Category: News

Starting 2021

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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

End of 2020 Newsletter

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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

Level 2 Update and September Holiday

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Dear Parents,

As the government decided to move to level 2 lockdown due to economic pressure, we have to understand we still have to stay safe, avoid crowds, wear masks and keep social distancing. So to incorporate the school into “the new normal” we will continue working on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays until the end of August, then we will have a two-week break, (from 1 September to 13 September), before we go into the last term of the year from 14 September to 4 December 2020. The school will be open Mondays to Fridays from 8 to 12, but it is definitely not compulsory, the staff will be on hand to help, with any academic problems but the time spent at school can be short and to the point.

Our hearts are going out to those who have lost loved ones and friends during this period. I would also like to thank everybody for understanding our predicament because in staying safe today we can ensure that we can be there for those who need us tomorrow.

Back to School Notice

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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.

COVID-19 and School Operations

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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

Online Classes starting on 1 April 2020 at 08h30

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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!

Update on online schooling

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Dear Parents,

Is it school as usual for us here at Coram Deo Christian Academy. Thanks to everyone who completed our online survey to ascertain what our online schooling possibilities can deliver.

Mary Metcalfe, former Gauteng Education Minister, warns that there may be a complete loss of the 2020 school year, but we are in the fortunate opportunity not to lose any time on our school work this year. And should the president decide to put the nation on complete lockdown, we will still be able to resume normal schooling through online channels.

Students can be in continuous communication with our teachers and supervisors to score their PACE Work and Tests through Google Hangouts. Please ensure that you have a Google account to be able to use this feature (this is free of charge). We hope to have all our online capabilities available later this week. More details around online schooling to be sent to you in the next couple of days.

We will continue to order new PACE books as and when required.
Regarding reports for Term 1, as many of our students planned to complete various tests in the last week, many were not completed and handed in as part of their targets.  We will, therefore, send an interim Term 1 report until all tests have been received and marked, and where necessary, final Term 1 reports will then replace the interim reports.

Corona Virus and the School

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Dear Parents,

As we are facing the reality of the Corona Covid-19 Virus Epidemic in South Africa, our President, Cyril Ramaphosa, last night addressed the nation and informed us that schools will be closed from Wednesday 18 March 2020 until after the Easter weekend, Tuesday 14 April 2020. He also added that the July holidays will be made 1 week shorter to compensate for the time lost during this period.

We know parents will be looking for ways to continue their children’s education during school closures and prevent them from missing out on valuable learning time.

We urge parents to have students work on their PACE work every day until the schools reopen.
Many companies are offering employees the option of working from home or explicitly telling them to do so, so some parents may find themselves at home with their kids, trying to figure out new ways to navigate their own workdays as well as their children’s.

For those who must work outside the home, unless you can arrange for a nanny there are few options but to ask friends or relatives for help. There are no consistent standards as to what is the right age to leave a child home alone.

It’s important to know how much responsibility your child can handle: Children who can safely make themselves a meal and care for pets can most likely look after themselves for the span of a school day. Parents should provide emergency contacts and check in regularly; if an older child has to be responsible for a younger sibling, try to ensure that they are keeping the peace and are able to get their work done.

Do You Have a Schedule?

At home, there are no bells ringing to tell students when it’s time for, and the end of the break period. But apportioning time and sticking to goals for the day are valuable skills kids can use while school is closed.

Explaining the current crisis and the challenges it presents while enlisting children’s help in making the best of a bad situation is important. The first step is to make a daily schedule of when PACE work should start, how many pages per subject should be completed, and what time to end the day.

We are currently working on contingency plans for students to work from home and still reach their daily goal targets by introducing online assistance and help when having questions and scoring of PACEs. In order for us to be able to set this up, we will require some information from you to find the best solution in terms of a video conferencing tool that will accommodate our and your needs.

We will send out a survey shortly on our website for all parents to complete and we will be in regular communication around this matter.

We’re hopeful that we will be able to make a challenging situation a little easier and our thoughts are with anyone who has been affected.

News

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November 2019

We have acquired the services of TPN to make sure that outstanding fees are being brought up to date.

November 2019

We are pleased to announce that we will be visiting Happy Island for our year end and honor roll. We hope that all children and parents will be able to join us.

October 2019

Our parent evening was well received by parents. This information session included the following topics:

  • TPN and collection of outstanding fees
  • Exit qualifications and University acceptance, Lighthouse
  • Skillspro/Futurekids
  • Rezoning of property and impact of Department of Education
  • Awaiting our IMAS number from the Department of Education and registration finalisation
  • Children leadership

July 2019

Our administrator has completed training to administrate Skillspro and Futurekids.

May 2019

We have applied for the zoning to be updated so that the property complies with City of Johannesburg rules and regulations.

May 2019

We congratulate one of our children for representing South Africa at  the Internation AEE Student Convention. He achieved 5th place in Tennis, and received a gold medal for soccer.

March 2019

We have finally been approved by the Department of Education, but we are waiting for the IMAS number to be issued.

January 2019

We welcome Mr G Atanasiu who have joined us to assist tutoring children in senior mathematics. He holds a teaching diploma and will be a great asset to us.

February 2018

We are happy to announce that we have acquired a Ford Tourneo available to transport children. Please contact us for more information should you require more information.

August 2018

Fibre installation has been completed and we will be able to assist with online programmes in the near future.

January 2018

We are now part of D6 communicator. Please contact us for more information.

January 2018

We have resubmitted updated documents required for registration at the Department of Education. They are satisfied with the contents and will arrange a visit to view our premises.

September 2017

We represented our children at the All Africa Student Convention held in Bloemfontein. We are proud to brag with our students who won awards.

March 2017

We received our certificate of compliance for emergency exits and fire-fighting equipment. The City of Johannesburg are satisified with our safety requirements and issued our Fire Certificate after they inspected our premises on 14 March 2017.

March 2017

An inspection has been done on the premises on 10 March 2017 to make sure that we comply with the minimum requirements of the Environmental Health Department. We passed this inspection successfully and received notification thereof.

March 2017

We have submitted our official documents to the Department of Education to register our institution with them.

March 2017

We have received notification from SARS that our tax compliance is in good standing.

February 2017

We have confirmed with the City of Johannesburg that we may occopy the premises for the use of our services, and received notification thereof.

November 2016

e are pleased to announce that we have received our operating number from Accellerated Education Enterprises. This allows us to assist children in ordering PACE books, marking and scoring thereof.