12 July 2021
Dear Parents,
Following the announcement from the President last night that the level 4 lockdown would be extended for a further two weeks and that schools should remain closed until July 26, we have decided on the following course of action for ISCT.
We will begin online teaching from Wednesday 14 July as indicated last week.
Early Years:
As the Nursery and Reception classes fall into the Early Childhood Development stage we will be able to offer normal teaching for them at school and in the classroom. However, for the next two weeks or so these children may come to school without wearing uniforms and considering the weather in something warm and comfortable.
Year 1 and 2:
Year 1 & 2 will continue to receive the online programme as we have done previously using SeeSaw. Children will be assigned five learning engagements per day. Please email Mrs Daniel at a.daniel@isct.co.za if an iPad is needed for your Year 1 or Year 2 child. Once confirmed, iPads can be collected from Struben House from 12:00-14:00 tomorrow.
Key Stage 2 (Year 3 to 6)
iPads for these classes can be collected from Woodland Heights from 10:00 tomorrow. The class teachers will make the daily timetable available to students.
Key Stages 3, 4 and 5 (Year 7 to 13)
We will make iPads available for collection tomorrow from the following times from 10:00. In addition teachers will try to have textbooks available for collection if they are starting a new section this term or for new students.
General Information for Woodland Heights:
We plan to continue offering an online programme for the rest of the school for at least the next two weeks and possibly until the end of July, depending on Covid developments.
While we intend to follow the timetable which we would have normally used, it is ill-advised that students spend the full school day staring at their iPad screen. We have advised staff to teach for between 30 and 40 minutes at the start of each lesson and then to allow students the opportunity to do some task for the duration of the lesson although the teacher will remain available and online for the rest of the time, in order to offer assistance, if required.
As has become customary, we will make extensive use of Google classroom for the setting of tasks and assignments, and lessons will be conducted on the Google Meet platform. The expectation is that all students should attend all lessons unless they are medically excused from these.
Regards
David Hunter
Principal
