Our content carefully balances video, animation and text to ensure that it is engaging. Online learning at VHS is asynchronous, meaning students can access their learning content when convenient. This reinforces the skills taught in the digital content, helping them understand concepts through multiple practice opportunities. At VHS students move at their own pace and receive feedback on tasks and assessments to enable them to master their learning goals.

The aim of online education is not to match traditional classrooms but to improve it. When learning online, students have the autonomy of creating a learning schedule that best meets their preferences and learning goals. The parent or guardian takes full responsibility in ensuring that the learning environment is conducive for their child to thrive and monitor their progress. The Virtual High School (VHS) takes on the responsibility of ensuring the learning programme is aimed at providing multiple learning opportunities for the student’s development through designing interactive lessons, ensuring there adequate communicative and academic support channels for students and their families.

Our learning material has been created to accommodate different learning styles, levels, and pace. Students move at their own pace and receive feedback on all tasks and assessments to help them move onto the next topic in the curriculum and achieve their learning goals. VHS makes use of the personalised approach to ensure sufficient learning, and student engagement is achieved, without overwhelming the student. We use the student’s level of knowledge and skills for each subject to create their individual learning plan by providing them with resources and assessments that will improve the knowledge retention and skill acquisition.

No. Learning at the Virtual High School is asynchronous (offline). This type of learning allows for students to learn at a time convenient to their schedule. However, students may request live consultations with VHS Student Coordinators.

Yes. Homework is embedded in the learning programme. This will consist of low-stakes practice opportunities ahead of a scheduled assessment, assignments, in-home experiments, and other offline learning opportunities.

This provides the student the opportunity to work through their learning programme independently and acquire the support of our Student Coordinators and tutors where they may experience learning challenges.

The content and assessments are delivered in a way, where students will not feel overwhelmed with the volume of information provided to them and will only be assessed on what they have been taught. Lessons are designed according to students’ existing knowledge and skills.

Difficult topics are divided into smaller tasks, and the aim is to gradually build the students’ skills at solving each sub-task before eventually bringing all the sub-tasks together as a whole task.

Where topics are fully introduced at the beginning, students will be provided with many sub-tasks, and worked examples to teach them a new skill, while ensuring that students understand how each of the sub-tasks are related. The Virtual High School uses a range of low-stake and high-stake questions in all of our assessments, while increasing independent problem-solving by allowing students to demonstrate what they have learned.

Learning will take place asynchronously. There will not be live sessions to accommodate the personal needs of students. However, students can request online live consultations with our Student Coordinators and tutors. In our approach to accommodating families from various socio-economic backgrounds and those who may not be able to access digital devices or reliable internet connection for cycle tests and examinations, the Virtual High School (VHS) looks to partner to with state and non-state organisations in major cities where students may complete scheduled internal assessments at specific venues. These venues will be available based on the number of students that opt to be assessed at these venues. It is the responsibility of the parent or guardian to make the necessary arrangements to ensure that the student arrives at the venue on time. VHS will bear no responsibility on the costs or the arrival of students at the selected venues.

Asynchronous learning at the Virtual High School (VHS) works as an effective means in personalising education. Technology-driven learning helps students and teachers identify shortcomings in knowledge acquisition and application, while implementing the needed interventions. Self-directed learning is an approach where students take charge of their learning by setting learning goals and monitoring their progress. The VHS Student Coordinators facilitate the learning process by reviewing their learning goals as they progress through the curriculum. This approach promotes content mastery, as teachers are able to spend additional time on addressing learning gaps or misconceptions that the student may have. When students enrol at VHS, they are required to complete baseline assessments to evaluate the knowledge and skills they have acquired. This allows our Student Coordinators to assist students in establishing learning goals based on their learning styles, strengths, pace and needs without overwhelming them.

School-Based Assessments (SBAs) are assessments that make up a portfolio of tasks that comprises the marks per term. An SBA mark is a compulsory component of the final promotion mark for all registered for the National Senior Certificate. These are in the form of tasks such as projects, assignments, practical assessments, oral assessments, tests and examinations. SBA’s will make up 40% of total mark/final progression mark and examinations will make up 60% of total mark/final progression mark.

A practical assessment task (PAT) forms part of the curriculum provided by the Department of Basic Education. The PAT mark is a compulsory component of the final promotion mark. The PAT is implemented during the first three terms of each academic year. These tasks allow for students to be assessed regularly during the school year and allow for the assessment of skills that cannot be assessed in a written format.

