Phyllis Jowell is relocating from Camps Bay to Sea Point

MOIRA SCHNEIDER

CAPE TOWN

Pictured :Learners of the Phyllis Jowell Jewish Day School. The school has purchased a property in the heart of Sea Point and will relocate from Camps Bay.

Expenditure of R135 million might raise eyebrows in what was regarded as an ageing community, but this demographic has been reversed over the past five to 10 years, according to Lance Katz, deputy chairman of the board of governors of the Phyllis Jowell Jewish Day School through which the property was acquired. “The community here is not in decline,” he stresses.

“We think it’s growing and we see evidence of this. Ten years ago it would have been quite a different story, but what we see today is that school numbers are growing at the pre-primary and primary level; we’re seeing a lot more families staying in Cape Town, who were emigrating before, there’s a lot of ‘semigration’ – people moving down from Johannesburg – and people are having larger families.

 “Five years ago at Weizmann (school), for example, I think they had one grade six class and they were worried about the sustainability of the school. Today, in the pre-primary area, they’ve got three, sometimes four classes and the school is full.

“So, in terms of younger families, the community is growing, especially on the Atlantic seaboard,” he says, estimating that a third (“a growing percentage”) of the Jewish population of this city lives there.

It is intended that this purchase will unlock a long-term property solution for the Phyllis Jowell School, which has been looking for an alternative site for some time, having outgrown its present premises in Camps Bay. It currently has 150 learners from pre-primary level to grade six and requires increased space and enhanced facilities to allow it to expand.

 “We bought it through the school, but very much with the broader Jewish community’s needs in mind,” Katz told Jewish Report. To this end, a working committee of community representatives has been set up to determine how best to utilise the space for the benefit of all, including the most efficient use of community resources.

The “very substantial” site and “magnificent” historic school building dating back over 100 years have “tremendous potential” for educational, communal, recreational and commercial usage, says Katz. The property has not been used for five years since the previous occupants vacated and is in desperate need of restoration.

“That is part of what makes this project so exciting. We will pay very close attention to the heritage aspects of the site – the historic school building and the tree-lined lane leading up to the school.

“I think it’s a wonderful investment in the future and the more we’re able to use the property effectively as a community resource, the more attractive Cape Town will be for future community growth.”

The Torah school is in a process with the provincial government to transfer the property according to the terms and conditions of the tender and related agreements. Transfer is expected to take place within the next few months.