Designed backwards from a good life.

1Why we're meeting

We're proposing to begin Maroupi now, with a founding year for the children of our founding families, in the empty chapel and hall, with almost no fit-out. The founding year proves the model with real children before any capital is raised. It leads to a registered independent school opening to the wider North Coast in January 2028.

Idea

A school designed backwards from the science of thriving adults: relationships, self-regulation, purpose, health, financial agency, adaptability and citizenship, practised daily alongside strong academics.

Founding year

January to December 2027. About 10–14 children from founding families, led by Ronda, in the chapel and weekday hall.

Cost

Shared by families: about R9 400 per child per month at 12 children, or R7 700 if rent is waived. About R200k to set up.

Then

Registration filed in 2027, and Maroupi opens to 36–42 learners in January 2028, growing with the estate.

Learning

Individual pace and path, a Canadian competency-based framework mapped to CAPS, and documentation instead of cramming.

Name

Maroupi: a place name with local recognition, the South African heritage convention.

Decisions needed

2The founding year

Start small, start real, and let the first children write the first chapter.

What it is

• Who: children of founding families only, roughly 10–14, mixed ages. No outside enrolments until registration.
• Legal form: each family registers its child for home education with the KZN Department of Education. Families jointly engage Ronda and an assistant through a founding cost-share company or trust.
• What we don't do: call it a school, issue grade reports, use grade-based contracts or advertise publicly. It's the "Maroupi founding families".
• Where: the chapel as the focus studio, the hall on weekdays, and the gardens and approved estate trails.
• Fit-out: mobile furniture, shelving, a first aid station, a device cart, Forest School kit. Nothing permanent.

Timeline

1. Now to mid-Oct

   Go or no-go; founding families commit in writing; families at private schools check notice terms (many require a term's notice)

2. Oct–Nov 2026

   Developer permission letter; insurance; cost-share entity; Ronda's contract and work authorisation; home-education applications lodged (the department has 60 days)

3. Dec 2026

   Set up the chapel and hall; safety walk-through; parent charter signed; founding curriculum plan

4. Jan 2027

   Founding year begins; first tree-planting; Founding Families register opened

5. Jun 2027

   Mid-year public exhibition for partners and invited guests; first learning records reviewed

6. Dec 2027

   Founding year report: learning, wellbeing and lessons published to partners

Cost-share per child per month

Based on about R108 000 a month: Ronda R55 000, an assistant R20 000, rent R20 000, materials and licences R8 000, insurance and admin R5 000, plus a 5% reserve. Set-up of about R200 000 (devices, furniture, Forest School kit, safety, legal) is shared as a once-off founding contribution or funded by the founders, and carries over to the 2028 school.

The family charter

• Minimum commitment: the full founding year, with costs payable even if a family leaves early. If two families leave, everyone's cost rises by 15–20%.
• Equal footing: founders' families pay the same share and follow the same rules as every family.
• Documentation consent: permission for learning records and anonymised data to be used as evidence for the school's registration and partners.
• Parent roles: agreed volunteering, without replacing Ronda's professional judgement.

What the founding year must prove

3Positioning and heritage

Maroupi is not an alternative school. It is a serious independent school designed backwards from a good adult life: the research on thriving, and the functional skills children will actually need. It never positions itself against other schools in public. It shows its work instead.

Heritage from the founding year

• The Founding Families register: the first families' names kept permanently where every future child will see them.
• The name: Maroupi, the hill and the farm, a place long known on the North Coast.
• First traditions: a tree planted by every new child, a yearly public exhibition, and a graduation where learners present their learning record.
• The learning record: every child's documented journey, kept for their whole time at Maroupi. It becomes the school's archive.
• Alumni: followed into adulthood, so that in 20 years the evidence of how graduates live is the school's legacy.

4The science of thriving adults

Several futures: children practise skills that hold whether they're employed, self-employed, or earning in an AI-reshaped economy from several sources: earning in more than one way, managing irregular income, working with others, and finding meaning beyond a job.

Proof: annual validated wellbeing measures (such as EPOCH), documented learning progress, alumni follow-up, and results published every year.

5Learning model

Each child moves at their own pace and follows their own path, shaped by their interests, while guides ensure every required outcome is met. Ronda leads the design from a Canadian competency-based framework (province to be confirmed), mapped to CAPS-equivalent outcomes.

1. 07:30
   Arrival and circleCheck-in and intentions
2. 08:15
   Foundations blockIndividual pace, in the chapel and hall
3. 10:30
   Outdoor playGardens
4. 11:00
   Quest studioInterest-led projects
5. 13:00
   LunchShared
6. 13:45
   Life practiceA rotation of money, relationships, citizenship, sport and Forest School
7. 15:00
   Closing circleReflection and home time

We measure constantly. We rank never. Evidence comes from projects, conversations, reflections and low-stakes checks, each tagged to required outcomes, so the Grade 3, 6 and 9 phase assessments are supported by portfolios. The Grade 10–12 university pathway (NSC, Cambridge, or a foreign qualification with a Universities South Africa exemption) must be decided before 2028 marketing.

Technology: in the founding year we use licensed tools and a simple documentation system, and learn what we need. Custom tools (learner profiles, portfolio tagging, a controlled AI tutor, a parent view) are built during 2027 for 2028, under POPIA-compliant, enterprise-grade terms.

6From founding year to school

Registration as an independent school is filed during 2027, using the founding year's documentation and systems as evidence of a working model.

7Site, zoning and compliance

• Maroupi: the empty 50m² chapel, the hall on weekdays, its own gate, and outbuildings let as offices.
• Fairview: trails, two dams, the macadamia co-op and the Deja Moo dairy. Access needs a written FEFA agreement, because trails are held under servitudes for members.
• Sharing with offices: a defined learning area, children-only toilets, separate drop-off, a visitor log, and tenant rules.

8The founding partnership

Illustrative only. Four-year vesting with a one-year cliff; independent advice for each partner. The founding-year cost-share entity is separate from the future school company.

9Terms with the developer

10Fees from 2028

For benchmark, Crawford International North Coast Preparatory charges R84 900 to R119 200 a year in 2026 (discounted annual). Final 2028 fees will be set from actual founding-year costs.

11Financials from 2028

Years 1–5 correspond to 2028–2032. Excludes depreciation, interest, tax, and VAT before registration.

Funding

The founding year de-risks the raise: investors see real children, real documentation and a paid waitlist before committing.

12Risks

13Next 30 days

AThe Maroupi identity

A heritage-grade identity built on place: a shield holding the contour of the hill and a rising sun, a classic serif wordmark, and the colours of the land at dusk.

Type: Cormorant Garamond for the wordmark and headings. Source Sans 3 for reading and data.

Motto (draft): Of this hill, for the world.

Voice: assured, plain and evidence-led. Never "alternative", never fear, never comparisons with other schools.

Naming in stages: "Maroupi founding families" in 2027, "Maroupi" once registered. Add "School" only after registration.

BSources

• Waldinger & Schulz (2023), The Good Life; Moffitt et al. (2011), PNAS; Durlak et al. (2011) and Taylor et al. (2017), Child Development; Hill & Turiano (2014); Fernandes, Lynch & Netemeyer (2014); Kuyken et al. (2022), MYRIAD; Kern et al. (2016), EPOCH.
• BELA Act and home education: Parenting Hub / CambriLearn (2026). Fees: Crawford International North Coast 2026. Fairview Estates websites and press.