A project-based route to the IB Diploma for the Valley of Grace Learning Campus: findings for the founders

How this report relates to the Learning Campus

This report was written for the founders from a brief that describes a valley-only school run by a non-profit company, with a first Grade 8 intake in 2028 and demand of about twenty families across all grades. The Learning Campus page describes a different school: an English-medium independent boarding school, run by an operator that leases from a ward trust, with the examination body chosen by the operator and a first matric cohort around 2034 [TBV]. That page finds a standalone English-medium day school unviable because the valley has too few high-school-age learners [MS]. The figure of twenty families comes from Variable 9: Social and Community Considerations, where it illustrates what coordination could achieve. It is not a demand estimate.

Read the findings with that in mind. Design A needs at least ten learners in Grade 9 for IEB registration [MS], and its per-learner costs assume 10 to 40 learners per grade. A valley-only school with about four learners per grade would miss the IEB floor and cost more per learner than the table shows [AI]. Design A fits the boarding school better, since boarders could bring each grade to ten or more [AI]. The staffing cost of R450,000 per teacher per year is the report’s own assumption; Variable 5: Cost has no teacher salary figure. At 20 learners per grade the table puts Design C (R48,700) and Design D (R46,400 plus Cambridge fees) close to level, so its claim that Design C costs more than a Cambridge school is unsettled [AI].

The report says it could not read this site’s pages. That was true when it was written. The pages were checked against it on 28 September 2026, and this note records the differences.

This page compares curriculum designs for the people planning a school. It does not recommend a school to families.

The evidence favours Design A: a project-based CAPS trunk in Grades 8 to 10, an IEB National Senior Certificate (NSC) spine to Grade 12, and a supported exit to UWC after Grade 10 or 11. It also shows that no design that runs the IB Diploma Programme in-house can sit between IEB and CAIE on cost at the cohort sizes the valley can expect.

TL;DR

Design A fits the brief best. Every learner stays on an Umalusi-quality-assured NSC route. The strongest learners apply to UWC South Africa, which accepts learners who are in, or have recently finished, Grade 10, 11 or 12. UWC South Africa’s own “What is UWC” page states that “More than 80% of students selected by UWC national committees, receive full or partial financial assistance, funded by our generous supporters.” [MS: za.uwc.org; uwc.org]
The positioning holds only for Design A. On assessment fees the order is SACAI (R4,400 to R7,900 per candidate, on two conflicting 2026 SACAI fee figures), IEB (R9,760 per Grade 12 candidate in 2026), then CAIE (about R30,700 for IGCSE plus AS and A Level in 2026). An in-house IB Diploma needs a second senior staff team. With 10 to 20 learners per grade that puts it above both, at an estimated R58,800 to R106,600 per learner per year against R43,500 to R76,000 for Design A. [AI, on the fee sources below]
A route can run beside CAPS, and Redhill School shows how. It uses the MYP in Grades 6 to 9, forks in Grade 10 into IEB or “Pre-IB”, and lets Pre-IB learners return to the IEB for Grades 11 and 12. At the valley’s scale the fork works best at the point of UWC application, run as a support programme, with no second certificate route inside the school. [MS: redhill.co.za; AI]

Method and limits of this round

The fetch tool refused every hs.valleyofgrace.co.za page, including llms.txt and the variables and options pages named in the brief. I could not check names and figures against variables/04 to 08 or the options/long-term pages. This report uses the brief’s own figure of about twenty families across all grades. Before publication the founders should compare every cost line here with variables/05-cost.
Foreign currencies are converted at ZAR 14.00 to USD 1. That is the billing rate in Waterford Kamhlaba’s 2027 fee schedule, signed by its bursar on 10 August 2026.[1] It is a school billing rate. A market rate on the day of use may differ, and every USD-based rand figure moves with it: at ZAR 18.00 to USD 1 each figure rises by about 29%. The Eswatini lilangeni (SZL) is treated at par with the rand; Waterford’s schedule states “Fees are quoted in South African Rands (ZAR)”.[1]
The IB publishes its fee amounts only inside its login-only Programme Resource Centre.[2] The IB dollar amounts here therefore come from secondary sources and are tagged [TBV].
I found no peer-reviewed study of MYP-to-DP outcomes or South African English-medium transition in this round. Those questions stay open in section 5.
Staffing costs rest on one stated assumption: R450,000 total employment cost per full-time teacher per year (2026 rand) [AI assumption; replace with the site’s variables/05-cost figure]. Every design cost in the table scales with it.

