Meet Our Team

The Synergy Team

Robin Booth
Robin is the founder of Synergy School and the SynEDgy Schooling Approach. Robin's passion, commitment and integrity are his well known traits and provide an excellent foundation from which Synergy School has emerged. As one of the first male pre-school teachers in South Africa, he is no stranger to pioneering new paradigms and helping shift perspectives and attitudes regarding child development. His work overseas has broadened his perspective of what is possible in the field of schooling and this is shown in the dynamic methodologies he has brought to Synergy School. In November 2010 he handed over the Principalship to Paul Sturrock so that he could continue the development of this approach and how this could be used in any other school and parent environment. He still consults to Synergy School, ensuring that this philosophy stays true to its orginal design.

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Cindy Adams
Cindy is the Grade 1 and 2 teacher at Synergy. She is passionate about children and loves engaging with them on a daily basis. She was an assistant at Synergy and is very excited about now being a teacher at this school. Cindy gained many skills and valuable insights through being an assistant at Synergy; this has helped her to be equipped for her current core-teaching role.

Cindy has had much experience engaging and interacting with children in different contexts: from leading a youth group at her church in Observatory, to helping at a home for abandoned children in Khayelitsha. Cindy has an Honours degree in Psychology and she finds that the skills and knowledge she has gained through her studies are valuable in assisting her in interacting with children. Cindy has also gained a Post-graduate certificate in Education through UNISA.

Cindy is passionate about nurturing and developing children’s self esteem. She loves being a part of helping children to feel empowered and be able to express themselves: this then results in children being able to make learning happen for themselves, as well as being able to stand up for themselves. She particularly enjoys Synergy’s approach to behaviour management and the way that children are acknowledged and heard in the process. She also enjoys being able to create a safe and secure space where children feel able to be vulnerable; to feel safe to share themselves with other children and a space where they are able to freely express their needs and wants.

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Kerri Hamlett-Lowrie
Kerri is a qualified Foundation Phase teacher and teaches Pre-School and Grade R children at Synergy School. Kerri brings to Synergy a passion for pioneering educational experiences that support children in developing skills that leave them empowered individuals able to cope with life challenges.

Kerri believes that children’s learning is largely impacted and made significantly more meaningful by building connected relationships between children and teachers within the class group.

Kerri began working with children at the age of sixteen and has accumulated insight and knowledge in supporting and developing children from a wide range of experiences. Week long camps with children and teenagers from Mannenberg and Lavender Hill, to being the full-time au-pair to twin boys for five consecutive years as well as running her own swim school. Kerri has also accumulated a number of sports coaching qualifications and has spent many hours on the sports field with children from Grade R to Grade 12.

Kerri brings to the classroom Brain Gym skills that support children in learning more effectively through specific movements. As well as being a Synergy teacher, Kerri is also currently in the process of qualifying as an Educational Kinesiologist and is a trained Consciousness Life Coach.

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Vanessa Haines
Vanessa decided, after 10 years of working in finance and travelling the world, to follow her heart and become a teacher. She feels that this is a career she would like to pursue for the rest of her working years. Vanessa completed her Montessori Early Childhood Diploma in 2008 and worked as a teacher’s assistant in London. She would like to build on her Marketing & Business qualification and study a few teaching subjects to qualify with a Bachelor in Education. She believes that education is the responsibility of the family and whole community, not just the school.

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Tessa Abfalter
Tessa grew up in Cape Town, matriculated at Westerford High and attended Barkly House Teachers Training College. She spent 23 years on the South Coast of Kwa-Zulu Natal where she also raised her family. She taught at various schools and continued her educational studies. Her teaching experience includes all age groups from Pre-School to Grade 6, as well as teaching Art at a high school. She has gained experienced in many curricula including the OBE, IPC and English National Curriculum. Tessa lived and worked in Kuwait, Austria, Germany and Libya. She is very excited to be back in Cape Town.

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Melissa Erikson
Melissa was educated at Louisiana State University where she received her B.A. in History and English and then went on to study at Southeastern Louisiana State University to earn her certificate in education. She has recently immigrated to South Africa from the United States. She has previously taught grades 5 and 6, both regular and remediation and has spent the last three years working with children from divers backgrounds and needs needs.

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Malie Ntshangase
Malie originally completed her N4 certificate in dressmaking. During that time she was also involved in various socio-economic activities working mainly with youths in schools. Soon after completing her studies she went to Lesotho for six months to teach sewing at one of the local schools. She says that her experience in Lesotho working with youth from different cultures and speaking a different language was a great learning opportunity, especially having to work with a translator. She also received a certificate for a Community Development course, and was then able to work in disadvantaged communities on a regular basis. She is passionate about the education of children. All children are precious and have something to contribute to humanity, and she believes that they are spiritual beings that have all the attributes and capacities to achieve great things. She believes in the approach of Synergy School and being a member of the Synergy team has greatly enhanced her ability to assist the children throughout their development.

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Lisa Triani
Lisa is the part-time co-teacher for Pre-School at Synergy. She has been working in Education for many years: starting as a teenager, when she worked on a volunteer project assisting non-English speaking children prepare for high school, then became a tutor at the University of Kwa-Zulu Natal, Durban, while she completed her Honours Degree in Philosophy, before qualifying as an English teacher in Italy in 2002. Since then she has worked as a teacher, Academic Director and curriculum writer in Italy, England and South Africa with students aged 2 – 92. Her years of travelling have instilled in her a respect and curiosity for sharing and learning across language, culture and age and believes that authentic education is rooted in healthy relationships, clear communication and the sharing of joy – she believes that often the most powerful learning happens while having fun!
Lisa has also taken part in many creative projects: setting up and running music festivals and events, facilitating drama workshops for children and she is currently involved in a personal writing project.

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Vuyolwethu Madlingozi
Vuyolwethu is a Xhosa teacher and an assistant teacher for grade 3 and grade 4. She comes from the Eastern Cape and she worked there as a teacher in the rural areas. She was drawn to Synergy by the approach they use and, as a person who believes in quality relationships, she found it very interesting that Synergy was exactly about that. She believes in open communication and getting to know people better. She also worked as a substitute teacher in one of the neighbouring schools and that is how she found out about Synergy.

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Mfuneko Macala
Mfuneko is one of the general assistants who specialises in supporting children in the woodwork area. His skills in empowering creativity while engaging the children in Xhosa and English have made him well liked and easily approachable.

One of his current passions is sharing with children a traditional method of making maize bread. He is also designing an entra-mural programme that will give young children the opportunity to learn brick working skills.

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REFLECTIONS_DEC_2009.pdf	146.28 KB
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REFLECTIONS_DEC_2007.pdf	81.9 KB