Term 1 Academic Year 2020/21

Salam my lovelies,

Girl and Bean returned to physical school with strict adherence to SOP on 1 September 2020 and I truly enjoyed the few hours they were tucked away safely 600 metres from home. We got their books in middle of August 2020, wrapped and labelled them all by 31 August 2020 ready to be sent in to their classes.

The drop-off and pick-up points have been smooth, with the Head of Primary, Head of Secondary and Principal on duty every morning to greet children and parents. Best service with smiles! Improved traffic flow and risky pathways that used to be congested no longer annoy parents as much as last academic year.

CCA were reintroduced under new SOP which limited students to fewer choices as year groups were kept together. Nonetheless, Girl and Bean both managed to find excitement in the available options. Primary school has yet to commence swimming due to physical distancing but Secondary school was about to start.

Communication remains one of the most important features at School. Bean's IEP meeting had been conducted via Zoom, and I have met both Girl and Bean's teachers face-to-face as part of our "Meet the Teachers" practice to know one another better and set growth goals for Girl and Bean.

The PTA held its 3rd AGM on Zoom with timely notification, attendance recording, voting for new committee members and voting for constitutional reforms. I am serving as its Secretary again this academic year. The annual returns and constitutional amendments were submitted to Registrar of Societies (ROS) by 30 September 2020. The Treasurer and I wanted it done as soon as possible as the number of infection cases seemed to be rising again. We set aside time and managed to get our signatories sorted at the bank by 1 October 2020. Syukur alhamdulillah.

The Chairperson of the PTA and I meet with the Principal of the School every fortnight to discuss issues arising, before our monthly Committee meeting. The first fortnightly meeting felt fresh as the last time we had been in the Principal's office was March 2020 just before MCO to recommend on way forward to curb spread of COVID-19 at School. Notice for the first monthly Committee meeting were finalised and served then BAM!

Ministry of Education issued a press release on 11 October 2020 that schools in red zone in Petaling district were to be closed from 12 to 25 October 2020. Kids' School was included in the list.

The Principal issued a notice immediately to confirm that online learning were to commence at 8:30 a.m. on 12 October 2020 on Phoenix Classrooms. There was strong sense of calm. I briefed Girl and Bean and they understood the rules of engagement, syukur alhamdulillah. The Other Half was in fact happier at the thought of the kids being safer at home. 

Girl even professed her love for me from her overwhelming sense of gratitude of being able to stay safe at home. Bean was just happy to eat home-cooked food and not be subjected to the SOP individually-packed bento box from the meal plan... which means I may revert to bento-making when they commence Term 2. Something for me to seriously consider.

The PTA Committee agreed to postpone its first monthly meeting for this academic year to make way for the senior leadership team of School to focus on its improvement action plan to resolve various issues resulting from online learning.

Before we could even blink, Ministry of Defence announced implementation of CMCO in Selangor from 14 to 27 October 2020. 

So, here we are. 871 cases as of yesterday. We do not foresee returning to school until 2 November 2020 at the earliest as there is a mid-term break from 26 to 30 October 2020. We pray we can all flatten the curve again in this third wave. If it takes up staying home until 31 December 2020, so be it. 

Our first week of online learning was smooth from the second half of the first day onwards. Phoenix and Zoom have been working wonderfully well. We do not miss the previous method of ClassDojo/Zoom/MS Teams and email. Preparedness is what helped School transition seamlessly this time (luckily we at the PTA had requested for whole school Phoenix Classrooms training to be administered and all parents to be trained in preparation of the worst - and the School did train the students soon after that meeting on 8 October 2020!). Parents now seem more experienced and make better TAs, students are more acclimatised too, alhamdulillah.

Additionally, I am more aware of my self-care with proper sleep and light exercise. The stationary bike and rower purchase at last CMCO are huge blessings. I bake much less now compared to the last MCO and CMCO; and destress by way of reading or watching my favourite programmes (I miss Paris so much I finished watching Emily in Paris in one night) instead of binging on my bakes.

As a family:

We are grateful for our full fridge and freezer and reliable fruits supplier. 

We are grateful for electricity and water supply. 

We are grateful for sufficient data and working devices. 

We are grateful for our health and steady income.

Let's all stay safe together, inshaAllah.