Status of the preliminary scan (section 2 of the brief)

Claim	Finding	Tag
UWC SA eligibility: age 16 to 18 at enrolment, live and school in South Africa, in or recently finished Grade 10, 11 or 12	Confirmed on za.uwc.org/eligibility-criteria (modified 19 August 2025). The page adds that only one UWC application is allowed per academic year.[3]	[MS]
More than 80% of national committee selectees get full or partial scholarships; lowest two-year band USD 50,000 to 70,000 includes Waterford Kamhlaba	Confirmed on uwc.org (modified 21 September 2026), for entry in 2027 (2028 for Waterford Kamhlaba). The band also includes UWC Adriatic and UWC Mostar. At ZAR 14.00 that is R700,000 to R980,000 for two years. The fees cover tuition, room and board, books, IB exam registration and school trips.[4]	[MS]
New UWC schools must offer the IBDP or IBCP; UWC International “does not fund, build or run schools”	Confirmed on uwc.org, “New schools & colleges”. The process has five formal stages and “typically takes two to six years”.[5]	[MS]
USAf lists the IB Diploma with at least 24 points; revised IB Mathematics HL and SL are equivalent to NSC Mathematics	Confirmed on mb.usaf.ac.za.[6] Stellenbosch University’s summary of the same rule adds a second route: an IB Certificate with two Higher Level and three Standard Level passes (grades 4 to 7), including English.[7]	[IC]
12 IB World Schools in South Africa: 3 offer DP, 3 MYP	The IB country page says 12 schools, with the programmes offered by 10, 3 and 3 schools (PYP, MYP and DP respectively).[8] The IB’s own Africa overview gives 14 South African schools, and says ADvTECH runs 8 IB schools under the Crawford International name.[9] The two IB pages conflict. The country page is the more specific.	[MS, conflict noted]
Somerset College teaches Cambridge through Grade 10, then IEB NSC or A Level	Partly confirmed. Somerset’s academic programme page says “Our Preparatory School follows the Cambridge curriculum”. In the Senior School, learners take the IEB NSC or the Cambridge A-Level programme, which “runs parallel to the IEB Grade 11 and 12 years” and admits applicants “who have completed Grade 10, GCSEs, or an equivalent qualification”.[10] I found no statement that Cambridge runs through Grade 10. The brief’s wording should change until Somerset confirms it.	[MS, disagreement with brief]
Redhill lets senior learners choose between the IB Diploma and the IEB NSC	Now confirmed from Redhill’s own pages and not only from SA Jewish Report.[11][12][13] The details are under Q4.	[MS]
Independent schools must register with the province and keep standards not inferior to comparable public schools	Confirmed in the South African Schools Act 84 of 1996, section 46(3). The Head of Department must register a school if its standards “will not be inferior to the standards in comparable public schools”, its admission policy does not discriminate on grounds of race, and it complies with the grounds the MEC determines. Section 46(2) requires the MEC to publish those grounds in the Provincial Gazette.[14] The Umalusi accreditation part of the claim is still unconfirmed, and I did not obtain the WCED notice itself.	[IC] for section 46; [TBV] for Umalusi and WCED detail

1. Answer

Design A best meets the brief. It keeps every learner on a recognised South African route to university. It allows project-based teaching from Grade 8 inside CAPS, which the Department of Basic Education’s own E³ programme already does.[15] It sends the strongest learners to UWC South Africa at the grades UWC accepts. The “between IEB and CAIE” positioning holds for Design A, because its certificate cost is the IEB’s and its extra cost is a project and UWC-preparation layer. It fails for any design that runs the IB Diploma or CAIE A Level as a second senior route. With 10 to 20 learners per grade, the extra staffing alone puts those designs above both benchmarks. The hypothesis is only partly right: the school can offer an affordable route toward the IB Diploma, and UWC’s scholarship system will carry the Diploma itself. [AI]

2. Answers to Q1 to Q6

Q1. Grade 8 to 10 curricula that are project-based and prepare for the Diploma Programme

IB Middle Years Programme (MYP)

