What has to happen, in what order, for the Valley of Grace Learning Campus to move from concept to operating institution. Each action states what needs doing, who can do it, what it depends on, and what happens next.
The actions are grouped by phase (see the main profile for the phasing rationale). Within each phase they are roughly ordered by dependency: things that gate other things come first. Some actions span phases. Calendar dates assume a November 2026 start; they shift if the start slips.
This is a working list for planning purposes. It is not a project plan agreed with the community. Several of these actions (particularly those involving governance, site, and Genadendal engagement) cannot be taken by any one person. The body handling the coordination is the Ward 2 Business and Community Development Forum (W2DF), convened on 16 September 2026.
Revised 23 September 2026. The campus now has four parts: an English-medium boarding school as anchor tenant, a public school of skills, a vocational training centre, and a Bioregional Learning Centre as its tertiary layer. Emil Weder remains the valley’s Afrikaans public high school and a partner. The revision adds actions for the operator search, the school of skills, the campus trust, and lessons from Bonnievale. New actions are numbered from 0.15.
Phase 0: Groundwork (November 2026 to mid-2027)
Phase 0 secures the people, permissions, and information needed before any programme launches. Nothing in this phase costs significant money. Everything in it costs time and relationships.
Governance and community engagement
Action 0.1: Appoint a W2DF education and skills champion.
The November 2026 W2DF meeting is scheduled to assign champions to each priority. The education and skills champion becomes the point person for the campus within the Forum. This cannot be a Greyton-only initiative; a Genadendal co-champion is essential for legitimacy.
- Depends on: the November 2026 W2DF meeting taking place.
- Opens: a mandate to convene the working group (0.2).
Action 0.2: Convene a learning campus working group.
A W2DF working group focused on the campus. It must include Genadendal representation (a Transformasie Komitee nominee at minimum), a commercial farming representative, someone with education sector experience, and the two valley residents who have been developing the school of skills and vocational training concept (to be named once they agree). Its first task is to agree on scope: are we exploring this, or committing to build it?
- Depends on: 0.1, and the protocol commitment made at the inaugural W2DF (share proposals with the Transformasie Komitee in writing before seeking endorsement).
- Opens: a legitimate body to commission the feasibility study (0.5), engage partners (0.7 to 0.10, 0.16, 0.17), make site recommendations (0.4), and found the campus trust (0.12).
Action 0.3: Formal engagement with the Transformasie Komitee.
Present the campus concept to the Komitee in writing, for input. The Komitee’s eight-sector plan should shape what the campus offers. Ask: does this concept serve priorities the Komitee has already identified? What would need to change for it to have the Komitee’s support? How does the Komitee view a fee-paying boarding school as anchor tenant, and what safeguards would it want?
- Depends on: 0.1. Sharing the TGF proposal (W2DF Action Item 8) should happen first as a trust-building step.
- Opens: clarity on whether the Genadendal community sees this as useful. Without this, the project should not proceed.
Action 0.4: Site identification.
The working group identifies candidate sites. The design brief outlines three scenarios: Genadendal (closest to population, complicated by TRANCRAA), Greyton (closer to English-speaking families, risks protocol failure), or between the two. A boarding school needs more land and buildings than a day school, which narrows the options. The Hester Dorothea Conference Centre in Genadendal is a possible interim venue for Phase 1 programmes while a permanent site is resolved.
- Depends on: 0.2 and 0.3 (the site question cannot be separated from the governance question).
- Opens: facility planning, lease or build decisions, the operator’s due diligence (0.16), and the WCED applications (which require a premises description).
Action 0.11: Engage Emil Weder’s governing body.
Confirm that the campus supports Emil Weder’s place as the valley’s Afrikaans public high school. Ask what Emil Weder wants from the campus: access for its learners to vocational training and Bioregional Learning Centre programmes, a role in the shared place-based programme, and any link with the school of skills. Any closer relationship is Emil Weder’s decision.
- Depends on: 0.2 (the working group as the interlocutor, not an individual).
- Opens: a broader constituency for the vocational training centre from day one, and a partnership with the only high school currently in the valley.
Action 0.15: Learn from Bonnievale.
