The South African private school that offers excellent education for R620 per month

·6 Nov 2025

Apex Education offers low-cost private schooling through a blended-learning model, combining digital content with in-class facilitation.

Its flagship school, Apex Stellenbosch, opened its doors in January 2024, welcoming the first group of Grade 8 students.

Every year, the school expands with at least one grade, and therefore, by 2028, it will have its first cohort of Grade 12 students.

Apex Stellenbosch’s annual fee for 2025 is R7,440, which breaks down to twelve monthly payments of R620 each.

The school fees for Apex Stellenbosch will be R7,800 per scholar for the 2026 school year, translating into R650 per month.

This is cheaper than most private and high-end government schools, which aligns with Apex Education’s goal of making quality education available to everyone.

“We aim to provide quality education to the children of South Africa, irrespective of their socio-economic background,” Apex Education said.

Michael Caplan, an Associate of the Free Market Foundation and an education specialist, said these smaller private schools are unsung heroes.

He explained that Apex’s model manages to keep fees very low by standardising content and using online and digital resources.

He conceded that Apex is not the most cutting-edge in terms of pedagogy, but it offers something infinitely better than state schools.

Students work in classes of about 100 at their own pace through an online course with explanatory notes, videos, quizzes, and formative tasks.

Their devices are very cheap – basic Chromebooks – and each class has one teacher and two assistants.

Blended learning model

This blended learning model, which combines online and in-person learning, was developed through trial and error.

Apex started in 2018 as a brick-and-mortar no-fee public school. With the advent of COVID-19, they transitioned online and provided students with access to data.

During this period, Apex developed its own Learner Management System, which formed the foundation of any online school.

Then, in July 2020, as schools returned, Apex transitioned to alternate days of in-person and online learning.

In 2022, they trialled their first blended learning model. Their own analysis showed that the results remained about the same as those in traditional schools.

This was then expanded and continues to grow, with a second Apex School set to start up in January 2023, offering larger, purpose-built classes.

They became a low-fee private school called Stellenbosch Apex and extended the blended learning model.

Josh Zoia, the Regional Director for Africa and the Middle East of One World Network of Schools, said the results are astonishing.

“If you told me a school was educating 100 learners with one teacher and two facilitators at the cost of public schooling in South Africa, I’d call you a dreamer,’ he said.

“If you said these learners were outperforming their peers in traditional classes, I’d be even more doubtful.”

However, this is precisely what Apex is doing, and the results are there to demonstrate its effectiveness. “They are proving it’s possible,” he said.

The school reported no stolen devices, a 98% attendance rate, and a 10% improvement in the pass rate in Maths and English compared to government schools in the Cape.