Cost: the annual school fee for 2025-26 is USD 10,920, which is R152,880 at ZAR 14.00. [TBV: Careers360, 13 November 2025, quoting IB fee bands; ibo.org does not publish amounts][16]
Authorisation: a US public school board report gives an application fee of USD 4,000 and a candidacy fee of USD 9,500 a year, “typically 2 years”. That totals about USD 23,000, or R322,000, but the report gives no year. [TBV: Fairfax County Public Schools report][17]
Discounts: the IB advertises a limited-time pilot in South Africa and other African countries offering “50% discount … from the onboarding fees” for PYP and MYP. [MS: join.ibo.org][18]
MYP eAssessment: ibo.org says only that eAssessment fees are charged per subject. I found no amount, so the cost of taking the MYP with eAssessment is unknown. [TBV][2][19]
Teacher training: IB-required workshops (cost [TBV]). Redhill describes “a four-year journey of training, implementation, and accreditation” before full MYP authorisation in 2024. [MS: redhill.co.za][20]
CAPS mapping: Redhill states that its MYP content “is still in line with the IEB” and that learners who enter the IEB stream in Grade 10 “continue seamlessly”.[20] This shows the MYP framework can carry CAPS content. [MS]
The Personal Project: Redhill describes it as “an independent piece of work that may be an essay, an artistic production, or another form of expression”. [MS][20]
Evidence on DP readiness: I found no peer-reviewed study in this round. [open]
South African users: Redhill (Johannesburg), Hout Bay International School (which calls itself “the first IB Continuum School in South Africa”) and the American International School of Johannesburg.[20][21][22] None is rural or low-fee. [MS]

Cambridge Lower Secondary and IGCSE

Cost: the 2026 Cambridge subject fee at a Cape Town centre is R2,085 per IGCSE subject. Seven subjects come to R14,595. [MS: Blouberg International School, Private Candidate Fees 2026][23] A second Cape Town centre lists R1,700 per IGCSE subject for June 2026. [MS: International School of Cape Town][24]
Cambridge’s own school registration and annual fees are not published. [TBV]
Project-based character: I found no evidence for this in this round. [open]
CAPS mapping: the curriculum is not aligned to CAPS, so a Grade 10 IGCSE year does not produce the NSC school-based assessment record for that year.[25] [TBV: consequence for NSC entry to be confirmed with Umalusi]
South African users: a Cambridge International Education blog post by Khanyi Mamba, published 12 October 2023 and updated 4 April 2024, states that “There are more than 100 Cambridge Schools in South Africa”; this 2023 figure may be out of date. [MS] Somerset College uses Cambridge in its Preparatory School. [MS][10]

CAPS delivered through a project-based model

The DBE runs E³, “a programme of the DBE that uses student-centred learning, including project based learning and learning through play, in the existing CAPS curriculum”. [MS: learn.ecubed-dbe.org][15] This is the strongest official signal that a project-based CAPS school sits inside national policy.
Somerset College’s ESTEAM “forms the foundation of Somerset College’s project-oriented, inquiry-based learning programme” and is woven into “every school day from Grade 000 to Grade 11”.[10] This is a Western Cape precedent for project work beside the IEB NSC. [MS]
Cost: no authorisation fee applies. The cost is teacher development, allowed for in the table as R100,000 a year. [AI assumption]
Big Picture Learning, EL Education, High Tech High and New Pedagogies for Deep Learning: I did not research these in this round. [open]

IEB NSC (Grades 10 to 12) with Advanced Programme subjects

Cost: IEB schools bill the IEB charge to Grade 12 families at R9,760 for 2026. Pinnacle College Linden’s fee schedule says “This fee is based on the examination cost per student charged by the IEB”. [MS: Pinnacle College Linden and Pecanwood College fee schedules, 2026][26][27]
The IEB’s school affiliation fee is not published. [TBV]
Registration conditions: schools must register “when their first group of Grade 12 learners are in Grade 9”, need “at least 10 learners in Grade 9”, and must supply “financial statements of the past 3 years”. [MS: ieb.co.za registration page][28]
The 10-learner floor may bind the valley’s school, since twenty families across five grades average fewer than ten learners per grade before bursary places. [AI]
CAPS mapping: the IEB “uses the South African National Curriculum” and calls its NSC “equivalent to Cambridge AS level”. [MS: ieb.co.za][29]
Advanced Programme: SA Jewish Report records one school’s view that IEB AP English and AP Mathematics are at A Level standard.[11] I have no fee figure. [TBV]

Pearson Edexcel International GCSE

Not researched in this round. No fee, recognition or South African school data. [open]

Q2. Certificate routes compared

Assessment and programme costs per learner, 2026 rand, for the whole route. Staffing is shown separately in the design table.

