About Us
Our Name
A nebula is a giant cloud of cosmic dust, gas and other raw materials. Most of the gas and dust originated from explosions of a dying star, such as a supernova. Some nebulae have regions where new stars are beginning to form. Each one is beautiful and unique. We believe each gifted child has the potential to grow into a well-adjusted fulfilled adult who can contribute to the beauty of our world, even though some gifted children have bits and pieces left from previous hurts.
“Lift up your eyes and look to the heavens:
Who created all these?
He who brings out the starry host one by one
and calls forth each of them by name.
Because of his great power and mighty strength,
not one of them is missing.” Isaiah 40:26
Our Learning Landscape
Nebula College is an Afrikaans/English bilingual learning centre focused on providing a stimulating, challenging yet supportive environment for intellectually gifted learners in need of alternatives to the traditional schooling system. Our holistic approach enables us to not only provide the children with intellectual stimulation, but also give attention to other much-needed factors such as fostering creativity, supporting physical development, emotional well-being, social interaction with other gifted children, general social skills and responsible citizenship, whilst having lots of fun.
Cultivating their creative productivity, we guide them to realise their ability and responsibility to use their amazing strengths towards making the world a better place. Creative Productivity, a term widely associated with a combination of skills needed for the future world of work, grows in the space where intellectual and socio-emotional development meet. Whilst gifted education that is focused only on an intensive academic programme can keep gifted children stimulated while enrolled in the school or institution, honing their creative productivity skills can lead to a lifetime of fulfilment independent of constant organised stimuli (Renzulli & de Wet 2010). Our teaching method is therefore facilitative, asking carefully planned questions, allowing discussions, encouraging constructive inquisitiveness, and choosing specific relevant and real-life projects, with its associated messiness, challenges and constant problem-solving required from the learners.
Academically, our programme is divided into core subjects and integrated subjects. For the core subjects of English, Afrikaans and Mathematics, children are assessed and placed in a learning group that fits their level of learning-readiness. This means for example that a child who excels in Maths, can join a higher level Maths group where he / she will be stimulated and challenged. The same child might be very average in his / her language ability, and will join a group that is learning on her current language level. This enables us to tailor each child’s learning in these subjects to a level that will keep him / her appropriately engaged, challenged and motivated, regardless of content that is traditionally assigned to a certain grade. Our integrated subjects include a wide variety of disciplines including social sciences, natural sciences, financial sciences , technology, arts and others. These are studied according to themes or projects and are focused on creating real-world learning experiences. Gifted children have a high need to make sense of the world around them, and combining different disciplines into relevant topics that make sense enhances their interest and motivation.
Our facilitators are well aware of the reality of asynchronous development in gifted children, and the individual child will be supported in his / her development accordingly, as needed and possible. Please note that although we offer certain accommodations for learners’ challenges, we are not offering specialised remedial education and therefore Nebula might not be the right fit for some twice-exceptional children who are both gifted and need specific specialised support for their challenges. (Please direct any questions in this regard to Ronél at ronel@nebulacollege.co.za). Our classes include children from a range of ages. The choice of working with a mixed age group further supports individual development and helps to reduce similar-age induced stress and performance anxiety that could go hand-in-hand with asynchronous development.
We believe that nurturing gifted children’s spiritual development is relevant and important. We support a Biblical worldview and therefore getting to know God, loving and respecting each other and caring about the world influence our learning environment.
Children aged 5 years and older are eligible to apply for admission to our Primary Years Programme (PYP) or our Middle School. We are in the exciting process of registering as an international school, with the aim of graduating our first Matrics in 2028, with an international qualification.
We have a maximum teacher-child ratio of 1 to 10.
Nebula College is a Candidate School for the Primary Years Programme (PYP) and the Diploma Programme (DP), our Matric option. Our school is pursuing authorization as an IB World School. These are schools that share a common philosophy - a commitment to high quality, challenging, international education that Nebula College believes is important for our students.
Only schools authorized by the IB Organization can offer any of its four academic programmes: the Primary Years Programme (PYP), the Middle Years Programme (MYP), the Diploma Programme (DP), or the Career-related Programme (CP). Candidate status gives no guarantee that authorization will be granted. For further information about the IB and its programmes, visit https://www.ibo.org/
Our Team
Ronél Smit
Head of School
Originally an Occupational Therapist, in 2010 she moved her focus to homeschooling her own 5 gifted children and further pursuing her interest in giftedness and gifted education. She was mentored in the field of alternative learning environments for gifted children by Dr Judith Inglis from 2012-2016. Since 2017 she participated in a variety of international courses and conferences on the topics of gifted education and giftedness in general. She has a special interest in the socio-emotional health of gifted children. From 2020-2022, she pioneered and ran Vibrant Young Lives, a weekly enrichment programme for gifted children aged 7-12, while dreaming of expanding into a fulltime alternative school for gifted children. In 2021, she became involved in a small learning centre, then called Advanced Learning Centre, as academic director. She has since taken over the ownership of the centre and in 2023 the name was changed to Nebula College. Ronél is excited about the growing ability of Nebula College to provide an enriched learning environment to the gifted children of Pretoria!
Trix Serfontein
Coordinator: Primary Years Programme (PYP)
Homeroom teacher: PYP 4
Teacher Trix is the Homeroom Teacher to our PYP 4 class where our learners prepare for the more rigorous Middle Phase. She is a servant leader who believes every person is planned and created with a purpose. Passionate about systems and people, she nurtures creativity and student agency. Trix has a special interest in writing.
Sonika Joubert
Coordinator: Middle School
Teacher Sonika’s subjects are Biology and Social Sciences. She believes that collaboration and teamwork are crucial in the learning environment, and is dedicated to guiding our students to become lifelong learners. She savours those “light bulb” moments when a learner truly grasps a new concept. Sonika has a special interest in photography.
Jacqueline Morkel
Coordinator: Diploma Programme (DP)
Head of Curriculum Development
Teacher Jacqueline’s enthusiasm for science and research is contagious! She teaches Physics and Chemistry to our high school learners. She says: “Experiential learning allows for autonomy and self-efficacy. All children are curious. We get to use exploration to light that fire of curiosity.”