Whether your teen is moving up from a feeder school, you are moving areas or your child is making the transition to a new school, you probably have many questions. What are your options? How much choice do you really have? What's the best option for your child and your family? Where should you begin?  Here are some questions to consider:

Accelerated Christian Education (ACE) is a Christian-based international schooling system that is widely used. It provides an education alternative, relative to learners’ needs. The ACE programme works on results-driven processes rather than conventionally applied time-focussed education curricula.

Your child’s school life spans 13 years or grades, from grade 0, otherwise known as grade R or reception year, through to grade 12 or matric – the year of matriculation.  It is compulsory for all South African children to attend school from the age of seven (grade 1) to age 15, or the completion of grade 9.

What sort of school do you want to send your child to? We have looked at public, private and Model C schools. But there are also a few well-established school curriculums or philosophies available in South Africa and it is wise to explore each one in order to find a system that suits your child. Here is a breakdown of the common kinds of schooling systems available to you in South Africa:

The Independent Examinations Board, or IEB, is a South African independent assessment agency which offers examinations at various independent schools. It is most prominent in setting examinations for the school-leaving National Senior Certificate, or NSC (which replaced the Senior Certificate and Further Education and Training Certificate) for its client schools.

In brief we give you an overview of Annual National Assessments (ANA), National Senior Certificates (NSC) and Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement (CAPS).

From 2012 the two National Curriculum Statements for Grades R-9 and Grades 10-12 respectively, are combined in a single document and will simply be known as the National Curriculum Statement Grades R-12. The National Curriculum Statement for Grades R-12 builds on the previous curriculum but also updates it and aims to provide clearer specification of what is to be taught and learnt on a term-by-term basis.

In September 2013 over 7 million learners in Grades 1 - 6 and Grade 9 in South Africa were assessed to determine their levels of competency in Literacy and Numeracy. This was the third time since 2011 that an assessment of this magnitude has been conducted under the umbrella of the Annual National Assessment (ANA), an initiative of the Department of Education (DBE) to improve the quality of performance in the system.