What we offer
Our school is co-educational, offering quality education for more than 70 years, to boys and girls from Grade RRR up to Grade 7
Individual Attention
The majority of grades host 25 or less learners in the class, which facilitates effective learning and teaching.
Smaller classes enable teachers to gain knowledge of each child’s unique strengths and individual needs.
A smaller class size encourages learners’ active participation and allows educators a unique opportunity to monitor every learner’s progress.
With smaller classes and individual attention, better discipline in the class can be maintained.
Individual attention also means that each child in the class can obtain an improved understanding of the concepts explained in the class and any problems can be picked up immediately by the educator in the class and rectified.
Distinctive Ethos
Religious Education is offered for all grades, focusing on Gospel values for children of ALL FAITHS.
All children pray at the start of the day, before break, and at 12 noon. A short meditation session is held at the end of the day where children have the opportunity to reflect on their day and the Christian values they witnessed, or displayed themselves, over the course of the day.
Christian-based assemblies for the whole school are held every Monday in the school hall.
All children go to church/Holy Mass at the start and end of each term, as well as on special feast days, such as Ash Wednesday, Ascension Day, Assumption Day, etc.
Children are taught the values of trustworthiness, respect, responsibility, fairness, caring and good citizenship and other Gospel values.
Qualified and Committed Educators
All teachers hold, at minimum, a four-year Bachelors of Education degree.
All teachers are registered with the South African Council of Educators.
Teachers are appointed according to stringent requirements and conditions.
Each teacher at our school realizes the importance and responsibility that go along with this calling. They are dedicated people with a love for children and for the profession.
All teachers strive to nurture individual children in totality and foster their spiritual, intellectual, ethical and emotional development in keeping with their dignity as children of God.
Positive Discipline
The disciplinary system at our school focuses on positive points of behaviour. We believe there are no bad children, only bad behaviour.
Our disciplinary system is based on the believe that good behaviour can be taught and reinforced while bad behaviours can be weaned without hurting the child verbally or physically.
Our system promotes positive decision making, teaching expectations to children as early as possible and encouraging positive behaviours by awarding merits or demerits. Demerits can be cancelled by positive behaviour and merits are rewarded in various ways.
Small Classes
The majority of grades host 25 or less learners in the class, which facilitates effective learning and teaching.
Smaller classes enable teachers to gain knowledge of each child’s unique strengths and individual needs.
A smaller class size encourages learners’ active participation and allows educators a unique opportunity to monitor every learner’s progress.
With smaller classes and individual attention, better discipline in the class can be maintained.
Individual attention also means that each child in the class can obtain an improved understanding of the concepts explained in the class and any problems can be picked up immediately by the educator in the class and rectified.
Strong Values-Based Education
At the core of our school’s ethos and model of teaching, stand the six pillars of good character – Trustworthiness, Respect, Responsibility, Fairness, Caring and Good Citizenship.
As a school, we support and promote the following key statements:
- We know that the next generation, our children, will be the stewards of our communities, nation and world in extraordinary critical times.
- The present and future well-being of our society requires and involves caring citizens with good moral character.
- People/Children do not automatically develop good moral character; therefore, conscientious efforts must be made to instruct them in the values and abilities necessary for moral decision-making conduct.
- Effective character education is based on core ethical values rooted in the foundation of Gospel teaching, in particular: Caring, Respect, Responsibility, Fairness, Trustworthiness and Good Citizenship.
- Character education is, first and foremost, an obligation of families, communities and schools. These responsibilities are best achieved when these groups work in unison.
- The character and conduct of our youth reflects the character and conduct of society, therefore, every adult has the responsibility to teach and model the core ethical values and every social institution has the responsibility to promote the development of good character. This is a calling we, as a school, take very seriously.
Assumption Convent is the first school in South Africa to have implemented the “Character Counts” programme in 2007 and ever since then it has been an integral part of our school.
To see how this programme is implemented in our school, click here.
On-Site Remedial Therapist and Educational Psychologist
Our Remedial Therapist and Educational Psychologist are well-qualified and passionate individuals who take their calling very seriously.
Their services are included in the school fees and include:
- Complete scholastic assessments with feedback to parents and teachers, as well as a comprehensive educational psychological report with recommendations.
- Therapeutic intervention for emotional and social support.
- Parent guidance.
- Assistance in referral of learners to external therapists, doctors and other professionals when necessary.
- Emotional Intelligence Program for Gr.1 learners during term 1.
