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Rethinking and recreating healthy school climates
Core Values: Rigor, Relevance, Relationships, Results
“Sagan Academy was founded in 2015 out of a long-standing preoccupation with a central question: how do we educate without diminishing curiosity, and how do we enforce standards without extinguishing thought?
Years of working within rigid, zero-tolerance systems revealed an uncomfortable truth that compliance is often mistaken for character, and silence for success. Sagan Academy emerged as a conscious response to that tension: a school built on intellectual seriousness, emotional literacy, and the belief that discipline and humanity are not opposing forces.
We cultivate a learning environment where students are expected to think deeply, speak carefully, manage themselves, and engage meaningfully — academically and socially. Social and emotional intelligence are not positioned as alternatives to rigour, but as the conditions that allow rigour to flourish.” Founder — Bronwyn Ansell
Sagan Academy believes the current achievement gap reflects a systemic failure to understand how young adults learn, what motivates them to learn, and what they need in order to learn well.
Sagan Academy employ the best practices of traditional education design via international testing assessments and an international education curricula. Sagan Academy maintains small and personalised learning environments, a focus on measurable results, and a truly innovative blended learning model that emphasises experiential learning, development of deeper learning skills, integration of Language, Art, Science and Technology and real-world every day experience - and, of course, an international qualification!
Sagan uses specific learning tactics built upon the four core R values;
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Rigor
Relevance
Relationships
Results.
A vibrant learning community, like Sagan Academy, applies compassion and high expectations to inspire and empower students.
/ OUR ROOTS
From CL Education cc to Sagan Academy Pty Ltd
CL Education was initiated and founded in 2009 and in operation until 2015. In 2015, one of the founding members emigrated from South Africa back to the U.K. The remaining founder member, Bronwyn Ansell, was approached by the growing online schooling community to start up a bricks and mortar school, and without hesitation a property was secured in Olivedale, Johannesburg, and Sagan Academy's doors opened in 2016.
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In 2013, through the perseverance, dedication and vision of the two founding members, CL Education cc was accredited by Cambridge Assessment International Education as the FIRST and ONLY online college in the world to be awarded an Associate School approval as an attached school to British Council for exam purposes . At that stage, it was felt that the distance learning initiatives in South Africa were not progressing rapidly enough in terms of academic support that encompassed optimising online tools and the necessary support to students via electronic platforms.
With the departure of one of the founding members in 2015, CL Education was re-branded to Educlined in 2017. In 2017, an agreement was reached with British Council and Cambridge International that Educlined would no longer operate under the CL Education Associate school license (exam centre number: ZA272), despite CL Education being a successful pilot project. In August 2018, Sagan International Academy was registered as an Independent/Private School by the Gauteng Department of Education with EMIS number 700401003.
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Sagan Academy is an accredited Cambridge International School as an Associate Partner School to British Council. Our Cambridge International Centre number is: ZA 335
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Sagan Academy's ethos has consistently built on the idea that education fails when it mistakes compliance for thought.
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/ TRADITION OF DIVERSITY
Sagan combines cutting edge practices in five domains: competency-based progression from Checkpoint through AS/A levels; use of a unique blended and inquiry learning that addresses skill gaps while simultaneously challenging students with higher order thinking and critical thinking style tasks; an explicit effective programmme to build cognitive confidence and self-efficacy, real-time student performance analytics; and a "limitless campus" of extended online and community-based learning opportunities supported through Google for Education technology.
/ OUR PHILOSOPHY
/ HOW SAGAN ACADEMY OPERATES
Sagan Academy’s philosophy is intentionally designed to foster sustained student engagement, deepen conceptual understanding, and promote active, purposeful learning.
Teaching moves beyond surface-level content acquisition to prioritise critical thinking, intellectual curiosity, and the confident application of knowledge.
Academic success is understood not only through examination performance, but through students’ ability to work independently, manage academic demands responsibly, and integrate learning across disciplines.
Through clear structure, high expectations, and consistent accountability, students develop the habits, resilience, and intellectual discipline required for long-term academic and personal success.
/ THE FUTURE
Simply to...
honour the original vision, evolve the system, and keep questioning how education should work.
Due to the nature of the timetable, and the fact that AS and A Levels function as post-matric qualifications, students may attend one or multiple classes on a given weekday, much like a university campus model.
While most students attend daily in a traditional school structure, certain subject combinations result in more flexible attendance patterns. In these cases, students attend classes strictly according to their subject-specific timetable rather than following a full-day schedule.
This model supports academic focus, independence, and time management, while still operating within a structured and supervised school environment.
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Class Size & Learning Environment
In exceptional circumstances, a maximum of 30 students may be scheduled into an AS/A Level lecture-style session, typically in the afternoon. These sessions are accommodated within one of the three larger classrooms on campus.
However, the norm remains significantly smaller, with most classes averaging between 15 and 20 students per session. This ensures meaningful engagement, effective discussion, and consistent academic oversight.
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Age Range & School Structure
Sagan Academy caters to students of school-going age across a full academic continuum:
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Checkpoint Primary: Stage 4 to Stage 6
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Lower Secondary: approximately ages 11 to 14
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Secondary (IGCSE®): approximately ages 14 to 16
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AS & A Levels: approximately ages 16 onward
Despite timetable flexibility at senior levels, the school remains a structured academic environment with clear expectations regarding conduct, engagement, and accountability.
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Campus Hours & Supervision
Sagan Academy operates weekdays from 08h15 to 17h30, with Art & Design continuing until 18h30 on Thursdays.
Students who are on campus outside of scheduled class times are expected to use this time productively — for study, reading, consultation with teachers, or academic preparation. The environment is supervised, calm, and academically purposeful.
For Primary School (Junior) students, supervision beyond the formal school day is offered as an aftercare service. Juniors who remain on campus after 15h30 will be charged an aftercare fee of R90 per hour, or part thereof. This service is intended to support working families while maintaining appropriate supervision and structure.
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Attendance Responsibility
At AS/A Level, students are expected to manage their timetables responsibly and arrive punctually for scheduled classes. This model supports the development of independence required for tertiary study.
Not a Drop-in Model
While timetable flexibility exists, Sagan Academy is not a casual or drop-in campus. Attendance patterns are structured, monitored, and aligned with academic expectations.
Transition to University
This timetable structure intentionally mirrors tertiary education models, easing the transition to university-level study and expectations.