Route	Assessment and programme cost per learner	USAf exemption	NSFAS	SA schools offering	What makes it exclusive
DBE NSC	Full-time candidates at public schools pay no entry fee. The fee for an independent school entering through WCED is [TBV].	Native qualification; a Bachelor’s pass needs 50% or better in four designated subjects [IC: uwc.ac.za admission rules][30][31]	Eligible, subject to the income test [TBV: official NSFAS policy not read]	All public schools and many independent schools	Not exclusive
IEB NSC	R9,760 per Grade 12 candidate; affiliation fee [TBV][26]	Native qualification	Eligible, as for DBE NSC	263 examination centres wrote in 2025, with 17,413 candidates; 65% of the base was distance providers [IC: The Post, Mail & Guardian, The Citizen, 12 January 2026][32][33]	Cost and the 10-learner floor in Grade 9
SACAI NSC	Two SACAI 2026 figures conflict. One gives about R3,945 per Grade 12 candidate (seven subjects at R499 including VAT plus R451.95 registration). SACAI’s “Fee Structure 2026 – Detailed Gr 12 Subject List”, seen only as a search snippet of a PDF hosted by Saving Grace Education, gives registration of R452 and first-time Grade 12 Mathematics at R989 per subject including VAT, so seven such subjects plus registration come to about R7,375. Add R250 a year in Grades 10 and 11, giving R4,445 to R7,875 in all [TBV until re-checked]. One provider lists “R2 035 per subject”, which also conflicts. SACAI’s Newsletter 15 of 2025 announces “a 2.95% fee increase for 2026”.	Native qualification	Eligible	[TBV]	Not exclusive; serves distance providers
CAIE (IGCSE plus AS and A Level)	About R30,695: seven IGCSEs at R2,085, four AS at R2,300 and three A2 at R2,300. School registration fee [TBV].[23]	Four approved AS subjects at A to D plus one IGCSE or O Level credit at A to C, including English. Some subjects, such as Psychology and Sociology, are not recognised. [IC: Stellenbosch University summary of USAf rules][34]	NSFAS treatment of foreign-qualification holders [TBV]	“More than 100” (Cambridge International Education blog, 12 October 2023) [MS]	Cost and subject rules
IB Diploma Programme	Exams: six subjects at USD 123 = R10,332 (May 2026 rate at a US school; the per-candidate registration fee was abolished from November 2019). Annual school fee USD 12,660 = R177,240, shared across DP learners. Candidacy about R322,000 one-off [TBV].[16][17][35][36][37]	IB Diploma with at least 24 points, or IB Certificate with two HL and three SL passes including English [IC][6][7]	[TBV]	3 [MS][8]	Cost, selective entry, small subject range at small schools
IB Career-related Programme	Annual fee USD 1,610 (R22,540) for a school already offering the DP, or USD 9,240 (R129,360) without it [TBV: Careers360]. The IB says CP authorisation carries no candidate fees [MS: ibo.org].[16][38]	Not found [TBV]	[TBV]	None found [TBV]	Needs a career-related partner
Pearson Edexcel International A Level	Not researched [open]	[TBV]	[TBV]	[TBV]	[TBV]

Assessment cost per DP candidate over the two DP years, with the annual school fee shared:

DP learners across Grades 11 and 12	Per candidate
10 (half of a 10-learner grade)	R45,780
20	R28,056
40	R19,194
80 (a full 40-learner grade)	R14,763

On fees alone, a DP taken by the whole of a 40-learner grade would land between IEB and CAIE. At the valley’s scale, a parallel DP stream costs more in fees than CAIE before any extra teacher is hired. [AI]

NSFAS: a search-result snippet of nsfas.org.za said “Applications for 2027 funding open on 18 September 2026… Applications close on 31 October 2026”, but the fetched page still showed 2026-cycle content, and NavyBlue (navyblue.co.za) reports that “At the launch on 18 September 2026, the Minister’s speech gave a closing date of 18 November 2026”, which conflicts with 31 October. Secondary sources describe eligibility for South African citizens and permanent residents studying at public universities and TVET colleges, with a household income limit of R350,000 (R600,000 for students with disabilities). [TBV: zabursaries.co.za, yournsfasstatus.co.za and navyblue.co.za; confirm on nsfas.org.za] I found no NSFAS rule on applicants holding the IB Diploma or CAIE with a USAf exemption. For a Genadendal bursary learner this is the single most important open question in the brief. [open]

Q3. Where should the IB Diploma enter?

