Educating for the Future

From the Master
来自校长
마스터

Dear parents

You will have read in the recent parent letter from our Founder and Chair, Mrs Joy Qiao, that Tianjin has begun to allow schools to open once again, albeit in a strictly phased series of school year groups. At the time of writing, we are hopeful that pupils from our most senior year groups can re-enter the school, but this is subject to a stringent school safety inspection process, and we will contact families directly to inform them of the opening date for your child.

This will be great news to our community. The past nine weeks have placed extraordinary pressures on pupils, their teachers and our families, in some cases pressures as profound as any living memory. There is an oft-quoted line, attributed to that champion of revolutionary change, Vladimir Lenin, which claims that, “there are decades where nothing happens; and there are weeks where decades happen". Whilst it is far from clear whether he actually said these words, the sentiment resonates with me as I look back over the past couple of months. The world has been turned upside down, and the previous certainties and optimism arising from the prospect of a new decade now seem to belong to a different era. We have lived decades in the course of just a few weeks.

Most vulnerable to such a bewildering change in their lives have been children and young people. Wrenched from their classrooms and friendship groups by the closure of the schools which provided them with such a sense of security, companionship and learning, it has been a difficult time for them. Many have not had contact with family or friends for over two months, except through the telephone or internet; more have only just begun to take their first steps outdoors. Parents, already anxious about their child’s learning, have also had to cope with the financial pressures such a shutdown of national – and now, international – proportions has created. There has also been the inevitable human toll of worrying about the health of family and close friends.

As the impact of the virus recedes in China, it races across the rest of the world, sowing more chaos and devastation in its wake. For many of our families, both among the parent body and the staff, the coronavirus is not a thing of the past: it is a living reminder that this disease has the potential to cause more harm than any other single event since the second world war and that it is now the turn of their loved ones to endure the impact.

In this turmoil, the school can offer a measure of stability, a sense of community and a restoration of normality into our lives. The initial steps to the physical reopening of the school may be small ones, but they represent something far more substantial: that life as it was just a few weeks ago can be recovered and that the things were once so familiar to us can once again find their place in our world. Our pupils will be offered a range of pastoral support resources and sessions, as well as freely available counselling services, once they re-enter the school. Parents can find reassurance and support in the range of briefings and parents evenings outlined below, as well as have online access to the weekly Meet the Master series (starting from Thursday 16th April, for parents of children in the Junior School).

These past few months have shown weeks can feel like decades. Our focus now, as a community dedicated to safeguarding our pupils and providing them with the finest educational opportunities, is to come together and drive forward to an ever-brighter future. Our families, pupils and staff have shown great resilience in this period. We will need to show still more before the world is once more as it was, but the news of the physical reopening of the estate means we are another step closer to that goal.

Best wishes

Julian Jeffrey

MASTER

FROM THE SECOND MASTER

Summer term parent - teacher meetings 

This term, parent-teacher meetings will take place using Teams, and you will be able to use the account of your child to participate in them. Where translation is required, we will try our very best to accommodate this, but it would be preferable for you to arrange this if at all possible.

Senior School Parent - Teacher Meetings - All Year Groups 

20th April to 8th May 

Parents' Evenings in the Senior School will take a different form during the closure of the school. The evenings will be held on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays in a three-week window commencing on Monday, 20th April. Every Senior School teacher will be available on two evenings from 1600hrs to 1800hrs. If you would like to discuss your child's progress with his/her teachers, you and your child will need to book the appointment via Microsoft Teams. Every meeting will last between 5 and 7 minutes. The schedule of teachers' availability will be sent to all parents by email this week.