SPECIAL NEWS LETTER FROM THE SCHOOL GOVERNING BODY TO THE PARENTS
LEARNER ATTENDANCE AND INTEGRATED TEACHING AND LEARNING
Dear Parents
As a parent you have a statutory duty to send your child to school. It cannot be amended even through COVID regulations.
Section 3 of the South African School’s Act 84 of 1996 stipulates as follows: {Highlighted for our Purposes);
(1) Subject to this Act and any applicable provincial law, every parent must cause every learner for whom he or she is responsible to attend a school from the first school day of the year in which such learner reaches the age of seven years until the last school day of the year in which such learner reaches the age of fifteen years or the ninth grade, whichever occurs first.
Parents who fail to comply with this provision are guilty of an offence. The HOD (Head of Department) may investigate the circumstances surrounding the learner’s non-attendance and take appropriate measures to remedy the matter (section 3(5).
Parents who elect to offer home schooling should inform the school without delay in writing of their intensions that allows the school to de-register the child from the roll. The learner exits the formal school system and the school is under no further obligation regarding the child’s education.
What are you allowed to do as a parent?
There are three potential scenarios:
1. Parents may wish to keep the child in the formal schooling system (Public School), but the learner has an underlying health condition, or being self-isolated or quarantined due to Covid-19 symptoms or testing positive to Covid-19.
2. Parents may wish to keep the child in the formal schooling system (Public School), but the learner has no underlying health condition, but the parent is concerned about the child’s safety.
3. Parents want to remove their child from the formal schooling and rather home school their child.
1. SCENARIO 1 – THE CHILD HAS AN UNDERLYING HEALTH CONDITION
It is the parent’s responsibility to notify the school of the underlying condition in writing and to supply the school with the necessary documentation supporting the underlying condition. The parent has to give written confirmation should the child have an increased health risk due to contact with persons with Covid-19 symptoms or be in an isolation situation. Written confirmation of the condition from a registered medical practice should accompany the notice.
In such a case the non-attendance may still be dealt with in terms of the national policy and the school will take reasonable measures to assist the learner to continue with distance learning. The parents will have to accept the responsibility to ensure that the learner takes part and keeps up.
Formal assessments will be conducted in conjunction with the school’s measures to make sure the learner has necessary set of marks to be successful in the academic year.
2. SCENARIO 2 – FORMAL SCHOOLING SYSTEM WITHOUT UNDERLYING
HEALTH –CONDITION
This scenario is creating the most confusion, which has been compounded by the remarks made by the president and the minister of education. Moreover, the uncertainty about the co-morbidities of family members and extended family members have also made fears a reality and therefore the school is taking an empathetic stance with this group.
The school will do everything in its power to communicate properly with these parents and will convince said parents that the school environment is safe for both the parents and children.
However, in the instance where the parent does not want to break ties with the school, the school will accommodate said families under the following conditions:
• Paragraph 56 of National Learner Attendance Policy provides that the principal must contact the parents if the learner has been absent from school for more than ten consecutive days and is at risk of being scrapped from the school register. Parents need therefore to contact the principal in writing, stating their intentions and give substantive reasons for their decision.
• The School will accommodate this group with reasonable consideration however the following measures need to be adhered to.
o Learners will be able to access lessons on the D6, Moodle and WhatsApp groups following the links provided.
o School Fees need to be maintained as Hoërskool Bergvlam is a Quintile 5 school and is therefore dependent on school fees for the smooth running of the institution.
o The onus will be on the parent to bring the child to school to complete formal assessments. Assessments will be conducted bearing social distance in mind.
o The onus is on the parent and the child to comply with tasks and / or assignments that need to be handed in for SBA marks. These tasks need to be handed in, in the designated time frame and will not be considered for marks if it is handed in after due date.
o If a child (for any reason) does not comply with the academic promotional marks for the year the child will have to repeat the Grade in 2021 as per requirements set out by the DBE.
o Parents and learners need to communicate with the relevant educators if they experience any challenges.
o Parents must however take educators time and availability into consideration and therefore the hours the teachers will be available will be within contact time as determined by the DBE. These times will be from 08:00 to 16:00.
• Parents would not need to re-register their children at Hoërskool Bergvlam for the following year (2021) if these conditions have been met.
3. SCENARIO 3 – HOME SCHOOLING
In this instance the parent chooses to withdraw from the formal schooling system and the child will no longer be enrolled at the school.
In terms of the directions on the reopening of schools and Covid-19 Measures (GN343 of 2020) published on 23 June 2020, a parent whose child does not return to, or attend school after the phased-in returned date, must apply to the Head of the Mpumalanga Education Department for exemption from compulsory school attendance.
In addition to the above, Section 51 of the Schools Act provides that a parent may apply to the HOD to register the learner for home schooling.
The HOD may proceed to register the learner as such if he/she is satisfied that:-
• The registration is in the learner’s best interests
• The education the learner will be receiving at home
o Will comply with the minimum curriculum requirements ; and
o Will not be of a lower standard of that in public schools and;
• The parent complies with any other reasonable conditions set out by the HOD
If parents decide to re-enrol their children, the following must be kept in mind:
• Parents must register the child with a curriculum provider. If not, there will be no evidence of the child’s learning that year and no formal report can be issued.
Any public school will have the right to determine the standard of home schooling received, irrespective of whether or not a report has been issued.
• A formal admission process will be followed to re-admit such learners.
The school will not be obliged to provide any level of support or assistance to a learner who is registered for home schooling.
Please be assured that the SGB and School Management Team is being proactive in the vital matter of school safety. We are implementing and ensuring the strictest of safety measures to maintain a safe and supportive environment for teachers and learners to achieve their full education potential.
Regards
___________________ __________________
MR F. BIJZET MR D. VISSER
SGB CHAIRPERSON SCHOOL PRINCIPAL
LEARNER ATTENDANCE AND INTEGRATED TEACHING AND LEARNING AGREEMENT
I hereby accept and acknowledge all the conditions set out in the agreement letter dated 13 July 2020.
_______________________________________________________
I, ……………………………………………. Parent of ………………………….. Gr …….
Hereby inform HOëRSKOOL BERGVLAM that I am choosing the following:
SCENARIO 1
SCENARIO 2
SCENARIO 3
I acknowledge and understand that this agreement is binding and Applicable during COVID-19 measures. (GN343 of 2020).
_____________________________
PARENT / GUARDIAN SIGNATURE DATE: ________________