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School Newsletter
14th April 2022

Dear Parents, Staff, and Caregivers,

Thank you for your patience as we have waited for the Education Bureau to issue their guidance to Kindergartens. We understand the uncertainty that many of our families have felt over the past weeks, and we are pleased to now be able to share our plans for bringing our children back to campus. We have been issued with very clear requirements to phase in the resumption of face-to face learning by class level in three stages over the period of 3-16 May. As such, we will begin Term 3 on the 19th of April via Online School Learning. Classes will then shift to On-campus School Learning on the following dates:

🔵  Tuesday 3rd May:  Senior Kindergarten (Jellyfish AM, Dolphin AM & Dolphin PM)

🔴 Tuesday 10th May: Upper Junior Kindergarten (Giraffe AM & PM, Zebra AM)

🟢  Monday 16th May: Lower Junior Kindergarten (Koala AM & Panda AM)

Please take a moment to review the information below carefully.

Daily Testing

The Education Bureau requires that each child (as well as all staff) must complete a Rapid Antigen Test each day before coming to school (unless they have recovered from Covid-19 within the past three months), and must stay home if they test positive. We are required to collect the results of each test each morning and report any positive cases to the Centre for Health Protection (CHP), and so we will provide an online form (please refer below)  for parents to submit daily test results. The Education Bureau has asked that families also report positive cases to the Department of Health as soon as possible.

 

CHP approach to positive cases in school

The CHP have described their approach to positive cases in schools as follows: if new positive cases are reported by 5% or more of the total number of teachers, school staff and students in a school, or 10% or more of students in a particular class, on the same school day (only new cases identified on a particular school day will be counted), the CHP will consider whether to take appropriate follow-up measures, including the need to suspend face-to-face classes. Unless otherwise advised by the CHP, schools with sporadic cases of Covid-19 could continue classes with proper health measures put in place. In general, schools will not be required to suspend classes if school community members are found to be close contacts of positive cases. Close contacts are defined as household members of confirmed cases. 


Emergency Care Provision

While online school learning is in place, the Education Bureau has mandated all schools to remain open to provide emergency child care support for families in genuine need. According to Education Bureau guidelines, children in emergency care should have received at least one dose of Covid-19 vaccination. This emergency care provision will be available from the 19th of April. If you require this emergency support, please submit your request to the school office at 
office@smallworld.edu.hk.


'Wave Hello to Small World'

To help our children reacquaint themselves with on-campus life at our school, we will be holding a ‘Wave Hello to Small World’ event for each class in the week before each class returns to campus. This will be a wonderful opportunity for the children to explore the classroom, refamiliarise themselves with daily routines,  and spend time with their teachers and classmates. Further details of each class’s ‘Wave Hello’ will be sent to our families next week.

 

Online School Learning

Online school learning will begin again for Term 3 on Tuesday, 19th of April. Your child’s class teachers will share details of the upcoming unit on Tapestry as normal, so please check this for more information.
 

If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact us at the office.

Pathway to School Resumption

We are thankful to have a clear roadmap to resuming on-campus learning, and are so excited to see the children face-to-face very soon. We want to assure all of our community that we remain dedicated to ensuring that our school campus is a safe and healthy learning environment for our children, and that our social distancing, hygiene, and ventilation protocols will be in place for the protection of our community.

In preparation for the On-campus School Learning resumption, please read the following carefully: 

  1. Please read through this “Health Precautions for Resumption of On Campus School Learning” document carefully in preparation for coming back to school.
     

  2. Please fill in a Student Vaccination Status and Travel History Declaration Form before your child will return on campus.
     

  3. Kindly monitor your child/ren’s temperature and Rapid-Antigen Test (RAT) daily before coming to school, making sure to record his/her temperature and result on the online Small World Temperature and Rapid-Antigen Test (RAT) Record.
     

  4. For our new students who are coming on-campus for the first time, please refer to Preparation for On Campus School Learning” for a list of student supplies and other information.
     

  5. Do your Part, Stand Apart      
    As part of our health and safety measure, we are encouraging our community to practise social distancing through our community slogan, “Do your Part, Stand Apart”. The personal learning goals of being “respectful” and “ethical” come into play as we engage the community to heed and support social distancing in school as well as in our city to fight against COVID-19. We have placed visuals in our school environment for learners to develop health and safety habits and spatial awareness. Likewise, we hope that you can transmit and extend these social distancing practices with your child outside your home.