(a) The school stops at Grade 10 or 11 and learners apply to UWC

Cost: the lowest of the three, since there is no senior phase.
Time: none beyond WCED registration.
A learner UWC does not select must move to another school for Grades 11 and 12. The valley’s only high school, Emil Weder Secondary, teaches in Afrikaans.
This design strands learners unless a named partner school guarantees them places. It fails the brief’s test as stated. [AI]

(b) The school seeks IB authorisation and runs its own DP

Cost: about R322,000 of candidacy fees [TBV], plus the recurring cost in the design table.
Time: candidacy is “typically 2 years” [TBV]. The IB bills the candidacy fee “yearly until the school notifies the IB it would like to apply for authorization” [MS: ibo.org].[2][17] At the earliest, a 2028 Grade 8 intake reaches Grade 11 in 2031.
A learner UWC does not select stays in the school’s DP or NSC stream, so no one is stranded.
Cost is where it fails. A second senior staff team for 5 to 20 learners per grade is the largest single expense in any design. [AI]

Cost: the lowest of the designs that keep a full senior phase.
Time: IEB registration begins in the year the first cohort is in Grade 9, which is 2029 for a 2028 intake.[28]
A learner UWC does not select carries on to the NSC in the same school with no disruption.
This design passes the test. [AI]
Timing detail: UWC lists Waterford Kamhlaba’s Global Selection Programme entry one year later than the other colleges (2028 against 2027 in the current cycle). Waterford’s IB years follow its Form 5 IGCSE year.[4][39] A South African learner bound for Waterford may therefore enter after Grade 11 and not after Grade 10. [AI inference from uwc.org and waterford.sz; confirm with UWC South Africa]

Q4. Can the route run in parallel with CAPS?

Regulatory

Registration with more than one curriculum: section 46 of the Schools Act requires provincial registration against the MEC’s published grounds.[40] I did not obtain the WCED notice. How WCED registers a school offering both CAPS and a foreign curriculum is unconfirmed. [TBV]
Umalusi accreditation when only some learners write the NSC: not confirmed in this round. The IEB states that it provides “Umalusi accredited examinations … for the schools that are registered with it”. [MS: ieb.co.za][29]
General Education Certificate (GEC): the DBE says the Council of Education Ministers approved a GEC Assessment Model, with implementation “from 2025”. The DBE’s chief director for national assessment described its aim as “to issue a National Report Card that will be generated off a national assessment system at school level”. [MS: education.gov.za, September 2024][41]
The DBE’s E³ platform calls the GEC “a holistic assessment model for Grade 9 Learners”. [MS][15] Whether an independent school must offer it is unconfirmed. [TBV]
Learner records across routes: not found. [open]
NSC re-entry after a year in a foreign curriculum, for example a learner who leaves UWC after one year: not found. This must be settled with Umalusi, WCED and the chosen assessment body before any learner leaves for UWC. [open]

Practical

Timetabling two senior routes: Redhill runs “Pre-IB” in Grade 10 beside IEB Grade 10, then DP or IEB in Grades 11 and 12. Somerset runs its Cambridge A Level programme “in parallel to the IEB Grade 11 and Grade 12 (matric) years”. St Andrew’s College runs A Levels “as an alternative to the IEB Matric”, with AS in Grade 11 and A Level in Grade 12. [MS: school websites][20][42][43]
All three are large schools. Somerset’s Senior School alone has 600 learners. [MS][44]
At 10 to 20 per grade, a second route means classes of 3 to 10 in each senior subject. [AI]
Where to fork: for Design A, the fork is the UWC application window in Grade 10 (and Grade 11 for a second attempt). Nothing forks inside the school’s certificate route. [AI]
Subject choices that keep both doors open in Grade 10: NSC Mathematics over Mathematical Literacy, because USAf treats IB Mathematics HL and SL as equivalent to NSC Mathematics for exemption.[6] A learner returning from UWC with IB Mathematics, or staying on the NSC, then keeps the same doors. Add at least one science and English at Home Language level where the learner can manage it. [AI, on USAf rule]

