Meet the headmonster:
Marc Loon shares his journey
After completing six years of engineering studies (Electrical Engineering followed by a Masters in government planning systems), still unsure of what I wanted to do with my life, I decided to take a gap year traveling. Through this zigzagging journey, I discovered my calling as a teacher, almost accidentally.
In fact, I remember the exact moment that I knew I wanted to teach. I was teaching English grammar to eager nine-year-olds in a little Rajasthani village between Udaipur and Jodhpur. The children were loving the game we were playing with pronouns and I felt like a choreographer of an improv theatre piece; my young students and I, serving as both actors and audience. I was in flow. I was a teacher.
My accommodation during my stay in the village was a spare room in my principal’s house. On his bookshelf, I discovered a book, already out of print at that point, called “School is Dead” by Everett Reimer. It is an eloquent polemic against the many problems of the school system. I sailed through the book with a passion and joy that few other books have given me, and I remember the moment upon completing the final page. I lifted the book in front of me and spoke to the room, “This book is going to change my life.”
And so it has. Even as I commenced my education as a teacher, I sustained the catalytic impulse that this book had on me. I began my adventure into teaching as an inquirer into the system of schooling itself, exploring the history of schools and innovations in schooling and educational trends around the world, much of which has been integrated into what is now Kairos.
A highlight on this journey has included a personally transformative workshop with Marshall Rosenberg, founder of the Centre for Non-Violent Communication, followed by my sustained involvement in the ManKind Project and associated Boys to Men Mentoring Network, providing education in emotional intelligence for adult men and teenage boys. Much of the tools we utilise in Kairos, and which inform our social and emotional curriculum, originate from these initiatives.
Becoming a father in 2016 has added an entirely new dimension to my teaching journey. The joy of witnessing the day-to-day unfolding of my children’s intelligences has been a continuous celebration of life. Simultaneously, I can now more easily comprehend and personally identify with the struggles of parenting which I’ve long witnessed in parents of my classes at a more arms-length distance. I believe in Kairos now more than ever, not merely in the professional sense as an educator, but also as a father and the school of choice for my own children.
Feel free to give me a call for a chat.
Meet The Team
Tshegofatso Kgame
Tshegofatso Kgame, our dynamic Office Manager from Botswana, has been part of the management team at the African School of Excellence and their associated schools, one of our fellow partners in the Ashoka Changemaker Schools network. Tshego has a prior background in advertising, a diploma in public relations, and attended a year’s business course at Dean College while working as an au pair in Massachusetts, USA. She has also worked for the Broadcast Research Council of SA and Havas advertising agency, and has been involved in roles of charitable service through various organisations including Women and Beyond Ministries, her church, and through her role as Miss Botswana 2005. Tshego has a fiercely loyal and sincerely warm personality with an immediately obvious passion for people.
Tshego Kgame
Tshegofatso Kgame
Tshegofatso Kgame, our dynamic Office Manager from Botswana, has been part of the management team at the African School of Excellence and their associated schools, one of our fellow partners in the Ashoka Changemaker Schools network. Tshego has a prior background in advertising, a diploma in public relations, and attended a year’s business course at Dean College while working as an au pair in Massachusetts, USA. She has also worked for the Broadcast Research Council of SA and Havas advertising agency, and has been involved in roles of charitable service through various organisations including Women and Beyond Ministries, her church, and through her role as Miss Botswana 2005. Tshego has a fiercely loyal and sincerely warm personality with an immediately obvious passion for people.
Jeanne Visser
Our Afrikaans teacher, Jeanne Visser, is a born teacher, instilling a peaceful classroom atmosphere that is both joyful and motivating. She taught for several years in a variety of schools, both in government and private. She has taught English, Social Studies, Natural Sciences, as well as Afrikaans. She is a proud mom of two adult children.
Jeanne Visser
Jeanne Visser
Our Afrikaans teacher, Jeanne Visser, is a born teacher, instilling a peaceful classroom atmosphere that is both joyful and motivating. She taught for several years in a variety of schools, both in government and private. She has taught English, Social Studies, Natural Sciences, as well as Afrikaans. She is a proud mom of two adult children.
Busi Dube
Busi Dube has been a cleaner at Kairos since 2013. Born and schooled in Soweto, she is studying for her Matric after hours. She has two children, Zinhle and Fezile, and she has an extended family in Francistown, Botswana. Previously Busi worked as a childminder at Bambanani in Melville. She is a Seventh Day Adventist churchgoer, and enjoys playing volleyball, nature walks and reading Zulu fiction.
Busi Dube
Busi Dube
Busi Dube has been a cleaner at Kairos since 2013. Born and schooled in Soweto, she is studying for her Matric after hours. She has two children, Zinhle and Fezile, and she has an extended family in Francistown, Botswana. Previously Busi worked as a childminder at Bambanani in Melville. She is a Seventh Day Adventist churchgoer, and enjoys playing volleyball, nature walks and reading Zulu fiction.
