Rondebosch is the only school in the Western Cape to have a Nobel Prize laureate, Allan M. Cormack in Physiology and Medicine.

The idea of an English-medium school was chosen and the Dutch Reformed Church representative of the district, Reverend Benard PJ Marchand, took the lead of this initiative.

Marchand obtained the help of several prominent dignitaries and businessmen, including William Philip Schreiner, an old boy of SACS and future Prime Minister of the Cape Colony and Sir Lewis Mitchell, the manager of the Standard bank, to guarantee the initial funding that would be required.

In 1897, Dr Thomas Muir, Superintendent-General of Education, approved a grant of £50 to cover the salary, and housing, allowance for the principal of this new boys' public school, the man chosen for the promising job was 38-year-old Robert MacLennan Ramage, a graduate of Edinburgh University.

[1] The first inspection report to Dr. Muir was a positive one, saying: 'This school has made a promising commencement and deserves the unhesitating support of the neighbourhood.

Soon after their search began, a nearby property - The Firs, a site with an area of almost one acre of ground, at the corner of Campground and Rouwkoop roads came up for sale.

Over the last century the Old Boys’ Union has assumed a greater role in raising funds for the benefit of both the Prep and High schools and providing other support.

Rondebosch has one of the strongest and oldest Old Boys' unions in South Africa and it has been growing exponentially ever since it was first started in 1909.

[8] Of the 158 final-year students who wrote the Western Cape Education Department exams in 2013, 146 passed at a Bachelor (Degree) level.