Hartmann House Preparatory School (or Hartmann House, also referred to as HH) is an

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

, preparatory, day school for boys in

Harare Harare (; formerly Salisbury ) is the capital and most populous city of Zimbabwe. The city proper has an area of 940 km2 (371 mi2) and a population of 2.12 million in the 2012 census and an estimated 3.12 million in its metropolitan ...

Zimbabwe Zimbabwe (), officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country located in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the south-west, Zambia to the north, and ...

. The school was founded in 1957 and named after Fr Hartmann SJ, a chaplain to the

Pioneer Column The Pioneer Column was a force raised by Cecil Rhodes and his British South Africa Company in 1890 and used in his efforts to annex the territory of Mashonaland, later part of Zimbabwe (once Southern Rhodesia). Background Rhodes was anxiou ...

who lived at St. George's College, Harare. Hartmann House Preparatory School is a member of the Association of Trust Schools (ATS) and the Head is a member of the Conference of Heads of Independent Schools in Zimbabwe (CHISZ).

History

In 1957, 30 years after St George's College relocated to Salisbury (now

), it was decided to build a separate preparatory school on the newly acquired land near the Borrowdale Road. It was realised that junior boys had need of quite different teaching styles and care as compared to the senior boys. A fine building was opened as Hartmann House in 1957. It had three Jesuit priests on the staff- Fr Farwell as housemaster with Fr Nixon and Fr Walsh plus some lay teachers. There were 6 classes of 25 boys each in Standards 4 and 5 with 100 of these in boarding on the upper floors. The 100 boarders mostly came from Zambia and the farming areas. At Independence, the pressure for day places grew and declined for boarding. The boarding hostel was phased out in favour of classroom space between 1980 and 1993 when the hostel was completely closed. Hartmann House has developed extensively with several buildings having been erected thereafter which included the recently completed Golden Jubilee Hall.

The Crest

The Grant of Arms was made by the Royal College of Heralds on 19 October 1931 and aimed to recognise three outstanding characteristics: * The first denoted the foundation and management of Hartmann House by the Jesuits, signified by the inclusion of two black wolves and the cauldron, as taken from the family arms of the Loyola Family, St. Ignatius Loyola was the founder of the Society of the Jesus or the Jesuit Fathers, and in Basque "loy" means wolf and "olla" means cauldron. * The second characteristic, that of the location of the college in the then-Rhodesia and a play on the Greek word Rhoden, meaning rose, is the symbol of an attractive flower that exists in many different forms, colours and perfumes. It is hardy and can flourish almost anywhere precisely because it is a hybrid of so many varieties. * The third characteristic is the dedication to Father Hartmann, the School's patron, as depicted by the inclusion of the Red Cross from his banner and the hilt of the sword facing upwards. This symbolises the Saint's triumph and incidentally that of Christianity, over the powers of evil (as represented by the dragon's wings) and man's redemption through the death of Jesus Christ. * The motto on the scroll means "From Faith Comes Confidence".

Houses

The houses at Hartmann House are named after the four prominent

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, who were among the founding fathers of St. George's College in

Bulawayo Bulawayo (, ; Ndebele: ''Bulawayo'') is the second largest city in Zimbabwe, and the largest city in the country's Matabeleland region. The city's population is disputed; the 2022 census listed it at 665,940, while the Bulawayo City Council ...

. * Fr. Marc Barthelemy SJ – first Rector (1896–1913)- Dark Green Vests. * Fr. Thomas Gardner SJ – first English Jesuit, an anthropologist and a champion of the Cadets – Red Vests. * Fr. Andrew Hartmann SJ – Chaplain to The Pioneer Column in 1890 – Dark Blue Vests. * Fr. Francis Johanny SJ – Second Rector in 1914 – Yellow Vests.

Academics

The following subjects are offered at Hartmann House: These subjects (English, General Paper, Mathematics and Shona) are examined by ZIMSEC. * Cambridge Mathematics * Cambridge Science * Cambridge English These subjects (Cambridge English, Science and Mathematics) are examined by

University of Cambridge Local Examinations Syndicate University of Cambridge Local Examinations Syndicate (UCLES) is a non-teaching department of the University of Cambridge, which operates under the brand name Cambridge Assessment, and is part of Cambridge University Press & Assessment. It provi ...

Sports

The sports offered at the Hartmann House include

athletics Athletics may refer to: Sports * Sport of athletics, a collection of sporting events that involve competitive running, jumping, throwing, and walking ** Track and field, a sub-category of the above sport * Athletics (physical culture), competi ...

tag rugby Tag-rugby belt Tag rugby, or flag rugby, is a non-contact team game in which each player wears a belt that has two velcro tags attached to it, or shorts with velcro patches. The mode of play is based on rugby league with many similarities to to ...

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by str ...

, cross-country, football

hockey Hockey is a term used to denote a family of various types of both summer and winter team sports which originated on either an outdoor field, sheet of ice, or dry floor such as in a gymnasium. While these sports vary in specific rules, numbers o ...

, rugby,

swimming Swimming is the self-propulsion of a person through water, or other liquid, usually for recreation, sport, exercise, or survival. Locomotion is achieved through coordinated movement of the limbs and the body to achieve hydrodynamic thrust that r ...

table tennis Table tennis, also known as ping-pong and whiff-whaff, is a sport in which two or four players hit a lightweight ball, also known as the ping-pong ball, back and forth across a table using small solid rackets. It takes place on a hard table div ...

, and

tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball ...

. All the boys are expected to participate in one sporting discipline.

Developments

Hartmann House has expanded its intake of pupils by incorporating Grade 0 to 7 in one preparatory school. The year 2017 saw the commencement of Grade 0 and Grade 1 classes. That same year saw the school commencing the Cambridge Primary program, developed and examined by

Cambridge International Examinations Cambridge Assessment International Education (informally known as Cambridge International or simply Cambridge and formerly known as CIE, Cambridge International Examinations) is a provider of international qualifications, offering examinations ...

Notable alumni

* Brian Raftopoulos – academic and political analyst * John Rennie – cricketer * Crispen Sachikonye – entrepreneur

References

External links

Hartmann House Preparatory School
Official website
Hartmann House Preparatory School Profile
on the ATS website {{Zimbabwe private schools Private schools in Zimbabwe Boys' schools in Zimbabwe Catholic schools in Zimbabwe Day schools in Zimbabwe Educational institutions established in 1957 Member schools of the Association of Trust Schools 1957 establishments in Southern Rhodesia Schools in Harare