Mumsnetters past and present in Cape Town - urgently sought!

[stillenduringsurrey]

We are due to be posted to CT with my dh's company in January and I think there are some mumsnetters who live or have lived there.

I am in dire and urgent need of info on areas to live in, schools, and so on and so on.

I think that dejags lives there? Anyway, whoever you are, if you are a CT-er please come and give me info and views!

hello you

my family are all around that area (simonstown, hout bay)

in fact, they are looking to rent out a place of theirs nearbyish if you would like to speak to me about that

if you want to contact me and have cod's email, she has mine still I think

Hi FIS would be interested to know... but no longer have the Cod one's email due to PC changeover...

Do you know what their place is like? (Ks gets very excited)

thing is, depends exactly where you want to be I think

hout bay place is an apartment style place. Have stayed there myself. Has an open plan kitchen/diner/lounge and I THINK 3 or 4 bedrooms. Need to check because I can't remember strangely.

place in simonstown is proper house and is lovely

both places walking distance to the beach

Think the Hout Bay place you'd want as a temporary spot till you found something else maybe? It's a great location though. I need to check whether it's still free as they were doing it up quite recently.

who else do you have email for? CD I think still has my email? otherwise we can cat?

I think we will possibly be put up at an apartment hotel whilst we go to view properties which will be handy just to get our bearings etc (and go to the V and A a lot) and then move into wherever we end up.

Simonstown - not heard of - is it near Hout Bay?

not massively, you have to go round the mountain

would second what has been said about the schools (I went to private school in SA. Was far better than my schooling over here and if ds likes sport, he'll be in his element!).

FIS I know, I know SA schools just look great - when we went to see wetpups I could tell it was good but ds wants to be at a co-ed. He loved Bishops and it did look fab but long waiting list. I can put my foot down re him going to wetpups but feel for him as he will undergo the biggest changes in this.

i lived in cape town .... miss it sooooooo much! What fun you will have! Fabulous food, great climate, stunningly beautiful, great people and your heart will ache when you leave it, and like me dream of the mountain and ocean which you will get used to on weekends! Yes there is a safety issue, but it is something that people live with (its hard to understand in a way -but most risk taking is moderated) Things like your car window being smashed and your radio etc stolen is common and will hardly get a raised eyebrow if you tell a story. You wouldnt walk around with massive amounts of bling, you would drive with your doors locked, but i lived there, at a time when i was single, lived on my own and had the greatest time imaginable. I would love to go back there, risk taken into account, i would in many ways love to be there.
I will try and get you some info on schools etc ... can you tell me where your dh will be working? Traffic isnt that bad, only really when driving from constantia into the city during peak times, it is quite grim, but other than that most people dont commute by car for more than 20 minutes or so ....

i'll come to this thread when i have some time and link you to some websites etc ....

do you want ot live centrally (e.g. gardens, vredehoek, city bowl which is very near the city, and easy to get to the ocean) - or do you want more space, and therefore live in the suburbs a bit - you will need to look at those issues that will guide you. i have some estate agents i can email on to you.

If you feel up to it, there are amazing projects you can get involved in. Many people doing unbelievable ground level stuff to help people with aids, education, health, you name it ....

its a vibrant young country, and it has a pulse and energy you will enjoy, get annoyed at, and feel highs and lows ....

if you post your email address i will try and get you some more useful information in the next couple of days.

I grew up in Cape Town, left 8 years ago. Have lived in Constantia, Sea Point, Hout Bay, Gardens. Went to Bergvliet school and Progress College. Any particular questions you have ask away, still have family in JHB and Durban.

yes, I think he's probably old enough to have an input into the school isn't he. Let me know if you want any info on them as obviously, all family there and have big work connections to that area now too.

when I lived there, I was in Newlands (while sister was in Hout Bay).

Think you need to find out where dh is working (no doubt town) because actually, that Hout Bay to town drive is quite long.

FIS it is central so drive into town for him. The guy at Bishops asked if we had any connections because of waiting list and I just shook my head and said forlornly 'No'!

KPR thanks so much and for any info about projects. MN v v useful at a time like this.

We have friends that live in Claremont and they have a fantastic life and lifestyle.

We have visited them on occasions and yes their were a few saftey issues that really got to me at first, but after a week it seemed quite normal.

They had high fences, automtic gates, bars on window, permimeter alarm, internal alarm, which was always set.

They always drove with the windows up and the car locked and they dont drive status cars at all, infact one of them which we used was 12 years old , but sis have air con

Bling was kept to a minimum too, but then its not like I have loads

We have had the best ever holidays with them and would jump at the chance to live there. Schooling is great, really sports orientated.

My friend did loads of work for a charity that deals with aids and sex education, so we spent some time with her seeing the other side of things. What struck me was the massive divide between the have and have nots.

Food was superb, all the people we m,et were so friendly and well we just loved it

I know an old boy from there (bishops), think he may have been head boy - I don't know if it would help. Might not help but if there's any chance it might, then let me know!

Ah bless you how kind. I think they have really long waiting lists. Really long. Dammit. It was like going back in time and I do wonder whether it would be best for him - feel that it would give him such an insight into the country etc.