Visit Jakes Gerwel Technical School and Bonnievale 418 with a small working group delegation, using the contacts the two concept developers already have with the team that set up the school. Questions to take: how the Collaboration School agreement with the WCED was negotiated; how the trust shares governance with parents; how the capital campaign reached the whole town; how the academic and School of Skills streams share one campus; how Kruispad Huise supports vulnerable learners; and what they would do differently.
- Depends on: 0.2.
- Opens: tested answers for 0.12, 0.14, 0.17, and 1.8, and a peer relationship for later phases.
Feasibility and planning
Action 0.5: Commission or assemble a feasibility study.
The study must answer:
- How many valley learners want a place at each school? (Survey valley families with children aged 10 to 14.)
- Is there demand for a high-end English-medium boarding school in the valley, from which markets, and at what fee level? (Test with school operators, education agents, and comparable schools, including Treverton.)
- What rent and per-learner levy could an operator carry, and how many valley bursary places would that fund?
- How many adults want which skills programmes? (Use the ward-level skills needs list from W2DF Action Item 5.)
- How many tourists and at what price point for the Bioregional Learning Centre?
- What will buildings cost, and what are five-year operating costs for the public parts without the anchor?
- Depends on: 0.2 (the working group commissions or conducts it). The skills needs list from W2DF Action Item 5 (Guy, with Stalin Govender facilitating) feeds directly into demand estimates.
- Opens: a go/no-go decision for Phase 1, and the numbers an operator (0.16) and funders (0.14) will need.
Action 0.6: Map accreditation and registration timelines.
QCTO Skills Development Provider accreditation, CATHSSETA training provider accreditation, WCED independent school registration (the operator’s application), WCED processes for a school of skills or Collaboration School, and CET satellite establishment each have their own process and lead time. They can run in parallel but need to be mapped against the phasing plan.
- Depends on: nothing (desk research; can begin immediately).
- Opens: a realistic calendar for Phases 1 and 2.
Partnership approaches
Action 0.7: Approach the Western Cape CET College about a Genadendal satellite.
The Overberg Community Learning Centre (under the WC CET College) already operates satellites at Bredasdorp, Riviersonderend, and Swellendam. Genadendal does not have one. Ask whether the CET College would host a satellite in Genadendal if a suitable venue and demonstrated community need exist. This brings state-funded adult basic education (AET Levels 1 to 4, GETC) at essentially no cost to the campus.
- Depends on: 0.4 (a venue to offer) and 0.3 (community support).
- Opens: the adult education pipeline. A community member who completes the GETC becomes eligible for Elsenburg’s Livestock Farmer qualification (NQF 3, requires Grade 9 equivalent) and, with matric, for the tourist guide qualification.
- Contact: Western Cape CET College, Overberg CLC.
Action 0.8: Approach Elsenburg about satellite delivery and host farm coordination.
Two asks. First: would Elsenburg support satellite delivery of short courses or practical blocks closer to the valley? (It already runs decentralised training at Bredasdorp, about 60 km from Genadendal.) Second: would Elsenburg work with the W2DF to coordinate host farm placements for valley applicants, so the host farm letter is secured collectively?
- Depends on: 0.2 and W2DF Action Item 5.
- Opens: agricultural training without waiting for the campus to be built. If valley commercial farmers register as host farms, this can operate from the 2028 intake (applications 1 April to 30 June 2027).
- Contact: DOA.Study@westerncape.gov.za / +27 21 808 5451.
Action 0.9: Approach CATHSSETA about training provider accreditation.
Accreditation lets the vocational training centre deliver tourist guide qualifications and claim SETA learnership funding. It requires qualified facilitators (Paul Adendorf holds cultural and adventure guide accreditation), a venue, and an assessment system. The Western Cape Government also has a formal application process for tourism training provider accreditation.
- Depends on: 0.4 (a venue) and a facilitator willing to commit. Paul Adendorf’s interest should be confirmed directly.
- Opens: funded tourist guide training in the valley, with a learner stipend.
- Contact: info@cathsseta.org.za; WCG DEDAT tourism training accreditation.
Action 0.10: Meet with Silverwood proponents.
Silverwood is proposed as an independent school. Its backers could become the boarding school operator, run a separate school, or step back. A direct conversation settles which.
- Depends on: nothing. Can happen at any time.
- Opens: clarity on whether Silverwood is a candidate for 0.16, and whether effort should be pooled.
Action 0.16: Find a boarding school operator.
