Apex High School named Super School by News24
11 December 2020
Apex High School in Eerste River has not missed a single day of teaching since the announcement of the national state of disaster due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
This incredible feat was rewarded when the school was informed that they won News24’s inaugural Super Schools competition.
The online news publication wanted to honour teachers and schools that went beyond the call of duty during the national lockdown to make sure their learners stayed up to date with their work.
Apex High School Principal Renate van der Westhuizen said the award came as a surprise. “Firstly, Apex did not know we were nominated for the competition. One of our parents messaged us to inform us that we were the top 5. Needless to say, we were shocked. We shared the link with our parents and friends of Apex and then they shared it and voted.”
The day after the national state of disaster was announced, the school had an emergency staff meeting to discuss the way forward. “We could not predict how long the lockdown will last and for how long the schools will remain closed. Despite all the uncertainties, the staff unanimously decided that we do not want to lose a single day of contact time.”
Van der Westhuizen said while they were unsure about how to reach all the learners considering Apex being a no-fee school serving a community where WIFI and devices were far from the norm, their roles as teachers amidst this disaster remained clear: to teach, to educate and be resilient despite all the possible reasons why it is an unrealistic goal.
“Today we have a fully functional online learning platform, through Moodle, where scholars can work for free. The Moodle app provided valuable data for us to track scholars’ attendance, submission of formal assessments and how each individual scholar is functioning online. We do not merely share PDF documents online, or work schedules, every lesson is interactive and attempts to mimic a classroom setting.
“The data limit remains a challenge, but our teachers’ resilience ignited a flame in our scholars, and they want to achieve. They want to stay updated and prepared for the end of the year assessments. We have a slogan at our school: “Whatever It Takes”. This year we were tested on our belief and commitment to this slogan; staff and scholars, but the teachers indeed proved that they are willing to do whatever it takes to ensure a quality education to every scholar.”
The Western Cape Education Department is delighted for Apex High School. It is wonderful that they have been recognized for their achievements and initiatives during this very tumultuous year.
Congratulations!
Read the full News24 article here.