Moving into the new building in Rosmead Avenue, Wynberg (Cape) with some 25 full-time
facilitators, administrative & financial staff, with healthy fundraising funds streaming in, it
soon became apparent that Novalis needed to differentiate its interventions. School
Teachers were implementing innovative & holistic methods in their classrooms at many
schools; and their principals were not liking the classroom routine changes without a fuller
understanding of the philosophical background. Peter King and Leonard Smith embarked
upon a School Development Programme assisting principals and heads of departments to
better lead their schools with a deeper understanding of the powerful artistic yet natural
ways of holistic education pathways, advocated for in our 21st Century.
The Department of Education provincially, as well as nationally were on board, and a whole
host of enrichment programmes, whole school development programmes and conferences
ensued igniting everyone to new possibilities with new life in the school environment.
Approaching 2008, things were about to change when President Nelson Mandela went
around to European countries requesting funding for the national colleges in South Africa.
Novalis funding earmarked from the Danish Government was withdrawn in support of
National Colleges like Vista, and Novalis was forced to transform its business model to a
contractual employment method. This challenge was met by the leaders in Novalis with
courage, compassion and creativity.
During the following years, with funding sources more difficult to find, Novalis concentrated
its efforts abroad, eg Zimbabwe, Kenya, Tanzania, even as far as Russia through the
European Forum for Freedom in Education. The Enrichment programme went as far as the
Dominican Republic through its Sofia Association connections. Maestro Creativo and
Beautiful Schools were born out of the experiences made offering Putting the Heart back
into Teaching. Sadly, the South African Education National Department could not find a
succession for the Beautiful Schools project locally, and Kadar Asmal gave it up for the next
National Minister of Education to take matters further.
You may recall, Outcomes Based Education with Prof William Spady. We had the pleasure
of meeting Prof Spady on several occasions and he connected Novalis with many erudite
and innovative players in the education sector. Those were exciting days indeed.
All this calmed down after 2012 with Sofia partners stepping in again, and supported a
rebranded ‘Chance for Every Child’ training programme for teachers, care-givers and social
workers. A new era begann and Novalis brought empirical research to its methods. This
was fun too. A complete research study in ‘special needs education’ was underway, and this
document is still relevant to this day.
Another innovation was the memorandum created in partnership with the ETDP SETA
(education and training Development Sector in Education and Training Associations) under
chapter 5 – Education, proving that Arts and Culture could be taught as electives to teachers
interested in using the arts and culture as an education methodology. Sadly, all of this
could not be continued due to the funding cuts in the ETDP SETA. As many of you may know, this body was later incorporated into the National Education Department, and the vision of free education felt lost again.
The nine staff members who offered programmes, conferences and events celebrated the
number of over 18 000 persons coming through the doors of the Novalis Centre per annum.
Our beloved housekeeper and caterer, Marie Keffers, named 2016 ‘the year of the muffins’.
She sadly retired after a severe stroke in 2019.
For the final chapter 4 – we will tell how we got to 2024 and the 40 th anniversary year of
Novalis. Make sure you stay connected for this completed picture.
Anne-Lise Bure-Shepherd
Acting CEO and A Cosmopolitan in Love with Truth.
August 2024.
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