Dear Parents,
I hope that this message finds you well and that you have had a positive start to the Year of the Tiger.
Welcome home to all of our Rhinos. Over the last week we have enjoyed having our Early Explorers to Grade 6 students return to on-campus learning. Our Grade 7-12 students have given our Grade 6 students a warm welcome onto the secondary campus.
Our EE-Studio 5 students have arrived each morning with smiles and excitement for their learning. Our ISHCMC Rhinos have been excellent at following protocols and working together to stay safe. With the return of all of our students to on-campus learning it means both of our campuses are now filled with life and activity.
As we welcome all of our students back onto campus in an environment where we are ‘living with COVID’ we anticipated that we would have suspected and confirmed positive cases and that we would then need to take actions as per government directives. These protocols can be accessed via our Rhino Hub - COVID Guide.
Over the week our team and students have done an excellent job of deploying and following the protocols, as required by the local authorities. For example, one student this week shared with us via their daily health declaration that they did not feel well. This is a great example of our Rhinos implementing the strategies that they have been taught. As per government guidelines this required the student to report to the clinic and for our nurses to rapid-test. As a result of the test the student was suspected as COVID positive which in turn required our team to test all of the students in the class and teachers. The rapid-tests for all other students and teachers completed on-campus were negative. In our primary school this week we were informed of five COVID cases (this included 3 students, 1 teacher and 1 teacher assistant). As per the current government directives this has meant that KGB, G1E, G3E and S4A have moved back into home-based learning for 14 days.
This week in our secondary school we were notified of one case in Grade 11 which led to all of our Grade 11 students being asked to stay home on Tuesday and engage in home-based learning whilst our team completed contact tracing. This was completed successfully and F1 notified. On Wednesday our Grade 11 returned to school. However, at 8.15am on Wednesday we were informed that home-testing had identified two additional cases in Grade 11. As per the requirements by the local authorities if we are notified of suspected cases, we are required to contract trace. If there is more than one case per grade level and we are informed whilst students are on campus, we are required to test all students and teachers. Therefore, all Grade 11 students and F1 teachers were tested on campus by our Nursing team. All rapid tests completed on-campus were negative. In our secondary school this week we have been informed of eight COVID cases (this includes 6 students and 2 teachers). As a result of this our Grade 11 and other identified F1 students are in home-based learning.
Thank you to all of our parents who were able to attend the google meet conversations that we had this week for KGB, G1E, G3E, 4A and Grade 11. These sessions were a great opportunity for you to ask questions and seek clarification of the protocols. We are also grateful to our PTO who have been helping support our community over the week.
As we move forward our intent is to continue to mitigate exposure so that we can ensure as many students as possible are on-campus for as many days as possible.
If you have questions, we encourage you to attend the specific sessions offered to classes and grades or email community@ishcmc.edu.vn who will ensure your question gets to the right person to answer. Or feel free to email me directly at kimgreen@ishcmc.edu.vn.
Thank you for your continued patience, understanding and support.
In kindness,
Kim Green, Head of School
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