MESSAGE FROM THE HEAD OF SCHOOL: Home Learning and Innovative Online Learning

Dear Parents, Guardians, Staff and Students,

I would like to thank everyone in our school community for their continuing support during this most difficult COVID-19 crisis. We are truly ‘one school, one community’ whereby everyone has demonstrated sustained honesty, mutual respect and integrity.

As a school, we are fully prepared to continue as an outstanding learning community, even if it becomes necessary to deliver this learning from home. Our team has been working globally with other schools, online providers and a range of educational experts to ensure we have the best provision for our students. We have used the past three weeks to pilot our online learning with selected students who have been self-quarantined. This has been a huge success!

We hope we can remain, safely, in school to learn together but if required we will be able to deliver the very best in online learning, well-being provision and pastoral care.

We are not able to control the health situation beyond our community, but we can plan and communicate with you and support each other. We would like you to feel as confident in our planning as we are, and be reassured that we are fully prepared to close the school if necessary.

Clearly, you all need some additional information from us (please see below) and you may also need to make some practical arrangements to access the learning.

Some children will love this ‘new’ way of working with their teachers and classmates, others may need more support. The following information should hopefully enable you to talk with your family so that, if we have to close, everyone can respond calmly and keep their focus on their learning.

Thank you again for your continued support and faith in the Bangkok Prep community. We are extremely fortunate to have each other in these uncertain times.

Yours faithfully,

Mr Stonehouse

Head of School 

How will I find out if Bangkok Prep is closing?

As a school, we will let you know if there has been a decision to close, only once this is confirmed by the Ministry of Education.

If the decision is made during school hours, we will email you and ensure students have their belongings to take home with them and are safely collected or signed out at the end of the day.

If the decision is made out of normal school hours, you will receive an SMS from Bangkok Prep. A post will also be put onto social media. Both messages will ask you to refer to the Head of School’s email. This is the most effective way to share the details you need, as parents, and share the information we want you to have as part of our community.

The email communication will be the most detailed method of keeping you informed of the required actions. This will be timely and accurate. Please do wait for this information and be aware that when sending messages to all members of such a large community, some will arrive ahead of others.

During the closure, our leadership staff and marketing department will form a specialist ‘communication team’. This means you will receive more regular updates and you should try to check your email daily please.

How will children continue to learn?

We have prepared a phased program for all children that is age appropriate, meaningful, robust and enjoyable. This means that a child in Year 2 will have very different provision than their brother or sister who is about to take their IGCSE or A Level examinations.

We celebrate every child at school and their unique different strengths, learning is personalised and age appropriate for all: This will not change if we are using technology to learn from home.

To achieve this we will need you and your families’ help and support, to ‘upskill the community’. Our online learning model is interactive, innovative and rigorous, but we must ensure everyone can access this and knows how to use it to be successful together. New elements will be introduced gradually to enhance provision in each phase. We will need you and the children to feedback and share with us as we move from one phase onwards.

Phase 1: Home Learning

All students at Bangkok Prep have already been fully involved in home learning using ‘Firefly’. They are familiar with how to access resources on the site and what is expected.

During Phase 1, we will continue to use our firefly portal, which will have appropriate learning materials available. Teachers will continue to add new materials to ensure that our students receive full curriculum coverage.

The home learning is age appropriate and hopefully manageable for parents and carers who could be making child care provisions at short notice. We know this works and while it is suitable for short term closures, we have learned that engagement can fall over time. There are better options that offer more interaction, feedback and communication with friends and teachers.

During Phase 1, we will share with you how to prepare at home for Phase 2!

Phase 2: Online Learning

As students, parents or carers have made arrangements to stay at home and agreed their own routine that is right for their child, we will quickly begin to supplement our online provision with additional features.  This will include a range of online videos of direct instruction for children so that they can see their teachers and have a more personal experience. This is also highly flexible for families who could choose when and where the lessons can take place.

During Phase 2, we will share with you how to prepare at home for Phase 3! This will involve certain times that children will be asked to join ‘live sessions’ and also need children (or their parents) to use some new learning tools.

Phase 3: Enhanced Online Learning

In Phase 3, we will introduce virtual interactions to our students allowing them live access to their teachers to help them with their studies and provide pastoral support.

The amount of virtual learning and timings will be different for each year group and will take into consideration a balance of screen time and other more practical activities.  We will also remember that some families will have more than one child to support.

During this online learning teachers will provide help and support on the new aspects of technology and ways of working together once children are at home.

We will also have a dedicated team who will contact you, as parents, and our students for constructive feedback so we know what is working well and any changes we can make to ensure the highest quality education.

What can we do to prepare?

It is always a good idea to be prepared for any eventuality. Here are some simple steps that you can take to make sure that your family is ready in the event of an emergency closure.

Make sure you have a device

To access the online learning we suggest you have a device which you can use, ideally a modern tablet, laptop computer or a desktop computer. Please also check that your internet connection is good.

Make sure that you can log in to firefly

If you have any trouble, please let us know and we can help you get online!

How will we take care of each other?

Learning from home provides many challenges to our school community. We will be on hand to help and support you and your family throughout. Further information will be shared with you if we need it about:

-Regular Feedback

-Pastoral Support

-Our counselling provision

We are ready, should the need arise, to deliver rigorous and engaging learning and remain a warm, welcoming and supportive community. Thank you for getting ready too.