Almost every Zimbabwean family who contacts us arrives with one of two problems, and they are more specific than the marketing category "online school" suggests. Either their child’s school could not run Further Mathematics this year because only four students chose it, or they live somewhere — Victoria Falls, Hwange, most of Matabeleland outside Bulawayo — where there is no Cambridge school within practical reach. This article is about both, and about the third thing sitting behind them: a diaspora large enough that most families are planning across at least two countries.
Problem one: the subject that quietly disappeared
A senior cohort of thirty cannot support Further Mathematics for four students, or Computer Science for three, and no amount of goodwill from a good school changes that arithmetic. So the subject leaves the timetable — typically at exactly the moment a student discovers they are strong at it, and typically the subject that a competitive engineering or actuarial application would most want to see. This is the single most common reason Zimbabwean families come to us, and the fix is small: the child stays at their school, takes the one subject with us live in a group of four to six, and sits the same Cambridge paper. Nothing else about their year changes.
Problem two: the regions with nothing
Victoria Falls is one of the most internationally visited places on the continent, with a permanent community of lodge managers, guides, conservationists, and hospitality staff living there year-round. An hour south, Hwange runs a national park and a coal and power belt with its own technical workforce. Between them there is no international schooling, and Bulawayo is several hours away. Matabeleland outside the city is similar. For these families the question is not which school — it is whether an internationally examined education is available at all without sending a child away, and until live delivery reached them the answer was mostly no.
The diaspora question behind both
The Zimbabwean diaspora is large and spread across South Africa, the UK, Australia, and New Zealand, and it shapes school decisions even for families who have not moved. Relatives abroad shape where a child might go to university; some children return mid-curriculum after years in another system; some families expect to leave and want a qualification that travels; others are staying and want the same thing anyway, because options are worth having. Cambridge A-Levels serve all of those cases at once — read natively by UCAS, assessed routinely by South African, Australian, and New Zealand universities, and admitted on by Zimbabwean institutions with requirements confirmed per programme.
What delivery actually looks like
Live classes in groups of four to six on a fixed weekly timetable, every session recorded, delivered anywhere in Zimbabwe identically. We are one hour ahead in Nairobi, so classes land in the Zimbabwean afternoon rather than late at night — which for lodge and shift families is not a small detail. Everything runs in English, so there is no second curriculum to carry. Fees are USD 2,160-6,480 a year, invoiced in the currency families already use for school fees. And examinations sit at Zimbabwe’s long-established Cambridge provision.
And where your current school is the right answer
If a child is settled and doing well at a Zimbabwean school that offers what they need, they do not need us, and the trust and private schools here do work I respect. Our value is narrow and real: the subject the cohort could not sustain, the region with no provision, the fee gap, and continuity for a child who has moved or will. If none of that describes your situation, stay where you are — and if one of them does, it usually needs one subject rather than a whole new school.
Frequently Asked Questions
Our school dropped Further Mathematics — can our child still take it?+
Yes. They stay enrolled where they are and take the subject with us live in a group of four to six, sitting the same Cambridge examination. It is the most common arrangement we run in Zimbabwe.
We live at Victoria Falls — is there anything closer?+
There is no international provision in the region and Bulawayo is several hours away. Live delivery reaches the north-west identically, as a full programme or as individual subjects.
Will these qualifications work if we move to South Africa or Australia?+
Yes — South African, Australian, New Zealand, and UK universities all read Cambridge A-Levels, with requirements confirmed per institution and UCAS reading them natively. That portability is why many Zimbabwean families choose the route.
How do fees work?+
USD 2,160-6,480 a year for live small-group teaching, invoiced in USD — the currency Zimbabwean families already use for school fees.
