Glenealy School Newsletter
6th February 2020
Message from Chris
Dear Parents and Caregivers,
As we face this difficult time for our school community I want to thank you all for your support this week. This is not a regular Newsletter, but I wanted to write to you as such circumstances require, with a recognition of the importance of connection and of continuation and normality for our children.
We know that many of our families are in Hong Kong, with many others overseas, all of whom would far prefer for children to be in school, enjoying their time at Glenealy as they always do. As a teaching team we are certainly missing having the children in school and we will do all we can to connect with them over the coming weeks and ensure they feel part of our warm and wonderful community even as they are spread far and wide.
I am sure you will be aware by now that our teachers have, within the past four days, completely revolutionised the way in which we approach home learning during class suspension. I also hope your children are enjoying the experience so far as is possible under the circumstances. I am sure they are connecting with their teachers and we anticipate we can keep a good level of progress developing during this time.
I want to take a moment to acknowledge and thank the whole staff team for their efforts this week in doing all they can to ensure continuity for children accessing the home learning. I am also certain that, as this class suspension continues, our dedicated staff team will further refine and develop our approach to best serve the needs of our community.
Given that we are rapidly developing and evolving our approach, we would like to also share with parents some advice as to how you can continue to help:
1. Please be aware that our teaching team are engaged with multiple parent, student and technical enquiries during the day. We will do all we can to respond quickly, but response times will vary. This week it has been important that we plan our interactions and feedback with children. EAs and teachers will prioritise this connection. Parents please contact your teacher only if your child cannot resolve the issue you are having through their regular sessions.
2. If you have any IT or technical issues in Years 1 and 2 - including log-ins or issues with Google, please contact our IT support Cindy Xu directly on: cxu@glenealy.edu.hk
4. Your child’s well being is important. Please find attached here some excellent guidance on how to support your child at this time. Please click on this link to view this.This guidance came from the Central Health Child Development Team (www.centralhealth.com.hk)
If you have any well being concerns, please let us know.
5. Your child’s safety is important to us. Please ensure there is an adult present in the room if they are going online and using the internet. Our teachers will be updating children on procedures about Google hangouts in particular. If using their computers or devices, please remind your child to take plenty of breaks from the screen across the day
6. We really would like to hear your feedback, from parents and child perspectives. Please send comments or feedback to your class teachers, or directly to myself at chris.briggs@glenealy.edu.hk. This will enable us to reflect on what is working well, whilst also evolving our approaches over the coming weeks.
7. For those parents who have let us know they are short on technology in the home, next week we will look at a system for loans of chrome books. We will also arrange for collection of home learning exercise books where needed. We are currently arranging the logistics for this in order for this to be undertaken safely while considering all health implications.
As a final note, as you may have suspected, the PTA will be postponing the School Fair. We will try to find a date later in the year to hold this important community event. The office team are working on cancellations and possible refunds for previously booked events and trips and will be in contact regarding this where applicable. We will also be considering the Year 6 camp - due to start 11th March - carefully within the next week, along with its viability in the current circumstances.
Despite the situation we are faced with, our team have been working incredibly hard and there has been some wonderful learning uploaded and shared this week by the children. As we move forward we will do all we can to continue to improve and develop our approach. Our leadership team are here to support you and your children through this period of class suspension and will do all we can to serve you from a distance.
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us.
Best Regards,
Chris