Headmaster's Message
#29
Tuesday 2 June 2020
Dear Community Members,
End of year Closure. 19/20
By now all parents will have received, from their respective Section Head, information on how and what type of feedback will be given at the close of school for the academic year 19/20. There have been many opinions and recommendations presented on this topic, from MUT, from the Department of Education and from individual schools, Church, State and Independent, from parents and from teachers.
The approach we have adopted had input from parents, teachers and in many cases, students at SEC. Please do not forget that we cater for students from Early Years to IB, Form 6. The different approaches for each section are based on the input from stakeholders in that section.
I will not repeat the suggestions, contrasting viewpoints, we have received but would like to reiterate that the end of year feedback you will receive has had input from the ‘major’ players in that section, including parents.
Reopening of schools. The final documents and final protocols will be a collaboration between parents and SEC staff.
It is always encouraging to know that you are using the correct approach, recognised internationally. After our Senior Management Team meeting this past Thursday Ms. Domenici and Ms. Cioffi sat in on an international webinar on the above topic. Remember this was after the SMT meeting. The concerns discussed, the challenges facing schools reopening, the variety of opinions during this webinar aligned with the SMT discussion and had all been identified in the SMT discussion. We now know that the actions we are putting in place are very much in line with a global approach.
Recently, there was a cartoon going around in educational circles, in fact it can really be applied to any company, government, business or school;
‘Meetings are mostly like this –
- -we don’t know much
- -what we do know we cannot be sure of
- -everything is going to change
- -given the above, please make a plan’
We have been discussing, at SMT meetings, the ever changing nature of the data, information, statements, that are being made on a daily basis. It is easy to criticise our leaders (in whatever sphere) for not having a ‘plan’ in place. Despite the announcement made by Prime Minister Abela on Sunday, 31 May, early afternoon, all of us are in uncharted waters – there are no specific actions/plans in place as to how to react to COVID+. There are general guidelines but there can be little specific to the virus as the information that is being discovered each day is constantly helping us improve any approach to dealing with the virus.
There is much ‘we cannot be sure of’…
As evidenced by casual conversations, media and formal meetings such as the SMT meeting on May 28th, it is clear that pretty much all of the complications, issues, challenges and problems of opening a school for the academic year 20/21 are well known. What is less clear are the solutions. (see italics above!)
Also, the value of putting in place procedures in any given facility (in this case a school) when once the students are in other locations and will have none or different procedures, is questionable.
Having acknowledged this I can say that St Edward’s will have protocols and procedures in place for our return in September, pods, bubbles, procedures in the case of an illness or suspected illness, physical distancing and so forth. But! Whilst we will take the recommended precautions (and more) will all students be able to avoid situations where they can be sure not to carry, unwittingly, any illness into college? There is no 100% guarantee, there are risk assessments, and right now at the time of writing, the population of Malta, collectively, appears to have contained the disease resulting in a very low ‘risk factor’.
Our interesting and detailed discussion at SMT led us to the wise and often used phrase, ‘We can only control the things we can, others are out of our hands’.
To date we have been tailoring for SEC a set of protocols based on information from the Department of Health, WHO, UNESCO and some schools internationally that I have made contact with who have already opened and have faced the practical day to day challenges.
To give you some ideas of what we are actioning;
- Classrooms have been measured to be prepared for the final decision on the required distance needed for physical distancing
- Sick students, teachers and staff will not be admitted.
- Temperature checks for staff and students will be carried out every morning before entering class/grounds. (Yes, we have the temperature guns!)
- Parents will not be allowed to enter the school premises at any time.
- Dropping off/picking up children will be possible from the gates only.
- Distancing strips will be placed on the pavement.
- Regular hand washing with water and soap will be enforced and a timetable applied where appropriate.
- Classrooms and surfaces will be disinfected daily including but not limited to railings, banisters, toys, sports equipment, tables and chairs etc.
We have updated our sickness policy to cater for the contingency of a possible COVID+ student/member of staff at College taking ill during the working day and below, again, some of the actions;
- We will take no risks, if a child or a member of staff shows any of the COVID symptoms or illness during the day the individual will be isolated in designated areas immediately.
- Firstly, we will inform the Infections Disease Unit and will follow their guidelines, (this is a requirement for all schools).
- We will then inform parents/guardians.
The full document will be available before the end of this academic year.
Education – a reflection.
There was a discussion in the SMT meeting where we reflected on what education could look like after the ‘reopening’. Are there aspects of this closure that we can learn from? We have seen some students who in a regular classroom are distracted and troubled, excelling. We have seen some students normally quiet and bashful becoming stronger and participating in classes. Is virtual learning more successful modality for a section of students?
Again, it was heartening to see Siva Kumari, Director General of the International Baccalaureate, engaged in the same reflections. Below you can read part of her interview.
The ideas and proposals are exactly the same as those that we at St Edward’s have been shouting about for years now. TUL (Think, Understand, Learn), fashioning student’s awareness, in ALL YEAR groups, that they have to become aware that they have a part to play in their own learning, embedding in the cultural mind-set of our school community, especially with parents, that, as Bob Dylan wrote, ‘The times they are a-changing’. This is what we are doing at SEC, giving students the skill-set to prepare them for that world that none of us old people, (over 30’s?) can imagine. We must stop looking at how education ‘used to be’, but to trust and embrace the experience and knowledge of the professionals, your children’s teachers, as we throw off the shackles of ‘When I was at school …’.
Enough ranting! And back to Ms. Kumari.
Speaking on the Tes International Podcast, Kumari said that in spite of the huge suffering the situation has caused, the opportunities it has presented to education cannot be overlooked.
“I really hope the world does not go back to what it was – I think that would be a real waste of this crisis and a real waste of this collective experience,” she said.
“Education has not been tested like this in a very, very long time and not been tested like this collectively all around the world.” Ms. Kumari feels that education must adapt and reshape itself to recognise the new world that is being created by Covid-19.
Specifically, she said the fact that so many students around the world will be entering a world that will look very different to what came before means that education cannot carry on as before, but must become more skills orientated rather than solely knowledge based.
“Students have world of information in front of them, they are going to be entering a world where there is a bunch of information at their fingertips, and so the kind of skills needed in the future…we know are really different to what we have now,” she said.
“The ability of students to ask really good questions, to synthesise information to present it in different ways, to really understand the global competitive landscape but also the global opportunities…I think those are things we really need to focus on rather than thinking about just about getting a grade or something like that.”
She added that skills such as resilience, agility and being able to self-motivate and self-start would all be crucial for young people entering a world where old certainties may well never exist again.
“The world is just going to be between lockdowns for at least the foreseeable future, so I think it is very incumbent on us to think, 'what is good learning and what do we as an IB want to espouse and stand behind', and I think we are going to have to deliver that sooner rather than later.”
You can read the full article at -
Sincerely,
Mr Nollaig Mac an Bhaird
Headmaster