History

The Birth Of Trinityhouse

The birth of any planned baby is preceded by three basic steps - the decision to have a child, conception and pregnancy.  The entire experience and its many implications develop over the months (even years) to reach that climactic pinnacle of pride...actual birth and the indescribable thrill and joy of parenthood.  This is the story of how our pride and joy was born.

The Decision

There were three prospective parents in our case - Herbie Staples, Ron Brown and Tony Matthee.
They had been in government education all their lives, and with the political change taking place in South Africa around 1994, it was apparent that education would be subjected to significant change.  Quite independently of one another, they realised that, while there was a very real risk of losing their jobs, they were too young simply to go out to pasture.

Herbie Staples began thinking about options, and it took him nine months to come to terms with the fact that he needed to leave government education.  During this period a theme began developing in conversations he had with various close friends.  When he broached the subject, the same response kept coming through with monotonous regularity: "You should leave, but not to work for somebody.  You should start your own business and become self-employed."

So he began thinking about what he could do, and inevitably he reached the obvious conclusion: "Do what you've been trained to do, spent your lifetime doing, and can do well - start a school."
The seed had been sown!

Herbie began focusing his thoughts in this direction.  He lived in the north-western suburbs and was well aware that the area was grossly under-supplied with good private schools.  This led to the natural conclusion that it would be the ideal location for the type of school he envisaged.

The Conception

As fate would have it, Ron Brown was visiting head office in Pretoria one day in February 1995, and popped into Herbie's office to say hello.  They began chatting about the inevitable topic that occupied everyone's mind those days: "What would they do if they left?" Ron told Herbie: "I don't intend to stay in the system.  I'm taking my early retirement and leaving." Herbie responded immediately: "I'm leaving too.  Why don't we start a private school, and I know exactly where to do it." That set the cat among the pigeons. Both men went their separate ways to be alone with their thoughts.  Just one week later Herbie travelled to Alberton, walked into Ron's office and said he wanted to talk further about the idea they had shared the previous week.

The seed germinated that day.  Herbie and Ron made the decision to set up an exploratory meeting, and discussed which colleagues they would invite as potential partners in such an intimidating yet exciting venture.  Enter Tony Matthee, who was one of the first names on the list.

The Pregnancy

At the first meeting, which involved some nine individuals, it was agreed that an immediate start be made with a comprehensive business evaluation, and the team began to make definite plans to find suitable land to open the new school.

These activities were spread over some four months, during which the pioneer group shrank steadily as various individuals withdrew one by one.  Finally, the only ones remaining to see the pregnancy through were Herbie, Ron and Tony.

Over the ensuing few months various business people were invited to join their ranks.  Three who did so were Mr. Luis Baeta (a businessman and entrepreneur from the north-west), Mr. Miles Wilson (an accountant practising in the area), and Mr. Colin Thompson (an educator and businessman).
Two companies were formed: a property holding company called Heron-Mayton (Pty) Limited, and a school company called Trinityhouse Schools (Pty) Limited.
This would be an opportune moment to describe briefly how the name Trinityhouse actually came about.

In discussing the exciting issue of a name for their "baby", Hebie, Ron and Tony were keen that it should reflect the Christian ethos of the school.  Eventually in mid-1995 they decided on Trinity College, only to discover to their surprise that no fewer than three Trinity Colleges already existed, one in Soweto, a second in Pretoria and the third in Lenasia.

Back to the drawing board, and in August 1995 they finally decided to name their school Newton College, after the esteemed British scientist, astronomer and mathematician, Sir Isaac Newton.  A bank account was even opened in that name, but still the nagging doubts persisted.  With no disrespect intended towards Sir Isaac - who was a Christian, by the way - they just could not abandon the idea of having a name which reflected the Christian ethos.  Then it came to them - how about Trinityhouse? Full agreement and much jubilation...only to be stopped in their tracks once again. When they tried to register the company name, they were informed by the Registrar that there was a company of that name which built houses.

To cut a long story short, Herbie, Ron and Tony were told by the Registrar that they could still register the name Trinityhouse Schools if they obtained written permission from the existing company bearing the name Trinityhouse.  it took them until January 1996 to achieve this... and at last Trinityhouse became the official name of their "baby".

The time had come to tackle the land issue aggressively, and they searched hard and viewed various possible sites in the north-west.  Finally the team was approached by a Mr. John Webb of Steinhobel and shown a sixteen-acre property, previously a caravan park.  it seemed ideal and the owner, Mr. Evan Walker, agreed to sell it to them in three phases.  They took the plunge and secured the land... the property we all know today as 23 Knoppiesdoring Street. 

Settling the question of the property was certainly a relief, but there was no time to rest on any laurels.  It was February 1996 - less than a year before Herbie, Ron and Tony hoped to open their new school - and nothing had been done about enrolling any pupils.  A pilot meeting was arranged and held in the Honeyridge Baptist Church Hall, and the intention of opening the new private school was made public for the first time.  Questionnaires were distributed and completed by the 57 people present.  Their response was unbelievably positive, and for the first time there was tangible evidence suggesting that the venture could succeed.

