Senior Phase: Gr.7-9

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Class times

Classes start at 08.00 and end at 13.45.

Classes are usually 50 min long with a 5-10 min break between classes, and one 30 min break during the day.

 

​Just for Fun:

Art and Drama are a part of our weekly classes. We aim to open learners' creative minds, build confidence and have fun. There is no judgment or marks for tasks. 

Weekly themes are a well-loved tradition in this class - who doesn’t love dressing up?

Each term ends with either an outing or a party. 

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Teaching Styles

At Sandra's House, we don't like giving classes as lectures. The format of classes depends largely on the subject, but if you expect your child to sit in class with a teacher lecturing the entire day, this is not the place for you. Listening to lectures is a passive process and learners can easily get distracted. We prefer classes centered around active learning where learners are encouraged to engage with the material and solve problems with guidance from facilitators. As active learning tools, we use projects, exercises from textbooks, past papers, watching and creating videos, and online software. This doesn't however mean that we don't give classes. Please see the next couple of questions for more detail on how subjects are taught.  

Learning is broken down into 4 areas: lecturing, memorising, active learning,

and facilitated self-study.

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Lecturing is not, according to studies (read the article here, or here), the

ideal way of teaching. We use a combination of short classes and videos to

introduce concepts and explain the work covered in textbooks. 

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Memorising: In all subjects, there are terms and concepts that simply need

to be memorised. We teach learners techniques to memorise facts, but it is

their responsibility to spend time on this. We often quiz learners on facts and give

them worksheets to help memory and recall. 

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Active learning: This is the fun part! We present workshops where learners do practical applications, discussions, and tasks to help them understand and engage with the content. The structure of active learning workshops depends on the subject, but the aim is the same: learning through doing and having fun. 

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Self-study: In times between workshops and lectures learners do ‘self-study’ lessons giving them time to do plenty of exercises and past papers, allowing time to study as well as complete tasks. Facilitated self-study lessons to develop skills in comprehension, reading, and study techniques and also teach learners to be self-reliant and self-disciplined. 

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Curriculum providers

We work with Sandra’s House workbooks that are project-based and integrated between subjects as well as a variety of CAPS textbooks. All the work in the workbooks is based on the CAPS curriculum. Even at a young age, we want learners to start doing research projects to explore the world through their curriculum and foster curiosity. It is important to us that learners in this phase learn study skills as well as test and exam writing skills.

Learners with Impaq can choose any package from them that they choose. Learners can work through the Impaq books at home. Only learners registered with Impaq will be allowed to write Impaq test and do Impaq tasks. 

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Teachers / tutors / facilitators

Our teachers are not all qualified teachers. We hire people who have a passion for teaching; are capable of doing so with love and understanding and have experience working with kids. These values are more important to us than a certificate or degree. We train our teachers and monitor classes and progress closely.

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Parental involvement

We appreciate parents who are involved in their child's education. Studies have shown that learners with involved parents perform better at school. However, we completely understand parents don't always have the subject knowledge to assist with learning.

By being involved, we mean:

• Being aware of test and assignment dates,

• Checking that learners do homework,

• and most importantly: keeping in contact with us. Whenever there is a concern, a missed school day, or a good achievement - we need to know. We can only deal with problems if we know they exist.

We want your child to be happy at Sandra's House, and we want them to perform to the best of their ability.