Daxk

FG, Hilton, Michaelhouse,Kearsney College, all in the same area, all excellent Schools and will produce well rounded education.
Will they be safe at School, yes, more than likely.
Will they be bullied? probably ,will it be more or less than anywhere else?
probably not.
Someone has raised the point about SA education Standards and their continueing acceptability overseas, and that is actually the Crux.

Italyexpat, you made a comment, "Dont believe everything you read in the Newspapers"
Was that about crime? are you saying that the murders and rapes and home invasions are'nt happening? or that they are being lied about or sensationalised?

Tegwyn

That is very true Dax. Most of private schools in SA generally are able to maintain high standards, but the government has been grumbling about the exclusivity of those. Should they start meddling in those then it becomes a mess. Standards in government schools and the Uni's have been lowered drastically that credit conversion in the US alone becomes more challenging. However saying that, some fine gentlemen walk around with degrees and they can't read or write properly, but are superb at catching a basketball or football. I understand the cost factor too as that sterling does go a long way in conversion. Once again though, the security factor is very important as they can't be locked behind school walls the entire time. Perhaps the schools will offer Foreigngal the names of parents that can offer references or input into the issues they have come across. Most good schools would be happy to cater to those concerns.

Pugsy

One of my biggest problems with SA, after crime, which is NOT by any stretch of the imagination exaggerated.... is South Africa's ability to splinter families. You run a risk of your children coming of age, wanting to go to Uni. there with their friends and staying. Seeing you twice a year won't be enough to stop them becoming saffers'. Teenagers have no thought or regard to their own mortality and it would scare the bejesus out of me to have my children live there as adults. (Not just with regards crime, but the appalling death toll on the roads... and everything else.) Just a thought.

shiftdelete

excellent point- these are the last set of friends they make 'easily' in their lives. Also, arguably along with varsity, the best time of their lives.

So not unlike most of us , they will forever 'hanker' after these most intense and enjoyable 'days of our lives'.

For me,me,me,me,me, this took place in Africa, fortunately or unfortunately...

AudsFrmSA

Hi ForeignGal,
I'm Scottish but have been living in South Africa for 27yrs, I was educated here (high school only) although it was a government school, however, my children attend a private school. We are hoping to leave SA by December to live in Scotland, and I can tell you that my kids are 2yrs behind in schooling compared to the UK, for the simple reason that kids here start primary school when they are 7 whereas in the UK they start when they are 5. I plan on 'home-schooling' my kids when I arrive in Scotland, at least until they are 'up to scratch' but who knows we may gain so much from it, that we continue. The private school my kids attend have security guards but they are not armed, so fat lot of good they actually do. Just the other day one of the Mothers cars was hi-jacked just outside the school, and there was nothing anyone could do, fortunately, no one got hurt.

TigerOC

Having lived very close to Michael House and Hilton and my daughter lives behind Kearsney College in Hillcrest I know they are all excellent schools. I also believe they are offering British based GSE equivalent curriculae now with declining education standards in the RSA. They are all superb schools that give far more than an education and are based on an old fashioned Victorian "life skills" education system around the motto "manners maketh man"

The boys at these schools are always moved in groups with close supervision in the school's own buses. This includes collecting them from airports, going shopping etc. There are many foreign kids there including some from the elite in Europe and the middle East.

If I had the money I would send my son to one of these schools without even thinking about it.

ForeignGal

These post are invaluable. I read one and think there's no way their going to RSA and then another and I think I'm definetly doing it!
You made an excellent point Pugsy about friendships and I know in the UK most boarders remain life long friends. They would only be there for 5 years though but you're probably right and I wouldn't send them to school in the hope they want to set up life in RSA.
TigerOC - Interesting to hear about how the pupils are transferred.

AudsFrmSa - I am Scottish too! I grew up in Cumbernauld I thought you should know that home-ed in Scotland is very difficult. The Scottish parliament don't like it and there are lots of rules and regulations. I know this because I home-eded my kids in England for 2 years and at one point we looked at relocating to Scotland and the horror stories I heard from most home-ed families. In England its so easy with no rules or restrictions.
Also there has been a huge decline in Education in the UK and unless you can pay or go to a grammar school (they're aren't any!) in Scotland then I would be very careful. I am 29 so left school 11 years ago and even then the standards were poor (mainly in discipline and behaviour) and if your kids are behind they will be in the bottom sets with all of the trouble makers, and its getting worse. House prices are also ridiculous in Scotland compared to Salary, but if moneys not a concern then I would suggest private school - where are you hoping to move to? PM me if you wish .