Precedents

School	Structure of the fork	Source
Redhill School, Johannesburg	MYP in Grades 6 to 9 (fully authorised 2024). In Grade 10, learners choose the IEB stream or “Pre-IB”. Grades 11 and 12 are the IEB NSC or the IB DP (introduced 2018).[13] Pre-IB learners may switch to the IEB for Grades 11 and 12. The IB class of 2025 averaged 33.31 points.[20][45]	[MS: redhill.co.za; News24 partner content, which is paid school content]
Somerset College, Somerset West	Cambridge in the Preparatory School. The Senior School offers the IEB NSC or Cambridge A Level in Grades 11 and 12, and admits Grade 10 or GCSE completers.[10]	[MS: somersetcollege.org]
St Andrew’s College	Cambridge A Level stream as an alternative to the IEB: AS in Grade 11, A Level in Grade 12, five subjects.[43]	[MS: sacschool.com]
Hout Bay International School	IB continuum school; PYP authorised 2009.[21]	[MS]
United Herzlia	Not researched.	[open]

Q5. What it takes to be selected by UWC from South Africa

Places: UWC South Africa says “Full scholarship, partially funded and unpaid places are made available to South Africans every year”.[46] It does not publish how many learners it selects. [MS: apply.uwc.org, UWCZA2026 programme; number open]
Selection standards: UWC applies “the same six key standards” across national committees. These include intellectual curiosity, active commitment to UWC’s values, social competence, and resilience, self-awareness and independence. [MS: za.uwc.org/uwc-selection-criteria][47]
The eligibility page says “we also value a demonstrated commitment to learning beyond the classroom”. [MS][3]
An older UWC SA page asks that the applicant be “prepared to leave their current school halfway through Grade 10, 11 or 12”. [MS: www.za.uwc.org/how-to-apply/eligibility-criteria] [48] This is a real disruption for the school’s records and for NSC continuity.
Project work, service and portfolios: the selection standards reward the evidence a project-based school produces. I found no statement that portfolios are formally scored. [AI; TBV]
Grade and school type of recent selectees, and the share from no-fee or low-fee schools: not found. [open]
Feeder schools and partnerships: I found no published feeder-school record or partnership programme for UWC South Africa or Waterford Kamhlaba. [open]
Waterford Kamhlaba as a model: it teaches Forms 1 to 5, with Form 5 sitting the IGCSE, “followed by two years dedicated to the International Baccalaureate”. It reports over 600 students from 60 nationalities, and offers scholarships “based on both need and merit”. [MS: waterford.sz][39]
Waterford’s 2027 fees for boarders from outside Eswatini: R276,247 a year in Forms 4 and 5, and R345,972 a year in the IB years. IB examinations cost about R19,000 and IGCSE examinations about R13,000. [MS: 2027 fee schedule, 10 August 2026][1]
Waterford lists a National Committee fee for 2027 admission of EUR 29,000 per annum.[1] I have not converted it, because I sourced no EUR rate in this round. [MS; conversion TBV]
Waterford as a partner: at these fees, it is a destination for UWC-selected learners and not a Forms 1 to 5 option for valley families without scholarships. [AI]

Q6. Language

CAPS combinations: an English-medium school can offer English Home Language with Afrikaans First Additional Language, or Afrikaans Home Language with English First Additional Language. The rules on which language must match the language of learning and teaching need checking against the NSC regulations. [TBV]
IB Diploma Programme: any language can be taken as Language A: literature through the school-supported self-taught option, “only offered at Standard Level”, with a book list supplied by the IB where needed. [MS: IB guidance documents hosted by schools][49][50][51] Whether Afrikaans is on the IB’s standard Language A list is unconfirmed. [TBV]
At UWC colleges, self-taught tutoring may be arranged per school; UWCSEA East, for example, has tutors “paid privately by parents”. [MS][52]
UWC’s English expectation: “While fluency is not required at the time of application, applicants are advised to attain a basic proficiency in English and demonstrate a willingness to improve their language skills”. [MS: za.uwc.org][3]
South African evidence on moving to English-medium schooling: not gathered in this round. [open]
Design implication: keep Afrikaans at Home Language level open for learners who need it, and build English through project work in all subjects. This protects NSC results while building the “basic proficiency” UWC asks for. [AI]

3. Comparison table

Costs are 2026 rand per learner per year across Grades 8 to 12. They include teacher staffing at the R450,000 per full-time teacher assumption, plus assessment and programme fees. Buildings, boarding and transport are excluded. B assumes half of each Grade 11 and 12 cohort takes the second route. [AI model]

