For your convenience, this letter has been translated to Korean.
학부모님들의 편의를 위해서 공지사항이 한국어와 번역되어있습니다.
Dear Parents,
First, thank you for the hard work you shouldered to make a successful transition to online learning.
We know this has been difficult, and we appreciate the role our parents have played in coordinating learning at home.
We strive to balance safety with the need to build and maintain relationships as part of learning. With Korea experiencing a low level of community transmissions of Covid19, it is time to bring students back to school. This will allow them to re-establish social connections and finish the year together. The academic learning in the last weeks of this school year will be wrapped in the blanket of building healthy relationships.
We are planning to implement a staggered start, based in part on the Korean government’s outlines, and in part on the unique needs of our school. This aligns us with the vast majority of international schools here in Korea. These plans are based on the assumption that Korea will continue to experience nonexistent or very low rates of community transmission of COVID-19.
We will welcome PK3 — Grade 5 on Wednesday, May 20. On Monday, May 18, teachers will need to direct the physical arrangement of classrooms. There will be no school on May 18.
On Monday, May 25 we are going to open classes for middle and high school students. We delayed this start because many of our students in high school will be taking AP exams. Bringing them back during the exam window is not practical. Many teachers teach both MS and HS, leading us to start both divisions on the same day.
Many of you will have questions about the logistics of the start-up and the safety measures in place at school. Please refer to the April 29 parent webinar for details. We are also addressing some of the individual concerns highlighted through the last parent survey.
As per the government directive, we will send you a health questionnaire next week.
As we work through the logistics of this restart, we will face many challenges. Change is always hard, and this year we have all been stretched in ways that we could not have possibly foreseen. Relationship building is absolutely essential to learning.
We are excited to see BFS students safely return to school.
Iain Macfarlane
BFS Principal
Iain Macfarlane
BFS Principal