“Do you understand that schools should not be operated without a license?” This was among the questions Fourways Review asked Arden Academy founder Leandra Van der Veen, who is accused by parents and former business partners of misleading them about the school’s registration status.

While an impression to the contrary was reportedly created, the school is not registered, nor has registration been applied for. It is operating unlawfully. The Department of Education has indicated that it must close down.

In response to Fourways Review’s question, Van der Veen declined to answer questions directly. Instead of explaining why she decided to operate a school without a license, she got her lawyer to respond in an attempt to silence the media’s reporting on the issue.

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“Any unregistered school is operating unlawfully,” said Steve Mabona from the department. This applies equally to both public and private schools.“No school is allowed to operate if it is not registered. Therefore, any school operating without registration must cease operations as it is unlawful.”

According to Mabona, learners attending such institutions risk losing academic recognition for their studies. “Any child enrolled in an illegally operating school is in danger of having his or her educational rights violated. The curriculum offered in these schools is not recognised, and any reports they issue are not valid.”

This confirmation follows complaints from former business partner Anthony Roux and his wife Wendy, who say Van der Veen has been running the school without proper registration for several years and has since relocated to Australia while still enrolling learners remotely.

Roux, the mortgagee who loaned the R3.9 million van der Veen would need to buy the property and make some alterations, said he had known about the school’s unregistered status for about three to four years, but that the cottage school, as he describes it, benefitted from the protection of a trust seeking to protect small cottage and home schools from government regulation.

“Where it got tricky for her was when the Department changed the law about two or three years ago, requiring all nursery and early-childhood schools to register, regardless of whether they’re cottage schools,” he said.

“That’s when she suddenly wanted my consent to rezone the land so she could register,” he said.

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Roux (whose consent as mortgagor would be a prerequisite) refused, alleging that she still owed him millions emanating from the loan.

He explained that such registration would require extensive and expensive infrastructure changes to an already financially burdened situation.

His wife Wendy, a qualified teacher, said their daughter’s time at the school exposed even deeper problems. “She told us they were in the process of registering, but that wasn’t true,” she said.

“Our child’s books weren’t marked, the teachers weren’t SACE-registered, and the curriculum was unclear. We realised she was lying to us.”

The couple said they initially partnered with Van der Veen, hoping to improve the school, but cut ties within three months after discovering its irregularities.

“We wanted nothing to do with a school that wasn’t registered or meeting learners’ needs,” Wendy said.

The Rouxs allege that Arden Academy had about 60 learners across mixed age groups, from preschoolers to teenagers, with unqualified staff in charge of classes.

When asked again whether she intended to regularise the school’s legal status, Van der Veen did not respond. Instead, she referred the publication back to her attorney.

The department has urged parents to request an EMIS certificate before enrolling their children in any private or independent school to ensure that it is properly registered and compliant with South African education laws.

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