- School Readiness Assessments for learners going to grade 1. This includes a comprehensive report for parents and learner profiles.
- Remedial therapy for Grade 1 to Grade 4 learners, and assisting learners to experience success at school and thereby retain a healthy self-concept
- Word enrichment workshops: In order to achieve success in school, acquiring the skill of reading, is the most important skill to master, and has to be attained within the first three years of schooling.
Learners start writing formal exams in Grade 4 and by then the basic skills of reading should have already been mastered with confidence. The Word Enrichment Programme has been developed to empower learners to read with comprehension and insight.
Acquiring a wide and rich comprehension of language and vocabulary has a multitude of advantages such as:- Prevention of loss of concentration due to lack of comprehension
- Improvement of language abilities, leading to reading with comprehension and effective communication.
- Confident expression of oneself in written language as well as in social communication
A Vibrant Pre-school for Grades RRR to R
Children are nurtured by qualified and loving teachers in a safe, child-friendly environment through perceptual stimulation activities, gross motor development and multi-sensory teaching methods.
Our pre-school is not a crèche. Our children follow a set CAPS curriculum, which includes Religious Education, Coding and Robotics, Playball, Music, Arts and Crafts, Make-and-Bake, on-site activities such as visits by the Fire Brigade, Pets on Wheels, Eco Pilots etc.
The beautiful expanded pre-school playground provides ample space and opportunity for the little ones to explore and play to their hearts’ content.
Small classes make it possible for intense individual attention from teachers and ensure that optimal learning and teaching occur.
Each Grade R child undergoes a free school-readiness test by the Remedial Therapist towards the end of the Grade R year which, in itself, is a huge saving for parents, as these tests, if administered by third party providers could cost up to R5000.
A Grade R graduation function is held annually, once our ‘honourable graduates’ are ready to move on to the ‘Big School’ in grade 1.
A healthy meal is included in the school fees.
Pre-schoolers have access to the school’s Aftercare Facility at a reduced cost.
Religious Education
At Assumption Convent Primary School, we focus on a vibrant, interesting, and relevant Religious Education curriculum that is designed to help learners discover their identity in God, and to empower them to participate with God in the creation of a “new heaven and a new earth” [Revelation 21:1].
Why is Religious Education important in a Catholic school such as Assumption Convent?
Religious Education is at the core of the curriculum in a Catholic school. In so doing, it helps the school to fulfil its mission to educate the whole person in discerning the meaning of their existence.
Religious Education is further concerned not only with intellectual knowledge, but also includes emotional and affective learning. It is through this mystery of the ‘Word made flesh’, that the mystery of what it is to be human truly becomes clear.
Without religious education, children would be deprived of an essential element of their formation and personal development. The teaching of Religious Education helps them attain a vital harmony between faith and culture.
What is the purpose of Religious Education in Catholic schools?
In a Catholic school, the curriculum exists to help parents, priests, and teachers to hand on the Deposit of Faith in its fullness, to a new generation of young people and to help them to come to a better understanding of the richness of the faith, and thereby be drawn into a deeper communion with Christ in his Church. With this as their primary aim, Catholic schools serve diverse populations of children of different faiths and within this context the Religious Education Curriculum endeavours:
- To present engagingly a comprehensive content, which is the basis of knowledge and understanding of the Catholic faith;
- To enable the children to continually deepen their religious and theological understanding and be able to communicate their understanding effectively;
- To present an authentic vision of the Church’s moral and social teaching so that children can make an informed critical reflection of their culture and society;
- To raise the children’s awareness of the faith and traditions of other religious communities around them and to respect and understand them better;
- To stimulate the children’s imagination to provoke a desire for personal meaning, as revealed in the truth of the Catholic faith;
- To help children to relate what they learn in Religious Education to their understanding of other subjects in the curriculum;
- To assist children to link their faith and life, and move between their faith and culture.
The ultimate outcome of Religious Education is to educate and engage young people to have the knowledge, understanding and skills they need, to reflect spiritually, and think ethically and critically, and be aware of the demands of religious commitment in their everyday life.
Child Safeguarding
Being a Catholic School, Assumption Convent Primary actively implements a Child Safeguarding Policy which reflects the Gospel values of freedom, justice and respect for all children and young people, as well as the values enshrined in Catholic social teaching. It promotes our underlying belief that:
- The rights of all children must be promoted and protected,
- All children must be treated equally, with love and respect, and
- The child’s dignity as a person must never be diminished.
