FAQ
We align ourselves with the overall national curriculum CAPS outcomes and international school benchmarks via the local IEB. We aim at academic depth and genuine understanding, with a coherent, carefully designed academic journey from Grade R to 7. We have developed our own holistic, whole-brain-based pedagogy, constituting an ever-renewing process of collaboration and refinement. We are influenced by Rudolf Steiner's guidelines out of which Waldorf Schools arose, with its emphasis on storytelling, relationships and experiential learning, as well as Krishnamurti schools with its emphasis on open-ended inquiry to learning.
Our graduates have entered a wide variety of high schools and their success there is evidence of the effectiveness of our system. These high schools include Sacred Heart College, Crawford College Sandton, National School of the Arts, St Johns College, Michael Mount Waldorf; Deutsche Schule, Johannesburg; Hout Bay International, Redhill School; and schools in the UK, Switzerland and the USA. Our graduates are confident, creative, resilient and emotionally mature. They are equipped to interrogate academic content to positively impact the world. Several of our students have earned top awards in Eisteddford Art competitions, the AMESA Maths Challenge and Eskom Science Expo, and enjoyed solo parts on the theatre stage.
Arrival times are slightly staggered during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, in general it is 07h45 until 12h30, 13h45 or 14h30 depending on the grade. Break times are longer than most other schools (±75 minutes per day). More details are available on request.
CALENDAR: We follow the 4-Term Calendar of ISASA for Gauteng, except for minor and occasional adjustments. Click here for a detailed calendar.
We do not accept unkind or harmful behaviour of any kind at Kairos. We are active in supporting children to listen to and understand one another’s feelings and needs when challenges arise, addressing concerns early and thoughtfully before they develop into patterns of bullying. Conflict resolution, self-awareness, and values education form a core part of our carefully articulated social-emotional curriculum. While we recognise that everyday conflict is a natural part of development, we distinguish it from bullying, which involves repeated harm and imbalances of power, and we respond with appropriate guidance, clear boundaries, and adult support where needed. In this regard, our invitation for children to speak their personal truth with integrity and courage remains central, alongside a shared commitment to accountability, repair, and the strengthening of a respectful and connected community.
We celebrate difference and diversity, and strive to remain conscious of the systemic prejudices present in our society. In this light, we seek to be an actively anti-racist community—one that stands against racism, sexism, discrimination based on sexual orientation, xenophobia, and other forms of exclusion, while supporting children in developing awareness, empathy, and responsibility in age-appropriate ways. While we are a non-denominational school, we are not devoid of reverence: we value respect, etiquette, and a sense of the sacred, and encourage curiosity and openness towards one another’s cultural and religious traditions. Our annual calendar reflects this through shared celebrations such as Easter and Afikomen, our Winter Lantern Festival, Eid-al-Fitr, and our colourful Purim-Holi gathering. We do not promote any single belief system, but nurture understanding across difference. When harm occurs, including racist behaviour, we respond through a clearly articulated process grounded in restorative justice, nonviolent communication, and developmental understanding, seeking accountability, repair, and the strengthening of community.
Physical education is intrinsic to our educational programme, as it has powerful benefits when done age-appropriately. We focus on development (body awareness, sensory integration, agility and mobility), as well as competence in the skills required for a variety of sports (swimming, basketball, netball, soccer, racket sports) and on qualities of character such as sportsmanship and teamwork. Our passion is to nurture the amateur love of play. We have developed a coherent 8-year Phys-Ed learning pathway beginning with playground games and transitioning naturally towards formal skills of competitive sports.
We provide several Sport and Cultural activities after school at no extra cost. These include (mixed games club, junior mixed sports, senior mixed sports, handcraft, theatre/drama skills, cricket and "Mastery Studio" for various skills like juggling and string games). There are also an extensive service of fee-charging offerings from external providers (junior tennis, senior tennis, taekwondo, robotics, painting and related visual arts, pottery, mixed crafts, yoga, chess, jewellery, and individual music lessons), all conveniently available on our premises. There is daily aftercare until 5pm, charged according to a nominal fee structure. Click here for the current extramural schedule.
We are an independent primary school registered with the the Gauteng Department of Education (registration number 700401190), and a Non-Profit Company (registration number 2012-05872308). We are an active member school of the Independent Schools Association of South Africa (ISASA). We were certified internationally in 2014 as an Ashoka “Changemaker School,” shortlisted from 60 schools and only one of three in Johannesburg. Our School Head Marc Loon (Masters in Engineering, Masters in Transformation Management), with our leads the school under the guidance and supervision of a small Board of Directors: Heiko Braun (Practising Attorney), Maya Loon (Doctorate in Media Studies) and Bongani Sibanyoni (Chartered Accountant). Financial Manager Andrew Philbrick (Chartered Management Accountant) serves as an ex-officio financial advisor.
