Johannesburg, GAUTENG, Aug. 17, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- From the 2027 academic year, learners at CambriLearn will be able to study in Afrikaans from Grade 1 through to the National Senior Certificate. The online school is adding Grade 12 to its KABV offering, closing the final gap in a mother-tongue pathway that currently ends at Grade 11.
CambriLearn
For Afrikaans-speaking families the change removes a decision that has long arrived at the end of Grade 9: continue in Afrikaans and accept a narrower set of options for the FET phase, or move a teenager into English-medium instruction at the point where the academic stakes rise.
The case for continuing in Afrikaans through to Grade 12 is an assessment one. A learner who has spent ten years building academic vocabulary in Afrikaans and then sits Physical Sciences in English is being measured on two things at once, and only one of them is Physical Sciences. Lessons, content, assessments and marking on the KABV pathway at CambriLearn are delivered in Afrikaans by teachers who teach in the language rather than working from translated material.
Learners on the pathway write the National Senior Certificate, a three-year qualification covering Grades 10 to 12 and pitched at Level 4 on the National Qualifications Framework. It is assessed through the South African Comprehensive Assessment Institute, with which CambriLearn is registered as a distance education provider, and certificated by Umalusi. Afrikaans Home Language and Afrikaans First Additional Language both sit within SACAI's assessed subject range.
IEB pathway reaches Grade 11
CambriLearn is also adding Grade 11 to its IEB offering in 2027, following the introduction of Grade 10 this year. Grade 12 follows in 2028, which will make the current Grade 10 group the school's first IEB matriculants.
Entry to the pathway is at Grade 10, in line with the IEB's own position that institutions joining it in order to write the National Senior Certificate do so with their Grade 10 learners. Grade 10 is also the year in which most South African learners settle the subject combination they will finish school on, which makes it the practical point at which to change route.
A readiness year for the youngest learners
The third addition is a school readiness year, commonly referred to as Grade RR, for children approaching Grade R. It prepares learners for the Foundation Phase rather than forming part of CAPS itself. CAPS covers Grades R to 12, and the years before Grade R fall under the Department of Basic Education's separate National Curriculum Framework for children from birth to four. The addition takes CambriLearn's South African curriculum coverage down to pre-school age.
CambriLearn has families in more than a hundred countries, a steady share of them South Africans living abroad. All three additions are available internationally, with one limitation: final Grade 12 National Senior Certificate examinations must be written at an approved examination centre inside South Africa and cannot be facilitated elsewhere.
CambriLearn covers five curricula across six pathways. Enrolment for the 2027 academic year is open now. Families can book a consultation at cambrilearn.com
About CambriLearn
CambriLearn is a leading global online school serving students across more than 100 countries. Founded on a simple conviction, your child isn't the problem, the system is , CambriLearn offers six internationally recognised curriculum pathways including the International British curriculum, South African CAPS, KABV, IEB, Pearson Edexcel, and US K-12. CambriLearn gives families the freedom to choose an education that fits their child rather than forcing their child to fit a system that was never designed for them. With consistently top-rated reviews across Google, Trustpilot, Facebook, and HelloPeter, CambriLearn has built its reputation on academic outcomes and family trust. Learn more at cambrilearn.com
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