Pablo

Just a point on universities. Though the top private schools like Hilton are good, the SA universities are not, and you would not want your children to attend them. Standards there are collapsing.

Bear in mind that, just as in the UK, school students all separate after school and go to different universities. Bear in mind too that there will probably be a fair number of other foreign school students at whichever school you pick, and they too will go off to 'foreign' universities.

Also, I don't think your children would be able to just stay on and live/work in SA, even if they wanted to. I don't quite know what the visa arrangements are for school kids, but I suspect it's rather like the UK. You can get your kids into school there, but that doesn't confer permanent residency rights on them, and they would have to leave after their education in SA was completed.

Finally, you shouldn't factor in what *you* want. You should make your decision on what what is best for their education. If, as young adults, they eventually up and leave to some other part of the world, that is surely their choice.

ForeignGal

You are right Pablo, it is there choice but as a parent I can steer them in a direction. For example its more difficult to get into Oxbridge now so we were considering Ivy League, however we would be creating greater odds that they would meet american partners, get married and stay over there. Now this may happen anyway and that's just life, but we could make it more or less likely to happen by the decisions we make for them as children.

I was interested to hear about RSA universities and if that continues to be the case then I'm sure most boys at Hilton would be applying for overseas uni's regardless if they were native or not. I know a lot go to Natal - is this any good? I also noticed on the world rankings that Capetown comes 349th - I assume this is good, do you know much about it?

Pablo

Enough to say steer clear of SA universities. They're becoming politicised in the worst sense of that term, there's a good deal of race politics and tension, standards are under immense pressure (because it's not politically expedient to fail blacks who should not be there in the first place) and so on. The kind of thing you hear about at the worst UK universities (the ex-Polys) except worse. But there's no reason in theory your kids couldn't get into world class universities elsewhere in the world.

ForeignGal

Thanks Pablo, you've left me with lots to think about!

italyexpat

Well £100k is a lot of money, and you will get the same quality if not better, in Cape Town, I would go for Bishops, which incidentally, I also lived round the corner from. You are speaking to the right person, as one of my dear friends runs the local neighbourhood watch out of an office at Bishops. So security is not an issue for the boys at school. Rondebosch police department is involved and has bobbys on bikes.
Secondly, Cape Town cannot be considered a city like any other, it is not built up, is very cosmopolitan, and in the southern suburbs where bishops is, its like a village. My daughter lives in the city bowl where she is a fashion designer, and goes to events often on her own by car at night, it pays to be street wise, that's all. People are not gunned down in the streets, but there is petty crime and robbery like any city. I don't know who you've been talking to, but nobody I know, has a security guard. Sure It's a good school, but not elitist, and since you are already paying a forTune you obviouly don't have a problem with that. The contacts they will make at Bishops will set them up for life. Just type Bishops Boy into goggle or facebook and you'll see they are all over the world. Your boys will be with other British families there too.
I strongly suggest you put your husband on a plane, book into a hotel in the southern suburbs of Cape Town, there are many, and go and have a proper look. You can't agree if you are not sure what you are looking at, You need to be on the same page. Hilton is more out in the countryside but near the small village of Hilton.
Hope this helps.

ForeignGal

Thanks this is great!

Pablo

It pays to be streetwise? Er, Like Brett Goldin? No! That just is not sufficient. I'd be very careful about advising someone in the UK that Cape Town is just like any other city, or that SA is just like any other country, or that 'there's crime everywhere' etc.

Attending school - preferably boarding, and on a rural campus - is one thing. Living there permanently in a city is quite another.

italyexpat

Dear Dax, I said don't believe "everything" not "anything" you read. Any dork knows that South Africa has a problem with crime. Do highjackings and robberies take place, Yes, a lot in Joburg, which is why many men install wife and kids in Cape Town get them into a good school and then work in Joburg all week and return home for the weekend.
Crime violence and murder is increasing at an alarming rate in Britain too. racial violence and stabbing of children in neighbourhood parks happens almost weekly now, are you saying that its now as unsafe to live in England? Well some would say yes, and I have many friends here, who left England for just that reason, and because the standard of education took a dive. I have a friend who taught in South Africa for years, she took an opportunity to see the otherside, and taught in London schools where she was spat at,sworn at( something that no S.A. teacher has to tolerate) threatened with a knife more than once, and constantly had to deal with completely uncontrollable kids and their parents.
So let's not get into this polarised and sensational type thinking. black or white. Its someone's choice if they want to look at a situation warts and all.