Row	A. Shared trunk, NSC spine	B. Shared trunk, two senior routes	C. IB continuum (MYP, DP at UWC)	D. Cambridge trunk	E. A plus IB CP and Boland TVET
Project-based character	CAPS through projects, as in DBE E³ and Somerset ESTEAM	As A in Grades 8 to 10	MYP framework with the Personal Project	Not shown by evidence found	As A, plus a CP reflective project
DP readiness	Depends on the project and English programme [AI]	In-house DP	Strongest by design; no peer-reviewed evidence found	IGCSE is Waterford’s own pre-IB year	Weak for the DP
Route for learners UWC does not select	NSC in the same school	NSC or the in-house second route	NSC fallback, but MYP Grade 10 and NSC Grade 10 records must be reconciled [TBV]	IEB Grades 11 and 12, entry after IGCSE Grade 10 [TBV]	NSC or CP
Cost at 10 per grade	R76,000	R106,600 (DP) or R103,600 (CAIE)	R86,500	R78,900 plus Cambridge fee [TBV]	R87,900
Cost at 20 per grade	R43,500	R58,800 (DP) or R57,600 (CAIE)	R48,700	R46,400 plus Cambridge fee	R49,600
Cost at 40 per grade	R36,200	R46,100 (DP) or R45,800 (CAIE)	R38,800	R39,100 plus Cambridge fee	R39,400
One-off authorisation	IEB registration fee [TBV]	About R322,000 for DP candidacy [TBV][17]	About R322,000 for MYP candidacy [TBV], possibly halved under the IB Africa pilot[18]	Cambridge registration [TBV]	IB says no CP candidate fees; application fee [TBV][38]
Teacher requirements	CAPS-qualified staff; PBL training	Second senior team: +3 full-time teachers at 10 or 20 per grade, +4 at 40; DP coordinator and TOK	IB MYP workshops and an MYP coordinator	Cambridge-trained staff and CAPS staff for Grades 11 and 12	CP coordinator; TVET liaison
Regulatory steps and time	WCED registration; IEB registration in the first cohort’s Grade 9 (2029)	As A, plus IB candidacy of about 2 years [TBV]	As A, plus MYP authorisation (4 years at Redhill)[20]	WCED registration; Cambridge centre approval [TBV]	As A, plus CP authorisation and a Boland agreement [TBV]
University recognition	NSC	NSC, or DP with 24 points / CAIE per USAf	NSC; DP via UWC	NSC or CAIE	NSC; CP exemption not found [TBV]
NSFAS eligibility	Yes, subject to the means test [TBV]	NSC yes; foreign qualification [TBV]	NSC yes	NSC yes	CP [TBV]
Fit for Afrikaans home-language learners	Afrikaans HL available	As A, but DP Afrikaans A self-taught SL only	MYP language rules [TBV]	Cambridge language offer [TBV]	As A
South African precedent	Somerset (ESTEAM with IEB); DBE E³ schools	Redhill (DP), Somerset and St Andrew’s (A Level)	Redhill, Hout Bay International	Somerset (Cambridge in Prep only, per its own page)	None found

Which design sits between IEB and CAIE on cost: only Design A. Its certificate cost is the IEB’s R9,760 per Grade 12 candidate. Its added cost is a project and UWC-preparation layer estimated at R1,000 to R2,000 per learner per year at 20 or 10 per grade. That places it above a plain IEB school and below any design carrying a second senior route or a Cambridge exam load. Designs B and C cost more than a Cambridge-only school at the valley’s scale because of staffing and IB fees. [AI]

4. Route map for Design A

Grade	All learners	Fork and movement
8 (first intake 2028 at the earliest)	CAPS through projects; English as language of learning and teaching, with Afrikaans HL or FAL; English support for Afrikaans-medium primary leavers	None
9 (2029)	CAPS through projects; GEC assessment if required [TBV]; IEB registration lodged, with at least 10 learners in Grade 9 required[28]	Subject guidance for Grade 10: Mathematics kept open for every learner who can manage it
10 (2030)	CAPS Grade 10 on the IEB; Personal Project modelled on the MYP (not IB-assessed); service and portfolio record	UWC SA application window for learners who meet the selection standards; one application per year[3]
11 (2031)	CAPS Grade 11 on the IEB	Selected learners leave for a UWC college, possibly mid-year. Those not selected continue, and may apply again. Waterford-bound learners may leave after Grade 11 [TBV].
12 (2032)	IEB NSC examinations	A learner leaving UWC after one year returns to the NSC under rules still to be confirmed with Umalusi and the IEB [open]
After school	University (NSC Bachelor’s pass) or Boland TVET College	UWC leavers apply with the IB Diploma and a USAf exemption (24 points)

