17 April 2020

Dear High School Parents and Guardians

I trust that you and your daughters are not feeling too claustrophobic and that this lockdown period has brought with it, opportunities to once again find time to value the important aspects of life.

I have just attended an ISASA webinar with Heads of Independent Schools in South Africa and there is comfort in being reminded that we’re all in the same boat and that at St Cyprian’s School, our well-established IT systems have probably placed us ahead of the curve. Perhaps this can be one of the reasonings that you can employ to try and alleviate some of your daughter’s anxiety?

I am mindful that all children learn differently. Our more independent learners are most likely thriving in the distance-learning environment, while others need the assurance of seeing what their classmates are doing, and a greater teacher presence offering encouragement and sometimes cajolement. While it is impossible on a digital platform to cater as easily for individual needs, we will endeavour to stay true to the philosophy encapsulated in the UNESCO mantra, “Leave No Child Behind”. As a means of ensuring this, teachers are sending out questionnaires to their students across all subjects and grades, and I will be surveying parents and students next week.

I am convinced that communication is critical at times such as this. To create a further platform for parents, I invite you to join a ‘chat session’ with me next week. This invitation will be posted on your daughter’s Microsoft Teams and can be accessed from there. My deputies will join me for these meetings and while we are unlikely to have all the answers, we may be able to clear up misconceptions or confusion of which we are unaware or even find some quick wins. I am hoping that this platform will also provide parents with access to one another to share ideas and find solutions to challenges arising at home. These ‘chat sessions’ will occur at 16:00 each day next week:

Monday - Grade 12 Parents

Tuesday - Grade 11 Parents

Wednesday - Grade 10 Parents

Thursday - Grade 9 Parents

Friday - Grade 8 Parents

In our virtual staff meetings, we constantly remind ourselves that our students may be bewildered and that we need to be gentle, nurturing and understanding with them. The flipside however, is that for the last two decades, futurists have been counselling educators that the successful adult of the future will be the person who adapts easily to radical change, is able to find solutions for herself in changing circumstances (good problem solvers), and has high levels of resilience. Perhaps, unwittingly, the universe is preparing our young people for adulthood in a changed world?

Rev Andrew will be holding online Eucharist Services on Sundays via Zoom. Everyone is most welcome to join using the following link and password:

Join Zoom Eucharist
Meeting ID: 965 7426 4932
Password: 017423

You will need to have an Anglican Prayer book or Click Here to follow the service and respond. Before the Service - for communion - you will need to prepare a glass of wine or juice and a piece of bread. There should only be enough for each person with you to consume everything during communion (i.e. a sip of wine or juice and a bite of bread).

It is weekend now and I suspect our students are exhausted, given the intensity that is the nature of distance-learning. I am proud of our team and girls for the effort and positivity that they have displayed thus far. I trust that they will find time to rest and recoup over the next two days.