Trinityhouse Northriding closes permanently at the expense of children and teachers

JOHANNESBURG – Light brown expensive brick walls, carefully manicured gardens and trees that recently gave birth to purple and white flowers. In addition to these pleasant features, you will be greeted with broad smiles and shaking hands as you enter Trinityhouse Northriding, north of Johannesburg. No matter what time of day you visit the school, its security staff is always friendly. In the reception area, the staff make you feel like the most important visitor in the world. “I never come to work with a heavy heart. I really love being here,” said a staff member. Eyewitness news.

As you walk towards the classrooms, you can see a huge soccer field and a swimming facility to the right. Screams of excited pupils pierce their little masks. It is not difficult to say that young people are really proud and happy to be here. It is an awesome school with world class teachers. Each classroom has a small number of children, making it easy for educators to focus on the needs of each student.

The school follows a strong Christian spirit, accompanied by an engaging curriculum. Students are taught everything from coding techniques in their math sessions, using vocabulary effectively in their English and isiZulu classes to learning the basics of leadership. For those who are interested in extramural activities, there is theater, chess, cricket and others.

“Trinity is a good school in terms of the grassroots and what they instill in our children,” mother Charlotte Mogashoa tells me. But beyond this, the school has a warm environment that promotes good relationships between parents. “I have made many friends, a bond with the parents. Most of the friends that I currently have, is through the interaction of children with each other,” says Mogashoa.

But this warm and welcoming environment is only one side of the school. Behind the wide smiles and beautiful architecture, there is a sense of fear, anger and frustration. Private conversations in the hallways of the school are unpleasant. It all started in mid-August when the parents were invited to an urgent meeting to be held on the night of the 20th of the same month. A few hours before that meeting, the staff members were called to a separate meeting. Officials from the ADvTECH educational group, the company that owns the school, were also present.

“We thought we were going to discuss additional classes for 2021,” says one teacher who prefers to remain anonymous. But the meeting turned out to be completely unexpected. Employees were informed that the school would close at the end of December 2020.

“There have been 13 staff members who have been provided Section 189 letters, indicating that they will follow a consultation process that may result in downsizing,” says ADvTECH Communications Manager Desiree Seaton.

In the days following the devastating announcement on August 20, the atmosphere at the school changed. The smiles are still there, but the puffy eyes tell a different story. “We are devastated, totally saddened. I really loved teaching here. What am I going to do now?” asked one of the teachers. Every staff member who Eyewitness news I spoke they did not want to be named because they feared being victims.

Seaton says the shutdown was inevitable.

“The COVID-19 pandemic has affected all of our schools, but it has had an aggravating effect on schools that were already struggling with enrollment and had small numbers of students. Northriding was originally planned to have around 400 students by 2020. It reached a peak of 129 students in 2018. This has dropped to 92 in 2020 and is expected to be between 60 and 70 students by 2021, with only eight new applications received for grades 000-4 by 2021. “

But some teachers and parents accuse ADvTECH of being more focused on profits than the welfare of the educational institution. They argue that the company is using the coronavirus pandemic to protect its inability to fully commercialize the school. Father Masilo Serekele says that he found out about the school, not through advertising, but by chance. “I found out that the school was going up and down the Boundary Road. I use Boundary Road when driving into Clearwater. It doesn’t have a lot of traffic. This is how I saw the school. I think it was two years ago. I asked and then enrolled my two children.” .

But Seaton denies that ADvTECH did not commercialize the institution.

“The school has been marketed alongside all Trinityhouse sister schools in recent years. This has included marketing campaigns and open houses. We are aware that some parents wanted the school to be marketed in a different way than schools. Trinityhouse’s largest schools, focusing specifically on privacy and small class sizes. However, this value proposition is not aligned with that of all other Trinityhouse schools, where class sizes are understood to be 25-26 students per class. This was also the original intention of Northriding, who understood that it would take some time to reach those class sizes. It is also not a sustainable model with such a small number of students at current rates. “

Mogashoa was forced to unregister her son from her third grade class in July due to financial difficulties. “I have had problems in terms of payment. So, I had arrears in January, which I tried to negotiate and paid in February, and now with this pandemic, my business is literally closed, “says the mother of one.

Their problems mirror those of many parents whose children attend private schools in South Africa. According to the National Association of Independent Schools Alliance (Naisa), between 60% and 70% of parents whose children attend private schools across the country are struggling to pay school fees. The association says the schools had to cut some staff members and draw on their reserves to pay for some of their expenses. Others had to shut down completely. These, according to Naisa, include the Pomeroy Christian School in KwaZulu Natal, the Bishop Bavin School in Gauteng, and the Marnè Ebersohn Akademie in Limpopo.

However, it is still unclear how many schools in South Africa have had to close as a result of financial problems. Naisa Secretary General Ebrahim Ansur says it is still too early to tell. “Most schools expect children to pay before the end of the year. Schools may be in a position to make a call by September / October because there are promises from parents that once the economy starts to reopen, they might start paying. But you never know what the future holds. It’s a wait-and-see situation. ” Naisa has now turned to the government for financial help. “We have a meeting scheduled with the minister. I hope this is on the agenda. We could hear something, one way or another.”

It is not yet clear whether the government of President Cyril Ramaphosa will step in and help fight independent schools. But whatever happens in the future, it doesn’t look promising for Trinityhouse Northriding. ADvTECH has made its decision. The exciting concert nights where children showed their talents in front of their parents, will not return. Father’s Day events at school that promoted friendship between parents are a thing of the past. The sports days where kids and parents came together to happily compete with each other are over.

The fate of the teachers is not yet known. Some may find a place within the ADvTECH group and continue doing what they love. But this is not guaranteed. It’s a sad ending, but this is the legacy of the coronavirus pandemic – a struggling economy and possibly poor business leadership. Either way, the curtains are drawn for Trinityhouse Northriding and dozens of other private schools with similar circumstances.

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