30 July 2021
Dear Junior School Parents
 
As you know, school reopened on Monday 26 July and the juniors are now back at school full time. The Department of Education has said that parents may no longer apply for their child to be schooled at home. At present we have 6 learners who have tested positive for COVID-19 and 22 learners who are in isolation. This does indicate that these learners contracted the virus during the holidays and not when they were at school. The COVID-19 protocols are still very much in force as we negotiate the third wave of this pandemic.
 
The everyday use of the WhatsApp groups is no longer necessary in the junior school. I ask that the girls and parents also be mindful of the time when sending teachers WhatsApp messages as it is very intrusive in our teachers’ lives. Teachers have often reported receiving messages in the middle of the night and in weekends.
 
Should a junior learner fall ill, the procedure that was followed pre-Covid will now apply. When the learner returns to school, she will submit an absentee note to her register class teacher and she will receive the work missed, which she will need to catch up. If a learner is absent due to Covid reasons, the teacher will arrange for a work pack to be collected from the guard.
                                                                                                                                               
COVID POLICIES
I would like to remind parents of our COVID protocols with regards to quarantine and isolation periods:
1. After a positive test for COVID of a learner, Mrs Oldham (info@riebeekcollege.co.za / 0419922442)  is to be contacted immediately so that a we can trace possible contacts and report information to the Health Department, as is our legal duty.
2. A positive test will automatically result in a minimum of ten days of isolation.
3. Anyone who has been in the presence of a positive individual with their mask down for longer than fifteen minutes and closer than a distance of one and a half metres is to quarantine immediately. This person is known as a Primary contact. Obviously, any physical contact, no matter how brief, with a positive individual will result in a quarantine period.
4. This contact with a positive person will need to be traced back to at least three days from when the positive person first received the result.
5. The Primary contact needs to quarantine for a minimum of seven days. After that they can have a COVID test and, if negative, may return to school on the eighth day. Alternatively, they have the option not to test, but rather to isolate for ten days, and return to school after that.
6. A contact of a Primary contact known as a Secondary Contact does not need to quarantine but should be extra cautious of all protocols and watch for any symptoms that may arise.
 
Most importantly, we should all rather err on the side of caution and rather quarantine and test if any risk is present. We are acutely aware of the frustration and concerns with regards to learners being away from school, however, parents will ultimately be held responsible if these protocols are not followed and an outbreak occurs on the campus.
 
All contact sport was suspended at the end of May 2021, and this is still applicable. The junior learners, however, do have compulsory, non-contact sports afternoons; the details of which have been sent to parents and this information is on the d6. This sport is compulsory as the learners receive a mark for this which forms part of their final Life Skills mark. Mathematics and English DAT classes also will resume next week for the junior learners.
 
The Clothing Shop is relocating to the hostel and therefore will be closed next week. It will reopen in its new premises on Tuesday 10th August. Parents will enter the hostel grounds through the driveway gate on the left hand side of the hostel and be guided by the signage to reach the clothing shop. The clothing shop will not be operating on a cash basis at all to protect our staff and girls. Debit and credit cards are to be used. Should a parent have no option other than to pay cash, they will have to proceed to the school once they have selected their purchases to pay for them and then return to the hostel to pick up their goods.
 
It is so pleasing to see the Riebeek girls dressed in their school uniform. The girls certainly are looking smart!
 
Assessment planners will be handed out on Monday and will appear on the d6 under Resources in the category Grade ---- 2021 on Monday
 
I wish you all a successful term. May you stay warm and safe.
 
Best Regards
 
Mrs K Stear