The stats do not lie...

We made a decision to communicate with you on a weekly basis in these challenging times. We are hopeful and positive that our community can negotiate all the challenges that Covid brings. We encourage all to stay positive, to keep encouraging one another and to do our best to keep our community safe.

We think of all who have lost loved ones during the past year to Covid and through

other causes. Our thoughts and prayers are with you. May their souls rest in peace.

2021 COVID-19 QUESTIONNAIRE:

Earlier today, the abovementioned questionnaire was emailed to all our Grade 8 – 12 parents. Kindly ensure that you complete and submit it before 12 noon on Wednesday, 10 February. We have already received numerous submissions. Keep them coming!

Please take note of the following statistics sent to the school by the Eastern Cape Department of Health:

As on 2 February 2021, 64 new SARS-Cov-2 cases were reported.

Regarding the 2640 current active Covid-19 cases,

the majority are in Chris Hani District (35%),

followed by Amathole (18%) and OR Tambo (16.2%).

The provincial recovery rate was 93%.

Only the Chris Hani district reported a recovery rate below 90%.

From 5 January 2021 to date, testing rate has increased while the percentage of specimens

testing positive has decreased.

Numbers do indicate that new cases in Chris Hani District are dropping.

We are grateful for that.

The statistics above show that we are not out of danger. Therefore, let us all focus on eradicating this virus from our community.

ACADEMICS:

We will, in all likelihood, only receive notification from the Department of Basic Education

towards the end of next week, regarding the rules and regulations for return to school by

learners; whether all Grades will be allowed to return simultaneously or not; and what we will be allowed to do extra-murally.

For the sake of clarity, we have decided to bring our boys back in the following manner:

To implement a staggered approach to welcoming boys back to school from 15 – 26 February 2021. As was the case last year, we will have a maximum of three grades back per day. Please prepare for your son to come to school on the following days.

1. Grade 12 to attend school every day

2. Grades 10 and 11: 15, 17, 19, 23 and 25 February

3. Grades 8 and 9: 16, 18, 22, 24 and 26 February

On the days that boys are not attending school, teaching and learning will continue online. From Monday 3 March, we aim to have all our boys back at school every day.

All boarders are to report to their hostels on Sunday, 14 February between 13:00 and 16:30.

Supper will be at 17:30. All boys who are unable to return in time for supper, need to advise

their Hostel Parents timeously, to arrange for a late supper pack, otherwise they will not be

catered for. On the days that boarders are not going to attend school, they will be engaged in online learning.

Data was made available to all Queenians whose parents had requested it via the Data

Verification survey late last week. A big thank you to our Old Boys who donated the funds for this data. This data has enabled all these young men to be able to connect to Google Classroom for their online classes.

Unfortunately, there are a few boys who have not connected to Google Classroom for their

lessons. Please ensure that your sons have joined their classes. During the coming week,

parents will be contacted if your son has not joined his Google Classroom lessons in his specific subjects.

Kindly check that your son has joined his Grade’s WhatsApp group. This is a most informative platform for the boys to read and take cognisance of notifications.

COMMUNICATION WITH PARENTS:

Please note that our main form of communication with parents is via the D6 Application. We will maintain using this platform for the month of February; whereafter we will move to the Ed Admin platform. Our advices will follow closer to the time regarding the date when we will no longer be using the D6 App and how the Ed Admin App can be downloaded.

In the meanwhile, if you or your son do not have the D6 app on a phone or other smart device, please ensure that you download it (it uses hardly any data to download or to use).

It can be downloaded from your PlayStore/AppStore.

The link to follow to upload the D6 application is: https://d6.co.za.education/downloads/

We also communicate with parents via e-mail. Should your e-mail address change during the course of the year, kindly ensure that your son’s Grade Secretary is advised of the change.

CULTURAL ACTIVITIES:

The various heads of our Cultural activities have created 25 Google classroom platforms, one for each cultural activity, to share information and communicate with our boys. The codes to join have been shared with boys on social media as well as on their Grade WhatsApp groups and learners have already started to join. The teachers in charge are working hard to build the online presence of our societies and we are very excited about expanding Culture at Queen’s College in this way.

Naturally, we are looking forward to the day when we will be able to have face to face meetings and activities with our Queenians.

SPORT:

Sport plays a crucial role in the overall development of a child and at Queen’s College we would like to start with sport from Monday, 15 February. As previously mentioned, we are expecting a directive whether or not we may continue with non-contact sport. We would prefer to plan for the commencement of our non-contact sport in the meantime.

The priority for us as a school is to ensure the safety of the boys and staff and therefore would proceed with caution. Sessions will be limited to 10 boys to ensure the safety of everyone. A register will be taken at each session, screening of each boy and coach and all the Covid protocols will be in place such as, ensuring social distancing is maintained and sanitizing of any equipment used.

Non-contact sporting codes such as Athletics, Basketball (drills only and no games at practice sessions), Cricket, Cross Country, Squash, Swimming, Tennis, and Waterpolo (drills only and no games at practice sessions), will be the priority and Winter codes such as Hockey and Rugby (no contact – skills development only) will be introduced as we go.

Until such time as we receive the directive from the Department, our fields and facilities need to remain out of bounds to pupils and the public; and the boys must refrain from using them.

MOVEMENT:

Unfortunately, our school foyer / Admin area has once again been made a Red Zone. Accordingly, we urge parents to phone the school on 045-839 4188 so that all queries can be dealt with telephonically; and virtual meetings set up with the relevant staff members and parents, if needs be. This will alleviate unnecessary visits to the school. Payments are still able to be made at the school’s front door, as was custom from April 2020.

We urge all our families and their sons not to travel and visit others unnecessarily; the same with visits to shops and malls. This is all in a bid to do our bit to curb the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic; and to ensure that our school remains a Covid free zone.