SCHOOLS across the country, which have been closed since Wednesday, 18 March, have implemented strict measures to ensure the safety of staff and learners. Grade 7 and Grade 12 learners were the first to return to class, with some returning as early as Monday, 1 June.
Thomas More College said 49 Grade 7s and 92 matrics returned on Monday, 8 June while Highbury Preparatory reported that 84 per cent of its Grade 7 learners returned to school.
Kloof High School said there are 198 matric learners and believed that all of them would return and St Benedict School noted that as it was a small school, there was a 98 per cent attendance across its Grade 7 and matric classes.
ALSO READ: #schoolsreopening: Kloof High School
Social distancing
Westville Senior Primary School’s acting principal, Patsy Pillay, said its staff returned to school, as per notice given by the Department of Education, to return to school on Thursday, 28 May.
Each of the five schools (Kloof High School, Thomas More College, St Benedict School, Highbury Preparatory School and Westville Senior Primary School) interviewed by the Highway Mail reported that their teachers and support staff all received training, had dedicated areas to ensure social distancing outside of classrooms and decals were placed on the floor in high traffic areas.
The primary school teachers at St Benedict added their own touch of creativity by using stars and emoji symbols for younger learners.
“There are strict rules to ensure no more than one learner on a bench at a time. Our staff will be on duty throughout the day to ensure that a two-metre distance is being observed,” said Kloof High School’s acting principal, Rob Holding.
ALSO READ: #schoolsreopening: St Benedict School
Sanitisation
Each classroom has its own spray bottle of hand sanitiser that is re-filled each day and many more bottles of hand sanitiser have been placed at various key points around the schools. A few of the local schools have also encouraged learners to bring a pocket-sized hand sanitiser with them.
Thomas More College, Kloof High School, Highbury Preparatory School and Westville Senior Primary School will have masks available for each of their learners.
Holding said, “We have also placed hygiene soap and hand sanitiser in every bathroom in our school. These are cleaned and sanitised hourly throughout the day.”
St Benedict has appointed two Covid-19 protocol officers to ensure that all of the requirements are fulfilled while Thomas More College learners have been requested to wear civvies to ensure clean clothing is worn each day. Westville Senior Primary School’s learners will alternate between their regular school uniform and their Physical Education kits.
ALSO READ: #schoolsreopening: Thomas More College
Online learning
All five of the schools noted that online learning would continue for all of its learners. Kloof High School noted that learner with medical proof of comorbidities would be given access to online materials.
Westville Senior’s Pillay said, “The online programme that has been running throughout the lockdown will be suspended as each grade returns to school.”
She noted that online tuition would also be considered for children with comorbidities.
Movement at school
Thomas More College noted that its Grade 7 learners would remain in one classroom for lessons and the teachers would move around and that its matric learners, due to subject choices, would move between classrooms.
Highbury Prep’s headmaster, Roland Lacock, said, “We will be continuing our curriculum but we have minimised the movement of boys between classes. We have a detailed safety protocol in place to clean desks in between classes and have mapped their walking routes around school to minimise overlap between phases.”
Koof High reported that the desks will be sanitised between each class and every classroom will be deep cleaned at the end of each day. Class sizes at the school have also been adjusted to facilitate social distancing.
During break time, St Benedict has requested each of its learners to bring along a beach towel to sit on during break to ensure social distancing. Westville Senior has also painted markers on its fields where children can sit at lunch time.
ALSO READ: #schoolsreopening: Westville Senior Primary School
Screening
Each of the five schools interviewed has implemented strict screening measures for each person entering the grounds. Parents need to enter information on Highbury Prep’s administration system, ADAM, each morning to declare their son’s temperature. Learners from each school will have their temperature read and recorded. They are then checked against a symptom checklist.
“A health risk assessment was conducted on all TMC staff and parents to establish who on the staff or within the pupil body and within their households are at high risk of contracting Covid-19,” said Thomas More College’s Juliet Hartley.
Should a learner show signs of Covid-19, Kloof High School has set up four isolation areas. These areas were set up in accordance with a qualified nursing sister.
“Mrs Roux, who has a first aid level 3 qualification and who has worked with learner safety at schools, for the past 20 years, is our Covid-19 officer and will deal appropriately with any cases at hand,” said Holding.
ALSO READ: #schoolsreopening: Highbury Preparatory School
Curriculum
Each one of the five schools, government and IEB, believe they will be able to continue with the current syllabus.
“We urge those still working via the online programme to be patient. Their time to return to school will come,” said Pillay from Westville Senior.
Caxton Local Media Covid-19 reporting
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