HOS Update 23rd April
Update from Mr Mills
Dear Parents,
I just wanted to touch base to share some updates as we approach the end of our first week of Term 3. As I said in my previous letter, we are all living in very unusual times through this COVID-19 pandemic. We would of course all like to be back in school hearing the sounds of children happily learning across the campus, but sadly this is not an option yet.
We’re expecting an announcement from the government next week regarding the Emergency Decree, but at this stage we are not anticipating many changes to it. It is our genuine desire to have your children back in school maximising their learning potential. I just want to emphasise that any decision to bring your children back into school will be completely health and safety driven.
Lots of parents have been regularly feeding back on their child’s day-to-day CSL programme, which has been invaluable. We have noticed that the feedback has become more positive. We are regularly sending out CSL surveys to parents, and another survey will be coming out later next week. We are also receiving regular feedback from our students on a daily basis. Additionally, we will be sending out a survey to teachers tomorrow. As stated previously, our CSL programme is continually being fine-tuned as teachers and students adapt to this new way of curriculum delivery. It is a work in progress and I am absolutely delighted with the amount of effort and passion our Patana teachers are putting into this new challenge.
The latest Term 3 CSL updates include Primary School delivering some of the learning in real time starting with one Maths and Literacy lesson per week and expanding as the teachers and students become more familiar with this new way of teaching and learning. The weekly small group well-being check-in calls are continuing as planned. In Secondary School, teachers begin lessons with a video call welcoming students, share and explain the learning intention/success criteria, remain online throughout the class and bring students back together to assess progress at the end of the lesson. This closely replicates what happens in school.
Our Head of Admissions, Rachel Jones, sent a very important letter out to parents on Monday 20th April relating to plans for the next academic year. She is asking that any families who are potentially leaving, but have not yet given notice to please contact her by email at rajo@patana.ac.th.
Just a reminder that we continue to follow the published 2019/20 school calendar. This includes Thai public holidays in Term 3 and the scheduled 1st May teacher professional day, which we will conduct through our virtual platform.
I hope you enjoy this wonderful video, created by a talented group of students led by Muangthong (Thames) Tangitvet and Tinn Habanananda in Year 13.
I hope that our Patana families continue to be safe and well and I plan to send another update once we hear details from the government relating to schools.
Best wishes,
Matt Mills
Head of School
