St Stithians College (colloquially known as Saints) is a private Methodist school situated in the suburb of Lyme Park in the border of Sandton and Randburg in the Gauteng province of South Africa. Founded in 1953 by Albert Collins, William Mountstephens and Gilbert Tucker, it has consistently ranked amongst the top performing independent schools in South Africa. It follows a co-ordinate educational model within a village of schools consisting of boys' and girls' colleges, boys' and girls' preparatory schools, and a junior preparatory. It is built on a 100 hectare estate, one of the largest school campuses in the country.
The college is organized into six schools on its main campus in Johannesburg and maintains facilities at the Kamoka Bush School near Modimolle and the virtual St Stithians Online School. As a Methodist school, it has ties to Kearsney College, Epworth High School, Penryn College and Kingswood College.
The Boys' and the Girls' Colleges are members of the Round Square Conference of Schools and G30 Schools Conference.
St Stithians College is also the host of the annual Saints Sports Festival, the largest and longest continuous school sports festival in the world. The 2017 edition witnessed over 1,400 participants in 8 fields of sport, 200 fixtures and over 50,000 spectators.
Contents
History
The Boys' College
The idea of setting up a Methodist school in Johannesburg came to Gilbert Tucker, who wanted to base it on the pattern of his old school, Kingswood College in Grahamstown. The Methodist accountant did not have the money, so he turned to people who would be interested in financing the school.
He met two Cornishmen, both born in 1859, Albert Collins and William Mountstephens, who were Methodists and promising new businessmen who had started to make a name for themselves in their new country.
Collins, who never married, died first. This led to the creation of the trust for building the Methodist school Tucker had dreamt of. The trust was formally opened in April 1941 and, at Mountstephens' suggestion, was named after Collins' birthplace, Stithians, a village in Cornwall. The trustees were D.F. Corlett, C.H. Leake, J.B. Webb and G.K. Tucker.
The trust purchased a piece of land, which was part of the farm Driefontein (one of the "fonteins" can be found on the grounds) for £8713 in 1943, but nothing further was achieved until after the War. At first it was thought that building costs might drop. The trustees waited until it became obvious that prices would not drop, and the decision to build was made in 1951.
Mountstephens lived to see the land purchased, but not the school built. His widow would take an active interest in the school until her death. The school was to have been a secondary school only, and at first, the debate on co-education was open. Circumstances were to make decisions for the trustees: the area was new and remote; its people wanted a boys' school and a preparatory school as well as a secondary school.
The first classes began on 28 January 1953, with Grades 1 and 2, and 8 and 9. On 3 February 1953 there was a formal opening ceremony. W.G.A. (Wally) Mears, formerly of Rondebosch Boys' High School, was the first headmaster, and taught English, Latin, History and Geography to the high school classes, with E.M. Harris teaching Maths, Science and Scripture, and Minnaar teaching Afrikaans. In the second year (1954), classes in the school ran from Grade 1 to Grade 10, and in 1956 the first group wrote the matriculation examination. As the school grew, Wally Mears, the headmaster, did less teaching, and became more of an administrator. The school's hall is named for him.
The Girls' College
St Stithians Girls' College was opened in 1995 to form the coordinate module with the Boys' College. The founding headmistress was Anne Van Zyl. The initial opening classes were grade 0-3, which was to expand rapidly to include all the grades up to and including grade 11 with the first grade 12 class being inducted in 1997. The Girls' College was originally named the St Stithians Girls' Collegiate, which would subsequently be changed when expanded. During 1994 the first classes would be held on the boys' side of the rugby field' using already available infrastructure. As a part of the co-ordination module girls' and boys' school often have mixed classes in Drama, English, isiZulu, Afrikaans, Art and Computer Science. In 1996, the collegiate moved across the field to newly developed complete school. The college facilities were further developed to include a large library, several computer rooms, a 'tuck shop', a gymnasium, and a lecture theatre used for assemblies and individual class plays. The first matriculents of the college sat their exams in 1997.
