If you’re starting a family and have your children’s education interests foremost in mind you may well be considering relocating to the Western Cape. The same thought occurs to many new parents in South Africa, which does much to bolster the property market in the province. Schools with recurring 100% matric pass rates range from government facilities to private ones, within or outside of major urban centres - which means there are a lot of options out there.

According to Samuel Seeff, chairman of the Seeff group, the desire to live close to schools is also something that cuts across the demographics as most parents, regardless of their income bracket, now want to reside within the catchment area of a good school. And, as noted above, there is no shortage of good schools across the metro and surrounding area.

“We note that these [high performance] schools aren’t only located in the R5-R10 million-plus suburbs either, but also in the middle-class areas such as Parklands and Sunningdale in the Blouberg area along with Strand as well as in Boland towns such as Paarl and Stellenbosch and even in country towns such as Bonnievale and Riversdale.”

This is excellent news for parents who know their child needs a quality education but do not want to live in or around the major cities, and it’s one of the driving forces for why families buy property in Riversdale. WIthin the Western Cape parents have the option of the idyllic, sleepy country lifestyle without compromising on their child’s education, which is a rarity in most countries.

In 2017 the Western Cape technically came third in terms of matric pass rates with an impressive 84.4% but there is little achievement in passing one’s grade if the achievement isn’t considered a true test.