Hoërskool Barberton takes a phased approach as grades reopen

He said learners were still battling to comply with social distancing and some were not complying with requests to wear face masks, but added that things were going well overall.

Ferreira took the opportunity to remind parents that the matriculants would be completing their mini-exams and urged them to study for these.

Regarding the phasing in of the other grades, Ferreira said, “We would like to fast-track their return to school, although we do not yet have clarification from the Mpumalanga Department of Education. We are waiting to get the go-ahead from it.”

He added that Barberton High would have to conform to the dates that have been published in the national Government Gazette.

“We would like our grade 11s to start school on June 26, which means that we will have training on June 18 at 08:00.

“The grade 10s will follow two weeks later on July 6, with the aim of having training for the boys on July 1 and on June 2 for the girls.”

Ferreira said the plan includes fast-tracking the return to school for the grade nines on July 27, with orientation aimed at July 22 for boys and July 23 for the girls.

He added that the grade eights’ return to school would be in line with the national Gazette, with training on July 29 and 30 for the boys and girls respectively.

“The school will then only be permitted to have two grades per day at the school, concurrently with the matrics from Monday to Friday, followed by the grade 11s on Monday, grade 10s on Tuesday. The girls’ grade eight class will continue on Wednesday, with the grade nines on Thursday and grade eights on Friday, pending permission from the department.”

Following a meeting with the school governing board’s (SGB) executive, BHS will introduce e-learning for its learners.

“I am glad the SGB has accepted the documents and the proposal. We are now working hard to prepare full lessons to be presented through e-learning and the app we will be using called Google Classroom.

“It will give learners an opportunity to follow the teachers, to work with them and to ask questions. Parents can download it for free from Google Play Store. Learners will receive information on how to get access to the app. The launch date for all grades, from eight to matric for Google Classroom, is planned for June 26 and we look forward to starting our full academic year again for all the grades through electronic mediums,” said Ferreira.

While it appears as though things at BHS are returning to normal, he called on parents to continue paying their school fees.

“We would like to remind parents that it is compulsory to send your child to school according to the South African Schools Act. It is compulsory until a learner reaches grade nine or the age of 15, whichever comes first, and then it is your choice to enroll your child for grades 10, 11 and 12.

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This means that we are not a service provider, but instructed by law to render this service. With that being said, the SGB is paying the salaries of 18 additional teachers to ensure that we have a variety of subjects in smaller classrooms, so when schools reopen for a specific grade, the teacher might not be working at the school anymore because of non-payment of their salaries.”

Ferreira expressed his excitement regarding the accessibility to lessons for learners through Google Classroom.

“We would like to start e-learning classes which also has financial implications, but the benefit to the learner is immense. Because of the fact that we prepare lessons in advance, if a teacher falls ill, we still have a lesson that we can present to the learner by the educator in his/her absence.

“If a learner is absent, they can log in at any time to join the lesson live or after it has been presented, and come and do the work accordingly. A pupil who wants to do revision for a specific topic can log in to a lesson that has already been presented at any time and can do revision through the lesson that has been presented.”

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He added that Wi-Fi hotspots or “walkthrus” would be made available at the school for learners to download e-lessons with all the video clips, moving the school into the future.

Ferreira reiterated that this could only be made possible through the payment of school fees by parents and urged them to support the school, the new initiatives and the learners while the world combats the Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic.