It’s been a strange few weeks, not least for parents who no longer drop off their children at school but need to supervise their studies at home.
The Education Incorporated Boutique School in Fourways is trying to make these changes as easy as possible by helping their families complete schoolwork at home instead of homeschooling. By gauging what resources are available to each family, using the internet to create easy access to the curriculum and even creating podcasts for parents, the school has been working to ensure that their children continue their education despite these uncertain times.
The school educates children from grades 4 to 12 and currently has 65 learners in total.
“We began preparing for this a few weeks ago through a survey sent to parents establishing a) what devices the children had at home, b) the level of internet connectivity they have at home and c) what backup power options they had,” explained Jacqueline Aitchison, the executive head of the school. “We knew that this info would inform on how we would handle things. On 16 March, after the closure announcement, we sent out the 1st podcast telling parents the plan.”
Edu Inc has been using a number of easily available online tools to continue learning, including Google Classroom, Google Hangouts, Google Chats and WhatsApp. Another step the school has taken is to begin creating podcasts for their community.
“We are very fortunate in that our ops manager, Gavin Kennedy, also owns and runs Solid Gold Podcast Studio, which has allowed us to create a channel called Edu Think for open discussion with our educational community. ”
School days are continuing as normal, even if remotely – the only changes made to the daily timetable is that ‘soft’ classes such as physical education have been removed so that the children can use the pandemic for important skills development. Learners use that time to practise reading aloud daily, participate in a touch-typing course and have even had the chance to sign up for a Udemy course of their choice (such as a new language, music, photography or coding skills). Edu Inc staff also hopes the stability will help their community feel a bit easier at a difficult time.
Aitchison explained, “Being in control of their learning space is familiar to the children and a big part of their life so it is vital that we ensure smooth continuation and progression in this space. This allows them to retain some equilibrium during a very unsettling time.”
The school term will continue until 9 April, at which point the school holidays begin. School is set to start again on 5 May, either in person or digitally depending on the situation in the country at that point.
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https://www.citizen.co.za/fourways-review/332465/5-ways-keep-kids-learning-entertained-schools-closed/