Jason Higgins
Upon completion of High School I spent a year working in Germany, in a community for mentally and physically challenged adults. I then completed a four year Bachelor of Social Science degree, majoring in Psychology, Sociology, Philosophy and German after which I completed a Post Graduate Certificate in Foundation Phase Education. I worked for two years at Michael Mount Waldorf School in Grade 1 and 2. I then studied for 6 months at the Centre for Creative Education before doing a 2 year Diploma in Plant production and Biodynamic farming, during this time I also became a Member and then Director of an Agroecology Cooperative. I worked for three months at Vista Nova Primary School in grade 3 before starting a company focused on urban agriculture and education. I then worked as a carer for the elderly before working for 6 months at Sparks School Bramley.
Jason Higgins
Jason Higgins
Upon completion of High School I spent a year working in Germany, in a community for mentally and physically challenged adults. I then completed a four year Bachelor of Social Science degree, majoring in Psychology, Sociology, Philosophy and German after which I completed a Post Graduate Certificate in Foundation Phase Education. I worked for two years at Michael Mount Waldorf School in Grade 1 and 2. I then studied for 6 months at the Centre for Creative Education before doing a 2 year Diploma in Plant production and Biodynamic farming, during this time I also became a Member and then Director of an Agroecology Cooperative. I worked for three months at Vista Nova Primary School in grade 3 before starting a company focused on urban agriculture and education. I then worked as a carer for the elderly before working for 6 months at Sparks School Bramley.
Busi Dube
Busi Dube has been a cleaner at Kairos since 2013. Born and schooled in Soweto, she is studying for her Matric after hours. She has two children, Zinhle and Fezile, and she has an extended family in Francistown, Botswana. Previously Busi worked as a childminder at Bambanani in Melville. She is a Seventh Day Adventist churchgoer, and enjoys playing volleyball, nature walks and reading Zulu fiction.
Mdudzi Ndlovu
Busi Dube
Busi Dube has been a cleaner at Kairos since 2013. Born and schooled in Soweto, she is studying for her Matric after hours. She has two children, Zinhle and Fezile, and she has an extended family in Francistown, Botswana. Previously Busi worked as a childminder at Bambanani in Melville. She is a Seventh Day Adventist churchgoer, and enjoys playing volleyball, nature walks and reading Zulu fiction.
Karen Brink
Karen Brink
Our Grade 1 teacher, Karen, has over 15 years of teaching experience. Starting out as a fascillitor in a remedial school, working with children with Autism and Cerebral Palsy. Where after she moved on to teaching preschool and graduated from Unisa in 2015. Karen has worked with children of all ages; au pairing, tutoring and teaching.
She fell in love with alternative approaches and taught preschool in Reggio Emilia schools.
She has a huge love for children and sees them as the individuals they are.
Busi Dube
Busi Dube has been a cleaner at Kairos since 2013. Born and schooled in Soweto, she is studying for her Matric after hours. She has two children, Zinhle and Fezile, and she has an extended family in Francistown, Botswana. Previously Busi worked as a childminder at Bambanani in Melville. She is a Seventh Day Adventist churchgoer, and enjoys playing volleyball, nature walks and reading Zulu fiction.
Lwazi Jele
Lwazi Jele
Lwazi is originally from Mpumalanga in a town called Kingsview in Nelspruit, he recently moved to Johannesburg to pursue and further grow his career in the field of education. Having studied at the University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, majoring in Geography and English for a Bachelors Degree in Education, Lwazi has put his qualification to good use with not only teaching but also inspiring and motivating others. He is a former grade 12 English educator and now a teacher at Kairos school of inquiry. Lwazi combines his solid love for the arts and teaching degree to the greater interest of the students.
“A good teacher is like a candle – it consumes itself to light the way for others.” – Mustafa Ataturk. He believes that being a teacher encompasses all the elements children need to get by in life, a teacher can be a parent, a nurse, a friend, a detective and many more. He is a very accommodating and versatile individual with the talent to develop inspiring hands-on lessons that aim to help capture a child’s imagination and breed success through the use of art and other subjects. The Kairos ethos isn’t limiting, this then allows him to express the art of teaching by making use of different resources like storytelling, drawing, dancing and many more exciting ways to easily convey a concept to a student. He makes all teachings informative and all games fun. He is a highly motivated, active, enthusiastic and a dedicated educator who wants all children to be successful children, he is also committed to creating a classroom atmosphere that is stimulating and encouraging to students.
Teaching for him is not only a job but a hobby too.
