Bellavista School

Bellavista School is a specialist independent, co-educational school in Birdhaven, Rosebank, Johannesburg, dedicated to children with specific learning difficulties. Established in 1967, this small not-for-profit school – around 270 learners, Grade R to Grade 7, ages 5 to 14 – has more than 55 years of experience supporting children who have genuine learning potential but face barriers, such as dyslexia, ADHD and related difficulties, that prevent them from thriving in a mainstream setting. Its core mandate is to provide intensive educational intervention that equips many learners to return to mainstream schooling in time.

Bellavista delivers the mainstream curriculum while addressing each child’s individual needs, with a very favourable learner-to-staff ratio. Every learner is allocated a multi-disciplinary team – which may include a speech-language therapist, occupational therapist, psychologist, remedial therapist and specialist teacher – to assess, monitor and tailor an intervention programme. The school is firmly evidence-based, drawing on cognitive-education approaches such as Feuerstein’s Instrumental Enrichment, Cognitive Enrichment Advantage, RAVE-O and a multi-sensory Snoezelen environment.

Widely recognised as a centre of excellence, Bellavista is a member of ISASA, the British and International Dyslexia Associations and SAALED, a founder of ISPIE, and runs the Bellavista S.E.E.K. assessment centre (for ages 3 to 18) and a graduate school training literacy and dyslexia specialists.

Despite its therapeutic focus, school life is rich and holistic, with sport (soccer, cricket, netball, archery, cross-country and more), the arts, robotics and entrepreneurial projects, plus active community outreach. Full fee and admissions details are available directly from the school.