Valley of Grace High School Decision Tool 2028

High_School_Survey_v0.3

11 min read

Survey design: draft questions (v0.3)

Working title: An English-medium high school in the Valley of Grace: what would your family need?

Introduction (shown before the first question)

This survey is for English-speaking families who are thinking about high school for a child starting Grade 8 in 2028 or later, and who are looking at independent or fee-paying options.

It is run by a High School Working Group, made up of parents currently residing in Greyton. It is not run by, or on behalf of, any school or provider. No school has been confirmed, and answering commits you to nothing.

Your answers will help work out how many families have children starting high school each year, what kind of school they would consider, and what they could afford. The High School Decision Tool at hs.valleyofgrace.co.za explains the terms used here.

It takes about 12 minutes. Please send one response per household.

How your information is used

  • Results are reported only as totals and anonymously. No child or family is named, and small groups are not reported separately if that could identify someone.
  • Contact details are not requested. If you would like to receive updates about high school options in the valley, join this WhatsApp group: chat.whatsapp.com/ICo4qtNLb6w88Vtr01yyTS
  • You can ask for your response to be deleted at any time by writing to hello@michaelhaupt.com.

1. I have read the above and agree that my answers can be used as described. (Required.)

  • Yes

Section 1: About your family

2. Where does your family live now?

  • Greyton
  • Genadendal
  • A farm or smallholding in the valley
  • Elsewhere in the Overberg
  • Elsewhere in the Western Cape
  • Elsewhere in South Africa
  • Outside South Africa

3. Which language does your family mainly speak at home?

  • English
  • English and Afrikaans equally
  • Afrikaans
  • Other (please specify)

4. How many children aged 6 to 17 live in your household?

  • 0 / 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 or more

[Form note: if 0, skip to Section 7.]

5. For each child, please tell us:

[Form note: repeat this block for up to four children.]

  • Age: 6 to 17
  • Current grade: Grade R to Grade 12
  • The year this child starts (or started) Grade 8: 2026 or earlier / 2027 / 2028 / 2029 / 2030 / 2031 / 2032 / 2033 or later
  • Where this child goes to school now:
    • Greyton House
    • Another independent school
    • A public school
    • An online school
    • Home education or a learning pod
    • Other

6. Which of these apply to your family now? (Select all that apply.)

  • We already drive a child to a school outside the valley each day
  • A child uses an online school
  • We are registered with the WCED for home education
  • We already share school lifts with other families
  • We are already talking with other families about a shared high school plan
  • None of these

Section 2: Language and curriculum

The valley has one high school, Emil Weder Secondary in Genadendal, which teaches in Afrikaans. The nearest public high school with English-medium classes is Overberg High School (Hoërskool Overberg) in Caledon, 35 km from Greyton, which runs English and Afrikaans streams.

7. How important is English-medium teaching for your child?

  • English medium is essential
  • A dual-medium school with an English stream would work for us
  • Afrikaans medium would work, with language support
  • We are unsure

8. Which curriculum would you prefer for your child?

  • CAPS, the national curriculum, leading to the National Senior Certificate (matric)
  • Cambridge International (IGCSE, then AS and A Level)
  • International Baccalaureate (IB)
  • A Waldorf curriculum, with a CAPS matric year
  • Any recognised curriculum; the quality of teaching matters most
  • No formal curriculum or examinations
  • I don’t know enough about the differences to say

9. If CAPS, which examination body would you prefer?

All three issue the same National Senior Certificate, and universities treat them equally for admission.

[Form note: show only if Q8 is CAPS or “Any recognised curriculum”.]

  • DBE (Department of Basic Education, used by all public schools)
  • IEB (Independent Examinations Board, used by most independent schools)
  • SACAI (South African Comprehensive Assessment Institute, used by most online schools)
  • No preference
  • I am not familiar with the differences

10. How much would it matter to you that the school prepares strong learners to apply for international programmes and scholarships (for example, studying in the UK or US) after Grade 10 or 11?

  • Very important
  • Somewhat important
  • Not important
  • Unsure

Section 3: Subjects and direction

A small school can offer only a few subjects in Grades 10 to 12. These answers show which ones families need most.

11. After school, where do you expect your child to go? (Select up to two.)

  • A South African university
  • A university abroad
  • A TVET college or trade training
  • Work or a business in the valley
  • A gap year
  • Too early to say

12. Which subjects would the school need to offer for your child? (Select all that apply.)

  • Mathematics (the full subject, required for many degrees)
  • Physical Sciences
  • Life Sciences
  • Accounting
  • Information Technology or Computer Applications Technology
  • Visual Arts, Music or Dramatic Arts
  • Agricultural Sciences
  • Tourism
  • A particular second or third language (please specify)
  • Not sure yet

Section 4: What kind of school

Each option below shows a rough annual cost per child. The figures come from the High School Decision Tool (2026 estimates), include transport and other costs, and will change.

  • A. Local learning hub. Children study with an accredited online school in a shared space in the valley, with a facilitator on site. They write the matric through the online school’s examination body. Each family registers for home education with the WCED. About R40,000 to R95,000 a year.
  • B. Independent day school in the valley. Full-time, daily attendance, a traditional school day. About R55,000 to R100,000 a year, based on comparable Western Cape independent day schools.
  • C. Independent boarding school in the valley. It takes learners from across South Africa as boarders and offers day places to valley families. Boarding fees at Western Cape independent schools run from about R150,000 to over R400,000 a year. Day-place fees would be lower but are not yet known.
  • D. Grades 8 and 9 in the valley, then a move. A school in the valley for Grades 8 and 9, followed by a move to another school for Grades 10 to 12. Cost depends on the schools.
  • E. Overberg High School’s English stream in Caledon, with shared transport. A lift club or contracted school bus for the daily 35 km trip. About R19,000 to R51,000 a year with a lift club.
  • F. Family-led hub. Families arrange their own schooling and qualifications, and share a space in the valley for social and extramural activities. Cost depends on each family’s arrangements.

