Preparations have been under way to welcome back our Grade 7 and Grade 12 girls and staff back to school this week.

As mentioned last week, we are sticking primarily with the distance learning model to ensure that we can operate in a manner that is compliant with the health and safety standards we have been advised to maintain so as to ensure the safety of our staff and pupils as our first priority. It is worth noting that as we move forward, we will be using the consolidation day in a more structured way - especially to support our Matrics. As always, the baseline of the work to be completed can be found here for each grade: Grade 8, Grade 9, Grade 10, Grade 11 and Grade 12.

At this stage of the game, it is clear that time management is going to be a skill that our pupils require more than ever before. Feel free to view last week’s Elevate Education webinar on “Time Management” - online for a limited time only - to glean some tips in helping your children develop this vital life skill. I’m certain that we will hear more about the final Elevate Education webinar, which was held yesterday, in due course.

I’m also certain that our Grade 12s will have heard by now that the National Benchmark Tests (NBTs) will not be part of the admission criteria for admission to the University of Cape Town (UCT) in 2021. UCT has said that they are considering amendments to the current criteria and expect this process to be finalised soon. Prospective applicants are advised to submit their study applications without delay and to make sure that they submit their Grade 11 final school results to be considered for an early conditional offer of admission.

DAVID FICK

Head of Academics

Art Department News

These beautiful paintings are by some of our Grade 11 girls. At Springfield we encourage each girl to develop their own style and vision. I am often bowled over by the technical excellence and maturity of the work, as seen in these artworks. Creativity is a gift we can all embrace and our girls are making the most of this. Keep on painting! C.Britz

CINDY BRITZ

Although we are going into winter, iconic artist David Hockney makes an important point about how we ought to view the world.

ANDREW BENTLEY

Head of Culturals

Photography

Thank you for the interest in the photography competition. It has closed and winners will be announced.

MICHELLE COOPER

Teacher in Charge of Photography

Social Debating

Despite the lockdown, our girls are as keen as always to continue with any extramural activities they can. As such, the Debating Society has been working tirelessly to begin with Social Debating for our Grade 8-10s as soon as possible. As there is still uncertainty surrounding the timetable and term dates, we would initially like to see how many girls would be interested in participating in Social Debating. These sessions will occur on an online platform, and we have fantastic coaches and heads of the society that will be running the sessions. These sessions will run as follows:

Wednesdays from 15:00-16:30. There will be sessions where content and debating techniques will be discussed and taught, as well as sessions where the girls will be able to submit speeches that they will receive feedback on. These sessions will alternate from week to week. We will start by using WhatsApp as a platform for communication, so we ask that your daughter have access to a device where WhatsApp can be accessed. For larger group discussions and virtual debates, we will use Google Hangouts. There is a fee associated with joining debating of R240,00. This is the payment that will cover debating until the end of Term 3, and this will be deducted from your account.

If your daughter is interested in joining Team or Social Debating, please complete the following form: . Please note, that even if your daughter is currently participating in Team or Social debating this form still needs to be completed.

If music be the food of love, play on ...

As the world magically comes to a standstill, our Music Staff has been hard at work, teaching from home.

A special thank you to each of our music staff who have continued to work from home, ensuring that our girls are receiving regular lessons. Well done to all for embracing the new normal. I owe a huge amount of thanks to the music staff as well as the girls and parents who have conscientiously persevered in the process of teaching and learning music during this difficult time.

Thank you.

ANDREW BENTLEY

Head of Music

At School level there are webinars, discussions, robust debates and novel concepts being mooted. Whilst prima facie sport appears to have taken a back seat, forums continue to apply their minds to how School sport will resume. What will it look like? How can we train? How will it function? How can sport be conducted in a way that keeps our learners safe from a Covid point of view? How do we look after all those sports coaches who have lost their ability to earn a living through coaching a sport about which they are passionate? If our parents cannot physically spectate at matches, how can we live stream to them? What technologies do we need to adopt and adapt in this new normal to enable our best offering?

These are some of the difficult conversations sporting bodies are having with one another. We are very fortunate to be part of the Peninsula Girls Schools Games Union, which was established many years ago. We keep in regular contact with our colleagues at schools within this Union and we are constantly foraging for new ways and ideas to keep the momentum of sport and physical exercise going in all our schools. We are all passionate about our roles in the community and will constantly seek to drive sport and physical exercise where we can in this Covid 19 environment.

The most difficult current conversation, however, is the gazetted regulations put into place by the Minister of Education last week. These are specific that there will be no sport taking place at schools until such time as further directions are given. Whilst we do not know when new directions will be given, what we do know is that there are bodies representing school sports in discussion with government. We must acknowledge that there are far more important issues facing South African schooling at the moment and must wait for our turn, but in the meantime we are working towards what can hopefully be solutions.

COLLEEN REED

Head of Sport