Agree the principles of the anchor tenancy in the working group first, then approach established independent school groups and experienced founding heads. Principles to put to any operator (MS):
- a long lease from the campus trust, with rent and a levy per learner paid into the campus development fund
- a fixed share of places for valley learners on bursary, drawn from every village
- local hiring and local procurement first
- participation in the Bioregional Learning Centre’s shared programme
- a board seat on the campus trust at most, never a controlling vote
- a reserve built into the lease so the public parts survive if the operator leaves
- Depends on: 0.5 (demand evidence), 0.12 (a trust to contract with), 0.4 (a site).
- Opens: heads of agreement (1.7) and the operator’s WCED registration (2.1).
Action 0.17: Approach the WCED about a school of skills.
Ask whether the WCED would establish a public school of skills on the campus, and whether a Collaboration School or Donor-funded School under the 2018 Amendment Act is the better route. The Supreme Court of Appeal upheld those models on 7 September 2026. Ask too about the WCED’s admission rules and curriculum for schools of skills, and whether it would contribute to capital costs, as it did in Bonnievale.
- Depends on: 0.2 and 0.15 (Bonnievale’s experience of the negotiation).
- Opens: a public, no-fee practical pathway on the campus, and state funding for its teachers.
Legal and financial
Action 0.12: Register the campus trust.
Register a trust or Non-Profit Company to hold the land and buildings, the lease with the operator, the vocational training centre’s accreditation, the CET satellite agreement, and the Bioregional Learning Centre. Its founding documents should cover education, training, research, tourism, and community development. They must fix the board composition (Genadendal and Greyton representation, a Komitee nominee if community land is involved) and the rule that no tenant holds a controlling vote.
- Depends on: 0.2 (founding members and governance agreed) and 0.15 (Bonnievale’s governance experience).
- Opens: a legal entity that can hold land, sign a lease, open a bank account, apply for accreditation, receive grants, and register as a PBO.
- Timeline: 2 to 3 months from submission.
Action 0.13: Apply for PBO and NPO registration.
Register the trust or NPC as a Non-Profit Organisation with the Department of Social Development and as a Public Benefit Organisation with SARS. PBO status unlocks Section 18A tax-deductible donations, which matters for donor, CSI, and capital campaign funding.
- Depends on: 0.12.
- Opens: tax-deductible donations and grant funding that requires NPO or PBO status.
Action 0.14: Secure seed funding for Phase 1.
Phase 1 programmes (CET satellite, first skills programmes, Bioregional Learning Centre community education) need operational funding: a venue agreement, materials, facilitator stipends until SETA funding arrives, and project coordination. Sources: the TGF grant (if awarded; includes heritage guide training), Rotary (Keith Radmore offered Rotary involvement), SEFA (Stalin Govender identified SEFA support), and conservation or heritage grants aligned with the Bioregional Learning Centre.
- Depends on: 0.5 (the feasibility study gives funders confidence) and 0.12 (a legal entity to receive funds).
- Opens: the Phase 1 launch.
Phase 1: Vocational training centre, CET satellite, and anchor agreement (mid-2027 to end of 2028)
Phase 1 proves the practical parts of the model in interim premises while the anchor tenancy and capital are secured.
Action 1.1: Launch the CET satellite.
If the CET College agrees (0.7), open the satellite with AET Levels 1 to 4 and the GETC. The CET College provides state-funded educators. The campus provides the venue and local coordination.
- Depends on: 0.7, 0.4, 0.14.
Action 1.2: Launch the first SETA-funded programmes at the vocational training centre.
Begin with the programmes that have the clearest demand and the most accessible accreditation:
- tourist guide training (CATHSSETA), with Paul Adendorf as facilitator if he is willing; a first cohort could be 8 to 10 learners
- agricultural occupational qualifications, coordinated with Elsenburg (0.8); the centre handles applications, host farm matching, and support, and Elsenburg delivers the programme
- basic business skills (short course, potentially SEFA-funded)
- Depends on: 0.9, 0.8, 0.14, 0.4.
Action 1.3: Begin Bioregional Learning Centre community education.
Heritage walks, ecological literacy workshops, food sovereignty sessions, and indigenous knowledge documentation. These build community engagement and a constituency for the campus, and test the tourism product.
- Depends on: 0.4 and 0.14.
