As we are writing our first newsletter in Term 2, we are just taking in the news that the MCO has been extended for another two weeks. Whilst we understand that every measure has to be taken to prevent a resurgence of Covid-19 numbers, many of us might feel disappointed that a return to school is still not on the cards for now. We hope to be back in school and we have already started thinking on what measures we can take to ensure the safety of all members of the community once we are united again in one physical space. We fully envision that things will not return to normal and that we will have, what some refer to as, the ‘new normal’ to deal with. Exactly what the ‘new normal’ might look like remains to be seen but we will need to make sure that we have adapted to it in the best manner possible. Although I feel that the end of the school closure period is much nearer than the beginning of it, the reality for now will be that we will need to continue learning and connecting online.

In terms of learning, in our first week back we have seen some great examples of how the teachers were able to adapt their original plans to still deliver an authentic experience as much as possible. An example of this was the year 1 entry-point for their IPC unit on ‘A day in the Life of…’ where the teachers appeared on Zoom in attire belonging to various professions.

Our teachers keep developing themselves as well. On the Friday before school started, we dedicated some time together to look at the latest management tools in Zoom to ensure the highest level of security was in place and to look at ways to be more effective in teaching online using the Zoom platform.

With a little help from Zoom, we have been able to stay connected as a community.
We have started a series of online meetings for exactly that purpose. The first sessions were with Year 1, Year 2 and Year 5. The other year groups are planned for next week. Already this has proven to be an excellent way to share thoughts, concerns and feedback. The latter is always important to us as we always strive to improve on what we can do to support our children.

The Friday before we broke up, I shared with you some plans that we were going to implement. Those changes have now been carried through. They include, amongst others, changes to some of the Zoom hours, a different way of using the Zoom sessions and, where this was appropriate for the age group, increasing the amount of Zoom sessions.

When the MCO started, TIS Puchong immediately offered an online provision that included frequent live Zoom sessions. Other schools mostly offered less or started later with organising those lessons online. Our early start has enabled us to gather user-feedback at an early stage. We are now benefiting from that experience as it helps us to improve the way we support our learners.

Ramadan Mubarak to all our Muslim families and friends!