DO NOT SEND YOUR CHILD TO TRINITY HOUSE

We were grateful enough to be accepted to one of our local model C schools in our area after my child attended a Trinity House campus since Grade 00. This was after constant bullying (from teachers more than students) lack of communication and no consideration for working parents.

Parents evenings were not held, the onus was on the parents to do their booking via "google calendar" which was on a first come first serve basis, meaning that you would get a slot with one teacher at 10am, one at 12pm and maybe 1 at 4pm, you simply would not get time with all of the other teachers as their "diaries" were fully booked. You also receive tatty hand me down text books and the parent is required to pay R500 for study groups (bearing in mind that this is a private school)

These poor kids also needed to do ridiculous amounts going into 8pm at night because sports only end at 5pm

To top it off, we went to see the headmaster a few times to air our grievances and absolutely nothing was done about this. My child was s****ing through his subjects - isolated from the class with his desk right next to the chalkboard only to be told by the teacher that he needs to go on Ritalin as he has ADD

For a school that you pay in excess of R10 000 rand for a month, in return for no teacher access unless you grovel to see someone, no guidance counsellor, expected to pay for study groups and ridiculous overwhelming amounts of homework does this sound worth it to you? I even had to hire an aupair to take my child to and from his school sports as the school does not take into account that there are actually working families that have full time jobs and cannot be on standby for their child.

My child now is getting overall averages of 80%, and is thriving in his new school, they receive 2 sets of fresh textbooks every year (one for the class and one for home) and the school has access to guidance counsellors as well as support lessons every day if they feel they need to attend. homework is actually homework - which, by definition is for work that you did not manage to complete in class + 1 or two projects here and there. Turns out that my child does not have ADD, he actually has Anxiety and PTSD which I need to take him to a psychiatrist for.

The cherry on the cake is that I have been handed over because I refuse to pay the R25k for the term that he didnt attend due to all of the above. To prevent a judgement I need to send them a letter that I am under "debt counselling"

I wish I had followed my gut earlier on in his school and pulled him out at grade 3.

a note to all parents - if you want to send your children to a school that has pretty astroturfs, rugby pitches, coffee shops and an array of luxury meals - then this is the school for you. If you actually want your kid to be able to feel like a kid, find a good model C school, and let them join a cricket club - they have plenty of free time after homework to actually do so.

Trinity House is a business - not a school based on "christian values" - dont waste your time