by David Maynier
More than 26 000 students gave up their holidays to participate in winter school programmes arranged by the Western Cape Education Department (WCED) and schools across the province.
Our districts have been hard at work to ensure our matric students are ready for the upcoming trial and NSC exams.
For example, the Metro North Education District has developed a virtual solution for live-streaming its winter school sessions. This allows an expert in the subject matter to stream lessons to Grade 12 students in their classrooms at 35 schools, with their subject teacher present. The district expected 6 000 students to participate, but a whopping 10 062 students were registered for the sessions.
Almost 5 800 students registered for winter school in the Metro East Education District, and actual attendance exceeds those registered. The principal of Blackheath High School, Mr Michaels, fetched and dropped off his matric students at their homes each day so that they could attend revision classes – at his own expense.
In all, 1 463 Metro South Education District students attended the district’s revision programme covering 15 subjects, while 4 366 students from the Metro Central Education District improved their skills in 11 subjects.
In the Cape Winelands Education District, 445 students attended residential camps to improve their performance in Afrikaans home language, business studies, geography, history, life sciences and maths literacy.
A further 1718 students at 23 schools received streamed lessons, and 163 students attended a maths camp at Zwelethemba Secondary School.
The Eden and Central Karoo Education District undertook a circuit-based support programme for progressed students with 204 students over two days. A further 28 high schools held winter school programmes, with a 72.7% attendance rate.
In the Overberg Education District, 1468 students attended revision sessions covering 10 subjects. The district’s Specialised Learner and Educator Support Services (SLES) team also held a weekend life and study skills camp for at-risk students.
The West Coast Education district held revision camps at three schools, with 322 students in attendance – a 99% attendance rate.
The programme included daily motivation sessions with the district’s SLES team, and social workers were also available during study sessions for students who needed one-on-one psycho-social support.
We thank every one of the teachers and officials who gave of their time over the holidays – their dedication and expertise will stand the Class of 2022 in good stead to pass their exams. And we commend the students who chose to invest in their own futures by attending these revision classes.
Students have been putting in the hours from home, too, by using the WCED’s ePortal to access learning resources across all grades.
Usage of the ePortal increased by 101% compared to last year’s June/ July holidays, with over 185000 unique users accessing the site – including those from other provinces.
The site includes 8 988 free Grade 12 resources to support our matrics, including revision guides, past papers and marking guidelines, and Telematics lessons.
In all, 547 staff members used their holidays to improve their skills at the CTLI. The courses were offered on a wide variety of topics, including Women In and Into Leadership and Management Positions, Recruitment and Selection Training, ICT integration, and contact sessions for both the Advanced Certificate in Teaching (ACT) and the Advanced Diploma in Education: School Leadership and Management (ADE).
This is exactly the kind of extra effort that we will need to overcome the learning losses caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, especially in the Foundation Phase.
Now that the new term is under way, we look forward to the interventions that our teachers will be undertaking to ensure that we get back on track as soon as possible in the Western Cape.
* Maynier is Education MEC.
** The views expressed here are not necessarily those of Independent Newspapers.
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