Author: admin

Good day to all parents may you be blessed for the year to come!

As all schools are preparing to open, keeping in mind all the procedures we will have to follow to curb the new strain of Covid-19 and still maintain a good academic balance, at Coram Deo Christian Academy we try to cater for all of these needs the best way possible and going forward until this pandemic is resolved we will remain vigilant and resourceful.

Starting on Monday the 25th of January the staff will work daily from school from 8 to 12 and they will be available on WhatsApp or any other social platform for communication. The students can come in at any time to score or write PACE tests or if they need assistance on any subject matter. Safety first and the safest course of action is working from home but still having the teachers to assist where needed. Keep in mind there is a delay of PACEs being ordered from Head Office so please give me a list of books that we will have to order 6 weeks in advance.

Please remember we have an open door policy please feel free to communicate any issues or stresses that you might have I will try and resolve all that I can.

Regards,
Dirk Vermeulen

Dear Parents and Guardians,

As we are entering the final stretch of this awful year, we know that we have to work just a little bit harder in focusing on getting any job done, Our hearts go out to those who have lost their jobs, their income and to those who have lost loved ones.

This year we can definitely name a few things that were lost due to circumstance, but we have to continue our efforts and keep on working towards a better future especially for our kids. We also have to keep on encouraging our kids to work a little bit differently but remain goal focused on their academics.

December Holiday

The school will close on the 4th of December for the learners, but the staff will remain to finalise the report cards by the 11th December. Currently, the dates for reopening in 2021 is the 25th of January.

Strict rules will apply for all students who return to school, eg the wearing of face masks and social distancing is an essential precaution against possible Covid-19 infections.

Parents should be confident that every effort is being made to ensure the safety of our students and that we follow the guidelines as prescribed by the Department of Education to safeguard against any infections of Covid-19.

Paces

Pace orders are taking longer than usual due to the delayed shipments from America, we will continually plan proactively but with Covid-19 sometimes the wheels does come off, but there will be enough Paces available to work during the holidays.

School Fees

Please keep in mind that your school fees are crucial for us to stay afloat, we are not subsidized by the government therefore we have to rely on one another especially during December. School fees will from January 2021 be back at R3400 per month, the same rate as originally at Jan 2020 with no increase foreseen for in 2021.

Please continue to check your emails, notifications on the d6 School Communicator and our website as we may send updates to you for more information and support. Have an awesome festive season and be safe.

Warm regards,
Dirk Vermeulen
Principal

Dear Parents,

As the threat of Covid-19 is a reality and as our country’s numbers are now growing so fast, we can still work from home and get our work done whilst still being safe. Online schooling will continue during the course of next week (from Monday 29 June to Friday 3 July) starting with Devotion at 08:30 and then continuing with classes from 09:00 to 12:00 afterwards.

We will be opening the school premises from 6 of July 2020 on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays but will be limiting the number of visitors to the school in order to protect pupils and staff. This will be done by scheduling classes to take place on certain days as specified below. Staff will still be available online except for those days that they are at school.

We are making available these days for students to return to the school premises in order to get their administration up to date and provide additional subject-related assistance where required.

We encourage students to attend only if they feel safe as their presence at school is not compulsory. Students should also take this opportunity to hand in their completed PACE tests if these were not scanned and sent to their respective teachers.

Junior Class

• Students will be allowed to return to the school premises on Mondays from 08:00 to 12:00 where Mrs. Malema and Mr. Vermeulen will be present. Ongoing online classes will continue as per normal on Tuesdays and Thursdays for these students, and teachers can be made available between 12:00 to 16:00 upon request/booking during any weekday.

Intermediate Class

• Wednesdays from 08:00 to 12:00 will be the turn of the Intermediate Class where all Intermediate students will be allowed to attend school. Mr Murray, Mrs. Malema and Mr. Vermeulen will be on duty during this time.

Senior Class

• Fridays from 08:00 to 12:00 will allow for all of our Senior students to attend school where Mr. Atanasiu, Mrs. Malema and Mr. Vermeulen will be available.

Strict rules will apply for all students who return to school, eg the wearing of face masks and social distancing is an essential precaution against possible Covid-19 infections.

Parents should be confident that every effort is being made to ensure the safety of our students and that we follow the guidelines as prescribed by the Department of Education to safeguard against any infections of Covid-19.

Please continue to check your emails, notifications on the d6 School Communicator and our website as we may send updates to you for more information and support.