A Designated Child Safeguarding Person (DCSP) ensures that the policy is implemented correctly and the school stays compliant with the standards thereof. The DCSP sees to it that all staff members receives regular training on child safeguarding issues, and that procedures for reporting of cases are clearly understood and legally compliant. All service providers are also made aware of the policy and expected to adhere to it.
Assumption Convent Primary School has been commended on more than one occasion by the Catholic Board of Education for our stellar implementation of the Child Safeguarding Policy as well as our commitment to the safety and welfare of the learners in our school.
Coding and Robotics
This modality is offered to all children from Grade R to Grade 7, at no additional cost to our parents.
Computer Studies
Computer Studies is offered to children from Grade 1 to 7.
Music and Art
Music is loads of fun for all learners from Grade RR to Grade 4. Each week we focus on a different aspect of music to ensure that they always learn something new.
We focus on ‘Songs of the week’, where we sing, dance and practise the assembly songs. We play percussion instruments and each learner gets a chance to play the djembe drums, which is always a favourite with the learners.
For music listening skills, learners listen to different pieces of music and identify differences in dynamics and intonation. They learn to identify and indicate the time signature in which a piece of music is written, as well as differentiating between major and minor chords.
We also introduce the learners to basic music theory. The level of music theory varies according to their age group. We learn note names and note values. Learners learn to read basic music scores.
We don’t do any formal assessments in music. Instead, the music class is a safe space for learners where they can just be themselves and have FUN!
Benchmarked Curriculum Standards
We are extremely proud of the academic standards we maintain at our school.
Our assessments measure learners’ performance against institution standards and learning goals, allowing teachers to identify learners’ strengths and weaknesses, which can then inform their future instruction.
Participating in Olympiads, and benchmarking against other schools in the district bear testimony to the fact that we are maintaining much higher curriculum standards than most schools.
Excellent Academic Performance
Academic instruction at Assumption Convent is not only aimed at getting children to achieve the prescribed minimum requirements in order to be promoted to the next grade. It is aimed at getting children to excel in all subject areas and also to prepare them for their academic career once they move to High School.
The vast majority of our children stand head above shoulders to their peers in High School and find it much easier to progress through the respective grades. The numerous compliments we receive from High School Principals as well as parents, bear testimony to this.
Child-Friendly and Inviting Classrooms
We believe that a classroom should not be a stale unfriendly space, but that it should be a colourful and inviting – a place where children can feel safe and free to express themselves.
For this reason all our classrooms are beautiful and inviting, making children feel relaxed and appreciated.
All classrooms are equipped with air conditioners and big screen TV’s to facilitate a comfortable and exciting teaching-learning experience.
A Safe Environment for Learners
We place a high premium on school safety. Proper brick fencing ensures that children are kept inside and strangers are kept outside.
A full-time security guard mans the main entrance to the school during school hours. Visitors are required to complete a visitor’s register upon entering the school premises.
ALL teachers accompany children to the gate in the afternoons from where EACH child is called by name when their transport has arrived to collect them. In this way we assure that no child leaves the premises without being accompanied by a familiar adult.
Children who are not collected from the school gate by 15:00 are taken to the office where their parents are called to inform them that their child has not been picked up and to make alternative arrangements for the rest of the afternoon, such as sending the child to our Aftercare facility.
Extra-Curricular Activities
As far as sport is concerned, we aim to expose our children to as many activities as possible within the capacity of the school.
We offer Swimming in the first term, Soccer, Netball, Chess and Scrabble in the second term and Athletics in the third term.
In the fourth term we focus on preparing children for their year-end exams.
Culturally we offer participation in the School Choir, the Junior Revue and truly spectacular school productions as well as poetry and speech festivals.
The activities above are all included in the school fees.
Other extra-curricular activities that are not included in the school fees are Karate, Ballet, Life Soccer Clinics, A+Maths and Little Readers.
Grade 6 and grade 7 learners are offered an opportunity to go on a tour to the Cape, every two years.
Aftercare Facilities
Our aftercare facility is available from after school up to 18:00 in the afternoon.
Children are provided a light meal after which they do homework and study under supervision of the aftercare facilitators.
Supervised play time is provided after the study session.
The aftercare is not included in the school fees. Pre-schoolers have access to the aftercare at a significantly reduced fee.
A Multicultural School
Competitive School Fees
Established Traditions
Attractive and Well-maintained School Grounds
This creates an ideal space for effective teaching and learning to take place and we are very proud to call Assumption Convent OUR school.
