There is no need to compromise on a Jewish education when your child needs a remedial school
King David Ariel is the only Jewish remedial school in South Africa. Established in 2018, it offers children with barriers to learning all the advantages of being in a King David school, while enjoying an individual support plan, individualised learning pathways and on-site, in-school therapies – all included in monthly school fees. At Ariel, parents are partners in education, with bi-annual interdisciplinary case conferences, and regular communication and coordination to enhance each child’s learning journey. This partnership helps to understand strengths and challenges, to create harmonious relationships at home and better academic and social outcomes at school.
Message from the head: Welcome to the King David Ariel Family
Andrea Ben
“Our school is more than a building, it is a second home where warmth, safety, and belonging shape every day. Classrooms buzz with curiosity and laughter and corridors carry the quiet pride of students supporting one another. We are a school of the heart. Kindness is instilled and celebrated and being kind is part of who we are. Staff, students, and families form a welcoming community that nurtures growth, resilience and joy. Here, every child is seen, every voice matters, and the school’s spirit is rooted in care, respect, and a shared commitment to help each student flourish.
“Our school is more than a building, it is a second home where warmth, safety, and belonging shape every day. Classrooms buzz with curiosity and laughter and corridors carry the quiet pride of students supporting one another. We are a school of the heart. Kindness is instilled and celebrated and being kind is part of who we are. Staff, students, and families form a welcoming community that nurtures growth, resilience and joy. Here, every child is seen, every voice matters, and the school’s spirit is rooted in care, respect, and a shared commitment to help each student flourish.
King David Ariel pursues academic rigour and encourages intellectual curiosity across every classroom. As the only Jewish remedial school committed to both remedial excellence and high-quality Jewish education, we prepare learners for outstanding results on external assessments, while making clear that strong results are a launchpad for a life of purpose, not only a career. Our world-class offerings include cognitive education, instrumental enrichment, and evidence-based remedial interventions delivered by expert teachers and therapists. Remedial Therapy, Occupational Therapy, Speech and Language Therapy, and Psychological Therapy are integrated into the school day, so students receive support within their learning routine rather than only in separate sessions. Together these elements build confident, capable learners who love to ask questions, think deeply, and aim high.
Jewish Education is at the heart of our identity. We give students deep roots in Jewish heritage so they can grow wings to fly. Our curriculum blends Hebrew studies and meaningful Israel engagement with broad secular knowledge, creating a synthesis that strengthens Jewish literacy, emotional connection, and ethical understanding.
King David Ariel is a remedial school, firmly rooted in the King David Schools’ ethos of Torah, Israel, community, and excellence. We offer the best of both worlds: a progressive and comprehensive secular education with high-quality academic support and targeted remedial intervention, alongside a world-class Jewish education.
Jewish learning is at the heart of who we are. Through Hebrew studies, a meaningful engagement with Israel, and a rich and robust Jewish Studies programme, students develop a deep sense of Jewish identity and belonging, together with an enduring connection to Jewish values, tradition and community.
As a proudly Orthodox Jewish institution, we warmly welcome students from all levels of observance, offering a unique educational experience where exceptional Jewish learning, individualised support and genuine care go hand in hand.
Our mission is to mainstream and graduate students who are moral, ethical, and humane, inspired by the example of King David Ariel’s commitment to service and integrity. We value each child’s unique strengths and support their social, emotional, physical, cognitive, and spiritual growth. Sports, the arts, and leadership opportunities serve as the hub where character is formed and teamwork, creativity, and responsibility are practiced daily. With compassionate teachers and qualified, skilled therapists guiding individualised pathways, students develop resilience, empathy, grit and the habits of lifelong learning needed to lead lives of meaning.
We invite prospective parents to visit and experience our welcoming school firsthand. Meet our exceptional staff, dedicated teachers and therapists who combine professional expertise with genuine care and see our world-class programmes in action. Discover how we nurture the whole child holistically while promoting kindness as a core value. Our extracurricular activities take place in partnership with King David Linksfield Primary school, providing meaningful integration opportunities and broader social experiences. Come share the warmth of our school and learn how King David Ariel can help your child grow their roots and wings. Contact us to arrange a visit.”
Jewish Life & Learning
At King David Ariel, Jewish life is not an add-on, it is an essential and integrated part of our holistic, supportive approach to learning. For our families, this means never having to choose between exceptional remedial education and a rich, meaningful Jewish education.
Each day begins with davening, as our children’s voices fill the school with tefilla and song, creating a sense of belonging and shared purpose. Jewish values are thoughtfully embedded into daily life, while our outreach programmes offer meaningful opportunities for children to actively engage in chessed and develop empathy, responsibility and connection.
Shabbat and the Chagim are brought to life through engaging, accessible experiences that foster joy, pride and a deep connection to Jewish identity. Significant moments such as Yom Hazikaron, Yom Ha’atzmaut and Yom Yerushalayim are explored with care and sensitivity, helping learners connect to Israel and the broader story of the Jewish people in ways that are relevant and meaningful to them.
Hebrew is nurtured as a living, accessible language carefully taught and reinforced to support each child’s learning journey.
Through weekly Parsha learning, calendar experiences and opportunities that welcome parents and grandparents onto campus to klayb nachas, King David Ariel strengthens the partnership between school and home, creating a shared journey of growth and connection.
Our dedicated Jewish Studies and Hebrew educators, working alongside the Division of Informal Jewish Education (DIJE), bring warmth, expertise and deep understanding to every interaction. With a strong appreciation for diverse learning profiles, they ensure that every child can access, engage with and find meaning in Jewish life.
Educational Excellence
Educational excellence at King David Ariel is driven by devoted teachers and therapist, whose care for each child inspires curiosity, confidence and a lifelong love of learning.
