Uplands
- Alternative schools
- Mixed gender schools
- Religious schools
- Private
About us Uplands is one of Africa’s leading, independent, co-educational, family schools following the traditions of the Anglican Church. The school offers quality, holistic education to pupils from 18 months to Grade 12, with outstanding boarding facilities from Grade 4 upwards. A contemporary school, Uplands has a proud tradition with a proven track record of success with almost 100 years of timeless quality and values. Uplands delivers an engaging and globally relevant curriculum for our diverse pupil body. This is achieved through a skills-based approach which promotes a culture of learning, creativity, critical thinking, social growth, inclusion (transformation and diversity) and talent realisation. Pupils benefit from building effective relationships through inspired, collaborative, and innovative engagement. Set in an area of extraordinary scenic beauty, Uplands is located on a spacious 110-hectare country estate in White River, Mpumalanga, South Africa. We have exceptional facilities in the academic, sporting, cultural and outreach arenas. Our dynamic, caring, and supportive staff provide individual attention to all pupils within a family-friendly environment, from 07h30 to 16h30 for day scholars and 24 hours for boarders, so that each pupil thrives. This full-day integrated programme is fully inclusive of required meals and tea-time snacks, sport, culture, community service sessions, supervised homework sessions and extra-curricular activities.
Make Contact
Registration form
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Head of school
Mrs Heather Prior
Contact person
Cindy Walker (Head of Marketing)
Email address
marketing@uplands.co.za
Website address
https://uplands.co.za/
Religious
Uplands holds the belief that every child is beloved, belongs, and is a child of God. The spiritual, moral, cultural, mental and physical development of each child is based on the values and virtues of the school’s Christian tradition: love of God and love of neighbour; the pursuit of truth and justice; the challenge of service and duty; and the experience of trust and forgiveness.
Uplands remains true to its fundamental and progressive educational mission – one which encourages critical thinking, diversity and unfettered freedom of choice in matters of spirituality.
We recognise the importance of providing opportunities for worship and take great care in following the liturgical year.
Academic Excellence
We implement a child-centred approach that emphasises the child’s curiosity about his/her world and the potential to learn from their environment and all that surrounds them. We expose children to a wide variety of educational opportunities that foster communication, self-expression, critical thinking, collaboration, problem-solving and grit. We encourage our children’s natural curiosity through hands-on and practical activities that contribute to them having meaningful learning experiences.
Our learning programme is designed to provide a holistic education that caters for every aspect of a child’s development: physical, social, emotional, creative, intellectual and spiritual, which is implemented within an age-appropriate curriculum. Our activities establish a sense of self-confidence, responsibility, and enjoyment of life and learning in our pupils.
We follow the ISASA Early Childhood Development (ECD) curriculum and incorporate the richness of the Reggio Emilia-inspired principles into our lessons. In our programme, our children are exposed to the following areas of learning:
PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT
Through regular activity, games and play, we seek to coach a strong, coordinated and spatially-aware body.
SOCIAL AND EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT
Using class discussions and interactive, group-based tasks, we provide the opportunity for children to learn how to relate to both adults and other children. We encourage them to share, co-operate and show consideration and respect for others. They are made aware of behaviour which is acceptable to others, and are encouraged to share resources, ideas and thoughts.
COMMUNICATION AND LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT
With a strong emphasis on verbal communication, storytelling and discussions, we ensure that our children become confident speakers and adept listeners (isiZulu and Afrikaans).
MATHEMATICAL LITERACY
Through working concretely with patterns, shapes, numbers and foundational mathematical concepts, we build confidence in their mathematical and problem-solving skills.
CULTURAL ARTS DEVELOPMENT
We believe in presenting colour, expression, rhythm and interpretation as founding blocks of quality education. Our children exude creativity and imagination through activities in music, movement, drama and visual arts.
KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING OF THE WORLD
We encourage awareness and an appreciation of their immediate community and the wider world beyond.
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CULTURE
Throughout the Pre-Preparatory School, art activities encourage our children to develop sensory perception, eye-hand coordination, fine-motor control, and self-expression in their own work and the work of their friends. The visual art activities include two- and three-dimensional work where the art materials allow children to experiment with colour, shape, design and texture.
We aim to develop and nurture a love of music through singing, movement and playing various percussion instruments. Our Pre-Preparatory children have the opportunity to visit our Music Centre once a week and experience these activities with a qualified music teacher.
Theme days take place during the year. Some of these include World Book Day, Cultural Day and Pirate Day. Each class visits our school library weekly. The children are also given the opportunity to grow in confidence through their performances at the Annual Grandparents’ Day and their Annual Nativity Concert.
EXTRA-CURRICULAR
Extra-curricular activities are paid extras that take place before or after the school day.
Some of the extra-curricular activities offered:
Ballet Little Lab Coats Music – piano, etc.
BotKIDS (Robotics) Monkeynastix Playball
Horse Riding Moose Cricket Academy Pottery
Puma Kids Soccer Stars Swimming
Rhythm and Dance BuildEm Blocks Tennis
SPORT
Our beautiful grounds invite children to extend their physical ability and develop ‘body confidence’. We believe that sport and physical activities contribute to the holistic development of a child. All our pupils attend Physical Education lessons twice a week with a qualified sports teacher. A water safety programme takes place once a week during the morning in the first and fourth terms. A qualified swimming teacher takes the children in small groups to our junior ‘Button’ swimming pool, where they learn to be water-safe.
A variety of events, including our Sports Day, provide our children with the opportunity to participate in several activities and events that are relaxed and fun-filled.
