Educating for the Future

From the Master Julian Jeffrey

Dear parents I know many of you share my frustration with the delayed reopening of the school grounds to our pupils and staff. As a result of a minor resurgence in number of COVID-19 cases in the city - all imported from flights arriving in the city en route to Beijing - we are still required to be closed for the time being. I hope to be able to announce more positive news next week. Please take the time to read the material from my colleagues (below). They outline the further steps we are taking to make school life as familiar as possible, in addition to those I outlined in my letter to accompany the online teaching and learning survey that came out today. Our aim has always to been to keep the pupils focused, challenged and supported through the e-learning period and measures such as that outlined by Mrs Popovic on tutoring are another step in building pupil wellbeing and academic success. The feedback from your surveys over the past three weeks will also help to inform our work as we move into April. We are finalising the preparedness of the school estate, with inspections next week from local bureau leaders to assess the physical and educational plans we have in place. We are confident the site and our staff are as ready as it is possible to be in this challenging environment. You will see that the security and health and safety features of the school have been elevated to new heights of rigour and technological advancement; the dining room has been adapted for safe spacing of pupils and staff; and the classrooms are all being deep-cleaned in readiness for the arrival of their usual occupants. Finally this week I would like to remind parents that, while we will work through the published Easter/Qingming holiday this year, online learning will be suspended for the one-day Qingming festival on Monday 6th April.   Best wishes Julian Jeffrey MASTER

“How to protect yourself from coronavirus? ”

- An interview conducted by our young pupils 

FROM THE JUNIOR SCHOOL MILEPOST LEADS MR FORSTER, MP1 In Milepost 1 we have very much enjoyed our Lent IPC topic of “Treasure Island”. We have learnt so much about pirates, such as where in the world they lived, the different roles on a pirate ship and how to create and read a treasure map. We can’t wait to share all our learning in an exciting Exit Point on the 3rd of April. We are working in small groups with a teacher so that we can share our artwork, discuss our learning and even sing some pirate songs during the Exit Point showcase. MRS MONTOYA, MP2 The students in MP2 have been very busy working collaboratively in teams towards our live exit point on ‘How Humans Work.’ The groups have already selected a part of the body and to support their creativity and independence, they are currently deciding on different ways to present it, like songs, PPT, posters, role plays, and more. They are meeting every day and recording their video call sessions and chats. Teachers have joined their meetings and have solved questions and listened to their amazing ideas. Details to follow on the live showcase day! MR Cameron, MP3 MP3 have been learning about our topic 'Making the News' covering a variety of different topics. For our Exit Point, the children will be working in groups to showcase what they have been learning. We are currently arranging groups and they will begin to put together their information to create our Exit Point show. They are using their new skills in Microsoft Teams to collaborate and develop their work to show what will be a very inventive display of learning.