The Virtual High School uses a project-based learning approach which utilises video demonstrations, online simulations, online seminars and at-home experiments.  Students do not need to attend a physical venue for these practical exercises. All practical tasks must take place within the home environment and supervised by a guardian at all times. Students will be briefed on the necessary items to complete the practical task, as well as the submission process.

All practical assessment tasks are submitted onto our learning portal. For practical examinations/tasks, students will be required to record themselves and then upload their videos onto the portal. Any tasks that require hand-written answers, diagrams or calculations are done on paper, scanned, and then uploaded to the task or assessment.  Students will be briefed on the instructions for each practical, as well as the submission format.

All practical tasks must take place at home. Students will be briefed on the items needed for the tasks. Any questions that require hand-written answers, diagrams or calculations are to be done on paper, scanned, and then uploaded to the relevant task. This upload has a specified format, time and place. Students may make use of their smartphones to record themselves where instructed.  Students may additionally require a printer or a smartphone with a camera that can be used to download a scanner app to scan documents.  The submission formats for each subject will be communicated to students.

As a single-medium school, the language of instruction is in English. Students enrolled at the Virtual High School (VHS) need to have a good understanding of English so as not to compromise their ability to progress academically. The inability of a student to communicate effectively in English may place limitations on their academic progress at VHS. If a student is coming from a non-CAPS-aligned curriculum or whose current language of instruction is not English, then tutoring at an additional cost is recommended.

STEM represents science, technology, engineering, and maths. STEAM represents STEM subjects, as well as the arts (humanities, languages, dance, drama, music, visual arts, design and new media). The difference lies in their approaches. STEM focuses explicitly on hard scientific concepts to drive progress, while STEAM investigates the same concepts, but does this through inquiry and problem-based learning methods used in the creative process.

Research has found that developmental challenges can be addressed through technological innovation which is informed by foundations in mathematics and science. However, declining maths and science participation in schools stems from negative perceptions of maths and science, this may result in nations losing their global competitiveness as well as technological advancement capabilities.

All learning outcomes at the Virtual High School (VHS) are created to complement a variety of learning styles, strengths, interests, needs and academic goals. VHS aims to develop students who are lifelong learners and are able to apply a variety of problem-solving techniques creatively. Students at VHS will be able to take part in activities that connect their learning to real-life examples. This promotes the learning of other skills such as understanding and fluency of concepts, problem-solving and reasoning; which will allow them to respond to familiar and unfamiliar situations by employing appropriate problem-solving to make informed decisions and solve real-life problems efficiently.  The promotion of STEM and STEAM at VHS will be achieved through the following approaches:

• Content Mastery through Personalised Learning:

Students will work according to their own learning styles, pace, and academic goals; while being provided with assessment opportunities and feedback aimed at improving their proficiency levels.

• Linking learning outcomes to other subjects and career-fields:

Topics are linked to real-life scenarios, allowing students to demonstrate their understanding by using real-life examples and specific skills needed across various industries. Our VHS library resources consist of animation, video and virtual experiments to assist in understanding concepts and methodology better. Additionally, by providing students with insight into various careers, they are able to develop an interest in their learning activities. This further aids in goal-setting as they develop goals to pursue their chosen careers.

Yes. Representation in curriculum delivery refers to the notion that if students are exposed to people like them reflected in the learning outcomes, they are more likely to identify with those individuals, while celebrating the unique attributes of those that they may not identify with. In aligning our learning objectives with global objectives, students will be exposed to students and will be required to demonstrate their acquisition of knowledge and skills in practical ways through varied critical thinking and problem-solving approaches to issues faced across South Africa and globally.

Decolonising education involves evaluating the limitations and biases of the current curriculum; the omissions in initial teacher education and professional development training, examining the political and societal legacies of colonialism and how they have influenced educational policies. The Virtual High School’s promotion in decolonising education is a two-part approach, these are:

• Engaging educational policy. This relates to accessibility, when considering South Africa’s colonial past and apartheid era, as well as how certain population groups’ opportunities to quality education were limited. VHS aims to provide marginalised students (those who have been excluded from learning opportunities or those whose education may not meet national or global standards) to the same learning opportunities that students in well-resourced schools possess.
• Empowering students to employ acquired knowledge and skills to advance the development of their communities.

The national curriculum outlines knowledge, skills and values which must be taught in South African schools. The curriculum aims to ensure that students acquire and apply knowledge and skills in ways that are meaningful to their own lives, as well as those around them. In this regard, the curriculum promotes knowledge in local contexts while being sensitive to global imperative. The vision for the Virtual High School’s (VHS) is aligned to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UNSDGs) by developing graduates who are able to address challenges facing their communities, while increasing their prospects of participating in decisions that affect them socially, economically and politically.