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July 2021 Newsletter

Dear *|FNAME|*,

Newsletters are back! We realize we haven’t kept you very up-to-date in the past couple of years, but we are recommitting to informing you regularly about what is happening at CISP.

It’s been a year full of ups and downs; we were able to start the year in school but on the 14th of October we got the news that we had to start online distance learning with the hopes of returning in person on November 3rd. That didn’t happen… On the 31st of October the government extended the lock down and teaching online continued.

On the 13th of November there was a glimmer of hope as 1st and 2nd grade were allowed to return! Then on the 30th of November grade 3-5 were also allowed back into school. Sadly that didn’t last for too long as grades 3-5 were back to online learning on the 7th of January. On the 1st of March grades 1 and 2 were back to online learning yet again.

Grades 1-5 were allowed back in the building on the 13th of April. But this time we had to start testing our elementary kids with antigen tests. Learning how to spit in a little cup and testing it was a whole new experience for them!

All this time Secondary continued to be taught online but then on the 30th of April we got the news that Middle School was allowed to return on the 10th of May! This meant we had to both test elementary and middle school with antigen tests. Thankfully, our experience with testing elementary meant that with just a few more hands this process didn’t take all too long.

While eventually High School was allowed back, it was logistically impossible as grades had to be strictly separated. Due to the size of our building and our classes often being mixed together this just couldn’t be done. However, during exam week we were able to schedule the exams so that High Schoolers were able to take the exams in person.

Despite this year being extra challenging we are blessed that our students have stayed safe and that we never had a positive antigen test while testing our students! Praise God!

Congratulations to our graduates!

This year we congratulated 13 graduates!! It was our second graduation during the pandemic but this year we were able to have an almost normal ceremony as most restrictions were lifted.

The ceremony was held at theater U Hasičů near our school building. It was great to see family, staff and friends at the ceremony again.

We wish our graduates all the best in the next step of their lives!

Wednesday Activity Days

Most of the usual activities for students this year had to be cancelled, like School in Nature, High School Trips, concerts, plays and more. So to provide some fun for our students, Wednesday Activity Days were organized.

Games at Folimanka Park

We started out with games at Folimanka park where the students could choose between different games to play such as Cornhole, Ultimate Frisbee, Hide and Seek and more.

The students had a great time at our first activity day!

Movie Scene Scavenger Hunt

The second activity was the Movie Scene Scavenger Hunt. For this scavenger hunt, a few teachers were posted at the filming locations of movies filmed in Prague. A few of the movie scenes that had to be found were: the scene on the Charles Bridge in Spiderman: Far From Home, the National Museum where Casino Royale was filmed and the Vinohrady Theater where the performances in The Illusionist were shot.

Games in Stromovka Park

For the third activity we went to play games in Stromovka Park. It is a big park with lots of space for various activities. The students could pick between different games to play and had lots of fun. Pizza was ordered so after the games they could enjoy a slice.

Paddle Boating on the Vltava

For our last activity we went paddle boating on the Vltava river. The weather was great so the students were able to stay on the water for about an hour before returning back to shore.

Social Media

Our communication team has done a great job posting updates on Facebook and Instagram. School updates, trivia and personal stories from our staff and students are shared on these platforms. Some of our new student applicants have already mentioned our social media updates as a reason for applying to our school. Please consider following us on Facebook and Instagram.

What’s next?

Lord willing, we will be back to teaching in school for the whole next year. We have teachers that are still waiting for their visas to be processed as this has been on hold during the pandemic. We pray that they may be processed soon!

We are excited to welcome these new faces into our community as we start our next school year in August. While we had to say goodbye to some of our teachers and staff this year we are happy to welcome new students and staff to Prague.

More about who these people are and what will change in the next year will come in the next newsletter!