Remedial Excellence and Personalised Learning
Cognitive Enrichment Advantage (CEA)
Integrated Therapeutic Support
Confident Transition to Mainstream
Remedial Excellence and Personalised Learning
Remedial Excellence and Personalised Learning
At King David Ariel, each child’s classroom experience is unique. Unlike a traditional classroom setting, tasks and learning are differentiated, and assessments are customised to address each student’s challenges. Lessons and classrooms draw on the latest, cutting edge thinking to provide optimal learning conditions. Our transdisciplinary team plays an active role during lessons, ensuring that skills are crossing over in real-time. We use the PROMPT model to develop independence.
P – Present the task
R – Reduce complexity
O – Offer support
M – Model the response
P – Practice together
T – Transfer to independence
With the needs of each child at heart, a special emphasis is placed on executive functioning skills development. Lessons may be multisensory, movement-based or tactile. Children learn to identify when they need a break at our regulation station. Our approach is flexible and holistic, nurturing the whole child at the social, emotional, physical, cognitive and academic level. Pragmatic skills are also developed, such as peer interaction reciprocity, problem solving and conflict resolution.
Cognitive Enrichment Advantage (CEA)
Cognitive Enrichment Advantage (CEA)
Cognitive Enrichment Advantage (CEA) is a lifelong learning approach that is embedded throughout Ariel’s curriculum, and colours everything we do. Parents are active partners in this approach so that our shared vocabulary and methodology become second nature at home and at school. CEA develops self-awareness and the ability to reflect on thinking. This allows the child to choose how to approach a situation or task by first checking in with ‘self’ and then choosing a solution from his or her toolbox. This approach to life transcends the classroom, and becomes a bridge to success in mainstream, in high school, in the workplace and in an increasingly complex world.
CEA covers
• Self-regulation (feelings of challenge or feelings of competence)
• Planning → sequencing, foresight
• Goal orientation → task-directed focus
• Problem identification → analytical processing
• Precision & accuracy → monitoring and error correction
• Working memory → holding and manipulating information
Instrumental Enrichment
FIE (Feuerstein Instrumental Enrichment) is a cognitive intervention program that strengthens thinking, learning, and problem-solving through non-curricular, paper-and-pencil exercises. Instrumental Enrichment (IE) looks at the child’s toolbox of options, building their capacity to use the right tool for the right problem. Teachers and facilitators teach and model this process.
The teacher (mediator) offers a relevant instrument (eg a worksheet), the focus is on how the learner thinks, not just the answer. Each task targets specific deficient cognitive functions.
Integrated Therapeutic Support
Integrated Therapeutic Support
Our transdisciplinary team emphasises strong communication with each other, with teachers and with parents, working together effectively, instead of in silos, to help each child achieve readiness to mainstream. You’ll find them working one on one with children both in our on-site state of the art, modern therapy centre as well as inside the classroom to get a better idea of challenges as well as to ensure skills transfer where it’s needed. This ensures seamless integration between educational and therapeutic teams.
Therapy Centre
We are incredibly proud of our state-of-the-art Therapy Centre where children receive the therapies they require according to their educational profile. These therapies conveniently take place during school hours, and the costs are included in monthly school fees. Therapies include:
• Occupational Therapy
• Speech Therapy
• Remedial Therapy
• Play Therapy
Students also have access to following incredible facilities in the Therapy Centre:
Regulation station
The Regulation Station allows children to pop in when needed (based on self-assessment or teacher attunement) and enjoy a calming, regulating environment with a carefully curated variety of tactile, visual and movement activities to reset, recalibrate and then re-enter the learning space.
OT Gym
Our fully equipped physio/OT gym is a colourful, active space with mats, a climbing wall and swings, a ball pool and therapy balls.
Snoezelen Room
This multi-sensory environment (MSE) is our carefully designed space where children regulate their sensory experience. Light, sound, texture and soft carpeting all come together calming anxiety or overstimulation, increasing focus and attention, supporting sensory integration and providing a safe space for emotional reset
Confident Transition to Mainstream
Confident Transition to Mainstream
Our goal at Ariel is to develop the cognitive potential that allows our students to mainstream. Our emphasis is on building confidence, independence, and resilience and readiness development for the next academic phase. This includes a holistic focus on emotional, academic, and social preparedness. Participation in extra-murals with other King David children also allows for a positive mainstream experience as well as easier social transitions.
Beyond the Classroom
Rich sporting, cultural and extra-mural opportunities support healthy bodies, curious minds and growing confidence. King David Ariel learners benefit from a shared campus with King David Linksfield, participating in a wide range of activities alongside their peers.
This integrated approach offers children the opportunity to experience the full breadth of King David’s extra-curricular programme fostering connection, inclusion and a strong sense of belonging within the broader school community. This is a meaningful advantage, ensuring that learners can access specialised academic support while still enjoying a traditional, vibrant school experience.
Learners are also recognised and celebrated for their achievements beyond the classroom, reinforcing pride, self-belief and their valued place within the King David community.
Sports
Arts, Culture & Enrichment
Admissions
We understand that choosing a school is an important decision and we thank you for considering King David to give your child a world-class Jewish education.
Have any Questions about admissions?
We are here to help! Fill out the form below, or please contact the school to which you are applying or email admissions@SABJE.co.za
Quick Links & Facts
- Remedial Education Grades 1 - 7
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Mon, Tues, Thur: 7:40 - 2:00pm
Wed: 7:40 - 1:30pm
Fri: 7:40 - 1:30pm - +27 11 446 7877
- kda@kingdavid.org.za
- 100 Club Street, Linksfield