Glenealy School Newsletter
11th March 2021
Message from Phil
Dear Parents and Caregivers,
It’s been another great week in school and I know that the children have really enjoyed their time with us on-site and are excited about the prospect of returning to a full school next week. We have excellent feedback from parents this week following our parent teacher and three way conferences which have been taking place virtually throughout this week.
I am very pleased to announce that thanks to our wonderful staff’s commitment to test every two weeks, we have received EDB approval for 100% of our students to return to school from Monday 15th March 2021. We will be following a new schedule which maximises learning for our students whilst keeping them safe at the start of the day, during breaks and as they leave the site.
We want to thank you for working with us to trial some of our new health and safety protocols this week. Our drop off system is well established and we are looking forward to welcoming the whole school back next week. Our pick up schedule is a little different and we are honing our protocols in response to some trials this week. Please try to stick to the drop off and pick up times in the table below.
Please can you make sure that you share this new process with your caregivers who will be picking students up.
Just to recap the Drop off and Pick Up protocol:
Enter the site at your scheduled time (if you have multiple students enter at the time for the oldest in the family) via the Main Gate. The younger children will be kept waiting under supervision on the playground.
Take your temperature using the device by the gate
Follow the dots until you reach the children in the undercover area (maintain social distance by sticking to the dots)
Your children will come to you
Leave immediately by the Rear Gate. There will be no exit via the Main Gate at the end of the school day.
No eating on-site
For the small number of students who are regularly picked up by drivers at the gate, they will wait by the pick up point at the Rear Gate, please inform drivers of this alternative arrangement.
Travel and Health Declaration Form
The Hong Kong Government has revised the requirements on the declaration forms and as a result all families should resubmit the Travel and Health Declaration form on the ESF App prior to sending their children into school on Monday 15th March.
This form will be updated in the next few days. Please complete this before Monday morning.
We have been monitoring the temperatures being taken and recorded via the App each day and the number of people not uploading temperatures to the ESF App is still very high.
We receive a daily report at 8:00am. From Monday 15th March, children will not be allowed to remain in the classroom after 8:30am if they have not had their temperature recorded at home. All children who have not had their temperature checked at home will be relocated to The Centre. Their parents will be called and asked to come to school with their own thermometers. Parents will be met at the main gate and children will be brought down to them. Once their temperatures have been checked and entered on the ESF App they will be permitted to return to class.
If your caregivers are responsible for taking your child’s temperature in the morning please ensure that they have access to the ESF App. Your child's carers can register the child's temperature on your behalf in the following way.
Install the ESF App on the device of the person you would like to give the authority to input your child’s temperature each day
When they open the App for the first time it will ask for the unlock code
They need to enter the parent’s Gateway registered email address when requesting the unlock code.
The parent will receive an email with the unlock code.
Share this code to activate the ESF App.
Once this is done, please click on "Globe VLE" button and input the child's temperature
For the visual learners amongst you, please see slide 4 of this Guide for the ESF App
A reminder that temperature checks are also recommended at home for any children who are sick and over the weekend to ensure that children are fever free for 48 hours before returning to school.
Please can you also continue to be cautious and vigilant about illness, and do not send your child to school if they have any of the following symptoms.
Children's COVID-19 symptoms
While children and adults experience similar symptoms of COVID-19, children's symptoms tend to be mild and cold-like. Most children recover within one to two weeks. Possible symptoms can include:
Fever or chills
Nasal congestion or runny nose
Cough
Sore throat
Shortness of breath or difficulty breathing
Fatigue
Headache
Muscle aches or body aches
Nausea or vomiting
Diarrhea
Poor feeding or poor appetite
New loss of taste or smell
Stomach pain
General malaise
If any child displays or reports any of the symptoms above whilst at school, we will ask for them to be collected as soon as possible. Please consider the safety of our community and do not send your child back to school until they have fully recovered. If your child is experiencing any of the symptoms for a prolonged period Covid testing is recommended.
A further reminder that children need to be fever free for 48 hours before returning to school.
Once again I would like to thank all of the staff for their commitment to our school and our community. I would also like to thank all of our community for their patience and flexibility as we adapt to yet another version of returning to school. We look forward to seeing all the students back for the first time in a long time. We hope that this is a sign of things to come.
Have a great weekend to come and if you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact myself or Mrs Jennine Harding.
With best wishes
Phil
Dates for your Diary
Thursday 25th and Friday 26th March
Hearing Screening
Friday 26th March
End of Term 2- school closes at 12:00 pm
Monday 12th April
Start of Term 3
Monday 19th and Tuesday 20th April
Vision Screening
Wednesday 21st and Thursday 22nd April
School photographs