Dear Parents,

We pray that everyone is keeping safe and warm on this cold day.  We would like to keep everyone updated around the opening of the school during the lockdown levels. 

Minister of Basic Education Angie Motshekga announced last week that the country’s public schools would reopen for Grade 7 and Grade 12 students on 1 June 2020. We feel that the lives of our children and parents matter and schools should open only once it truly is safe for them.  Until the world’s scientists come up with a plausible solution, we must treat the virus with absolute care.  The number of infections will increase exponentially in the coming weeks and our region is considered a hot spot for COVID-19 infections.

As we are very fortunate to be able to operate on a syllabus which allows our students to be able to work successfully from home with teacher presence from online tools, we will not be reopening the school the 1st of June as we have limited student numbers in Grade 7 and Grade 12 at this time.

Our online medium has proved very successful and the students who are using this system is benefitting greatly as they are achieving their goals, and in some cases exceeding them.

We have also had numerous requests from concerned parents to keep operating in this manner at home until COVID-19 is curbed, thus we shall remain to work online with all the full complement of staff on duty.  As the need arises, we will make arrangements to meet at the school premises to collect school-related material and stationery so that student can continue undisturbed.  In some cases, we will also be available to deliver PACE books that were ordered, to your home address.

We encourage and appeal to students who are not yet using the online platform to contact us so that we can ensure that no precious time is lost any further.  We have made available to our students the Microsoft Office 365 platform to use.  This includes all of the applications available on Microsoft Office, including the Teams app that is available on all smart devices.  Microsoft Teams have proven very efficient in the way we communicate with our students and is available to download for free on the app stores.  It does not require a lot of data and I’m sure most, if not all students, have access to a smart device or cellphone.

If you need the login and password to your Microsoft credentials again, please let us know so that we can assist you in logging in as soon as possible.

We are able to order new PACE book when and as required, and with the help of our teachers, we are able to track the progress that the students are making and which books will be required to continue with schooling.  Parents’ ongoing assistance with making sure that students maintain a high quality of work and honesty around tests has also been very valuable.

We will keep you abreast of any developments relating to changes in the COVID-19 situation.

Please contact us should you have any concerns or queries as we are available continuously during this period for schooling activities. 

Regards,
Dirk Vermeulen
Principal

Dear Parents,

We have finalised our online classes and normal school can commence on 1 April 2020. Please note that this is not compulsory as we understand that not all parents have the technology to allow for this, either in data or devices.

Classes will start at 08h30 every morning as we feel it is a good discipline to keep our students in a structured schedule so that they can maintain and achieve their goals every day.

Online class schedules will be as follows:

08h30 – Devotion
09h00 to 12h00 – Group Classes for Junior Class, Intermediate Class and Senior Class
During these classes the teachers will assist students in a group as if they are physically at school.
Scoring of PACE work and Tests will also take place during this time.
12h00 to 15h30 – After hours one-on-one classes can be scheduled with the relevant teacher of the class.

We request that teachers not be contacted directly on their cell phones as they will most likely be busy with other students as well during the course of the day, as this communication method will be used for students who cannot log into the classes online.

We will be using Microsoft Office 365 and Microsoft Teams for online classes.

Each student has been assigned an Office 365 account that comes with many benefits, and will not cost the parents any additional fees.

We will supply you with your child’s credentials shortly and request that you log in and test before 1 April 2020 so we can give you support on any technical issues that you may experience beforehand.

We also ask parents to assist students with connecting to the relevant classroom during the specified times.

Each student will have their own calendar and email address to receive invites to join group classes, as well as to request individual classes from teachers.

The Microsoft Teams App is available on any smartphone and computers as long as you have internet connectivity.

We have added some articles on online safety on our website. Please read through these so that you can keep your children safe during this time.

https://www.coramdeoca.co.za/category/online-safety/

We encourage parents to assist our students in keeping to this schedule so that we don’t lose any valuable time in the school year. It is uncertain when schools will reopen and as current circumstances stand when we look at the rest of the world, we can only pray that a vaccine for the Corona Virus is reached very soon.

Most of the online class information is also available on our website, Facebook page and d6 Communicator. Please ensure that you are connected to these platforms so that you don’t miss out on any developments and news.

We request your patience with us during this process as there might be some teething problems on both sides as we all try to get used to a new way of doing things.

As always,y ur feedback and advise is greatly appreciated – please remember our open door policy.

Stay safe out there!