2020 AT A GLANCE

SUNDAY, 15 MARCH 2020: President Cyril Our Junior School students received printed Ramaphosa officially declared a national state of workbooks to take home. Our teachers kept in disaster due to the COVID-19 global pandemic close contact with our parents via WhatsApp and at midnight on 27 March 2020, the country (sending voice-note instructions) to provide entered a complete lockdown. assistance and ensure that the students We were ready. Christel House is more than just a complete their daily and weekly tasks. school. We provide a host of critical services to our Our High School students were issued with children – from daily nutrition to healthcare and donated tablets, SIM cards and weekly data social services. With this in mind, Christel House bundles to ‘Zoom’ into their classes and complete leadership, teachers and staff implemented a their assignments. The cost of robust strategy to ensure that our students had data remains extremely costly, access to sufficient educational resources, health and we continue to seek more CLICK TO WATCH and food supplies, and social support. affordable solutions in 2021. OUR STUDENTS WORKING FROM Each student received a food and hygiene hamper 1 JUNE: We opened our HOME on the last day of school. We also identified 300 education doors again for the of our most at-risk and destitute families, who Grade 7s and 12s. The entire received support in the form of a small stipend of school was sanitised prior to the students’ arrival R100 per week (paid via eWallet), from the start and plans were put in place well in advance to of April to the end of September. With the help ensure that all of our health and safety measures of our generous donors, we successfully raised adhere to national and international standards. CLICK TO SEE HOW OUR FAMILIES THANKED DONORS FOR THEIR SUPPORT R1.7 million to directly provide additional support to our families. 1 APRIL: Our Principals officially On the first day back at school, students received masks and pre-packaged meals; temperature testing and screening protocols were in place; classrooms, buses and toilets were sanitised; and students received a full brief on safety and social activated our remote distancing rules. learning curriculum. Our Junior School Principal, Ms Carol Kriel and High School Principal, Dr Ronald Fortune confidently led our teaching staff through a very uncertain period and implemented an innovative remote curriculum that was on par with the best schools in the country. Our students received the best tools, skills and teaching assistance, which in turn minimised academic and psychosocial disruption. JUNE – DEC 2020: Once permitted, all students were allowed back to school on a rotational basis and we kept tight reins on our safety protocols for both students and our staff. Despite the many challenges that 2020 CLICK TO WATCH A 2-MINUTE VIDEO OF THEIR FIRST DAY BACK

brought, Christel House SA continued to persevere and show great strides in future-proofing our students, as we had promised to do in 2019. • We were deeply honoured to once again be selected as the only Microsoft Showcase school in the

Western Cape and one of only four in South Africa for 2020 – 2021. This year’s schools were particularly commended for their dedication to education transformation, allowing them to effectively manage the transition to remote and hybrid learning scenarios during the COVID-19 crisis. • Congratulations to our 12 Christel House SA staff and educators who received Microsoft Innovative

Educator (MIE) Expert status. The Microsoft programme consists of global educators who make use of technology as a way of improving learning within a classroom. They are lifelong learners and believe in constant innovation. • The need for a 1:1 student-to-device ratio became even more pressing in 2020. Thanks to the generosity of our donor, Dell Technologies, we will start the 2021 academic year with sufficient devices for each student to have dedicated access to their own device, streamlining time-on-task immensely, with no logistical shifts and setup needed between classes. • We officially launched coding as a compulsory subject in our Junior School (grades 1 to 6) in 2020.

Despite some disruptions to classes in terms two and three, due to COVID-19, each grade had one hour of coding scheduled per week. Students are thoroughly enjoying learning this new skill, which is key in future-proofing their careers.

While 2020 proved to be a year filled with tribulation and sometimes tragedy, we are proud of the way that our staff and learners rose to the occasion and turned it into a year of triumph.