Point of Interest - Curro Aurora Private School

Catering for pre-primary through to high school, Curro Aurora Private School is situated in Gauteng in the peaceful suburb of Sundowner Randpark Ridge. The campus, stretching over eleven and a half hectares, featuring distinct rocky outcrops and indigenous greenery, is centrally located in close proximity to Northgate and Clearwater Malls, Honeydew Police Station and Wilgeheuwel Hospital. Offering a global education, using twenty first century technological teaching aids, students participate optimally through personalised learning experiences, developing themselves throughout the various aspects of their lives. This development leads to a mature independence and a way of life sure to hold the students in good stead in their tertiary and professional lives. It is the school’s awareness that children need to be prepared for so much more than ever before that sets it apart in its approach to education and values. The primary endeavour of the staff at Aurora is to provide an environment conducive to the highest standard of education and growth of the children in the student body. Academically, the school embraces the invitational education approach, whereby the notion and belief that every student is able, valuable and responsible is applied daily within the classroom. This approach also comprises an emphasis on values that underscore human goodness as a primary strategy for achieving educational goals and ensure the happiness of all of the students. In the primary school, independent thinking is taught with a focus on thinking skills that will instil habits of work and study to aid each student to be successful from grassroots level. In addition to this, the school has added value courses such as Singapore Maths, International English and Problem-Solving Strategies to the curriculum to assist the students in preparation for life after school. Aurora’s Value Added Courses programme allows students in the high school to take courses by internationally-recognised institutions, such as Monash University, as well as career guidance over and above their IEB matriculation certificate, adding to their curriculum vitae for their subsequent pursuits. The school also has a very strong commercial department offering Accounting, Business Economics and Economics, as well as prolific art and drama departments that continue to flourish in the practical sphere. There are a broad range of cultural and sporting extracurricular activities on offer, for competitive participation or as a social endeavour. Another way in which Aurora strives for the growth and education of the students is through intensive charity work. Each grade supports a charity for a year. By the end of their education at the school, each child will have engaged in 14 separate charities, each of which receives on-going support from Aurora. A facet of this involves research and information gathering by the children, fundraising and hands-on experience during site visits. This instils a plethora of important values within the participants. Every student that graduates from Aurora is celebrated and regarded as having made a success of their lives across the diverse career paths chosen by its alumni and in sports. Listing excellence in sports, representation of South Africa overseas in song and dance and having international academic award winners amongst the current students makes it clear that Aurora has a winning touch in all of its ventures, and that the ideology inculcated in the school’s ethos is lived both within the establishment and beyond.