Ran a lemonade stall at market day
Costed ingredients, set a price, and made R146 profit. Reflected on why Saturday sold better.
Designed backwards from a good life.
An independent school on the hill at Fairview, where children learn at their own pace, follow their own path, and practise every day the things that help people thrive.
Our approach
Most schools start with a syllabus. We start with the adult your child will become.
Decades of research point to what helps people live well: close relationships, self-control, purpose, health, and the ability to earn and adapt. At Maroupi, children practise these daily, alongside strong foundations in reading, maths and science.
- RelationshipsMaking friends, handling conflict, and repairing things when they go wrong.
- Self-regulationManaging their own time, projects and feelings, with guides who coach rather than control.
- Money and livelihoodsReal budgets, real micro-businesses, and an understanding of tax and credit.
- Health and bodyTrails, swimming, sleep and food, with plenty of time outdoors.
- Work and adaptabilityTrying many kinds of work, and failing safely on the way to getting good at something.
- CitizenshipA learner council with real decisions, and projects that serve the community.
A day at Maroupi
Focused mornings. Real afternoons.
Circle
Check in with each other and set intentions for the day.
Foundations
Reading, maths and science at each child's own pace.
Outside
Free play in the gardens.
Quest studio
Projects that start with a child's own question.
Lunch
A shared table.
Life practice
Money, relationships, citizenship, sport and the forest.
Closing
Reflect on the day, then home or clubs.
How we measure
We measure constantly. We rank never.
Instead of cramming for tests, every child builds a learning record: projects, reflections and progress, tagged to the outcomes they need to master. Parents see it as it grows. At graduation, your child takes home the whole story of how they learned.
Required phase assessments are fully met, with a portfolio behind every result.
Lwazi, age 9
Example record, Term 2Tracked savings for a new bike
Built a savings chart and worked out it will take 11 weeks.
Tested water from the dam
Compared clarity at three points and wrote up a fair test.
Repaired a falling-out over the fort
Led a repair conversation with a guide nearby, and agreed a new sharing plan.
The place
A working farm estate is our campus.
Maroupi sits in the hills of Fairview, near Umhlali, among trails, dams, orchards and a small dairy. The land isn't a backdrop. It's where much of the learning happens.
Our beginning
Every school has a first chapter. Ours is being written now.
In 2027, a small group of founding families began learning together in the chapel on the hill. Their names are kept on our founding register, where every child who follows will see them.
Founding Families register
- Family name
- Family name
- Family name
- Family name
- Family name
- Family name
- Places for 2028 open soon
Ronda [surname]
Founding Principal. Curriculum designer with a background in Canadian competency-based education.
Tamryn Chapman
Co-founder and Chair of the board. A founding parent.
Monique [surname]
Co-founder. A founding parent.
Admissions for 2028
Small by design. Places are limited.
36–42learners in our first open year
1 : 11guides to learners, plus specialist leads
From R8 500a month, including technology and materials (indicative)