Action 1.4: Coordinate Elsenburg applications for the 2028 intake.
Applications open 1 April 2027 and close 30 June 2027. The working group (or the trust, once registered) identifies eligible community members, matches them with host farms, assists with applications, and tracks outcomes.
- Depends on: 0.8, W2DF Action Item 5, and commercial farmers agreeing to register as host farms.
- Opens: the first valley residents entering Elsenburg’s programme, a visible early result.
Action 1.5: Track and document outcomes.
Record enrolment, completion, employment outcomes, community participation, and revenue for every programme. This feeds the case for Phase 2, supports funding applications, and starts the baseline for the campus’s 2038 target (every school leaver in work, study, or training within a year).
- Depends on: 1.1 to 1.3 being operational.
Action 1.6: Build the staffing model.
Identify people who can work across the parts of the campus: a Tourism teacher who also runs CATHSSETA adult training, an Agriculture teacher who coordinates the Elsenburg programme, a conservation specialist who runs Bioregional Learning Centre field programmes and could teach Life Sciences. Some of these roles will be shared between the boarding school, the school of skills, and the vocational training centre, which the lease and staffing agreements must allow for.
- Depends on: 1.2 and 1.3.
Action 1.7: Sign heads of agreement with the operator.
Turn the principles from 0.16 into heads of agreement: lease term, rent, levy, bursary share, local procurement, shared facilities, the operator’s board seat, and the reserve.
- Depends on: 0.16, 0.12, and the go decision from 0.5.
- Opens: the capital campaign (1.8), building design, and the operator’s WCED application (2.1).
Action 1.8: Launch the capital campaign.
Raise capital for buildings from the whole community as well as from donors, CSI, and the state, following Bonnievale’s example of small gifts from across the town alongside large ones. Seek a WCED capital contribution for the school of skills.
- Depends on: 0.13 (PBO status), 1.7 (a committed anchor), 0.17 (the WCED’s position).
- Opens: construction or refurbishment (2.4).
Phase 2: Buildings and schools (2028 to 2030)
Phase 2 adds the two schools. This is the most regulated, most expensive, and most consequential step.
Action 2.1: The operator registers the boarding school with the WCED.
The operator applies under SASA Section 46: a constitution, curriculum (CAPS or equivalent), premises, governing body, and evidence of financial viability. The trust supports the application with the lease and the Phase 1 track record. Apply 12 to 18 months before the intended opening.
- Depends on: 1.7, 0.4, and building plans (2.4).
Action 2.2: Examination body.
The operator chooses. The IEB is the likely choice for a high-end school (TBV). The trust’s interest is that the choice supports the shared place-based programme and the Bioregional Learning Centre links.
- Depends on: 2.1.
Action 2.3: Establish the school of skills.
Follow the route agreed with the WCED in 0.17: a new public school of skills, or a Collaboration or Donor-funded School with the trust (or a linked non-profit) as partner.
- Depends on: 0.17, 0.12, 0.4.
Action 2.4: Build or refurbish.
Construct or refurbish buildings for both schools, boarding, shared workshops and sports facilities, the vocational training centre, and the Bioregional Learning Centre base. Shared facilities are designed so school of skills and boarding school learners use the same spaces.
- Depends on: 1.8 (capital), 0.4 (site), and planning approvals.
Action 2.5: Recruit founding heads and first teachers.
The founding heads set the culture. The operator appoints the boarding school’s head. The WCED (with the partner, if a Collaboration School) appoints the school of skills’ head. Both must understand bioregional education and community development, and both must commit to shared facilities and programmes.
- Depends on: 2.1 and 2.3.
Action 2.6: Enrol the first Grade 8 cohorts, with valley bursary places.
Open both schools with Grade 8, growing one year group a year. Select valley bursary learners for the boarding school from every village, through a process the trust oversees.
- Depends on: 2.1, 2.3, 2.4, 2.5.
Action 2.7: Integrate learners across the campus.
From Grade 8, learners from both schools, and Emil Weder learners who choose to, take part in Bioregional Learning Centre programmes together. From Grade 10, high school learners take practical components at the vocational training centre. This integration is the model’s core innovation and must be designed, not improvised.
- Depends on: 1.2 and 2.6.
Phase 3: Maturation (2030 to 2038)
Action 3.1: Grow both schools to five year groups.
