Covid-19 Shut Down, We've got this!

Gershom Aitchison, host · [01:29]What I've communicated to the students and what I'm communicating to our community and our family right now is that Tomorrow, which is Tuesday, at three o'clock, Edu Inc is going to close its physical premises. Learning is no longer going to be happening at Education Incorporated, but education is going to happen from home. We are not homeschooling, we are schooling from home. Essentially, tomorrow, Tuesday, the students are going to bring their devices in. We're going to do a soft test on making sure that everything works, that the equipment is appropriate, that the kids know what they have to do, and that they're ready to rock and roll on Wednesday for school from home. I've instructed them that we are going to follow our daily schedule and that the teachers are going to be available logging into the classes, Google Classroom, et cetera, doing the work and guiding them through that process.

Gavin Kennedy, intro voice or played clip · [02:15]So when you say they're following the daily schedule, can you just expand on that a little?

Gershom Aitchison, host · [02:18]So I've said to them that if your class is maths with Mr. Singh from 7:30 in the morning, at 7:30 you need to be logged into his Google Classroom for maths. That does not mean switching your computer on at 7:30. At 7 o'clock, switch your computer on, log into the classroom, log into your Google account that you all have and use regularly, and be ready to start your class at 7:30.

Gershom Aitchison, host · [04:34]The first thing is realize that they need a learning space that is for learning. There are no distractions. Please also realize that they are going to be at school during normal school hours. So from seven o'clock until two or three o'clock, depending on their schedule, that you're not going to be able to take them out for lunch. You're not going to be able to go to the movies. They're attending school. It allows you to get on with the work that you need to do. You do not need to be supervising them. You do not need to be looking over their shoulders. Essentially, the maxim is the students need to do the work, not the parents. You don't sit in class at school, so you shouldn't have to sit in class at home. If the children are not attending the class as they're supposed to, if they're not getting the work done, we'll use our point system in that to reinforce, and if we need your assistance to get them to sit down, we'll ask you for that. But what I will say is that from the beginning of this year, when teachers have been absent, I've already instructed the teachers that they don't get a substitute teacher, they set work for the students that they will sit in their class and work independently. And what I can say is for the last, or since the beginning of this term, it has worked very well from grade four to metric, the work has been coming in, so they are used to working independently, they are used to working online, and they're used to following the instructions the teachers are giving them in the space. A couple of other things, I don't want the parents to panic if you don't understand all the terminology the kids do, and they also have the means if they are confused to communicate with the teacher, and the teacher will explain what that is. We're not asking you to become an IT expert. Don't stress about load shedding. I've already instructed the students that if they are going to be load shedded, that they notify the teachers they're going offline from what time to what time, and they can continue with their lessons afterwards. And then one of the things I'd really like the parents to do is sit back and watch the steep learning curve. It is going to be very exciting to see your kids embrace this, dive into it, and I think you're going to be absolutely astounded with the skills, the independence, and the, and the self-discipline with which they're actually going to get this, this job done, and it's very exciting to see this happening.

Jacqueline Aitchison, host · [06:34]Well, things are, are a little different in that regard, not with the FET phase, so with grade 10 to 12, we don't want to mess too much with that. It's, it's a different story in that phase. The grade 10 to 12s will be sticking to curriculum for the most part. in the grade four to nine space, however, we're going to be using the, this as a really, really fun way of getting into learning a little bit differently. So what we did was we sat and we thought about what are the skills our kids Really, really neat, but are sometimes not that hot on, and it's things like the reading. One of the things they're going to do is they're going to do a daily read where they are required to record themselves doing so, and then upload that into their Google Classroom. That will form part of the Term One mark. The second skill that all kids need in this day and age is the touch typing. I think a lot of us as adults wish we'd done more of that when we were younger. We've got a program that the kids use. They're going to be doing certain lessons every single day. Again, this will go towards their Term One mark, their touch typing activities. And then things get really fun, because what we decided to do was to take essentially all the soft subjects like life orientation and PE, essentially all the things that they really needed to be at school for. We took those hours and we thought, hang on a second, we've got some time here to play with. So what we're going to do there is we're going to enroll every child onto an online course of some form, either Udemy or, of course, one of these, online colleges, and they're going to do courses like entrepreneurialism for children or coding for kids or something that really excites them, and that's going to make up some of their Term One mark as well.

Gavin Kennedy, intro voice or played clip · [08:18]So is that an extra cost for parents?

Jacqueline Aitchison, host · [08:20]No, it's not an extra cost for parents because with this increasing virus threat, and all the advice we've been getting to keep away from public gatherings, we haven't actually used our outing budget. The outing budget will be used to pay for the courses instead.

Gershom Aitchison, host · [08:47]This morning at assembly when discussing with the kids, there was a palpable excitement from them. I think a lot of them are quite excited about putting these skills in place. It's something different, it's something out of the routine, and I think part of the culture of Edu Inc is embracing this in a sense of not knowing what's happening, but trusting that it's going to work. And I think the big focus is on independence, responsibility, and when we're having conversations with them about the teachers not being there, and we say we're giving you the responsibility of working without a teacher, you know what has to get done, get the job done. These are our expectations. And I think it's translated well in the classroom, and I think the parents are going to be pretty surprised to see that happening at home as well. So my instructions in assembly this morning were very simple. Take all your books home so that you have all the resources available to you. Number two, make sure you have a device that has a keyboard that connects to the internet so you are able to access the learning and the teaching that's going to happen online. Number three, find a space at home where you can work for six or seven hours without being disrupted and without getting disrupted or distracted at home. The rest we will handle as we are going through the class, you know, the teaching in the classroom. I've also said to them there might be some unexpected glitches, a couple of curveballs. This is something that we can expect, something that we've dealt with in the past, and I'm quite sure that it's well within our realm to actually deal with now.

Gavin Kennedy, intro voice or played clip · [10:47]I get a sense that what's happening this week is going to be one of those weeks that we look back at and say, where were you when that happened? And it's going to be as vivid as the moon landing and 9/11. How would you like people to think back on this time at Edu Inc?

Jacqueline Aitchison, host · [11:01]They are going to talk about it as in this is what we did during that time, and that's going to hold them in really good stead going forward, because I also believe that in the workplace, one of their questions is going to be, what did you do during quarantine times? And that's going to be a tough question for some people who did sit on Netflix and do whatever they did, whereas our kids got on with the job. They learned how to do that. They learned how to collaborate. They learned how to work from home. It's that collaboration and that teamwork that is absolutely required for the world of work that they are going into. So that's going to be an easy answer for them when they get faced with that question.

Gershom Aitchison, host · [11:40]What I'm very excited about is knowing that there are going to be children or young adults going into the world, and on their CV is that they worked independently, their future employers will be able to trust them to get the job done. Doesn't matter where they are, sitting in a coffee bar, if that's where they're comfortable working, sitting at home. It's about getting the job done. It's not about being at the physical place to do the work. And I think it's going to set them up very well to work independently and have the confidence to work in that space.