The Yew Chung International School of Beijing has successfully completed the first week of e-learning despite the past few weeks of uncertainty surrounding the Novel Coronavirus (2019-nCoV) which has seen thousands around our host country being infected since December. Our School and Foundation have dedicated this week to ensuring learning continued for students with collective efforts by our Senior Leadership Team, academic staff, parents and students all playing their part, amid the government lockdown.

During this period, we have seen staff, students and parents adapt to the new climate and put technology, which has always been an essential part of learning, to full use. Although on a wider scale “We have the bedrock in place - lessons, work, feedback are all going on and our core e-platforms of Seesaw and TEAMS are well established, over many years of use.”  this is according to Dr. Timothy Gray, YCIS Beijing Western Co-Principal.

Teachers have remained available for students throughout the week, offering support where needed, despite a multiplicity of challenges in teaching globally, especially the time zone differences. “When not teaching, assessing and giving feed back, our teachers are preparing videos and lessons that meet these changing times and challenges and they are working their normal hours to ensure they adapt to these different needs.”  added Dr. Gray.

Class and subject teachers, the University Guidance Officer, student support teachers and the Counsellors also continued with their roles of offering resources and tips to students on how they can adjust to learning remotely. This support also extended to parents who have unexpectedly had their children at home for a protracted period of time.

Dr. Gray reiterates that “We are working with little humans here. To do that effectively, we need feedback from our parents and children. So, we encourage them to use their contact with the faculty to give feedback to us to help us make the next few weeks of non-school based learning as great an experience as possible by supporting your child and the school.”

The upcoming weeks will continue focusing highly on non-school based learning which may be technical, however, the welfare of our students takes precedence in all areas. Our students’ education, health and safety remain key priorities for us hence the measures by the school and cooperation with the Local Beijing Education Commission.

Although challenging in many ways, this week has also seen us actively practice our School’s key ethos of Collaboration. Our hope is that when we have overcome this period, our students will have developed further in character and as global citizens with a strong commitment to meeting challenges of their generation.

For parents who would like additional resources to help explain the novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) to their children, the SENIA group – whose goal is to advocate for an provide resources for differently abled individuals shared a children’s booklet explaining the lockdown for children. To download the booklet click here.