About Us

HISTORY

Early Beginnings:

A small school for 3 preschool pupils was founded by Mrs Liz Jarvis in her garden in
Schoemansville in 1994. During 1995 Mrs Lesley Pugh joined and started a Foundation
Phase class. As the cottage had become too small the school moved to larger premises
in James Street in Schoemansville. By year end the school was again expanding and the
pre-primary class had an assistant teacher.

At the beginning of 1996 the school opened again on a larger piece of ground in Melodie
and became known as “The Cottage School.” Mrs Louise Marshall joined the staff to
start the Grade 4 and Grade 6 class with 10 pupils. These were fun days. The Pre-
Primary was housed in the lounge/dining room, the Foundation Phase was in the barn
where the mice had their babies and carried them around during lessons and the Grade
4s and 6s were in the double garage. We had wonderful mums with VW combis who
transported us on an almost weekly basis on educational outings i.e. dairy farm, beef
farm, air force museum and transport museum, etc.

By the next year the Foundation Phase had to be split into a Grade 1 and 2 and Grade 3
and 4 classes and this time a container made do for the Grade 3 and 4 classes. A
lengthy process ensued as the directors were determined we would become affiliated to
ISASA.

The Beethoven Campus: The Mountain Cottage School

Mr and Mrs Woods joined the parent body and were interested in investing to buy land
and build a school. Our present land was acquired in 1999 and the original school
buildings were available from February 2001. Our move was put off twice and finally
moving took place with no tarred drive and a weekend of incessant rain. At the end of
Sunday Mrs Pugh, dressed in her black raincoat, hat and gumboots, was pushing the
staff cars through the mud to get them home. Dr Jane Hofmeyer, the Director of ISASA,
opened the school on the 28 September 2001.
Mrs Jarvis left the school at the end of 2001 as her husband was taking up a position in
Vienna. New classrooms were again built as the school expanded and the amphitheatre
was added while the church buildings were used for Admin, Grade 7 and computer
classes.

Mrs Pugh continued running the school until 2004 when she decided to retire to the
coast. Mr and Mrs Taylor bought out Mrs Pugh’s share of the school.

2005 saw the advent of Mr Kevin Holman, as the principal. By year end Mr Holman
decided to live closer to home and in 2006 Mrs Louise Marshall took over the running of
the school with Mrs Erica Göhre and Mrs Sandra Kuisis. Separate classes were
introduced for each grade.

The Pre-Primary was bulging at the seams and the directors made the decision to build
the PP classroom and the old PP became the administration offices.

Mountain Cambridge School:

The need for a High School had been continually discussed and was a sore point with
many of the parents as they had no continuation of education for their children. During
2009 Mr and Mrs Woods decided they wanted to sell their investment and return to
Australia. Mrs Taylor approached Mrs Carolina van Heerden who became the new
investor and a High School was born. The High School opened their doors on the 13th of
January 2010 with 23 students.

Mrs van Heerden began her stint, as principal/co- owner in 2010 with a name change to
Mountain Cambridge School. Our school made the bold change to implement the
Cambridge Curriculum from Grade 1 – 12 with the vision of opening an A – level college in
2012. The school became affiliated with Cambridge International Examinations (CIE) that
enables us to give our learners the opportunity to get an internationally recognized
qualification. Specialized subject teachers were also introduced from Grade 4 – 12. The
school has grown from 180 to 285 learners and a staff compliment of 12 to 32.

New High School buildings were needed for the start of 2010 and again for 2011. These
new buildings included four additional classrooms, science and biology laboratories, a
high school computer centre, high school bathrooms, an art classroom, a music
classroom and a canteen area for our learners. Mrs Patti Borman from CIE officially
opened our High School on the 30th of September 2011 and we officially celebrated 10
years of the school being at the Beethoven campus.

In 2012 we completed our long awaited swimming pool and saw the opening of our
library. We also opened our A level college at the beginning of 2012. The directors are
currently in the process of acquiring more land to expand our sporting facilities.

The school continues to grow from strength to strength with the vision of becoming a
top independent school offering an internationally recognized quality education.