Updated: Mar 7
Dear parents,
We had already informed you in detail about the school closure. Thank you very much for your calm and constructive response. It is the shared goal of all of us to protect the health of our school community and, of course, to continue to ensure and promote learning in these extraordinary times. We are in very close contact with the responsible authorities, e.g., ADEK, the Department of Health, the German Embassy, the KMK, and the ZfA. The cooperation with the authorities is excellent. The school has already been disinfected („deep cleaning“) by experts of the Ministry of Health.
Here is some further information, the most important things first:
– All UAE schools and universities will be closed for four weeks.
– ADEK has ordered that your children take early holidays. The holidays start on Sunday, 8.3.20, and end on 19.3.20. All holiday plans submitted so far – including our planned holidays from 29.3. to 12.4.20 – are, therefore no longer valid.
– From Sunday, 22.3.20, distance learning will start for two weeks.
– The colleagues will prepare distance learning during the next two weeks.
– The meeting of the parents‘ council and the steering group meeting on 9.3.20 will be postponed to a later date, which will be announced in time.
– No child is allowed to enter the school grounds during the four-week closure.
Learning material is in school? No problem!
We know from feedback that due to the early closure, not all children have their materials and school books at home at the moment. The colleagues will therefore arrange the first work assignments on 22.3.20 so that no additional content needs to be available at home. Furthermore, we are working on a solution so that you, as parents, can pick up the materials at school at some point later. ADEK has instructed that this won’t be possible in the coming week. We will inform you as soon as this is possible. Because the first assignments will contain all the necessary materials, the time from 22.3.20 would be sufficient for pick-ups.
Please also see the ADEK FAQ list on school closure:
https://adek.gov.ae/en/Education-System/Private-Schools/Coronavirus-COVID19
You can find official announcements of ADEK here:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/adek_insta/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/adek_tweet/
ADEK has opened a hotline for parents:
+971 56 377 1833. The hotline is available from 8:00 AM to 8:00 PM, from Saturday to Thursday.
Furthermore, I would like to recommend to you the travel recommendations of the Ministry of Health and Prevention:
„The Ministry of Health and Prevention, MoHAP, has urged citizens and residents to avoid traveling abroad due to the spread of COVID-19 in multiple countries.
„A statement issued by MoHAP today said that those who travel may face preventative measures upon their return to the UAE – at the discretion of competent authorities – including undergoing medical checks at the airport, and a 14-day home quarantine.
„Those who test positive will be transferred to a designated health facility for treatment and quarantine to ensure their safety and to avoid contact with others, the statement added.
„The Ministry also said the UAE follows the precautions and measures in accordance with international health standards, noting the recovery of five coronavirus patients in the UAE. (https://www.wam.ae/en/details/1395302828771)
So much for the most important. Furthermore, here is an outlook on distance learning from 22.3.20; more information will follow later at the beginning of this phase.
We are well prepared for distance learning:
– In kindergarten, parents will receive e-mails with work assignments, media links, and materials. The kindergarten teachers have already agreed.
– In primary school, each pupil will receive a personal e-mail: vorname.nachname@gisad.ae. This e-mail will be read by the parents, and the parents should also help to send results back to the teachers from this e-mail. This should make it easier for parents to separate school and private life. The colleagues are well prepared and can send weekly schedules and work orders, material, and media links.
– In secondary school (and possibly also in class 4), we want to use MS Teams. MS Teams offers an excellent learning platform, where tasks can be given to everyone, but also to individual students. Furthermore, students can upload work results or take pictures via the app. The individual results are only visible to the teacher and can be provided with feedback. Texts, powerpoints, tables, interactive learning content, videos, and tutorials can be easily embedded. In addition, documents and presentations can be created jointly by several students.
The colleagues were trained on Wednesday.
The classes and subjects are established in MS Teams.
Some of it will be new, and not everything will work perfectly from the beginning. But: We will all learn and get better from day to day!
What happens if my child has not yet been trained in MS teams?
We were unable to train three of the classes because of the early closure. Instructions and videos are available here. Our experience shows that most students* get along with MS Teams quite quickly, especially with the app on the smartphone.
Dates of exams in class 10 and DSD I:
The KMK has approved a postponement of the exams to the later dates.
Class 10: The central after-dates will be in the 20th calendar week. – English: 11.05.2020 – German: 13.05.2020 – Mathematics: 15.05.202
DSD I: We will inform you as soon as we get the new date confirmed here.
So far, the information. Many thanks!
With kind regards
Andreas Rothfritz