Waterford College
Young children sitting together on the classroom floor

Preschool / Early Years · Turning 3 to 5

Small hands, doing big things.

At their own pace, with teachers who know when to guide and when to step back.

The approach

Learning through the senses and the hands.

Our Preschool runs a sensorial curriculum, inspired by Montessori, Reggio Emilia and Charlotte Mason. Children work in a prepared environment where the materials themselves teach: a child chooses work, repeats it until it is mastered, and moves on when they are ready rather than when the bell says so.

This is the foundation everything else is built on. The four threads that run through the whole school start here, in their simplest form: asking why, being outdoors, making things, and learning to be with other people.

Turning 3 to 5 Half, three-quarter or full day Aftercare to 17:30 Opening January 2027

A day here

Unhurried, and full of purpose.

Long, uninterrupted work

Children get proper stretches of time to become absorbed in something, which is where concentration is actually built. We protect that time rather than chopping the morning into short bursts.

Outdoors every day

Mud, weather, climbing, digging and running. The grounds are teaching space, and the nature thread starts as simply as noticing what is happening outside this week.

Practical life, taken seriously

Pouring, sweeping, buttoning, carrying something carefully across a room. This looks like play and is in fact how a small child builds independence, coordination and self-belief.

Language and number, everywhere

A language-rich room and concrete materials for early mathematics, so a child meets numbers as things they can hold before they meet them as symbols on a page.

A morning here

One morning, start to finish.

A child absorbed in a floor activity in a prepared classroom

Learning through the senses

Materials a child can hold, pour, sort and feel, so an idea is met with the hands long before it is met on a page.

A child on a swing in the school grounds

Out in the grounds

Rain or shine, in clothes that are allowed to get dirty.

A young child with their hands on their cheeks, laughing

Room to be three

Nobody is moved on to the next thing before they have finished with this one.

Practical things

Days that suit real families.

Families choose a half day, a three-quarter day or a full day, with drop-off from 07:00. The full day runs to 17:30, so late care is already inside the fee rather than charged as aftercare. A holiday club runs during school breaks.

OptionHours
Half day07:30 to 12:00
Three-quarter day07:30 to 15:00
Full day07:30 to 17:30
A child on a swing in the school grounds

And then what

The same school, all the way up.

A child who starts in our Preschool moves into Grade R and the Preparatory school without changing schools, changing uniforms or starting again with a new set of adults. The approach carries forward, and so do the friendships.

It also means the fee curve matters. Ours stays gentle from the first years all the way to matric, so the sums still work when your child is in Grade 11.

Ready to apply?

Places are limited. Applying takes two short steps, and you can do both online.

You are invited

Open Day

Saturday 10 October · 09:00 to 12:00

Fun activities for the whole family. Come and meet the team, walk the precinct and see what we are building in Fourways.

RSVP to the Open Day

Almost there

Online applications open shortly

We are putting the last pieces of our online application in place. Leave your details and we will tell you the moment it opens, or call us on +27 10 826 2074 and we will take you through it now.

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