Old wine cellar in South Africa turned into a private school offering top education for R780 a month

·22 Jul 2026

A historic wine cellar in Stellenbosch in the Western Cape has been transformed into a private school campus offering affordable education for just R780 a month.

The former Louisenhof Cellar, located next to the Kayamandi township, is now home to the Stellenbosch campus of Apex Education Group.

The group is a non-profit private school operator that aims to make quality education accessible and more affordable to more South Africans.

Rather than demolishing the old industrial wine production facility, the building was adapted into a modern learning environment while preserving its original structure.

Today, classrooms, courtyards and social spaces occupy a site that once housed wine tanks and production equipment.

The campus was designed by SALT Architects, which said the project focused on working with the existing building instead of replacing it.

“Rather than starting again, the architecture works with what was already there. A building once used for the production of wine now supports the production of educational opportunities,” the architects explained.

The project was completed in two phases to support the school’s gradual expansion from its first Grade 8 intake in 2024 to a full Grade 12 offering by 2028. Construction of the permanent campus was completed in February 2026.

Apex Education Group chief executive Jana du Plooy said the Stellenbosch school initially opened in temporary facilities while work on the campus continued.

“We then moved across to the building in January 2025 when the first phase of construction was done. Now the whole building is complete. That was one of the things we could celebrate,” she said.

The campus currently has around 500 learners from Grades 8 to 10 and will add one grade each year until it reaches full capacity.

“The full high school will accommodate 1,000 learners, with 200 pupils in every grade,” Du Plooy said.

Plan for 10 schools and create 10,000 school places

Apex Education was established in 2018 with its first campus in Eersterivier. As a non-profit organisation, it aims to provide affordable, high-quality education while helping address South Africa’s schooling challenges.

The group has also launched its Vision 10/10/10 strategy, which seeks to establish 10 schools and create 10,000 affordable school places by 2034.

For the 2026 academic year, Apex charges annual tuition fees of R7,800 per learner, equivalent to R780 per month over a 10-month payment plan.

The schools use a blended-learning model that combines digital learning with classroom instruction. The education group now serves around 2,000 learners across its network of schools.

It operates five schools in the Western Cape, including campuses in Eersterivier, Stellenbosch and Pinelands, and also partners with schools in Johannesburg and KwaZulu-Natal.

According to school administrator Cindy Lombard, the Stellenbosch campus offers more than traditional classroom teaching.

“We have extracurricular activities such as robotics and coding. Specialists come in and provide our scholars with the guidance they need to fulfil those activities. We also participate in maths, English and geography olympiads,” she said.

She added that the school’s sports programme is still being expanded and is expected to be fully implemented over the next year.

She said Kayamandi was chosen because of the growing demand for quality education in the area.

“Kayamandi is not fully equipped to accommodate the growing number of learners who need access to quality schooling. That is why we decided to open here in Stellenbosch,” Lombard said.

The property originally formed part of the larger Koopmanskloof farm, with farming activities dating back to the 1800s.

Wine production became its defining feature over time, and in 1971, the farm produced South Africa’s first bio-organic wine.

The Louisenhof boutique wine brand was launched in 1996, but commercial wine production eventually ended, making way for the site’s transformation into a school.