In 1999 the founding houses of the Girls' College were chosen. They were all named after towns in Cornwall, linking the college to its forebearers. The girls picked a name out of a hat to randomly divide the grades into the four houses. The names of the houses are Cambourne, Kenwyn, Stratton and Trewen respectively. These individual houses compete in various cultural and sporting house competitions as well as part take in different philanthropic endeavours. The uniform has changed over the years, with initially the girls wearing white floral dresses - which the girls' prep still uses as a summer uniform - to a blue and red checked skirt and white blouse. The first top was a white golf shirt but this was changed to a white blouse in 2008.
House system
St Stithians College has a house system. Each house competes against each other in interhouse events to win the Harris Cup (Boys' College) at the end of the year. St Stithian's Boys' College has 10 houses, St Stithians Girls' College has 6, formerly 4.
Academics
The colleges write the Independent Examinations Board exams.
Sports
St Stithians Boys' College
The sports played at the school are:
Athletics
Basketball
Canoeing
Chess
Cricket
Cross country
Cycling
Golf
Hockey
Mountain biking
Rowing
Rugby
Rugby sevens
Soccer
Squash
Swimming
Table tennis
Tennis
Volleyball
Water polo
St Stithians Girls' College
The sports played at the school are:
Athletics
Basketball
Chess
Cross country
Cycling
Diving
Equestrian
Hockey
Mountain biking
Netball
Rowing
Soccer
Squash
Swimming
Table tennis
Tennis
Volleyball
Water polo
2026 incident
In August 2026, St Stithians College received national media attention following the deaths of Grade 11 pupil Cameron Waldeck-Cooks (17) and former pupil Ethan Coetzee (19), whose bodies were found at a holiday home near Sabie, Mpumalanga, on 3 August. The South African Police Service (SAPS) initially opened an inquest into the deaths before updating the investigation to a murder case following preliminary post-mortem examinations which indicated that Waldeck-Cooks died from strangulation and suffocation. The investigation remains ongoing as of 8 August 2026.
Notable alumni from Boys' & Girls' College
Cricket
Roy Pienaar (class of 1978), South African professional cricketer
David Rundle (class of 1983), South African cricketer
Alastair Storie (class of c1983), English and Scottish professional cricketer
David Terbrugge (class of 1994), South African cricketer
Grant Elliott (class of 1997), New Zealand cricketer
Michael Lumb (class of 1998), England cricketer
Enoch Nkwe (class of 2001), South African first-class cricketer
Yassar Cook (class of 2011), South African first-class cricketer
Kagiso Rabada (class of 2013), South African cricketer
Ryan Rickelton (class of 2014), South African first-class cricketer.
Marques Ackerman (class of 2014), South African first-class cricketer
Neil Brand (Class of 2014), South African professional cricketer
Ricardo Vasconcelos (class of 2015), South African first-class cricketer
Harry Tector (class of 2017), Irish professional cricketer
Kwena Maphaka (class of 2024), South African professional cricketer
Golf
Haydn Porteous (class of 2010), South African professional golfer
Rugby
Lance Sherrell (class of 1984), Springbok rugby player
Brent Russell (class of 1996), Springbok rugby player
Dave Wessels (class of 2000), South African-Australian head coach
Jono Ross (class of 2008), Blue Bulls/Sale Sharks rugby player
Innocent Radebe (class of 2013), South African rugby player
Asenathi Ntlabakanye (class of 2017), Lions and Springbok rugby player
TJ Maguranyanga (class of 2020), current NFL and former professional rugby playe
Rowing
Holly Norton (class of 2011), British rower
Swimming
Jean Basson (class of 2005), South African professional swimmer
Tennis
Kevin Anderson (class of 2004), South African professional tennis player
Water polo
Lwazi Madi (class of 2013), South African professional water polo
Shakira January (class of 2020), South African professional water polo
Jordan Wedderburn (class of 2020), South African professional water polo
Other sports
Connor Beauchamp (class of 2015), South African field hockey
Micaela Bouter (class of 2013), South African professional diver
Politics
Ian Shapiro (class of 1968), political scientist
James Lorimer M.P. (class of 1979), shadow minister for the Democratic Alliance
Theatre, film, broadcasting and acting
Gavin Hood (class of 1981), filmmaker, screenwriter, producer, and actor
Music
Dave Matthews (class of 1985), lead singer of the Dave Matthews Band
Zwai Bala (class of 1994), member of TKZee
Kabelo Mabalane (class of 1995), member of TKZee
Kyle Watson (class of 2006), South African DJ and record producer