La Gratitude
Pre-PrimaryÂ
Story
La Gratitude Pre-Primary School (formerly Pinelands Nursery School) was established in the 1950’s by the ladies of the then Dutch Reformed Church of Pinelands when they were approached by the Afrikaans Pinelands community to move the then Groote Schuur Kleuterskool into the Pinelands Civic hall, becoming Pinelands Nursery School.
The school started with 20 students eventually having waiting lists of up to 60 children. As the numbers grew the need for permanent premises became clear and application was made to Garden Cities in 1961. Land in La Gratitude Road was made available in 1962 and by 1963 the school moved into its new premises in La Gratitude Road, built by Garden Cities.
La Gratitude therefore has the proud title of being the first official Preschool established in Pinelands.
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The school is under a Circuit Manager and the curriculum followed is that prescribed by the National Curriculum Statement (NCS) and Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement (CAPS), together with the guidelines from the Independent Schools Association of South Africa (ISASA), of which we are members of.
As the school was founded in the late 1950’s by the ladies of the Dutch Reformed Church, to establish a quality Christian Nursery School to serve the children of the community, we are proud to adhere to these principles and are members of the Association of Christian Schools International (ASCI).
La Gratitude has a special warmth and acceptance that can only be explained by our long-standing ethos. As we are a proudly Christian School, we are unique in that we provide quality education, but with the Word of God weaved into our day. Each class has daily devotionals and children’s questions are answered from a Biblical Perspective.
We invite children of all faiths into our school, with the understanding that this is a part of our ethos. This has been well accepted by all members of the Pinelands community and any year we can have children from a variety of faiths in our school.
Parents at La Gratitude know that their faith choices are respected by all the Leadership and staff, and the children are taught to do the same.