered this year, was the Commemorative Brochure, that looks at everything that we did in the year. It’s a nice retrospective.”
While Centenary House opened in January 2024, a noteworthy sports’ event was introduced in February when the first Clifton T20 Tournament was held. While cricket competition between KZN’s top 10 boys’ schools remained keen, something that was missing was an opportunity to play for a trophy. The Clifton T20 Tournament changed that.
Based on the St John’s Rams T20 tournament, held annually in Harare, the event made a big splash, and the final was broadcast live on DStv Channel 216.
Clifton has for over a decade been a part of the Zimbabwe tournament and has built up a warm relationship with St John’s. Recognising that the Rams had hit on a winning recipe, Clifton reprised it in Durban.
In its first year, 10 schools participated. Kearsney was unable to clear a place on their calendar, but St John’s (Harare), appropriately joined the other nine KZN boys’ schools for three days of action-packed cricket, which culminated in Durban High School (DHS) earning the honour of becoming the first school to lift the impressive Centenary Cup.
In 2025, the tournament expanded to 12 teams, adding Kearsney and Hoërskool Waterkloof, which meant the format matched that of the St John’s Rams T20.
Th event was centred around the Crusaders Club and was broadcast live on DStv Channel 216 throughout its three days with full commentary. DHS succeeded in defending the title in front of a big and lively crowd. Year two of the Clifton T20 was, unquestionably, a huge success and a step forward in engaging the community of Durban North.
Another legacy project was the suitably named Legacy Wall Appeal. This enabled learners and past pupils to buy plaques that included their names on the Legacy Appeal Wall through a donation. It remains an ongoing project.
Directly in front of the Legacy Appeal Wall, a bust of the school’s founder, Harry Stubbs, was unveiled. Sean McCabe remarked: “If you walk past, you see the bust of Harry Stubbs. Behind it is the Legacy Appeal Wall. One is looking back, and one is looking forward.”
A further effort to secure the future of the school was the establishment of the Clifton Foundation. It began in 2021 but came into the spotlight during the Centenary year.
“The creation of a foundation was, very much, a creation of [past Executive Headmaster] Dave Knowles‘ thinking. It was always one of the pillars of the Centenary year. It would be launched and driven and highlighted during the Centenary,” McCabe recalled.
In preparation for the centenary, he spent time brainstorming ideas and researching how other schools had celebrated their centenaries. Something that revealed itself in his research was the presence of centenary fatigue. Thus, instead of tiring week-to-week happenings, Clifton spread out the celebrations, and people enjoyed them.
“Really, it was highlighting things that we always do but giving it a centenary twist,” McCabe said.
There were, of course, some things that were purely about the centenary year. “We did the “100″ on the field,” McCabe said, referring to a photo of the school – the boys and the entire complement of staff.
He also mentioned the interring of a time capsule and the unveiling of the bust of Harry Stubbs during what was termed “Centenary Festival Week“. The Clifton Poppy Project Installation in the Ken MacKenzie Hall, which was erected in November in memory of those who gave their lives in service of South Africa, was another highlight.
The year 2024 was also an opportunity to show off the school and highlight the impressive variety of opportunities available to the boys.
Everyman, a 500-year-old play, which was given a Clifton spin by Phoebe Jordaan-Schoeman and Hudda Muslim, was a feel-good highlight and showed off the school’s rich cultural offerings.
The Music Department also grabbed the spotlight with the release of the Centenary song, “Calls us Home“. Music and lyrics were penned by the fabulously talented Jane Magner, who was the Head of Instrumental Music.
“We were very lucky to have had Jane Magner, who, unfortunately, has resigned to pursue her own music career,” Sean McCabe commented. “She’s a talented musician, somebody who is in the industry, who is a songwriter. It was the start of her leaving teaching, so it was a bit of a double-edged sword.
“I gave her the brief and she wrote this beautiful song and wrote the music to it, as well. We had an Old Boy, Max Koenig [Head Boy of Clifton College in 2015], sing it.”
The Clifton Film Academy got in on the action by putting together an impressive video for the song, which can be found on YouTube.
“We want to give that song life, as well, and continue singing it each year. We are hoping that it becomes the Old Boys’ song, the bell that call us home,” McCabe said.
Now, with the Centenary celebrations in the rearview mirror, the Chairman of the Centenary Steering Committee admitted there was a sense of relief and reward.
“I think it was a particularly crazy year, in a good way,” he said.
Thanks to the work done in 2024 and the years preceding Clifton’s Centenary, the school will continue to benefit from the efforts of those involved in its organisation.
If you need a visual reminder, cast your eyes to Centenary House, or take in the bust of Harry Stubbs and the Legacy Wall. If you watched the Clifton T20, that, too, remains a lasting reminder of the school’s centenary.
Leave a Reply