Education MEC Announce Details of New Claremont High School

As part of the provincial government's on-going expansion of access to the focused teaching of science and mathematics, I am proud to announce that a new specialised high school will be opened in Claremont in January 2011.

The school, to be known initially as Claremont High School, will be located in the renovated premises of the former Teacher's Centre. As is usual with focus schools, the new school will service the needs of learners from a very broad catchment area. The school is ideally situated for this purpose because of its proximity to rail and motor transport and has excellent teaching facilities.

In order to minimise the teething problems associated with many new schools and to ensure that appropriate standards are met from the outset, the WCED has entered into a governance and management arrangement with Westerford High School (one of the leading public schools in the country) to support and guide the new school for the first few years.

This will enable Claremont High School to take in learners for 2011 at both Grade 8 and Grade 10 level, thereby shortening the lead in period before having its first class write the National Senior Certificate examinations.

Opportunities for exchange of management, planning, teaching and curriculum expertise will be maximised and the new school should benefit immeasurably from the best practices of an established and widely recognised successful public school.

The opening of the Claremont High School is therefore an exciting and innovative development for education in the Western Cape. The school will provide world-class education, especially in Maths and Science to learners from a diversity of backgrounds.

It is also further evidence of the Western Cape government's commitment to expanding the number of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) facilities in the province. Claremont High School will become the third such facility in the Western Cape. The two existing facilities, the Cape Academy in Tokai and COSAT in Khayelitsha are also in the process of being expanded and improved.

The provincial government firmly believes that creating such facilities is critical to expanding access to opportunity and in building our vision of the Open, Opportunity Society for All.

The processes of advertising and filling posts at Claremont High School are underway, as is the recruitment of the first intake of learners.