Leading Homeschooling Provider Launches New Online school

South Africa’s biggest and most trusted homeschooling provider, Impaq, is launching a new online school at a time when demand for distance education continues to grow rapidly.
For 20 years, Impaq (which forms part of the Optimi Group) has been a leader in structured homeschooling in South Africa. During this period more than 169 000 learners have used its educational services.
With the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic, demand for Impaq’s homeschooling offering — which follows the CAPS curriculum and caters for Grade R - 12 learners — has accelerated with record numbers of families switching to this form of education in the last 18 months.
Amid this backdrop, Impaq has embarked on taking schooling to the next level by launching a fully catered-for online school for English and Afrikaans speaking learners. This move brings Impaq’s offering full circle in terms of it being a distance learning provider in South Africa. 
Admissions to the online school are officially opening on the 1st of September 2021, with the school set to cater to Grade 7-11 learners in 2022. Plans are in place to expand to other grades from 2023.
While Impaq’s traditional homeschooling offering has involved parents having the option to teach their children; the online school will go further by placing children into classes led by highly qualified teachers. The class-sizes will be capped at 30 children and the online school’s teachers will deliver the lessons virtually. 
Timetables will be a key component of the school and will include structured time to improve fitness and mental wellbeing. Learners will also be encouraged to take part in other activities, such as a robotics club and fitness events. Impaq’s Online School further has a collaboration with the ‘It’s OK’ mental health app to track and ensure the mental wellbeing of learners. 
Children’s educational progress will be monitored by Impaq’s sophisticated Optimi Learning Platform. This online system can help to identify gaps in children’s learning and ensure that educational outcomes are tracked and met.
Louise Schoonwinkel, MD of Optimi Home, says: “We are very excited to be launching the new Impaq online school for the 2022 cohort. With our longstanding and leading reputation as a highly trusted provider in the distance education market, we are the best-placed company in South Africa to offer a reliable, 21st century online schooling offering.”
Registration and costs
For families wanting to sign up their children to Impaq’s new online school, it’s as simple as visiting Impaq’s website, clicking on the registration page, and checking the additional ‘online school’ option.
Costs for Impaq’s online school are competitive compared to others in SA and will cover both books, exam fees and costs for practical exams. For Grade 7-9 learners, these costs will start from R 2 200 per month and for Grade 10-11 learners, these will start from R 2 669 per month. 
More information about Impaq’s wide range of subject choices, resources, and the CAPS curriculum it follows can be found on the Impaq website.
There’s no doubt that just like its innovation in the homeschooling space, Impaq will go on to enhance South Africa’s online schooling environment and offer parents a viable alternative for years to come.