Lonehill International Academy

With any working environment there are always ups and downs. This place offers decent pay / salaries and they give young teachers a voice and place to gain experience without 3-5 years experience prior. The staff are incredible people, who will become life long friends if you wish to be.

Having taught at this institution for a number of years, I finally feel that, I, from a teachers perspective, can share my own experience working here.

In my time there, half of the staff (about 12-15 teachers) left within that year. This should've been the first red flag.

At first you are told that support is offered, until they throw you in the deep end, and blame you for not “working hard enough” even if you reach out and ask for help or guidance. You are told who pays your salary and threatened. The blaming and gossip from management is completely unprofessional and targets certain individuals who speak up. The amount of times the owners of the school gossiped to teachers or complained about teachers to other staff members was numerous, rather than dealing with the issue and speaking to the staff whom they had a problem or concern with.

Not one person moderated any of my papers, all of the past papers are Cambridge recycled papers, which I understand. A lot of the staff do not know how to teach Cambridge, and have to “work it out” themselves. That is, until a Cambridge “course” is offered, which comes out of your salary (3-4K).

Your degree or area of expertise is not respected in the slightest, teachers here teach whatever class / subject even if they are not qualified in that area. For example a primary school teacher will be told to teach science at a FET level, with no background knowledge or information provided. How does this support your child's educational goals at all? It sets them up for failure.

Whilst here, I experienced a-lot of stress, and lost my passion for teaching. I am not alone when I say that other teachers too have felt and still feel this way. It caused a lot of mental issues for myself and others. Who have left this school feeling completely traumatized. This is not an exaggeration, ask any teacher who has left, what their experience was teaching here.

The students are too, unhappy here. The curriculum and the way it is taught aims to get the most money out of parents, sending children to do A levels when they have not even met the C level requirement needed to apply for A levels. Many students have been sold the “Cambridge dream” when IEB standards are just as promising and internally recognized too.

A very passive aggressive place to work at. The teaching profession is disrespected and not valued here, and this can be confirmed by the fact that majority of new staff last a maximum of 1-2 years here. But, instead of realize where the fault lies, they blame every teacher and tell them how replaceable they are. They refuse to accept any responsibility for staff leaving and claim that the staff “use” them.

The lack of space and facilities is concerning, this place shares a space in a church, considering the school fees, this place is way overpriced. The school itself states that it is a school that accepts all religions since it is an international school, however, Christianity has now become the schools ethos, which it does not state anywhere on their website / is not advertised.

Overall, great for a little bit of experience, but not worth your profession nor your mental health. Please avoid working here.

I was a former student at LIA and am so greatful to have left
1. If I had a problem with something I got minipulated into thinking I was wrong and they don't actually care about my opinion. The people that run the school act as if it is a military
2. They hire teachers that cannot even teach a subject and most of the teachers spend half the time lecturing during lessons that by the time the lesson comes to an end you've gotten through nothing and have so much homework due for the next day
3. The so called "rules" they have are always inconsistent. Some kids can get away with breaking the rules but others get detention. There is absolutely no format in how the discipline works.
4. In assemblies they always preach how the theme for this year/term is "respect" but it when a student greats a teacher they don't even greet back or a simple half hearted nod, but the minute a student never greets a teacher is considered rude and disrespectful. They should be preaching how respect goes both ways not just one.
5. The lack of communication in that school is unbelievable.

Overall I had a terrible schooling experience and would not recommend this school to any one

Countless issues of racism and homophobia, passionate educators abandoning the school dude to poor treatment,when I went to the school the refused to do sex ed as a part of life orientation,and they hired a teacher wanted in a different country and told students in an assembly to "keep it within the school for his privacy"when they failed to do a basic background check,the headmaster is a racist disaster.peoples phones got stolen due to the school campus being open to all.

The school has subtle racist tendencies against students that are black. The black teachers are overloaded with work and paid inadequately. There is nepotism in the hiring of staff. The principal has employed his whole family and in-laws. Quality of teaching is dismal. The principal and his wife are always picking on black kids about their all the time.

Excellent Curriculum!

Fantastic teachers that really care about their students. The principal, Dr. Andrews is absolutely phenomenal. Other staff members at the school are always kind and helpful. The monthly fees are extremely reasonable for a private school.

A great school! LIA is definitely not for everyone; it’s more for quieter, more introverted students but the outgoing type are still able to prosper. If you are looking for your typical school “culture” with sports, drama, arts and all the things you’d expect to see at most South African schools then this probably isn’t the place for you. If you are looking for a great place to get a quality education and make some friends and memories then look no further.

The teachers are excellent and management is a lot more hands on than most schools. I have personally never had a group of teachers more willing to help me reach my full potential. Many people like to complain, however the trick is to just ask for help from the teachers and you will thrive.

There is a soccer field and every year they have a school drama production, the school is also very open to suggestions for other extracurricular activities and provided enough interest is shown they always do their best to make it happen. The social and outreach committee are great, they always go all out when organizing events and/or fundraisers.

It is important to remember that this is a school in Dainfern and the people there generally don’t come from families who struggle. The school fees are also hardly anything compared to other schools in the area. LIA is relatively “young” and smaller than most schools, it has found its feet but is still trying to find the balance.

Honestly looking back I couldn’t have had a better high school experience. Yes there were some problems here and there but in the end when it was discussed respectfully all ended up well. At the end of the day the good really did outweigh the bad.