Matric Valediction and Dance (and network updates)

Gershom Aitchison, host · [00:19]It's been three weeks since we last had a chat, and today I just wanted to touch sides on a few things that are happening at school, primarily this being the last week of school for our matrix, the class of 2020. And to kick it off, we are going to have a valediction ceremony on Friday, and we're very, very fortunate that we can actually have this in COVID times, as it were, albeit a little different from what we're used to experiencing. The first thing is that Mrs. Aitchison has communicated that only the parents of the matrix can attend the valediction. Our biggest challenge with the valediction is space. And of course, there's going to be no touching and a very close observance of social distancing during this time. The honor guard, where the Matrix walk down and say goodbye to everyone and hug and shake hands and everything, is going to not look as physical as that, although there will be an honor guard, and I'm sure tears will be flowing at that point as well. The grade eights and nines are going to be on campus and will be attending the valediction, and we'd really like the grade tens and elevens to join us on the Friday and attend school that day so that they can also say goodbye to the Matrix. I'm gonna ask that cohort four stay at home on Friday and do not come to school unless they are in grade eight, nine, ten, or eleven, just because the campus is going to be at capacity at this point. The ceremony will start sharply at eight thirty, and we aim to have it completed by nine forty five, so that classes can resume as normal. After that, we plan on live streaming this so that everybody who's not able to attend can watch this. It also means that we have a nice recording of the process. Then something else that pertains to the matrix, something that I never thought that we would see happening, and I'm sure that many matrix have not had the opportunity to create this memory for themselves, is that we are having our matrix dinner and dance at the Bryanston Country Club on Saturday the third in the evening. I'm very, very pleased that our matrix have been patient and Supportive, and the parents have been very supportive of this process as we've actually postponed this twice already, and this is the third date put down on the calendar, and I'm very, very pleased that we are actually going to be able to do this and create this memory, something, as I mentioned, that very few metrics have actually done so.

Gershom Aitchison, host · [02:42]there's not much difference between level one and level three for schools in terms of safety protocol. And the reason for this is that schools are identified as high-risk transmission areas, and it's this weird twilight zone of reality where everything seems normal, we're getting on with our lives again, we're starting to get the economy moving, and everyone's back at work mostly, and then COVID rears its ugly head, and we can't all be back at school. And there are a couple of reasons why not everybody is back on campus at this point, and the main one is very simply that Edu Inc doesn't have the space to accommodate everybody while observing the social distances in the classroom. Currently, we are sitting at about sixty percent capacity, with the matrix cohort four and either cohort one, two, or three on campus at any point, and with the teachers. And right now, I don't see that it's going to change anytime soon unless they relax the safety protocols or unless a vaccination is found. Depending on the relaxation of regulations and safety protocols, the plan is to bring cohort one and cohort four onto the campus permanently, with cohort two and cohort three rotating. Once it relaxes a bit further, the plan is to have cohort one, cohort two, and cohort four permanently on campus, with cohort three being the last cohort to be rotated into full-time on school.

Gershom Aitchison, host · [05:12]I'm very glad that you used the word hybrid learning, and I just want to differentiate something quickly. We've spoken, and a lot of schools are talking about blended learning. Blended learning is when you use technology and books in the classroom at the same time. In other words, an analog process and a digital process. We do that anyway. There is digital and analog process in the class, and blended learning is part of how Edu Inc engages with the educational process. But hybrid learning is, are you in the classroom or not in the classroom? Is the student in the classroom or not in the classroom? Is the teacher in the classroom or not in the classroom? So hybrid learning is something that we are experimenting with. It's organic process. We have a few ideas on what that looks like, and we're slowly putting those things into place. And one of them is upgrading the accessibility and the framework and backbone of our internet at school, the network capabilities. So what we are doing, on Wednesday, having had some professionals come in, is that we are upgrading the fiber line between the two campuses to a 10 gig line. We are putting in wireless access points that have four or six radios at five gigahertz so that more devices can reliably connect to those hotspots. We are going to make sure that there is a lot more stability in the network that we have in place to cope with hybrid learning, the devices that the kids are using, and the demand we're busy putting on our network at present. I'm still very comfortable that G Suite, which is a Google product, provides the framework for our software, our storage, and it's very secure. And one of the things that we are also going to be putting in an upgrade because of so many devices accessing the network is a mechanical firewall, so that a lot of our devices that are connected are protected from outside.

Gershom Aitchison, host · [07:06]one of the things that I'm reflecting on at the moment is that there are a couple of the matrics that will be leaving on Friday, who I think are going to be ringing the bell five or six times. They've been at Edu Inc for a very, very long time, almost since the inception of the school. For that kind of legacy to be passing through the school is fantastic, and I'm going to be very sad to see them go, but I know that Edu Inc has left its mark on them, but I'll speak more about that at the valediction on Friday. Something else that I'd just like to mention to everybody is that Jax wrote a COVID article for the Independent Education magazine, and it's been published in the latest edition, the spring edition, and I've put it on the resource section under articles on the website. It's a three-page article that she wrote at the beginning of COVID, and it documents well how we started out and what our aim was and where we're going at this point. Other than that, I'd like to invite everybody who's able to, watch the live stream of our valediction. It's a very emotional ceremony, and you get to hear from the Matrix about their experience and their hopes for their future as we say goodbye to them. Hope to see you there on Friday.