Paul Roos Gymnasium is one of South Africa’s most historic boys schools, founded in 1866 in Stellenbosch and long regarded as a flagship institution in the Western Cape. Originally opened as Stellenbosch Gymnasium, it later became Stellenbosch Boys’ High before taking the name Paul Roos Gymnasium in 1946, honouring former pupil, Springbok captain and long-serving rector Paul Roos. The school moved to its current Krigeville campus the same year.
Paul Roos has a long-standing academic culture shaped by close ties to Stellenbosch University. The school shares certain curricular offerings with its sister schools Bloemhof and Rhenish, and collaborates with the university in sport and technology facilities. Two on-site boarding houses, Prima and Prima Nova, accommodate about 245 boarders from across South Africa and Namibia.
School life is built around four houses named Braid, Hofmeyr, Murray and Neethling. The school’s identity is defined by its gees, the strong sense of pride that underpins major events and traditional rivalries with Paarl Boys, Paarl Gim, Grey College, Grey High and Affies. The fight song Old Boys of Paul Roos is central to this culture and is sung to the tune of Flower of Scotland, a reference to the school’s early Scottish rectors.
Rugby is the school’s most famous tradition. Paul Roos has produced more Springboks than any other school, with 56 capped players coming through its system. The 2019 Rugby World Cup squad featured multiple old boys, including Steven Kitshoff, Herschel Jantjies, Damian Willemse, Schalk Brits and Willie le Roux. The school also has national representation across cricket, hockey, swimming, triathlon, cycling and American football.
Beyond sport, Paul Roos has a strong academic reputation reflected in consistent university outcomes and the school’s standing as a prestige institution in the Western Cape. Stellenbosch University has awarded a significant number of honorary doctorates to former Paul Roos pupils, and several old boys have received the Chancellor’s Medal as the university’s top graduate in their final year.
The alumni base spans South African public life. Past students include two prime ministers, JBM Hertzog and DF Malan, along with Jan Smuts, who served as both South African prime minister and a leading figure in the creation of the League of Nations and United Nations. The school has also produced prominent jurists, writers, journalists, media figures, economists and business leaders. The creative arts community includes musicians, actors and visual artists whose careers have shaped both Afrikaans and national culture.
Paul Roos is also one of only four South African schools with the right to award an annual Rhodes Scholarship to an old boy for postgraduate study at Oxford.