Marc Loon
Founding teacher and head, Marc Loon has experience teaching children of all ages, from two until adulthood. This includes four years as a class teacher at Michael Mount Waldorf School and four years as founder and programme manager of the Life Skills Programme at CIDA City Campus. He has two Masters degrees (Management and Engineering), a Waldorf teaching qualification from the esteemed Emerson College, UK, and has diverse experience in various educational methods. He has served as Centre Director and co-founder of Jo’burg branch of Boys to Men, an international mentoring network for boys. He was awarded the NAPTOSA award of “Best Overall Student” during his PGCE (Wits), and has received Firsts in three M.Ed courses (Wits).
Marc Loon
Marc Loon
Founding teacher and head, Marc Loon has experience teaching children of all ages, from two until adulthood. This includes four years as a class teacher at Michael Mount Waldorf School and four years as founder and programme manager of the Life Skills Programme at CIDA City Campus. He has two Masters degrees (Management and Engineering), a Waldorf teaching qualification from the esteemed Emerson College, UK, and has diverse experience in various educational methods. He has served as Centre Director and co-founder of Jo’burg branch of Boys to Men, an international mentoring network for boys. He was awarded the NAPTOSA award of “Best Overall Student” during his PGCE (Wits), and has received Firsts in three M.Ed courses (Wits).
Francesca Sayer
Our Grade R teacher Francesca Sayer has many years of alternative schooling experience. Born and raised in the UK, Francesca attended Brockwood Park School as a teenager, one of the schools founded by the philosopher Jiddu Krishnamurti. She then taught there for over a decade. She then went on to teach at Brockwood for over a decade. She led the school’s sports curriculum, served as head of pastoral care, taught a year-long course to her students called Care for the Earth and regularly organised outdoor activities such as hikes and camps. Francesca is trained in the global Forest School movement and is currently acquiring a qualification in Montessori Teaching through the Montessori Centre of South Africa.
Francesca Sayer
Francesca Sayer
Our Grade R teacher Francesca Sayer has many years of alternative schooling experience. Born and raised in the UK, Francesca attended Brockwood Park School as a teenager, one of the schools founded by the philosopher Jiddu Krishnamurti. She then taught there for over a decade. She then went on to teach at Brockwood for over a decade. She led the school’s sports curriculum, served as head of pastoral care, taught a year-long course to her students called Care for the Earth and regularly organised outdoor activities such as hikes and camps. Francesca is trained in the global Forest School movement and is currently acquiring a qualification in Montessori Teaching through the Montessori Centre of South Africa.
Sidrah Amer
Sidra Amer
Sidra Amer is a teacher with extraordinary dedication. She has grown with Kairos School since 2012, first as Teacher Assistant and then full time teacher. Over the years, Sidra has helped develop our systems and methods. She has had exposure to educational culture in diverse contexts of Zimbabwe, Spain and Pakistan, as well as South Africa, and is known in the school for her solid reliability and ability to organise.
Our Facilities
Our vision for our school is one of community, where everyone knows everyone else really well. We are housed in a heritage home of the late Joan Brickhill, one of the great doyens of South African theatre — a fitting location for a primary school with a strong arts-oriented curriculum.
There is a considerable amount of safe space for the children to explore, which we utilise to the full with lengthier break times compared to conventional schools, as well as lessons that occur outside.
The property consists of 4000 square metres of enchanted gardens, with vehicle access via 16 Dundalk Avenue and pedestrian access on the Zoo Lake road (Lower Park Drive). Because we have successfully rezoned this property, our move to Parkview will mean we will at last be able to register with the Department of Education and become a member of Independent Schools Association of South Africa (ISASA).
Extramurals & Aftercare
We offer a diverse set of extramural options for a small school, including both cultural and sport-related activities. Our proximity to the Zoo Lake will enable us to expand our extramural services even beyond these. Our offering depends on the demand from the students at the time.
The extramurals we offer in-house with no extra charge, include:
Extramurals offered by outside visitors, attracting a nominal fee per term, include:
We also offer an Aftercare service until 17h00 each day, charged at a nominal rate (refer to the current Schedule of Fees).
Calendar & Timetable
Kairos follows the 4-term ISASA calendar with slight differences, to cater for religious diversity. Events during the year include a Games Evening, Senior and Junior school camps, Purim-Holi colour festival, the Kairos Olympics, the Eskom Science Expo, the Kairos Winter Kaleidoscope, the end of year concert etc. Click on our current Kairos calendar below.
Children are dropped off between 07h30 and 07h45, and pick-up times range from 12h30 and 14h30 depending on the child’s grade. Each class has a clear week’s timetable, which includes a daily integrated studies “Main Lesson”, two 30 minute breaks, and a holistic balance of other classes.
Policies and Procedures
Click on the links below to view or download our current school policies.
Please see our document regarding screen-time below.