Update from the Principal - Aug 28 2020

UPDATE: Sunday August 30

Following the news announcement from NIJZ, it is recommended that all primary students (Year 2 - Year 6 at BISL), aged 6-11 years old should wear a mask in 'common areas' along with Secondary students.

When students are moving to specialist lessons outside of their classroom, masks will be worn. Most of the Primary lessons (Numeracy, Literacy, Topic, Languages etc.) are in the same classroom with the same class teacher. Lunch will continue to be served to the classroom, avoiding the need for students to move around the building to the canteen area.

No masks are required in the classroom.

If students would like to bring in their own mask for comfort or preference, this is advised. General masks will continue to be available from reception.

This will be in place from Monday 31st August at the British International School of Ljubljana.

Dear Parents,

Thank you for your support and encouragement throughout this first week at school. It has been wonderful to see the students, staff and parents together as we start this new Academic Year. It has felt very positive and the whole building feels full of energy and excitement as we press ahead into our first term of the year.

I would like to update you on the safety procedures that we had planned for the first two weeks as mentioned in the Summer update from the Principal.

We have opened in very safe manner with a lot of extra procedures in place to ensure that all students return back to school in a clean building, clear guidance and good hygiene protocols in place for everyone. Thank you to all parents for helping with this by filling in the declaration forms, modelling hygiene etiquette and working together.

We have amended point number 3 below for students to continue wearing masks for the next week.

After Week 2, we aim to start gradually reducing the guidance throughout the school. Further guidance on a staggered start for all students may be made if guidance is provided by the Ministry of Health/Education over the coming week for all schools in Slovenia.

Safety is our number one priority at school and we continue to check and follow the latest guidance available (Ministry of Education, Ministry of Health, WHO, etc).

As we move into week 2, we will continue with the following procedures in place on a temporary basis and will review daily and update each Friday:

1. Sanitation guidelines, handwash and antibacterial gels will continue to be used throughout the school.
2. Declaration forms will be compulsory for all students to be handed in at reception. New students will hand these in before starting at school.
3. Masks for staff and students in corridors and common areas will be worn. No masks are required for students in Early Years and Year 1.
4. Lunches will be delivered to classrooms.
5. No large gatherings of students and teachers will be planned for indoors.
6. Parents in the building by appointment only.
7. After school supervision for Early Years, Year 1 and 2, starts from Monday 31^st August.

The following areas may be updated individually should further information from the sources above be confirmed:

• Masks for all staff in offices/smaller spaces.
• External Trips to public indoor sites.
• After-school clubs.
• Presentations for parents/calendared events (some events may take place in smaller groups at school, outdoors at school, virtually, etc)
• Possible split classes.

Our exam results have been updated and many students have further benefited from the world-wide decision from CAIE (Cambridge Assessment International Education). Many students across the globe are celebrating further due to this latest update. You can find more information about our outstanding exam results here.

Our exciting building work continues and as mentioned this week on Facebook, the first-floor concrete is now clearly visible, and we are excited by the progress that has been made in the past month. We hope for good weather ahead as we move from the summer to autumn season.

During the first week, we have had the online activities presentation, the curriculum presentations and the student leadership presentations. Thank you to everyone who attended these events.

All events are included in the weekly newsletter. This is our most popular form of communication and is issued each Friday as both a Primary School and Secondary School edition. Printed copies are available for students and parents at the reception area to take home.

Our drop off system in the morning has worked very well. The zones are marked and Early Years have an area to park up and drop students off. For Primary and Secondary students, the blue zone (Near the new building site) is the area to park and let your children out to then walk through into the playground each day. This area is staffed and supervised to ensure everyone is safe at the start of the day.

Students are encouraged to have all their belongings/bags with them as they exit the car on the morning.

Please note: the speed is limited to 10km/h on site. We arrange police supervision for the safety of these procedures on a regular basis.

At 7.50am the students should enter the building through the main entrance and sign in as this is our procedure for all students who arrive late. Our security guard and reception will issue a late pass. This is then entered in the register to ensure that all students are accounted for and safely in the building.

The pickup system follows the same protocols of where to park. However, we encourage the following:

1. Please do not arrive before 2.40pm.
2. Please turn the engine off and wait in your car. We must think of the environment and the safety of our community.
3. Primary students are led down to the pickup by the class teacher at 2.50pm.
4. Staff are on duty to take students to cars.
5. Parents should display the sign, which includes the Year group and Names of children to speed up this process (Extra name cards are being printed and distributed by teachers from today, please display them on your dashboard). This will help staff identify which student you are waiting for as you wait in your car.
6. Parents waiting in cars with the name sign showing will speed up the process and most importantly make this safer.
7. Secondary students can leave school at 2.55pm as they are not required to be supervised and taken to a car.
8. Secondary students should not wait in the ‘corridor’ at the exit of the playground and should either wait on the grass area or leave the site.

For parents picking up students who are in supervision or activities (After school), can park outside the front of the school and can collect the children via the front entrance from the playground.

For school events (Christmas show, etc.), off site parking is available in the public car park accessible through the gate. No parking on site is allowed when attending appointments or school events.

For all information about Daily routines and maps to illustrate the roads, car parks and pedestrian walkways, please see the Primary and Secondary student handbooks.

Our enrichment days continue! Our numbers have increased for the Enrichment Day 2 tomorrow which is focused on Sports activities. Please use the sign-up button below by Wednesday next week if you are interested in registering your children for Enrichment Day 3 on Saturday September 5, if you haven't already done so. Information has been emailed out regarding Day 3, which includes practical activities for Music, Science, English and Languages.

As we finish the week and look forward to the Enrichment Day 2 tomorrow morning, I am very pleased with the way we have all started back as a community. The students have all settled in very well to lessons and as I walk around the school, I can feel the ‘buzz’ and excitement in the classrooms. We have areas to improve, projects to finish and a lot to look forward to during this coming year.

Thank you to all parents for this successful start back to the Academic Year 2020/21.

Kind regards,

Paul Walton

Principal