Week 11: Distance Learning in Secondary

Dear families,
Thank you for all the support, communication, and care that you have given our school and your child as we have continued with teaching and learning during distance learning.  We have all grown so much over the past few months as we have learned new ways of communicating and creating, improved our adaptability, and thought deeply about what it means to be a school and a community.

Taking a break
We have all worked hard and accomplished a great deal over the past school year.  We set goals and achieved them, stretched ourselves in ways we could not have anticipated, and are looking forward to a much-needed rest.  We hope that all our students will use this time to rejuvenate, work on some non-academic goals, and will focus on connecting with themselves, their friends, and families.  For those students who are looking to extend themselves academically during the break, our library has resources they can use and many of our teachers have already given supplemental assignments for students who need them or who have requested them.

See you later!
In international schools, our population is often transient, needing to leave one school and country to go to another.  All of our Secondary students spent time last week and this week in learning to say “see you later” to classmates and friends.  They had dedicated Advisory sessions to share favorite memories, say a few words about leaving students, and find ways to stay connected to each other.  “Goodbye”s are hard, so we prefer “see you later”s - because we do hope to see all of our transitioning students later.

Please share your feedback.
We were able to make improvements and adjustments to the distance learning program because of feedback from parents, students, and teachers.  We would appreciate your feedback on your child’s experiences, what we did well, and how we can improve.  Please help us be the best school we can be for your child by sharing your insights through this feedback survey.  Thank you for supporting your child’s learning by giving us feedback.

We’re ready for August.
During distance learning, we continued our work with curriculum revisions and planning, working on improvement programs, and continuing to raise the standards of teaching and learning in the Secondary school.  Our teachers are ready to ensure that, come August, we can keep making sure that every student thrives.

We look forward to seeing you again in August - or somewhere out there in the world!

Kind regards,
Ty Smeins, Secondary Principal
​Sheila Seiler, Secondary Assistant Principal