You said he's keen not to go to a single sex school? In which case, I'd reiterate my Westerford suggestion. It certainly used to be the Western Cape's best co-ed school and academically was far ahead of most of the same sex schools. Boys sport is good, although not at the same level competitively as at the same sex schools.

And if you loved Bishops then definitely look at Sacs or Rondebosch. I think you looked at one already but can't remember which one. They're not dissimilar in basic approach, even though they're not private.

For Southern Suburbs, best boys choices are always Sacs, Rondebosch or Bishops. Wynberg as back up. Girls is Rustenberg. And then Westerford for co-ed.

Bling - hi - can I just ask, re Western Provinces prep - any views on that? the guy at Bishop's said it's a feeder school for Bishop's.And they have a place and have accepted him. Re the others - Westerford's website is down...sacs have no places... haven't yet tried Rondebosch. Wynberg - is that a prep? Will look it up. Rondebosch I think is state school, worried about big class sizes and possible lack of international approach, ie would there be children of different nationalities etc? Presume not.

Thanks again!

Oh, so sorry - I didn't realise your son was that young. I thought he was in high school - I got the impression he as about 12 or 13? How old is he? I must have been glossing over some things! Sorry!

I didn't understand the WetPup references originally but get it now. Western Province Prep is a very good school if I understand it correctly. It certainly used to be. My brother went there for a while. And yes, I think it is a feeder for Bishops.

In terms of private vs state, schools like Rondebosch, Sacs (it hasn't gone private has it?), Westerford (high school only - the junior feeder school for it is called Grove, also excellent) are generally not far off private schools in terms of quality of education. When I was at school though, I would in fact have put Rondebosch alongside Bishops and then SACS behind them (all my boyfriends were Sacs boys though! ). But those kind of distinctions probably change slightly.

You're right that they won't be as international as you understand it though. But on the other hand, they will be far more representative of South Africa and he'll get a better sense of the people. By South African standards, these schools are still considered quite expensive and parents pay for quite a lot of extras to make the experience more like a private school.

Oh and Wynberg has a prep and a senior school. Wynberg Boys (there's also a girls' verstion). Good school, but I would say your other choices are better. relatively speaking, quite handy for HoutBay though.

Thanks Bling, what a mine of info you are! Ds is 11, which puts him in grade 6 for the January term if we go that route. I think sacs must be a state school - you pay in SA for every type of school, I suppose?

WetPups has a place and I think it's the best option. American college only opened in 2001 - no history or trads. Don't think ds wants that though! But he does like touch rugby, and he will only get that in a SA school.

There are so many international schools, now I've started really looking. One in Constantia called Reddam House I think. Don't know much about it.

That's me, mine of infoBling! I am Cape Townian, born and bred, and it's a small town so I guess that's not surprising.

I don't know any of the international schools so can't comment. But I would say he'll have a less South African experience at one of those.

Yup, you always pay. But depending on where the school is etc, you'll pay more or less. So schools might technically be state schools but...

If he's still in Grade 6, take a look at Grove. It's in Claremont, co-ed (which I think you said he liked?), and used to be excellent. They might not have formal touch rugby, but I'd expect them to have it informally.

One other thought, I know you like Hout Bay, but if DH is working in town and DS will be at school in the Southern Suburbs, I'd recommend not living there. Traffic can be murder and you'll find yourself all over the place. If you live somewhere like newlands or claremont, you'll be close to the school, DH will be able to get into town in 40 minutes in rush hour, and you're still only 25 minutes from any number of beaches if you're travelling outside of rush hour - which I assume for beach trips you mostly will be.

I had a friend who lived in Hout Bay and it was fine, but she definitely didn't get the convenience of friends all living nearby that we got. It's hard to understand but cape town really is a small place and people tend to stay local. You'll be shocked in the beginning when you suggest to friends that they meet up at whatever your favourite restaurant is, which is about 20 minutes from their house and they say, "Oh... I think that's a bit far away for a Tuesday, maybe we can go more local that night?"

And it will happen. Believe me!

We used to walk/ride our bikes to each others houses and even at 11, if we didn't walk to a friend's house, we would certainly all meet centrally and wander around while Mum and Dad were doing their thing.

Gosh how wierd! About the neighbourhood thing i mean. I will bear it in mind. Dh has a one hour commute atm and I would love it if he didn't have to drive that long in CT. Checked out Claremont and the class size would be too big (24-28) ds is used to a class size of 16/17 and I'd like to continute that, think WetPups is about 20 which we could cope with. But didn't like Southern Suburbs as much as groovy Hout Bay - but I have heard some bad stuff (security) about Hout Bay so maybe not. Llandudno I'm told is just in the wrong place for us all round. But so beautiful!

Going out on a Tuesday?? Do people? (Maybe we are just old boring people dh and I but we never go out in the week.)

It's undeniable, hout bay is prettier! You can get great S Suburbs places with views of the mountain etc, but it's not really the same, I'll give you that! But I still think if you're going to school in S Suburbs and he's driving to the city, you'll be happier (outside of rush hour incidentally from Claremont to town is probably about 20 minutes).

good point on week nights! But then it would be "Oooh, I've had a long week, so would rather stay local on the weekend."

And believe me, people will see Hout Bay as a trek.

Personally I think it's hilarious, but could see it getting irritating if I was there now!