Compulsory mask-wearing and temperature monitoring: The new school day at the Hermanus School in South Africa

In South Africa, the number of Covid-19 cases is increasing rapidly. Nevertheless, the government decided to re-open schools in June, including the Hermanus Waldorf School. The majority of the children who go to Hermanus School come from disadvantaged families in the surrounding townships. The Corona crisis has further increased poverty in these locations. In their August newsletter the team of teachers at Hermanus describe the new daily life at the school in a message to donors who support the school.

Dear Friends,

We would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your continued support and kindness to our school. We appreciate this from the bottom of our hearts as we know that you, too, are facing difficulties during this pandemic. Our school closed on the 20th March for the holidays and was scheduled to re-open on 31st March, but due to the coronavirus, we were unable to re-open. Once the Department of Education advised that schools could re-open, the staff got together to put into place a series of preventative measures and other protocols, to reduce the spread of Covid-19.

Our daily school life is structured so that the children are not all here at the same time. The teachers are responsible for taking and recording the children’s temperatures at the start of the school day and ensuring that the learners sanitize their hands on a constant basis. All staff and children are required to wear a mask. Class 6 & 7 attend school every day from Monday to Friday. They start at 8am, have their break at 10am and leave at 1pm. Class 4 & 5 are split and, in rotation, each group attends school on a Monday, Wednesday and Friday one week, and on a Tuesday and Thursday the following week. They start their day at 8.45am, have a break at 10.45am, and leave at 1.45pm. Class 1, 2 & 3 are also split and come in either on Monday and Wednesday or on a Tuesday and Thursday. Kindergarten children attend school every day from 8am until 1pm and as not so many children have yet returned to school, it has not been necessary to split the classes. As soon as the children leave their classrooms for their break the cleaning staff go into the classrooms to spray and wipe down the desks. At the end of each day the Teacher of each class does this as well. The children wear their uniforms one day and then civvies are worn the next day; this allows their parents time to do laundry.

Children are also given peanut butter sandwiches or soup, if they have not brought anything to eat at school, or if there is a need. Unfortunately, all extramural activities have been suspended, so at the moment, there is no eurythmy, marimbas, sport, computer, extra reading, or chess.

In an abnormal world our Teachers are doing their absolute best to make the school day as normal as possible for the children.