Cape Town bucks the Joburg trend

MIDDLE-CLASS parents in Cape Town’s southern suburbs are happy to have their children educated at former Model C schools — unlike some of their Johannesburg counterparts.

There is hardly any movement of pupils from government schools to private institutions.

The top former Model C schools include Westerford High, Wynberg Girls, Wynberg Boys, Rustenburg Girls, Rondebosch Boys, Sans Souci Girls, Pinelands High, Groote Schuur High and Camps Bay High.

Rob le Roux, principal of Westerford High in Rondebosch, said most of these schools kept their class enrolment at 30 and were “quality state schools”.

Parents of the 900 Westerford pupils pay annual school fees of just over R25 000.

“We have a reputation for providing quality education. It’s as simple as that. People know that they get a quality education at Westerford.”

Said Le Roux: “We don’t have movement from one school to the next.”

He said there was a very healthy relationship between principals of the different schools: “We aren’t in competition with each other; we share experiences and work together.”

Meanwhile, KwaZulu-Natal’s education MEC, Senzo Mchunu, said white and Indian parents with children at former Model C schools that had predominantly African pupils “felt completely at home” in these institutions.

He said his department’s new “first come, first served” admissions policy was aimed at getting parents to apply early for admission. “We don’t want parents to take it for granted, even though they generally understand that the nearest school is theirs.”