Add one grade a year. The first matric cohort writes around 2034 (TBV). Results will shape the boarding school’s reputation, and school of skills outcomes will shape the practical path’s standing.
Action 3.2: Expand the vocational training centre based on demand.
Phase 1 data (1.5) shows which programmes attract demand. Add, drop, and adjust. Possible additions: hospitality skills (CATHSSETA), alien clearing and ecological restoration (EPWP or CapeNature partnership), digital skills (MICT SETA).
Action 3.3: Launch the Bioregional Learning Centre’s tertiary programmes.
Start with QCTO qualifications at higher NQF levels and short courses. Negotiate university partnerships (for example Stellenbosch University, or Rhodes University’s Environmental Learning Research Centre through EEASA) for degree-level study and research. Registration as a private higher education institution is a later option only.
- Depends on: relationships built during Phases 1 and 2.
Action 3.4: Assess the objective at the 2038 tercentenary.
Report against the campus objective: school leavers in work, study, or training; valley bursary learners by village; the share of the boarding school’s spending that stays in the valley; valley residents employed on the campus; and learners progressing into the Bioregional Learning Centre from each school.
Actions that span all phases
Ongoing: Maintain the W2DF relationship.
The campus arose from the W2DF and depends on its constituency. The education and skills champion reports at every bimonthly meeting.
Ongoing: TRANCRAA and Farm 39 engagement.
If the campus involves community land, water rights, or Farm 39 resources at any point, the Communal Property Association and the TRANCRAA process become central. This is a standing consideration that intensifies if the campus expands.
Ongoing: Relationships with provincial and national government.
TWKM (Stalin Govender, economic development), WCED (school registration, school of skills), DHET (CET College), QCTO (accreditation), CATHSSETA, AgriSETA, DEDAT (tourism), and the Department of Agriculture (Elsenburg) each have their own calendar and process. The trust needs someone who can manage these relationships over years.
Ongoing: Financial sustainability and anchor risk.
The revenue model combines the operator’s rent and levy, state funding for the public parts, SETA funding, CET allocations, grants, tourism income, and donor and CSI funding. The public parts must never depend entirely on the anchor. A treasurer who understands leases, SETA claims, grant reporting, and reserves is essential.
Ongoing: Keep the three spheres in balance.
Review the design rules on the main profile each year: each school keeps its own identity (freedom), every valley learner has equal access and no tenant controls the trust (equality), and the operator and employers act as partners (cooperation).
Dependencies at a glance
| Action | Gates |
|---|---|
| 0.1 W2DF champion | 0.2, 0.3 |
| 0.2 Working group | 0.4, 0.5, 0.11, 0.12, 0.15, 0.17 |
| 0.3 Transformasie Komitee engagement | 0.4, 0.7 |
| 0.4 Site identification | 0.7, 0.9, 0.16, 1.1 to 1.3, 2.3, 2.4 |
| 0.5 Feasibility study | Go/no-go for Phase 1, 0.14, 0.16, 1.7 |
| 0.8 Elsenburg partnership | 1.4 |
| 0.9 CATHSSETA accreditation | 1.2 (tourist guide component) |
| 0.12 Campus trust | 0.13, 0.14, 0.16, 1.7, 2.3 |
| 0.15 Bonnievale visit | 0.12, 0.17, 1.8 |
| 0.16 Operator search | 1.7 |
| 0.17 WCED school of skills | 1.8, 2.3 |
| 1.7 Heads of agreement | 1.8, 2.1 |
| 1.8 Capital campaign | 2.4 |
| 2.1 and 2.3 School registrations | 2.5, 2.6 |
The critical path runs: champion (0.1), working group (0.2), then Komitee engagement (0.3) and site (0.4) in parallel, then the feasibility study (0.5) with the Bonnievale visit (0.15), then the trust (0.12) and the operator search (0.16), then heads of agreement (1.7) and the capital campaign (1.8), then buildings (2.4) and the two schools. The vocational training centre and Elsenburg coordination (1.2, 1.4) can run ahead of all of this in interim premises, which gives the valley visible results while the larger pieces are negotiated.
This page is part of the Valley of Grace High School Decision Tool. See also: Valley of Grace Learning Campus, Elsenburg Agricultural Occupational Qualifications, CATHSSETA Tourist Guide Training.