Dear Dwight families,
I am writing to let you know that we will be moving to our remote learning protocol from Thursday 19th March and that the school will remain open to give families the option to have their children learn from home or at school. We anticipate that this arrangement will continue at least until 3rd April.
The school has followed all government guidance which has been to keep schools open as usual whilst taking careful precautions to avoid the spread of the virus within the school. I can also reassure you that there have not been any confirmed cases of Covid-19 within the school community. We continue to keep the wellness of our community at the centre of our plans, and as so many in our community have family and loved ones overseas, there is an understandable heightened sense of anxiety for families to be together at this time of uncertainty.
Following the government advice yesterday a number of people within our community are in self-isolation, either because they have mild symptoms, live with someone who has symptoms or they are in an at-risk group and have been strongly advised to work from home. In addition, a number of families have decided to keep their children at home as a precautionary measure. This has created a strain on the school resources as a reduced number of teachers are providing face-to-face classes, covering for their colleagues and supporting students who are self-isolating at home.
To manage this situation, whilst continuing to support the well-being of our community and maintaining learning for our students, the school leadership team, in consultation with the School Consultative Group, has taken the decision to move to our remote learning protocol from Thursday 19th March. We have been preparing for this eventuality for some time and we are very fortunate to have the support and experience of the family of Dwight schools who have been successfully supporting their students remotely for varying lengths of time. We are excited at the possibilities that on-line and remote learning will open up for our students and we are confident that as IB learners they will adapt to this new mode of learning quickly.
The school will remain open, and from Thursday, those families who want their children to continue their learning in a supervised environment will have the option to send them to school, where they will be supervised and supported by the teaching staff as they complete their remote learning tasks. Those families who would prefer their children to learn from home will be authorised to do so. Please continue to contact the Lower School or Upper School office to inform us if you are choosing to keep your child at home. More details regarding the remote learning protocols will be shared with students and parents by the Lower and Upper School teams.
Some further specific information for this week and for upcoming events can be found below:
- For students in D2, their mock examinations will continue as scheduled but provisions will be made for those students who chose not to come into school. Please email Mr Bowry if this is the case.
- For those children who come into school from Thursday we will continue to provide the meal service. To help with catering arrangements, we ask parents to indicate on this linked form if their children will require a school lunch, either in the Woodside dining room or the Spahn Cafe.
- If your children take the school bus, please contact Michelle Payne, our transport manager, to let her know whether or not you will be on the bus so that she can determine whether or not the route will be running.
- We have postponed the What is an IB Education? evening that was scheduled for Tuesday 24th March. There will be other school events that will be affected and we will provide you with more information as decisions are made.
As we move to Remote Learning on Thursday, all after school clubs, sports and extra-curricular activities will be cancelled.
We will continue to assess the situation, and will confirm arrangements if and when they change. We will also keep you updated regarding arrangements for the summer term. I would like to remind you that all communications from the school regarding the Coronavirus can be found on the school website via this link.
My sincere thanks go to the entire school community for their resilience, patience and kindness during the unprecedented challenges that the global community is facing.
Kind regards
Alison Cobbin