New school on the Bay block

St Christophers to provide quality affordable education, writes Melitta Ngalonkulu

A NEW affordable independent school is on the cards for Port Elizabeth following a R30-million deal between St Christophers Private School and the Walmer Country Club.

This is after the school purchased six hectares of land from the country club.

The portion of land purchased includes the existing clubhouse buildings, bowls club, bowling greens and squash courts.

School director Hendrick van Daalan said the school had been at the forefront of quality, affordable private education for the past 30 years.

With its main campus based in King William’s Town, the Port Elizabeth branch is due to open in January.

Van Daalan said the branch in King Williams Town had produced outstanding results and they hoped to do the same in Port Elizabeth.

“We achieved a 90% pass rate for the matric examinations last year.

“Our modern, purpose-built campus hosts 850 pupils ranging from Grade R to Grade 12.

“Our plan is to develop the Walmer campus into a similar institution of good low-fee education to serve the community.”

He said the need for high-quality yet affordable education had been noted in Port Elizabeth and the infrastructure of the clubhouse buildings had captivated them.

“We were thoroughly impressed with the beautiful setting of the historical clubhouse and all the facilities.

“[With] the proximity to Walmer township, as well as old Walmer, this property is at the nexus and we can have a truly multiracial school,” Van Daalan said.

He said the expansion of the school was a dream come true.

“It means that we can extend our dream to more South Africans, thereby contributing to a prosperous country with better-educated, mature citizens.

St Christophers Private School could expand its doors through an investment from the Schools Investment Fund.

The fund had been established to address infrastructure backlogs and support improvement of education in South Africa, he said.

Funded by Old Mutual and the Government Employees Pension Fund, the fund has R1.2-billion committed to the funding of affordable independent schools.

Old Mutual’s alternative investments manager for the fund, Lala Steyn, said she was excited about the expansion and was certain St Christopher’s would continue to impress.

“The 2015 overall matric pass rate of the schools we support was 97.6%, with 57.7% achieving a university exemption and we believe that St Christophers will bring the same level of quality education to Port Elizabeth,” Steyn said.

Things will continue as normal for the Walmer Country Club, but a new clubhouse and squash courts for its members will be developed on another section of the course.

Walmer Country Club manager Mike Creighton said they were very excited about the new development and had all been in agreement about selling the land.

“Indeed, at the special general meeting held in December, members gave a unanimous vote in favour of the motion to sell to St Christophers,” he said.

The Walmer campus will start with Grade R to 7 and more classes will be added each year until matric.

A principal has already been appointed and application forms for enrolment will be available from April 15. Contact (043) 643-3261.