5. What is still open

Question	Institution to answer it	Published contact channel
How many learners UWC SA selects each year; their grades and school types; the share from no-fee or low-fee schools; whether portfolios count; timing for Waterford entry	UWC South Africa	Email address on za.uwc.org/eligibility-criteria; the “How to Apply” page
Feeder partnerships; Forms 1 to 5 scholarships for South African learners; conversion of the EUR 29,000 National Committee fee	Waterford Kamhlaba UWCSA	+268 2422 0866/7/8; the contact page on waterford.sz[1]
Official 2026 or 2027 amounts for the MYP, DP and CP annual fees, candidacy and authorisation fees, MYP eAssessment and DP subject fees; Afrikaans as Language A	International Baccalaureate	”Ask a question” and IB Help on ibo.org; IB Global Centre Cardiff reception, +44 29 2054 7777[8]
Exemption rules for the IB CP and Pearson Edexcel IAL	USAf Matriculation Board	010 591 4401/2; mb.usaf.ac.za[7]
NSFAS eligibility for applicants holding the IB Diploma or CAIE with a USAf exemption	NSFAS	nsfas.org.za
Registering an independent school with more than one curriculum; the WCED registration notice; GEC obligations for independent schools	Western Cape Education Department	WCED website contact pages
Accreditation when only some learners write the NSC; NSC re-entry after a year at a UWC college; learner records across routes	Umalusi	Umalusi website contact pages
IEB affiliation fees; the 10-learner Grade 9 floor for a small school; Advanced Programme costs	Independent Examinations Board	Registration page on ieb.co.za
SACAI per-subject fees for a school centre (conflicting provider figures)	SACAI	sacai.org.za
Cambridge school registration and annual fees; number of South African Cambridge schools	Cambridge International	cambridgeinternational.org
Caledon campus programmes and fees for a vocational strand	Boland TVET College	bolandcollege.com
Whether Somerset College teaches Cambridge through Grade 10	Somerset College	communications@somcol.co.za; +27 (0)21 842 8000[10]
How United Herzlia structures its routes	United Herzlia	School website contact page
Peer-reviewed evidence on MYP-to-DP outcomes and on South African learners moving to English-medium schooling	University education faculties; the IB research unit (mark IB-commissioned studies as such)	ibo.org research pages
Staffing cost per teacher used in the model	Valley of Grace High School Decision Tool	variables/05-cost on hs.valleyofgrace.co.za

6. References

The citation pass for hs.valleyofgrace.co.za attaches the full reference list to this report. Each tagged claim above names its source in the text: za.uwc.org (eligibility and selection criteria), uwc.org (fees and financial support; new schools and colleges), apply.uwc.org (UWCZA2026), mb.usaf.ac.za (International Baccalaureate), Stellenbosch University (matriculation exemption summaries), ibo.org (South Africa country page; Africa overview; fees and services; request for authorisation), join.ibo.org (IB in South Africa), Careers360 (IB fee bands 2025-26), Fairfax County Public Schools (IB report), redhill.co.za (MYP and senior school pages), somersetcollege.org (academic programme; Cambridge), sacschool.com (Cambridge A Levels), houtbayinternational.co.za, waterford.sz (2027 fee schedule; admissions), the South African Schools Act 84 of 1996 (lawlibrary.org.za), education.gov.za (GEC, September 2024), learn.ecubed-dbe.org (E³ and GEC), ieb.co.za (NSC; registration), the Pinnacle College Linden and Pecanwood College 2026 fee schedules, The Post, Mail & Guardian and The Citizen (IEB 2025 results, 12 January 2026), sacai.org.za (Newsletter 15 of 2025), the UCT Online High School fees handbook and Saving Grace Education (SACAI fees passed on), Blouberg International School and the International School of Cape Town (Cambridge fees 2026), SA Jewish Report, IB Language A school-supported self-taught guidance, UWCSEA East, and secondary summaries of NSFAS and Boland TVET College tagged [TBV] where used.

description	Research for the Learning Campus founders on Grade 8 to 12 curriculum designs that keep every learner on a South African university route and prepare the strongest to apply to UWC for the IB Diploma, with costs and open questions.
tags	research, decision-tool, high-school

Valley of Grace High School Decision Tool 2028

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