Dear Parents,
I think it is fair to say that this year will stand out as an exceptional one for years to come here at BEIS. The campus feels eerily quiet,especially in the playground but as I enter classrooms I can still hear the familiar sound of children’s voices and laughter as they go about their daily school life with their teachers; swapping stories, interacting and learning. The situation may not be ideal but we have to be thankful that we live in an era where it is still possible to meet, communicate and interact, albeit online. During the infamous Spanish Flu Pandemic of 1918-1919 schools faced the same problem and had to remain shut for many weeks. Back then they had no access to online learning during a time when there were no computers, mobile phones, televisions and even radios were seen as one of life’s luxuries.
The day will soon come when we are all back on campus and until then we will strive to ensure our school days and activates remain as familiar as possible. At the end of August, we held our first Online Family Fun Day. It wasn’t as tiring (especially for parents) as our usual Family Fun Day, but it did give us the first opportunity to meet again as a community and for students from different grades to interact with each other as they would do had we been at school. We plan to keep all of our annual events open while we remain off campus and in October we will hold our annual International Day. Perhaps this year we will even make it an international week instead. Also in October we will start planning our annual Christmas Event but you will have to wait a few more weeks before we reveal what it will be this year.
Something new that we have offered this year was our Well-being Week held during the week of September 21st to September 25th. At the beginning of each day classes participated in numerous activities to help the students explore ways they could support their own well-being and learn to relax and take what life throws at them in their stride. To support this we also have a wellness session every week while we are online to share our thoughts and feelings. You can read more about this and our Online Family Fun Day later in this Newsletter.
Your children are what we hold most dear here at BEIS. Together we can help, guide and support them – this time is crucial and we in school will do everything we can to help your child to do their best. Let us know if we can support you in any way. Feel free to contact your child’s class teacher/teaching assistant if you have any concerns, need support, or would like help or advice.
Please explore the updates for each class on their respective web pages, and enjoy.
Nicholas Lea
BEIS Head Teacher