Our Story
In 2015, Nicolette Skead opened Gardens Nook Pre-School with four children on the grounds of Holy Trinity Church in Gardens, Cape Town. She wasn't initially setting out to start a school, but in God's providence, two things converged: Rev. Alan Noble's convictions about the importance of Christian schooling and his desire for his church's building to help something like this find a start, and Nicolette's own growing conviction about the significance of a well-integrated Christian approach to education. With that, the pre-school took its first steps.
There were no initial plans to go further. But as more families joined each year — drawn to what was being expressed and experienced at Gardens Nook — a vision began to take shape in the hearts of a handful of Christian parents. There needed to be something more. A primary school, rooted in the same heart that had shaped Gardens Nook from the beginning.
The primary school phase opened in January 2020. In 2026, the first cohort of Grade 7 learners will graduate — a milestone for a school built from the ground up by families who believed something different was possible in Cape Town's City Bowl. While not yet fully formed, Three Peaks has found its feet as a functioning, proven school — registered with the Western Cape Education Department. Every stage of growth has been marked by the Lord's faithfulness to provide for what has been needed next — a growing testimony to the primary conviction of the founders: that this is the Lord's school.
A School That Serves the Church
Three Peaks exists to serve Christian families and the local church in one of the most vital areas of discipleship: the formation of children. We believe that the primary responsibility for this lies with parents and the local church. But the reality facing most families today is one of growing demands and pressures at home, and very limited contact time within church ministry programmes — set against the relentless, day-in-day-out influence that media, social media, and the wider culture exert on how children think and what they come to believe. In that context, the role of a Christian school in supporting families and churches in this vital work cannot be underestimated.
We believe that the presence of our school in Cape Town serves the nurturing of stronger families and stronger churches.
Although Three Peaks is not an official ministry of Holy Trinity Church — it is an independent, interdenominational school — the partnership between the two is an extremely practical one that serves them both. Every space the school uses during the week — classrooms, halls, outdoor areas — is used for church ministry over the weekend: Sunday school, youth ministry, community events. The school has brought these spaces to life over the years, investing in them and improving their functionality. Every investment in the school's facilities is simultaneously an investment in the church's ministry infrastructure.
A School That Reaches the City
Our community includes families from many different backgrounds and circumstances — a genuine cross-section of the City Bowl — and that is something the school actively protects and invests in.
In a city still shaped by the legacy of deep social division, a school like Three Peaks serves as a natural bridge for Christian witness into the broader community. Families who might never set foot in a church are drawn into a Christ-shaped environment through their children's education. Relationships form across lines of background and circumstance. The gospel is not just taught — it is lived out daily in a community of children, families, and teachers who learn and grow together.
