St Johns College in Johannesburg - is it worth the high fees?

Not sure what "a decent public school" would be, but I agree with you that St. John's is exceptionally expensive. Same with the American School. We have our kids at Dainfern College and I think it's about half that price, or even less. And the education is absolutely excellent. There are two things you pay for at St. John's: Tradition, and the location/facilities. It is one of Joburg's oldest school, so obviously has a lot of tradition, and a lot of fathers who have gone there want their sons to follow in their foot steps. From what I hear it has a beautiful campus. But most other SA private schools have beautiful campuses and excellent facilities. They are just not that old. St. John's is known for its high academic standards as well, so I'm sure your kids would get a good education there (as an American, I hate to say this, but given the choice between the two, I'd go for St. John's over the Am. School, which no one I know seems to be overly impressed with), but I'm also sure you can get the same quality education at one of the other private schools. If you want to check out my blog, www.joburgexpat.com, I h ave written about SA schools and education extensively.