13. How appealing is each option for your family?

[Form note: grid, one row per option A to F, scale 1 to 5.]

  • 1 = not at all appealing, 5 = very appealing

14. If only one of these were realistically available, which would you choose?

  • A / B / C / D / E / F
  • None of these; we would look at boarding schools further afield or move away

15. Which teaching approaches would you consider? (Select up to two.)

  • Conventional academic teaching focused on strong matric results
  • Learning grounded in the valley’s ecology, heritage and local economy
  • Waldorf or Steiner-inspired
  • Project-based or experiential learning
  • Faith-based
  • No preference

16. Which three of these matter most to you in choosing a school? (Select exactly three.)

[Form note: Q16 and Q17 must use this list, in this order.]

  • Recognised, accredited qualifications
  • Academic results (matric results, university entrance)
  • A say for families in how the school is run
  • Small classes (fewer than 20 learners)
  • A small school where families share values and take part
  • School values and ethos
  • Teacher relationships and pastoral support
  • Safety and clear behavioural expectations
  • Outdoor and environmental education in the regular programme
  • Sport and physical activity
  • Arts, music and drama
  • Links with the valley’s community and economy
  • Technology and digital skills (coding, AI literacy)
  • Practical, vocational and entrepreneurship skills
  • A mix of learners across income, language and background
  • Cost
  • Being close to home, with no long commute or boarding

17. Which three of these matter least to you? (Select exactly three. Same list as Q16.)

18. A school in the valley would be housed in the Cape Floral Kingdom, beside Genadendal, which was founded as a Moravian mission in 1738. Which of these, if any, would draw your family to such a school? (Select all that apply.)

  • Learning grounded in the local ecology and biodiversity
  • A connection to the valley’s cultural heritage and history
  • A rural setting away from city pressures
  • A school that is part of a wider community development effort
  • A small, close-knit school community
  • Learner work that feeds real projects in the valley (for example, biodiversity monitoring, heritage documentation, or local economic research)
  • None of these; the setting would not affect our choice

19. What is the single most important thing a new high school in the valley would need to get right for you to consider it? (Open text.)

Section 5: Cost

20. What is the most your family could spend per child per year on high school, including fees, transport, devices, uniforms and all other costs?

  • Under R30,000
  • R30,000 to R60,000
  • R60,000 to R100,000
  • R100,000 to R150,000
  • R150,000 to R250,000
  • Over R250,000
  • I am unsure

21. Could you keep paying that amount for all five years of high school, with fee increases of about 5 to 8% a year?

  • Yes
  • Probably
  • Only with financial help
  • Unsure

22. Would your family’s ability to pay depend on a bursary or fee reduction?

  • Yes, it would be essential
  • It would help, but we could manage without
  • No

23. Would you pay a somewhat higher fee if part of it funded places for valley learners whose families could not otherwise afford the school?

  • Yes
  • Possibly, depending on the amount
  • No
  • Unsure

Section 6: Getting to school

24. How would your child get to a school in the valley? (Select all that apply.)

  • Walk or cycle
  • We would drive
  • A lift club or contracted school bus
  • Weekly boarding
  • Termly boarding
  • We would move to the valley
  • We have not worked this out yet

25. If your family lives in the valley: how far could your child travel to school each day?

[Form note: show only if Q2 is a place in the valley.]

  • Walking or cycling distance only
  • Up to 10 km
  • 10 to 20 km
  • Distance within the valley would not matter

26. If your family lives outside the valley: would you consider moving to the valley if a suitable English-medium high school existed there?

[Form note: show only if Q2 is outside the valley.]

  • Yes, the school would be a main reason to move
  • Possibly, together with other reasons (lifestyle, cost of living, remote work)
  • No, we would look at boarding
  • No

Section 7: Next steps

No school has been confirmed, and no opening date has been set.

[Form note: respondents with no children aged 6 to 17 (Q4 = 0) start here and see Q30 and Q31 only.]

27. If a school that suited your family opened in the valley in the year your child starts Grade 8, how likely would you be to enrol?

  • Definitely
  • Very likely
  • Somewhat likely
  • Unlikely
  • We would not enrol

28. Once a school’s fees, location and curriculum are published, would you be willing to sign a non-binding letter of intent to enrol?

  • Yes
  • Maybe
  • No

29. Would you take part in a planning conversation (online or in person) about what such a school should look like?

  • Yes
  • Maybe
  • No

30. Would you like to be updated about high school options in the Valley of Grace?

  • Yes (please join this WhatsApp group: chat.whatsapp.com/ICo4qtNLb6w88Vtr01yyTS)
  • No

31. Is there anything else you would like the planners to know? (Open text.)

Notes for the form builder and analysis

  • Only Q1 is required. Every other question can be skipped.
  • Report results as totals. Do not report any group of fewer than five households separately, and never combine village, child’s grade and current school in a way that could point to one family.
  • Keep the raw responses and contact details in ~/Quartz/workbench/school/. They must never go into content/ or the site repository.
  • Q5 gives the number of learners per grade per year, which the Decision Tool lists as its most important missing figure (Variable 9). Q20, Q22 and Q23 give the fee data needed to test whether fee-paying families could cover a new school’s running costs.
  • Check the village list in Q2 against the W2DF register’s village pages. The Decision Tool does not list Boschmanskloof or Middeldorp.
  • Cost figures in Section 4 come from the Decision Tool’s variable and option pages (September 2026). Update them if those pages change before the survey goes out.
  • This survey is English-only by design. A valley-wide survey for all families will follow.

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