school
As we prepare for the reopening of our schools, Reddam House students' well-being is of the utmost importance to us. We are committed to protecting the health and safety of each of our students, through our strict protocols that include screening, deep cleaning, and social distancing regulations.
Read COVID-19 Standard Operating Procedures
Careful consideration has been given to students who cannot return to campus. Our online learning programmes will continue to assist them, ensuring no one misses out on a moment of learning.
The Reddam House Constantia Virtual School experience retains two core elements that we believe make us an outstanding school. Firstly, the live student-teacher interaction, which is fundamental to all students making progress and achieving their full potential. Students gain so much from the direct interaction with their classmates and passionate teachers. The second core element is the desire to maintain our personalised learning approach that treats every student as an individual and supports them pastorally and academically at all times.
We believe that the digital environment will develop independent learning and 21st Century skills in all students.
Education is certainly changing and everyone at Reddam House Constantia is keen to be changing with it. We’re all open for learning.
HOW IT WORKS
At Reddam House Constantia, the Virtual School programme will mirror the actual school day as closely as possible, including school timings.
FOR EARLY LEARNERS (STAGE 1 – 5)
- Learning will take place via various platforms including Seesaw, Google Shared Drive and Google Meet. Google Shared Drive will also be accessible via the Reddam App.
- For ELS children and their parents, a slide document will be sent to parents by the class teacher on a daily basis with a written overview of the learning activities for the day. This will commence on Wednesday, 18 March 2020, promptly at 08:30.
- Class teachers will greet children and parents each day at 08:30 on Google Meet and will share the content for the day.
- Teachers will be available between 08:30 and 13:00 to assist parents with tasks where necessary.
- Specialist teachers will prepare activities for children to do and send through on the day that the specialist subject takes place – e.g. Music, Art, Drama, Computers where appropriate.
- Throughout the day, the class teacher will post videos in which she will highlight aspects such as learning objectives and learning activities.
- The day will follow the normal school day, with the regular break and lunch times, as if the children were at school.
- For all ELS questions, kindly contact your child’s class teacher.
- Should any matter need to be escalated, please contact the Head of School.
FOR JUNIOR PREPARATORY STUDENTS (GRADE 1 - 3)
- Learning will take place via various platforms including Seesaw and Zoom. Google Shared Drive will also be accessible via the Reddam App.
- For Junior Preparatory School students and their parents, a slide document will be sent to parents by the class teacher on a daily basis with a written overview of the learning activities for the day.
- Class Teachers will greet children and parents each day at 08:00 on Zoom and will share the content for the day.
- Teachers will be available between 08:00 and 15:00 to assist parents with tasks where necessary.
- Specialist teachers will prepare activities for children to do and send through on the day that the specialist subject takes place – e.g. Music, Art, Drama, Computers where appropriate.
- Throughout the day, the class teacher will post videos in which she will highlight aspects such as learning objectives and learning activities.
- The day will follow the normal school day, with the regular break and lunch times, as if the children were at school.
- For all Junior Preparatory School questions, kindly contact your child’s class teacher.
- Should any matter need to be escalated, please contact either Gerda Steenkamp or the Head of School.
FOR SENIOR PREPARATORY STUDENTS (GRADE 4 - 7)
The intended outcome is that the curriculum is at the forefront of the work and, as far as possible, student progress should not be negatively impacted.
- Work will be shared via Google Suite/Zoom/ and will involve online lessons via Google Hangout conferencing. Students will be invited to join the virtual classroom by their subject/class teachers.
- Students should be online and ready to connect with their subject/class teacher and complete a virtual roll call each morning at normal start time.
- Teachers will record all Google Hangout lessons and make them available to students for later review.
- Subject/class teachers will contact parents/guardians about absent students and those who are not completing the work.
Daily timetable for Senior Preparatory students.
- Classes will take place ‘live’ as per the online programme.
- Work for each class will be posted for the timetabled lesson via Google Classroom.
- Lessons will commence at 07:45with a live video feed via Zoom / Google Hangout to:
- Connect with students ‘face-to-face’
- Recap the learning objectives of the previous lesson(s)
- Introduce and explain what will be covered in the day’s lesson
- Answer any questions/address any concerns that students might have
- Monitor and follow up ‘attendance’
- For all Senior Preparatory School related questions, kindly contact your class/subject teacher.
- Should any matter need to be escalated, please contact a Deputy Head or Head of School.
Work set will reflect the length of the lesson and wherever possible, reflect the normal curriculum objectives. Learning activities may however differ from those in a classroom setting.
Homework during remote learning will complement the lesson, just as with normal school. It is the student’s responsibility to complete the work or communicate to their teacher reasons for it not being completed. Teachers will ensure that by the end of the day, all student queries have been dealt with in an appropriate manner.
Should you have any technical difficulties in accessing Google Classroom or any of the online applications being used, your class teacher will be available online or he/she will be able to escalate your query to our IT Managers for support
FOR COLLEGE STUDENTS (Grade 8 - 12)
The intended outcome is that the curriculum is at the forefront of the work and, as far as possible, student progress should not be negatively impacted.
- Work will be shared via Google Classroom and will involve online lessons via Google Meet conferencing. Students will be invited to join the virtual classroom by their subject/class teachers.
- Students should be online and ready to connect with their subject teacher and complete a virtual roll call each morning at the normal start time.
- Teachers will record all Google Meet lessons and make them available for students.
- Subject teachers will contact home about absent students and those who are not completing the work and or who have missed a class
Daily timetable for College Students
- Classes will take place ‘live’ as per the normal school timetable.
- Work for each class will be posted for the timetabled lesson via Google Classroom.
- Lessons will commence with a live video feed via Google Meet to:
- Connect with students ‘face-to-face’
- Recap the learning objectives of the previous lesson(s)
- Introduce and explain what will be covered in the day’s lesson
- Answer any questions/address any concerns that students might have
- Monitor and follow up ‘attendance’.
- For all College related questions, kindly contact your subject teacher.
- Should any matter need to be escalated, please contact a Deputy Head or Head of School.
Work set will reflect the length of the lesson and wherever possible, reflect the normal curriculum objectives. Learning activities may however differ from those in a classroom setting.
Homework during remote learning will complement the lesson, just as with normal school.
It is the student’s responsibility to complete the work or communicate to their teacher why it is not completed. Teachers will ensure that by the end of the day, all student queries have been dealt with in an appropriate manner.
Should you have any technical difficulties in accessing Google Classroom or any of the online applications being used, your class teacher will be available online or he/she will be able to escalate your query to our IT Managers for support. If there are any updates to these arrangements, we will advise you immediately. We ask for your support at this time as we all work together through these exceptional circumstances.
READY FOR SCHOOL?
01
Find somewhere comfortable, peaceful and quiet to do your work.
02
Make sure you have your laptop/tablet, your pencil case and paper.
03
Request the structure and break-times at the start of the lesson.
04
You can always message a question to your teacher - just like putting your hand up in class.
HOW WAS YOUR ONLINE SCHOOL DAY?
Send us images and videos of your virtual school experiences
I’m very happy with how the School has managed this situation and kept parents up to date.
Quick note to say well done on the seamless transition to the online learning platforms. Kids have been really diligent and enjoying the day.
Just a note to say thank you to the Head and the team to what appears to be a seamless migration to an e-learning environment.
I congratulate our School for being so proactive about this situation… clear planning ahead has paid off.
Well done Reddam House Constantia. Very impressive and forward thinking and so proactive.
