Covid-19 Centre
Essential Information
The health and well-being of our students and staff is of paramount importance during the Covid-19 pandemic. Following the regulations and guidelines set down by the National Department of Education, combined with consultation and research, we have established protocols to be strictly enforced on our campus.
These protocols will be subject to ongoing risk assessment, with updates effected in line with the changing landscape and guidance from the relative authorities governing our school and country.
For over 175 years our Wynberg community has faced and overcome extraordinary societal challenges. As isolated as we are as families and individuals during lockdown, we stand together today as a community in the face of adversity as the effects of the global Covid-19 pandemic indiscriminately threaten life and livelihoods.
While our primary focus remains the education of our boys, their well being and that of their families is essential during these uncertain times. WBHS, alongside our sister schools, has established a Covid-19 Relief Fund as a vehicle to provide community support.
WBHS Covid-19 Relief Fund
With over R18 000 already pledged during the planning, Wynberg Boys’ High School reaches out to our endless chain of families past and present, old boys, staff, and our friends and neighbours for donations to swell the coffers of the fund.
All monies raised will be used towards
- Data for learners in need, for academic purposes during the lockdown period and beyond.
- Community food banks, and the provision of food parcels once lockdown has been lifted.
- The provision of support for disadvantaged schools and communities with whom we have established relationships.
- and other related needs as they arise
Fund Administrators: Headmaster, Mr Jan de Waal, Finance Manager, Mrs Cheryl Smith, Deputy Headmaster, Mr Larry Moser, and Mr Rodney Inglis.
How to donate to the WBHS Covid-19 Relief Fund
You may donate money via SnapScan or by means of an EFT to Wynberg Boys’ High School Account, with reference “COVID-19 RELIEF FUND”. Donations are all eligible for a Section 18A Certificate as Wynberg is a registered PBO.
BANKING DETAILS
Wynberg Boys’ High School
Standard Bank: Constantia (025309)
Cheque Account No: 071 691 227
Reference: COVID-19 RELIEF FUND
For further information regarding the WBHS COVID-19 Relief Fund, please contact Headmaster, Mr Jan de Waal: jdewaal@wbhs.org.za
Our strength is our community, our community our links. Help us to help others.
Our strength is our community, our community our links. Help us to help others.
21 October 2020: Covid-19 Update Two Grade 11 Cases Reported
18 October 2020: Covid-19 Update One Grade 11 Case Reported
14 October 2020: Covid-19 Update WCED – Awareness around Covid-19 risks following outbreak in the Southern Suburbs
12 October 2020: Covid-19 Update Precautionary changes to Matric Arrangements
12 October 2020: Covid-19 Update Two student cases reported
9 October 2020 Covid-19 Update Wynberg Water Polo Club letter to Parents, Swimmers, and Coaches
9 October 2020: Covid-19 Update All WBHS Campus Sport Suspended
6 October 2020: Covid-19 Update Intern, Mr Sheldon Norris, tests positive for Covid-19
9 September 2020: Grade 10 Changes to Time Table from 14 September 2020
25 August 2020: Covid-19 Update Exams, and a return to routine: Uniforms & Limited Sport from 7 September 2020
30 July 2020: Covid-19 Update Arrangements for School Reopening from 3 August 2020
24 July 2020: Covid-19 Update Arrangements for School Closure from 27 July 2020
23 July 2020: Wynberg Week Bulletin #3 Mr de Waal updates via YouTube
17 July 2020: Wynberg Week Bulletin #2 Mr de Waal updates via YouTube
20 July 2020: Covid-19 Update Vice-Principal of Pastoral Affairs, Mr Rudd, tests positive for Covid-19
7 July 2020: Covid-19 Update Screening Detects 2nd WBHS Infections
4 July 2020: WCED Letter – Back to School Head of Department, Mr Brian Schreuder
2 July 2020: Confirmation of Return of Remaining WBHS Grades from 6 July Statement by Minister Debbie Schäfer, Minister of Education Western Cape.
1 July 2020: Official Revised School Terms & Holidays 2020 Minutes – WCED Directorate: Institutional Management & Governance Planning
26 June 2020: WBHS Weekly Newsletter Our Screening Procedures Detect Infection
11 June 2020: Return to School for Grades 8 – 11 Official WBHS Notification
4 June 2020: WBHS Matrics Return to School YouTube Video
29 May 2020: WBHS Weekly Newsletter Official return dates for all Grades.
27 May 2020: ‘Teaching Under Lockdown …’ A ‘Wynberg Voices’ article by Ms Jocelyn de Mink
22 May 2020: WBHS Weekly Newsletter Joint Wynberg Campus of Schools Covid-19 Statement
20 May 2020: ‘WCED preparations for the return of learners to schools are progressing well’ Statement by Minister Debbie Schäfer, Minister of Education Western Cape.
19 May 2020 ‘Minister Schäfer welcomes the announcement of an approved date for reopening schools’ Statement by Minister Debbie Schäfer, Minister of Education Western Cape.
