Operating from a parent’s house and having started with only seven pupils in 2015, the New Muizenberg School has grown to 75 learners.
On Thursday 10 March the community school moved to its new premises, which will house four classes, after it operated from four different venues in 2021.
Teacher Katherine Whaling said part of the school’s concept is to use the whole neighbourhood as a learning space.
“The first class was in 2015 and it was formed by parents, so a group of parents came together as they needed a Grade 1 class for the little ones and they were all from Muizenberg.
“They were looking for local holistic education and they wanted something simple, they wanted their child to grow up within the community.
“They found a teacher using the Waldorf philosophy and started at a parent’s home in Beach Road.”
The school keeps their classes small with only 15 learners per class.
“We can move around with them. A big part of what we do is to be mobile. We try and spend as little time as possible in the classroom and we use the spaces and immerse ourselves in nature.
“At the moment we have 75 children, including the kindergarden, but the kindergarden classes will not take place here. Cclasses one to four will be here.”
She added that they were in temporary premises during the first term of school.
“Last year we were in a residential house, that was great for us but we had some noise complaints from neighbours and officially got evicted by the City of Cape Town.
“Although the City was very accommodating and they have been trying to help us out in the situation but at the end of the day we still got an official eviction.”
At the end of term in December the New Muizenberg School moved out of their old premises but had still not found an ideal venue by the beginning of term in January.
“Through the holidays some of the parents and people were still looking for premises but it was becoming dangerously close to the beginning of term and we had not found an ideal space where we could all be together.
“So we resolved to be on different premises and we kind of just made a plan for the first term.
“The last term, two of the classes were in parent’s homes in Muizenberg and our play group and kindergarten were at Alive Dance Studio and then we rented a space on Main Road for class 1’s and 4’s.
“So, we had four different venues, which was a bit of a logistical circus.”
She added that part of the school’s concept is to use the whole neighbourhood as a learning space and a learning collective that incorporates the whole neighbourhood.
Class 4 teacher Shenaye Benjamin, who has 15 learners in her class, says they teach children through feelings and the environment.
“The way we are teaching, especially in the Primary School phase, we teach through feeling.
“What we are trying to evoke in the children is some sort of feeling towards what we are doing, the way we do that is we make it relevant and personal to them.
“The sort of outings we do, we try to immerse them in their space, so our outings are here in their environment. For example we did a walking tour of Muizenberg because we are situated in Muizenberg.
“I think it’s also about making it relevant for where the children are and the space they are surrounded by.
“It draws them in and helps them to learn and grasp things. It helps them learn better instead of saying repeat after me like a parrot situation.”