Less than a month later - on March 12th, 1996 - Herbie, Ron and Tony held their first public meeting at the same church hall.  The meeting had been advertised, and 150 people pitched up to hear what the esteemed gentlemen had to say.

There was good news and bad news, as the saying goes.  Bookings for the new school opened that night, and the good news was that there were an amazing 170 enrolments.  The bad news, however, was that the vast majority of bookings were for 1998 and beyond...fewer than ten were for 1997.  Trinityhouse School was opening in less than ten months, without a single brick having been laid and with a pupil count of ten!

Similar public meetings were held in April, May and June, and each month more and more parents began committing themselves to sending their children to the school that still did not exist.  These monthly meetings were supplemented by the team's Saturday sales drive.  Ron made arrangements to park his caravan in the Honeyridge Baptist Church grounds, and he, Herbie and Tony set up a tarpaulin to provide some shade.  Throughout the remainder of 1996 the three of them spent each and every Saturday morning on duty at the caravan, talking to interested parents who had followed up advertisements, answering their questions and - whenever possible - persuading them to enroll their children.  An interesting aspect of the Trinityhouse story is that the original intention had been to start a high school only.  However, after innumerable conversations with a wide variety of people at his church, Herbie realised that the real market lay in the direction of a primary school.  He tabled the idea, and two board meetings later - in August 1995 - the proposal to open primary and high schools was adopted.

But land and pupils were not the only problems confronting Herbie, Ron and Tony.  In the few short months remaining between the first public meeting and the actual opening, the entire school had to be built, and financial backers and bankers had to be found.  As far as construction was concerned, the Trinity Trio had to live with the frustration of innumerable delays in the zoning of the property.  Consent finally came on March 11, 1996 and that night - the night before the first public meeting - they were able to sign the agreement for the building.  Now the architect could submit the plans to the Council, and once again frustration reared its ugly head as the Council sat on the plans from March till near the end of July.

It was during this period that Ron had to tackle the banks, and as it turned out they gave him the toughest time of all.  The two major banks he dealt with both appeared excited with the project, approving the funding in principle subject to a signed contract with the builder.
Once the building plans had been approved by the Council in late July, the building contract could be signed.  Now Ron had what the banks needed to provide the finance, and on July 27 he delivered copies of the contract to both banks.

Then came what was probably the single most devastating blow Herbie, Ron and Tony had suffered since the start of their venture.  Both banks called back the same day to inform Ron that their head offices had a policy against the financing of schools.  Catch 22.  The promise of funding had evaporated, and they had to pay for the land transfer and the builder, who was about to move on site.  They had sufficient immediate funds to pay one or the other and opted for the builder, who was to begin construction on August 5.  As for Herbie, Ron and Tony, they faced the dual nightmare of having no funding, and of having a builder digging foundations for their school on land which had not yet been transferred into their company name.

Ron spent the next month in and out of every bank in Johannesburg, dishing out business plans to anyone who would take one.  All expressed great interest, but all came back with the identical answer from their head offices...no schools!  Meanwhile the Absa man who had originally approached Ron had been staggered by his head office's decision, and continued to be interested and supportive.  He bumped into a colleague from BOE at the shops one day and, during the course of conversion, mentioned the Trinityhouse dilemma. His friend told him to get Ron to call him, and things began to happen.

Ron called at ten o'clock, discussed the matter in depth and Ron showed him around.  He said he would be in touch in a week, and exactly a week later he called to say the funding had been approved. Two factors had played a major role in swaying his head office in Cape Town.  The general banking concern over what to do with a second-hand school building if the school fails, was offset by his contention that this building - with its wide corridors and no steps - could also make a wonderful clinic.

Secondly, BOE called Mark Henning of the Independent Schools' Council for references on Herbie, Ron and Tony and - based on his word - decided to go ahead and grant the funding they required.
During the previous hectic month of struggling to find finance, Syfret's had also come to the party.  But they had wanted Herbie, Ron and Tony to provide 30%, while BOE only wanted 25%. As a result, Syfret's would not provide the full amount, so the gentlemen brokering the loan for them went to African Bank and negotiated an unsecured loan for half-a-million Rand to cover the Syfret's shortfall.  Then as it turned out BOE's terms were better, and included the full amount required, so they accepted the BOE offer and African Bank as well - a nice cushion on an additional half-million in case of emergency.

At last everything was in place.  The land had been secured, and the transfer eventually went through.  Construction - which had started only five months before opening day - proceeded at frenzied pace and was completed in the nick of time.  The traumatic issue of finance had ended well.  And, thanks to the ongoing recruitment drive by Herbie, Ron and Tony every week till December, their modest hopes of 100 pupils were to be shattered by a fantastic attendance of 298 pupils on opening day 1997.  

The Birth

As the moment of confinement arrived, both "mother" and "baby" were doing just fine.
To quote Herbie Staples: "When you look at all these factors, you've just got to realise that the Lord's hand was in this...this was not mankind!"

The buildings were completed in five phases with the last building of the High School being completed in 2000.  There are 83 teaching venues in the Preparatory and High Schools excluding two halls.

The Pre-Primary building consisting of five classrooms was erected during 2001 and this school opened in 2002 with 95 pupils in Grade 0 and Grade 00.