25 24 The Chronicle 2021 Centenary Edition COVID-19 in 2021 Wait... what did you have to do? In your centenary year! During the first year of the pandemic, in 2020, the College was largely dealing with compliancy and the uncertainty related to the COVID-19 epidemic, focusing on identifying risk areas and how to manage the related challenges for staff and boys. By 2021 flexibility and adaptability were the norm and innovation and invention were standard. TEACHING Our enhanced hybrid academic product has proved to be ground-breaking and world-class, to the extent that there has been a massive demand from other schools requesting access to our reinvented workbooks and resources. Despite all the challenges over the last two years, academic and other, Kearsney has not had to reduce the curriculum nor diminish our academic offering; in fact, the impact has been quite the opposite. We have enhanced our academic product and created one that is highly sought after. Upon returning to school at the beginning of 2021, we continued the hybrid model of teaching, catering to both contact learning and synchronous online teaching of those lessons, available to boys who could not return to school, were isolating or who had taken ill. This sometimes posed a challenge to teachers, as administering lessons and keeping track of the boys’ engagement online is difficult and demanding. As we could not monitor the boys through video, it became challenging to administer an assessment and maintain its authenticity and validity. Boys were inventive and resourceful during these online assessments. Teachers employed techniques to limit the opportunity to cheat. Some teachers tailor-made their tests to shuffle questions within an assessment. Others asked their boys to connect on another platform where video was enabled, where they could watch boys as they wrote. Innovation and invention became the trademark of the year! Boys had the opportunity to connect with their teachers after hours, and many teachers offered support lessons over weekends on a formal basis. In addition, others answered queries throughout the afternoon. Video recordings of revisions or working through a workbook were posted online. Dealing with COVID-19 has caused reinvention of the unique Kearsney workbooks and resources available to our boys, many of which are in massive demand by other schools. Teachers have included QR codes linking to their videos in their hardcopy notes and quick links to the electronic versions. To save the bandwidth for boys, we turned off their video capabilities whilst on Microsoft Teams calls. Some boys used this as an opportunity to use their time to ‘multitask’. When called upon to answer a question, a moment of silence followed, indicating that a boy was not present at his computer or was busy doing something else. They were often catching up on the latest episode of a series or missed movie, whilst others were busy with friends on an online gaming marathon! EMPATHY AND SUPPORT Given the challenges and stresses experienced by the boys engaging with the new environment, an Empathy Sheet was started. This was used to keep track of boys who were struggling to connect online or could not attend lessons. Some were dealing with illness or death in their families. This resource allowed teachers to connect with their boys personally and help them to manage their school commitments and engagement. Support teaching strategies were put in place to assist with some of the challenges of distance learning, when this occurred. INTER-HOUSE COMPETITIONS SAVED THE DAY The gazetted off-on rulings throughout the year regarding contact sport created challenges, but the introduction of inter-house competitions, in line with the current rules and regulations, brought a camaraderie, excitement and positive energy, which were a joy to witness. In the final few weeks of the second term, when traditional winter sports were prohibited in every form, the College introduced an adapted inter-house athletics programme, where every boy, regardless of athletic ability, was able to represent his House and contribute toward the goal of his House being crowned champions. Upon the resumption of the third term, with inter-school and contact sports still suspended, an internal inter-house football competition was initiated. This event was a great success, with the boys displaying tenacity and passion for their Houses. A large majority of the boys also took part in a gruelling inter-house cross country race in the David Hall Conservancy, where boys helped each other along the course. RETURN OF INTER-SCHOOL SPORT Inter-school fixtures resumed as soon as contact sport was permitted under the COVID regulations. This resulted in the normal Term 3 sports programme after half-term, with football, rugby 7s, indoor hockey, canoeing, cross country, golf, squash and tennis all making a full return to competition and the continuation of the High Performance Programme for basketball, cricket and water polo. Whilst sporting restrictions had been lifted, spectators were still not permitted on campus. This led to many a Saturday with boys playing behind closed doors, with some parents viewing from the perimeter fences. The atmosphere amongst the parents was always jovial and appreciative of the key component of school sport, which is affording the boys an opportunity to play competitive sports. CULTURE@KEARSNEY PROGRAMME SEVERELY CURTAILED Whilst the COVID restrictions dictated that the various components of the Culture@Kearsney programme could not go ahead in the same formats as previously, we continued to provide the talented pupils of KwaZulu-Natal with an opportunity to experience the joy and freedom of the arts in this challenging time. Where possible the format of events was adapted so that the Art, Photographic and Words elements were able to continue. Innovation and invention became the trademark of the year! Boys can “multitask” in online classes! Strange times, with spectators not allowed! Scan to watch a video of the Culture@Kearsney Photographic competition and Art Exhibition on YouTube. One of the beautiful works of art from the Culture@ Kearsney Art Exhibition 2021
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