Learning Together at Small World

Welcome to all our new and returning students and families in Small World! We hope that you are enjoying (and basking!) the sunny, cool weather in Hong Kong. What a joy to spend time outdoors, sharing family activities such as hiking, exploring beaches/farms and playing in grassy parks, in a socially-distanced and safe manner. There are so many places and islands in Hong Kong to safely explore and discover, helping young children to wonder and develop knowledge and increasing understanding about God’s magnificent creation. 

This term will be an exciting time of learning for our children as all age groups will learn together in the International Early Years Curriculum (IEYC) Unit,  'My Toy Shop'. Likewise, Biblical and Christian stories, for example Max Lucado’s books titled, ‘I am Special’ and ‘You are Mine’ are weaved into the IEYC topics, helping children to think about themselves, others and God, whilst forming good habits in kindness, empathy, respect and morality. The children will continue to learn stories from the bible, especially about the Holy Spirit as a Helper and Friend through the memory verse,

“And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Comforter, and he will never leave you.” (John 14:16).

As children and teachers explore the IEYC unit of learning, we would like to encourage our community of parents to help support the learner's curiosity and interest, for example, guiding children in art designs or models, enabling or enhancing indoor and outdoor areas, such as the garden, mud kitchen play area, the playground, and indoor play provision, such as role play, etc. We continue to promote and strengthen learning links to provide children with meaningful experiences, encouraging them to follow their interests and curiosity about themselves, others and the world around them. 

Easter Message

Spring has arrived - a special season of life, rebirth, joy and love. It is also a season of beginnings, a time to wonder about our surroundings filled with various growing  plants and blooming flowers. Gardeners,  patiently and with care, would view this time as a season of joy and fruition, especially when the first green emerges from the ground and the first bud opens! Whilst tending the garden, our young learners often wonder and ask questions such as, “When will my seed grow?”; “How come we couldn’t see them grow from the ground?”.  We tell them to wait and to continue to patiently care for the plants, assuring them by saying, “Even if you don’t see them emerging from the soil - right now, they are busy growing on the inside”. 

This can also be likened to young, developing children, especially when they are in the phase of “growing on the inside”. As parents and educators, we provide young children the nurture, care and education for each one to grow and flourish. Each child develops at their own unique pace- learning a new skill or gaining new knowledge becomes more evident and observable with lots of practice and encouragement. Like tiny seeds, young children continue to ‘grow on the inside’ as they practise new skills, consolidate their learning, until their knowledge, skills, and increasing understanding becomes secure.  

We remember the children’s early beginnings in Small World -  how they learned to adapt and familiarise themselves with class  routines, played and shared their activities, encouraged to become independent whilst trying out simple or challenging tasks, developed self-care skills, and many others. Usually, after a long holiday, most learners return to school more confident in expressing themselves, developing skills in cooperative play, literacy and numeracy activities, independent thinking and inquiry, and other learning areas. Our children display more school-readiness skills as they eagerly delve deeper in their learning and exploration.  Through forged friendships, positive relationships with teachers, and an enabled-environment that supports and promotes playful and meaningful opportunities, our young  learners continue to grow, develop and thrive, cognitively, socio-emotionally, physically and spiritually. It is with great anticipation that our children return to school in May, as we prepare and enable their learning environment, supporting them to continue to grow and flourish in our Small World.

Have a peaceful and meaningful Easter celebration! Christ has risen! We pray that this Easter will bring the joy of God’s unconditional love for each one of us - “For God so loved the world that he gave us his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16). May our hearts be filled with gladness knowing that through our Lord Jesus Christ’s death and resurrection, we are now children of God. He is truly alive- hallelujah! 

Prayerfully yours,                                        
                 
Tess Baguio
Principal

              

“The plants lay hidden under the snow. And the farmer, the owner of the land, observed with satisfaction: 'Now they are growing on the inside.' I thought of you: of your forced inactivity... Tell me: are you, too, growing 'on the inside'?" (Point 294, The Way)

 

 

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Small World Christian Kindergarten is a proud International Early Years Curriculum (IEYC) accredited school. 
The IEYC is a research-based curriculum recognizing global best practice in early childhood education and the developmental needs of 2-5 year olds. 

Tel: (+852) 2525 0922 | Fax: (+852) 2530 5448 | Email: office@smallworld.edu.hk 
Copyright © 2022 Small World Christian Kindergarten, All rights reserved.


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