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St Cyprian’s School embraces a holistic, global, personalised educational approach, informed by a Round Square paradigm and an IEB assessment framework.
We have been at the forefront of promoting a 21st century approach to teaching and learning, and have enjoyed recognition as a global Innovative School.
A strong, forward-thinking academic vision is supported by sport, music, the arts and other opportunities for igniting passions and honing skills. We strive to shape and develop globally-minded individuals with strong, moral service leadership inclinations.
St Cyprian’s School is a proud member of the International Round SQUARE Coalition of Schools and is committed to the principles and spirits encapsulated in the organisation’s IDEALS (Internationalism, Democracy, Environmentalism, Adventure, Leadership and Service.)
It is the combination of an educational approach defined by an IEB affiliation and a Round Square framework, our Anglican heritage as well as a values ethos that has shaped our unique identity and our school’s culture. As a philosophy, holistic education is based on the premise that each person finds identity, meaning and purpose in life through connections to the community, the natural world and to humanitarian values such as compassion and peace. Our educational offering helps to shape the way our girls prepare for and respond to the challenges of the world. In the words of Kurt Hahn, founder of Round Square, “There is more in us than we know. If we can be made to see it, perhaps, for the rest of our lives, we will be unwilling to settle for less.”
The incredible pace of change over the last few years and the availability of knowledge at the click of a button, has led to this era in history becoming known as the Conceptual Age.
The 21st century market place is already highly competitive, globally driven and increasingly uncertain. The skills and attitudes required for adaptation and evolution have become a key focus of relevant forward thinking educational institutions. A shift from the “what must be learned”, to the “why” and the “how” is a mark of how St Cyprian’s School implements the development of our chosen 21st century skills: criticality, creativity, collaboration, communication and self-management.
St Cyprian’s School has created an academic vision framework which positions us as a globally relevant educational institution. Our ideal is to present to the world students who will not only have access to opportunities both academic and entrepreneurial, but will shine as the leaders, the problem solvers and the job creators of a new age.
We choose to push educational boundaries in our pursuit and create critical thinkers and socially aware innovators. Our ambition is for our students to become life-long learners, equipped as they will be with the values required to facilitate that ambition. An enabling environment guides and stimulates them to answer, solve, create, prove, invent, generate and act.
Our school has the honour of being one of the first South African schools to become members of this esteemed global educational organisation, having joined in 1997. RS offers schools a framework for excellence and continuous improvement, along with structured opportunities to collaborate and share experiences with like-minded peers around the world. Member schools share a strong, fundamental belief that talks to the value of experiential learning to develop character and make a difference in the world. Founder of the organisation, Kurt Hahn, an educational philosopher, believed that schools should have a purpose greater than simply preparing students for tertiary education. He argued that students need to prepare for life by facing it directly in ways that cultivate courage, generosity, imagination, principle, resolution and compassion, and that the supportive environment of a school community allows this development to happen well.
Round Square is a network of 180 schools in 50 countries that share a passion for experiential education built around six IDEALS of learning. Round Square students are encouraged to discover and develop their own unique capabilities through a range of experiences, activities, collaborative practices, projects and challenges, including social service projects, exchanges and conference participation.
At its heart, the Round Square approach is values-based and is designed to develop attitudes and insights that shape personality and strength of character.
Membership of the Round Square network offers a framework of excellence and continuous improvement, along with structured opportunities to collaborate and share experiences with like-minded peers cross the world. This approach recognises that effective learning is practical, multi-cultural and collaborative, and infused through a range of extra and co-curricular activities. The goal is to shape the way the next generation of leaders understand, prepare for and respond to the world.
At our school, girls are encouraged to make a strong commitment beyond academic excellence to personal development and social responsibility. The Round Square ethos and culture informs the way that education happens at the school, from teaching and learning to annual integrated programmes at each grade level, where one or more of the IDEALS is interrogated and assimilated.
The Independent Examinations Board (IEB) is an independent South African assessment body, entirely self-funding, non-governmental and not for profit. Its focus is simply the development and testing of a globally bench-marked academic offer.
The IEB’s philosophy is built upon the precept that quality assessment drives quality teaching and learning. The IEB designs and provides assessments that stimulate and encourage the acquisition of such skills as broad thinking, analysis, evaluation, unambiguous communications, substantiation of opinion while ensuring that a strong core knowledge of subject content is in place.
In addition to the matriculation examination, the IEB provides access to a number of other assessments – assessments of critical and creative thinking and problem solving, as well as global and local benchmarking tests in key subjects.
The majority of South African independent schools have an association with the IEB, writing the IEB matriculation examination and using the other assessments they provide. The IEB learning process creates a rounded, enquiring, self-motivated student with an ability to acquire and use knowledge in different scenarios to solve real-life problems. This educational approach instils agency (organisation and action), elicits a sense of self-efficiency, encourages independence of thought and develops skills for leadership. An IEB culture stretches and excites the talented academic student. It also encourages and inspires the developing academic student by empowering her to develop the skills, habits and values that will be highly sought after in the world of work.
We share the IEB’s view that students who move through the IEB assessment process are well-prepared to cope with the demands made on them at tertiary education level and beyond.
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Be water wise.
Gorge Road, Oranjezicht, Cape Town 8001
Tel: +27 21 300 6500 | Fax: +27 21 461 8473
Photography by Chad Henning Photography
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