The school you’ve been quietly hoping still existed
Education Incorporated: A brief history of a school of exceptional children
Education Incorporated was founded in 2013 by Gershom and Jacqueline Aitchison, two entrepreneurs whose vision for South African education is rooted in the belief that exceptional education happens when rigorous pedagogy and purposeful character development are enacted in equal measure. Meet them on our Board →
Gershom’s schooling experience at the Drakensberg Boys’ Choir school, later followed by the Aitchisons’ educational work in Taiwan with students ranging from 3 years old to highly successful adult businesspeople, highlighted two common denominators fundamental to impactful and enduring education: classes should be small enough to understand the motivators of each student in the room, and teaching should be based on meaningful, reciprocal and edifying relationships.
When Gershom and Jacqueline returned to South Africa, they brought these learnings with them and put them into practice in their Kip McGrath Education Centres (Bryanston and Midrand franchises), running them successfully until 2017. The Bryanston centre grew to become one of the largest Kip McGrath centres globally, serving thousands of students over its 10 years of operation and confirming what the Aitchisons had learned: when you set high expectations and provide genuine support, children flourish.
In 2013, Education Incorporated Boutique School opened its doors in Fourways, Johannesburg. From day one, the school was built on a rigorous academic ethos and a commitment to each community member’s personal development of integrity, character and authenticity. This is the ethos that inspired the school’s motto: Est Optimum Sui, meaning be your best self.
When creating Education Incorporated, the Aitchisons deliberately chose a boutique model. With classes capped at 12 students, they could ensure that every child’s story, strengths and struggles would be incorporated into their learning journey as something they could learn to take ownership of. Through the genuine relationships such small classes would facilitate, genuine learning, both academic and personal, could be optimised.
At Edu Inc personal attention isn’t an aspiration: it’s a lived reality.
Since its first graduating Matric group in 2016, and by living the values described above, Education Incorporated has maintained a 100% pass rate, with a 96% average Bachelor’s Pass rate across all those years. Matriculants have gone on to pursue tertiary aspirations in Australia, America, Scotland, England, Europe and South Africa. They have become entrepreneurs, business owners and sporting greats. They are proud alumni who actively serve their communities by continuing the primary tenet upon which Education Incorporated is built:
Build the relationship, and the results will follow.
One heritage detail behind the founding story: the Aitchisons are of Scottish descent, and the unicorn is Scotland’s national animal, which is why one still turns up, tongue-in-cheek, whenever the school tells its own story.
Come see it in person on our campus →“Build the relationship, and the results will follow.” Gershom & Jacqueline Aitchison, Co-Founders
Est Optimum Sui, the motto the school was named for: “be your best self.”
Thirteen years in, that’s still the only thing we’re actually selling: a school small enough that your child can’t quietly disappear in it. A Trial Week is the fastest way to feel whether that’s true.