KNYSNA NEWS - Parents and teachers are fuming after British Academy Knysna, they say, informed them about the school’s closure only two days before shutting the doors.
About 20 learners had to scramble to find new schools before the term started this week, staff had to try and find alternative employment and parents claim they are now battling to obtain refunds for fees paid in advance.
Some students are also struggling to find schools offering the same subjects they had taken at the school.
They claim that the move came without any prior warning.
Computer science and ICT teacher Lex Faure said staff received a WhatsApp message from British Academy CEO Niel Bester on June 27, asking teachers to attend a meeting the following day.
'2 days' notice'
“At the meeting on June 28, we were all informed the school was closing on June 30. And that was that,” Faure said.
He said that at the end of March, Bester informed staff at a meeting that the school was struggling with low student numbers. “When the British Academy took over the Knysna International School at the beginning of last year there were about 45 students. The student numbers had dropped to 22 and the school was no longer very viable. He [Bester] did promise that the school would continue until the end of the year and that its viability would then be assessed again.”
Faure said the school continued as normal for the rest of the term, but then the final staff meeting was called before the winter school holiday.
It was also on June 28 that parents were sent an email informing them that the school would close its doors two days later.
One of these parents was Victor Cockroft, who has since lodged a complaint with Cambridge International about the issue.
“We did not have any idea that the closure was in the pipeline and therefore literally had two days to search for a new school for our daughter before the start of the holidays,” Cockroft said.
“They certainly did not take the children into consideration when they made the decision.”
He said while he managed to find an alternative school for his daughter, the new school does not offer two of the subjects she had taken at the British Academy including Spanish.
'Battle for refund'
He added that he is also battling to obtain a refund for the fees he had paid in advance. Cockroft said although he had not yet made the calculation, he believes the school owes him between R8 000 and R9 000.
“We also paid the annual registration fee as well as a laboratory fee. I also now have to pay for extra lessons for the subjects my daughter is missing out on.”
Another parent, Jade Paterson, said she was shocked when the school informed her about the closure. “We had no idea and were lucky to have found another school for our son on such short notice,” Paterson said.
“They must have known that the school was on the brink of not being viable anymore and should have warned everyone in advance and not two days before the school closed.”
Afrikaans and mathematics teacher Angeline Kruger said she was heartbroken about the closure.
“I know that everyone tried their utmost to keep the school afloat and to make a success of it, but it didn’t work despite the efforts. It is unfortunately one of those things,” Kruger said. She added that she had not found employment yet and would most likely have to search beyond the borders of Knysna.
Knysna-Plett Herald made numerous attempts to obtain comment from Bester and director Yolanda Bester, without success. This after the newspaper was asked to send questions about the situation via email.
'We bring you the latest Knysna, Garden Route news'
