New Cambridge kid on the block
Establishing and maintaining an educational facility that offers a Cambridge clearance in Knysna has been a rather bumpy road. First there were none, then an overload of three competing for space, then two without full Cambridge exam-centre authorisation and now, finally, a brand new fully accredited kid on the Cambridge block called Keurbosch.
Acquiring a Cambridge accreditation is a challenging endeavour as schools need to adhere to very high international standards. Students graduating from accredited Cambridge schools receive an internationally accepted qualification.
Headed by Michiel Coetzee – of the Knysna Education Group (KEG) which also runs a series of TEFL schools in Knysna – Keurbosch International School (in the process of name change from Heatherhill) is now the only legitimate Cambridge school in in the town, is also an accredited Cambridge exam centre and has a Cambridge-approved art centre as well as a Cambridge-approved laboratory. The school has appointed Marius Potgieter, a seasoned educator with more than two decades of experience, as principal.
The reins to run Keurbosch were passed on to Coetzee from Heatherhill School which offered Cambridge courses to Knysna students for over 20 years. He has grand new plans for the facility and is in the process of a total revamp of not only the physical facility in Queen Street, but in the overall educational outlook.
“I decided to take over the school as I am a firm believer in providing quality, affordable education,” Coetzee told Knysna-Plett
Herald. “We cater for students who want to develop their full potential and envisage entering the international arena.”
Coetzee explained that his links with the KEG with its established international ties will also benefit students studying to attain the internationally accepted Cambridge qualification. “Keurbosch students will have the privilege to interact with international students and to become part of the international arena,” he said.
According to Coetzee, a part of the school’s mission has been also to develop passionate, highly skilled and emotionally intelligent teachers. “We train our teachers on an ongoing basis to be subject masters and whole-brain teachers who know how to apply best-practice teaching in the classroom by using a variety of teaching methods.”
Another part of the school’s mission has been to apply proven as well as innovative methods in their teaching methodology and use technology and creativity as a support tool to ensure that students are not only on par with international standards, but exceed them. “We also aim to offer different activities to enhance their self-confidence and public-speaking skills; strive to set a good example as teachers to our students and care for each and every one of them; to ensure a creative, fun, hard-working and academic milieu; to empower our students with knowledge on how to study and understand the work, find a way to save the information in their long-term memory, how to retrieve the knowledge and then to know how to apply the information in a meaningful way. This is a proven recipe for a successful career.”
For more information visit www. keurboschschool.com.