Principal’s welcome
It’s a pleasure to introduce you to St Cyprian’s School.
I hope this offers a glimpse into the dynamic, exciting and creative life of our campus.
St Cyprian’s School for girls is a values-driven family school with a strong sense of identity and an expanded community that includes supportive, engaged parents and strong links with the Anglican Church, and a loyal and involved alumnae body.
Our historic Nooitgedacht campus houses three schools in one, with shared facilities that include a beautiful heritage chapel, the hall and specialist sports facilities. Thus, our girls, aged from three to 18 (Grade 000 to matric) cross paths and interact daily.
A shared educational vision, devised to shape character, build knowledge, develop skills and prepare our students to face the challenges of a fast-changing world is what distinguishes St Cyprian’s School from the norm. This vision informs our educational approach that supports both the pursuit of excellence and the exploration of possibility.
Our campus, nestled on the slopes of Table Mountain, reflects our heritage roots as well as the excitement of the present and the promise of an extraordinary future.
Our students and staff embody the vibrancy of an engaged and happy learning community, and one can see promise fulfilled as three-year-old school beginners cross paths with 18-year-old school leavers.
I look forward to an opportunity to meet you and tell you more!
Shelley Frayne
School Principal
Our vision
“We teach not for school but for life; we train not for time but for eternity.” This encourages and motivates us to pursue the promise of nurturing students who become values-driven life-long learners and leaders with a mission to make a difference in the world.
Our vocation
Our mission at St Cyprian’s School is to unlock the potential and build the brilliance of all our girls – from Pre-Prep to matric. We see every girl in blue as an individual, with her own unique potential and distinctive abilities to be nurtured and encouraged. Our aim is to help her explore and unleash those talents to not only become her best self, but to also contribute thoughtfully and kindly to the wider community.
By challenging their minds, feeding their souls, firing their imaginations and training their bodies, we support our students to learn and develop confidently, think independently, build character and self-esteem, and respect others.
Our school strives to equip every student with the knowledge, skills and guidance to shine in her own right and to go on to lead a happy and fulfilled life.
Our promise
St Cyprian’s celebrates and promotes diversity. We strive to be a happy, vibrant and representative space where every girl and member of the school and broader South African society is valued and respected.
We encourage diversity of interests, outlooks and ambitions, acknowledge the complexity and inequity of our country’s history and takes seriously our responsibility towards the creation of a more equitable society.
We are proud of our rich heritage as a school that opened its doors to all races and creeds during the apartheid years, and we embrace the future enthusiastically as motivated and patriotic citizens.
We educate and nurture our girls to become critical thinkers, creative problem-solvers and compassionate, courageous human beings, equipped to take their rightful places in their communities, the country and the world.
Our obligation
Kurt Hahn, the father of the Round Square educational philosophy, wrote, “I regard it as the foremost task of education to ensure the survival of these qualities: an enterprising curiosity, an undefeatable spirit, tenacity in pursuit, readiness for sensible self-denial, and above all, compassion.”
As part of the international network of Round Square schools, our goal is to provide St Cyprian’s girls with tools that enable enquiry and self-expression, helping them develop their potential in an encouraging and reassuring school environment.
We provide additional support through pastoral care and peer group mentoring. Our school chaplain and resident counsellors are key members of our staff. Our girls are encouraged to “stress-test” their ideas, learn from their mistakes, nurture their passions and grow their interests and talents.
We believe every girl is an individual, to be challenged to discover her best self.
Round Square
St Cyprian’s was one of the first South African schools to become a member of Round Square, in 1997.
Round Square 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 have a fundamental belief in the value of experiential learning to develop character and make a difference in the world.
Founder Kurt Hahn, an educational philosopher, believed the purpose of schools should be 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 can facilitate this.
Our means –
heritage and faith
At the very heart of our school lies our jewel of a chapel. Our Christian values of Faith, Hope and Love underpin our ethos and inform the culture of the school.
The core values Respect, Integrity, Compassion, Courage and Accountability (RICCA) drive daily conversations between teachers and students, colleagues and peers.
The Bring and Boeka evening is about connection, understanding and community. It is about our girls witnessing how people of different faiths and traditions can gather with openness and generosity of spirit.”
Equity and belonging
True belonging asks something of each of us. It asks for the strength of character that allows us to enter conversations honestly – conversations that shape culture, where our girls are known and genuinely respected and where they, in turn, take on the responsibility of knowing and respecting others.
This is not incidental work. The practices and processes that make belonging real – not just aspirational – are worth our sustained investment.
Changing the world one girl at a time
Academic offering
St Cyprian’s School offers two rigorous academic streams for High School students. The Independent Examination Board (IEB) and Cambridge A Levels are given equal importance and value, shaping how teaching is structured, timetabled and delivered.
Sport
Sport plays a vital role in a child’s development. Girls need space to move, explore their abilities and discover the joy of physical activity in an environment where participation, growth and confidence are valued.
The arts
The arts lie at the heart of the St Cyprian’s School experience. Students are offered outstanding opportunities across music, drama, visual art, design and dance. Our programme encourages creativity, self-expression and the discovery of each student’s unique artistic voice.
