Nova Pioneer welcomed students to the first day of school today, 20 January. However, orientation week is a bit different this year. Instead of struggles with the morning rush and first day of school traffic delays, parents instead had to navigate logging onto Google Classrooms so they, together with their little ones, could meet their children’s teachers. A new normal for all of us but definitely not one that will kill the buzz of the Day 1 excitement. While each Nova Pioneer campus has their own approach to school start and some Novaneers might only be meeting their teachers today, it was great to finally kick off the 2021 academic year.
Delay in school reopening
On 15 January, the Department of Basic Education (DBE) announced school reopenings were to be delayed to mitigate further risks associated with COVID-19. The directive was made by the department in light of continued high infection rates and risks related to COVID-19.
While Nova Pioneer is fully prepared and eager to have students back in the classroom, all Nova Pioneer South African campuses will continue to adhere to the government reopening directives. However, we are confident and can assure all parents that all campuses have put in place all the necessary measures to protect the safety of students when they return to campus. While our campuses will remain temporarily closed for on-campus learning, lessons will continue for children from home as the school switches plans from on-campus learning to a remote learning programme.
A shift in education
With the COVID-19 epidemic, the nature of learning has had to change. This period has significantly transformed how teaching and learning occurs, not only in South Africa but also globally. With the recent global move to online learning during these disruptive times, a priority for us at Nova Pioneer is to ensure that children stay engaged in powerful and meaningful learning experiences during this time.
In 2020, following the directive from President Cyril Ramaphosa to close all on-campus learning, the Nova Pioneer team was able to quickly pivot to an online learning format. This was made possible through the collaboration by the schools and central learning design teams.
Despite the disruption in learning, Nova Pioneer students ended the year with remarkable student academic and personal growth which has proven that learning disruption was minimised in 2020 with the switch to online learning. As such, we feel very confident that your child will feel supported during this time as all our teachers are well trained in providing quality education online. We are confident that our experience from the successful implementation of online learning in 2020 will continue to benefit all of our Novaneers and we remain excited to welcome your child/ren to online school on January 20th.
Online Learning to accommodate parent schedules
We understand that closure of in-person school can create additional burdens for families where parents or guardians are working. As such, all Nova Pioneer campuses have done their best to ensure that the learning experience is flexible to support a variety of constraints that households may be facing during this time.
Schools have designed the remote/online learning to include a mix of small group live classes and offline activities for application of the lesson. Classes will be recorded for the benefit of parents who can only work with their children in the evenings. Teachers will also indicate which tasks are the most essential in order to accommodate parents’ busy schedules. While we too are eager to have students back in the classroom, please know that we’ve done our best to optimize for continued learning as well as parent support and availability.
Do we expect further delays?
We know that the start of this year has been anything but predictable. We appreciate the various governing bodies, like Independent Schools of South Africa (ISASA) and the DBE, who are continuing to keep the safety of all learners and our nation in mind as they continue to make difficult decisions.
We have every reason to believe that the current delay of on campus learning will be brief. As communicated by the DBE, the goal is to mitigate the second wave and the impact it has on the healthcare system. We will continue to plan to welcome students back onto campus as soon as that is advisable, which will be informed by the guidance we will receive from ISASA and the DBE.
Calling on our Nova Pioneer Culture Principles
As we have already learned in the first few weeks of 2021, we will all be called to exercise our “Solutions First” mindset as Novaneers. We will remain flexible and responsive to the developments of COVID impact as they arise. We will continue to support all learners in their Joy of Learning as they get ready to start their new school year.