Grade 12 Updated Academic Arrangements – Letter to Parents, Friday 26 June 2020
Download the PDF letter distributed via email on Friday 26 June 2020
Grade 12 Academic Arrangements – Letter to Parents, Thursday 11 June 2020
This letter serves to give some clarity around the school calendar for the remainder of the year. I will make every attempt to highlight the key milestones around assessment and other activities so that you may plan your and your son’s lives with some degree of certainty – whatever that has come to signify during these changing times.Download the PDF letter distributed via email on Thursday 11 June 2020
Grade 12 Parents and Students – Letter, Saturday 23 May 2020
As we learn to live with this pandemic, we will all need to realise that some of us will contract the virus, but the success in fighting it will be in the cohesive team-work of abiding by a set of procedures that will allow us to do everything in our power to keep all of us safe. Schools were closed under government legislation on 18 March 2020. On 19 May 2020, the Minister of Basic Education announced that the Basic Education (School) sector Grade 12s may return to school from 1 June 2020.Download the PDF letter distributed via email on Saturday 23 May 2020
Back to school essential info, Grades 8 – 11. Letters emailed Friday 26 June 2020:
- Grade 11: Return on Monday 6 July 2020
- Grade 10: Return on Tuesday 7 July 2020
- Grade 9: Return on Friday 10 July 2020
- Grade 8: Return on Thursday 9 July 2020
Return dates for Grades 8 – 11 as per the letter emailed on Thursday 11 June 2020:
- Grade 11: Monday 6 July 2020
- Grade 10: Tuesday 7 July 2020
- Grade 9: Friday 10 July 2020
- Grade 8: Thursday 9 July 2020
We will communicate arrangements for each grade with parents and students one week before the scheduled date of return.
Jan de Waal, Headmaster, jdewaal@wbhs.org.za
Peter van Schalkwyk, Deputy Headmaster – Operations, peterv@wbhs.org.za
Jeanette Muller, Covid-19 Compliance Officer, jmuller@wbhs.org.za
Covid-19 Compliance Committee Members
Craig Childs
Andrew Wiley
Devin Stanton
Jeremy Kellerman
RJ Theunissen
Jeremy Petersen
Please use the FAQs below; the list is by no means comprehensive, and will continue to evolve – for further information please email secretaries@wbhs.org.za
Close Contact with a Person Tested Positive for Covid-19
Physical contact e.g. hugging, shaking hands, or sharing equipment. Face-to-face contact within 1 metre without a mask. Within a closed room for more than 15 minutes without a mask.
Casual Contact with a Person Tested Positive for Covid-19
No physical contact at all. Maintaining appropriate social distancing at all times. Being in the same room while wearing a face mask.
You must determine whether he has been in close contact or casual contact.
If close contact, please advise the school immediately and place him in isolation. He will be required to have a Covid-19 test and be cleared by a medical professional before returning to school.
School policy requires anyone who has had close contact or is living in the same household as a person who has tested positive, isolates and undergoes a Covid-19 test. Your son may only return to school once cleared to do so by a medical professional.
The individual should already be isolating at home and must continue to do so until receiving medical clearance to return to school.
The WBHS Covid-19 team will initiate Contact Tracing Protocols to determine with whom the individual had been in close contact.
Those identified at School as being in close contact with the individual will be escorted to our isolation centre to complete a set of questions determining their risk and with whom else they might have been in close contact. Parents/guardians will be asked to collect and isolate their boys who will be required to have a Covid-19 test and be cleared by a medical practitioner before returning to school.
Contact tracing will include family, friends, staff or anyone else they with whom they may have been in close contact.
Immediate treatment of spaces, surfaces, and equipment where the individual may have had close contact, over and above the daily cleaning, disinfecting, and sanitising of classrooms and communal areas.
Please inform your son’s House Head as soon as possible. You will be emailed essential WCED documentation to complete and return to the School, accompanied by a supporting letter motivating your son’s absence.
Unfortunately it will be very difficult for us to run a dual system with teachers delivering lessons in the classroom according to daily timetables, as well as teaching a few boys at home.
We will not be able to offer remote teaching to the levels or quality delivered over the last three months. With the full return of all Grades, our focus must understandably be on teaching in the classrooms. That being said, your son’s teachers will help by sending him work/notes, but the onus will be on your son to make contact and request the tasks and deadlines.
The more your son stays in contact with his teachers and the better his communication, the more he will benefit from the help provided.
The boys need to wear uniform one day of the week only to allow washing and drying of garments. Research shows that the virus remains on clothing for a maximum of 48 hours, meaning blazers and school shoes do not have to be cleaned after use. When the boys wear civvies, they must not wear the same garments two days in a row.
Monday (Gr 10-12) UNIFORM
Tuesday (Gr 10-12) CIVVIES
Wednesday (Gr 10-12) CIVVIES
Thursday (Gr 8-9) UNIFORM
Friday (Gr 8-9) CIVVIES
Matrics may wear civvies when writing exams over the next two weeks.
Unfortunately this is not possible.
Please inform your son’s House Head immediately, who will notify the necessary people in the school. A school representative will be in touch with you as soon as possible.
Please keep your son at home to monitor and isolate for a minimum of 14 days and be sure to advise his House Head immediately, who will notify the necessary people in the school. A school representative will be in touch with you as soon as possible.
As directed by the WCED, parents are legally required to pay school fees. If you need to discuss any financial issues regarding this debt, please contact Lyn Makinson in Finance, on email: lmakinson@wbhs.org.za. We appeal to parents to please honour this agreement as it enables us to continue providing your sons with the best teaching available. We appreciate your understanding during this time.