123-year-old St Dominic’s Academy bought off
“It is a really exciting time to be a part of this and the community will see the developments this endeavour will create, not just for the school, but the community at large,”
St Dominic’s Academy Newcastle has been the 41st school to be acquired by Curro Holdings, a Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) listed independent schools group.
It set an objective to purchase 40 schools by 2020, but has completed this goal five years earlier than expected when they purchased the 123-year-old school.
With the purchase of the school, Curro Holdings has now changed its 2020 plan to include 40 more private institutions to fall under its banner.
The Curro brand is already well established in KZN after the acquisitions of Durban based Embury College and Hillcrest Christian Academy in February 2012, the Embury Institute for Teacher Education (EITE) in March 2013 and Grantleigh in December 2013.
The purchase amount of the school is undisclosed at this time, however, the agreement includes an undertaking from the company to provide the school with an Astro Turf facility next year, and additional sports facilities, including a heated pool, in the years to come.
Curro Holdings will also improve, renovate and develop existing structures within the school, before developing further structures to accommodate growth and increase pupil capacity.
Currently, the school caters for 560 pupils, but as it is envisaged another 340 pupils will be accommodated for in the future.
Curro CEO Dr Chris van der Merwe said, “By adding new facilities, we want to build on the school’s proud heritage as one of the top independent schools in KZN. This is not only for the school as such, but also for the community it serves.”
He also explained that over time the name of St Dominic’s Academy would be changed to Curro St Dominic’s Newcastle.
He believed in the coming years, the company would be able to purchase between seven to 10 schools, and thus the company was in a very comfortable position to achieve its 80 goal target by 2020.
Currently, the company has 5 000 pupils under its wing and St Dominic’s Academy is proud to be a part of this movement, according to principal, John Douthwaite.
“Community members must remember we will continue with the Independent Education Board (IEB) syllabus in our school. We will always continue to deliver the high level of education that the community at large has attributed and associated with our school,” said Mr Douthwaite.
He explained the school would be including a dual medium programme to allow pupils to learn in either Afrikaans or English.
“It is a really exciting time to be a part of this and the community will see the developments this endeavour will create, not just for the school, but the community at large,” he concluded.
