Our Educational Philosophy

In order to fulfil our mission, Ambleside School of Hout Bay seeks the consistent application of the pedagogical insights of the British educator, Charlotte Mason.  She did not claim to be an innovator, but rather a compiler of the timeless, practical insights into the nature of children and education, which have guided the practice of great teachers throughout the ages. Through the teacher training college she founded, the hundreds of schools which adopted her methods, and the voluminous publications of the Parents National Education Union, thousands of students were shaped by her ideas. 

Charlotte Mason understood education to be an atmosphere, a discipline (the training in habit), and a life (the feeding upon living ideas).  At Ambleside our approach to education is guided by these fundamental convictions.