Important information for Year 9 Parents

Important information for Year 9 Parents

Dear Parents,

I do hope that you and your family members are all well during these challenging times.

I just wanted to touch base with you all following the correspondence sent to you on Tuesday from both Mr. Stuart Bridge and Mr. Simon Oakley via the secondary bulletin on the Hub. I would like to outline the pastoral support that will commence on 2nd March for Year 9, and also provide important information regarding the live interaction sessions:

 

1:1 Mentoring, tutor time, and Assembly

1:1 mentoring with tutors will begin, w/c 2nd March. Tutors should have already informed students of the schedule. The 1:1 sessions will take place between 08:00 and 08:20 as per the normal daily school routine.

From 2nd March, tutor time will continue to run once a week. There will also be a bi-weekly Year 9 assembly which will take place every 2nd Wednesday (Day 8) during tutor time in addition to the Day 1 timetabled assembly.

 

Wellbeing

It is as important as ever to consider student wellbeing – particularly during such challenging times where students are spending a lot of time indoors and perhaps with less social interaction and physical activity than usual. With this in mind, please see attached infographics that have been prepared by Mr. Broderick. Please be reminded that Mr. Broderick, our Wellbeing Coach, is available to support students should they need it. Could I ask that you remind your children to speak to their tutor or myself should they wish to seek further support or guidance from Mr. Broderick, and we will assist them in arranging a face-to-face (online) appointment with him. Online learning checklist – Secondary

 

Accessing Live sessions

In order to support students in accessing their live sessions, all classes as per the student timetable, will be uploaded to the student’s Google Calendar so both students and parents can clearly see an overview of live sessions that will take place. The secondary school will use the Google Meet app to run live sessions.

Students can access a live session by either of the following ways: 

1. Following the link for each live session from the Google Calendar.
2. Following the link from the student Google Meet Homepage.
3. Following the link published on the Google Classroom.

Can I please ask all Year 9 students to check their Google Calendar over the weekend to make sure that their classes have been scheduled for the upcoming week. 

 

Student Engagement

Can I please reiterate that when a more regular school routine commences (albeit online) on Monday 2nd March that students who are in Hong Kong are expected to attend all live interaction sessions. An attendance register will be taken during every session. For students who are overseas, live sessions will be recorded and made available on Google Classroom. Overseas students are encouraged to attend as many live sessions as possible.

The expectations for online learning are the same as for face-to-face classroom learning and students should be well prepared and ready to learn during their live sessions. Teachers are mindful of the fact that students may find this challenging to begin with and will of course support students in getting them attuned to the new way of working. On that note, could I please remind you to take the time to read the Online Learning information that has been posted on the Hub HERE and to also familiarise yourselves with the Video Conferencing Agreement HERE.

I would really appreciate it if you could take the opportunity to discuss the information outlined in the above documents with your children over the coming days. It is important for students to understand that both teachers at school and parents at home have clear and agreeing expectations for student learning. 

Once again, thank you for your continued support of our students and their learning.

As always, should you have any questions or require any further information, please do not hesitate to get in touch with either your child’s tutor or myself.

 

Kind regards,

 

Justin Low MEd, BEng (Hons), PGCE, MInstP

Year Group Leader – Year 9

[email protected]