Back to school preparation

Although there is no defined back-to-school date yet, teachers at Olympia are very excited about the news on school reopening. They are also worried about how to arrange class to make sure a safe learning environment. Firstly, Covid-19 vaccination is the top priority. We have cooperated with the district medical center to run the vaccination program for school staff. 91% of them already got the first shot (including all drivers and monitors).

Unvaccinated ones who are not in Hanoi yet will get a shot before back to school date.Currently, the medical team is preparing for the second shot with the goal that all teaching and non-teaching staff must be fully vaccinated before coming back to school. Given the news that children from 12 to 18 years old can get vaccination, we are constantly updating and seeking information from the Department of Health and the Department of Education and Training. If we can organize vaccination program for students, we will immediately register and cooperate with parents to execute. Children vaccination must be conducted carefully with the consent of parents and strict compliance to the regulatory guidelines.

We also have sent notice to each parent on this topic to keep them posted and seek professional advice from healthcare expert parents on how to prevent Covid-19 effectively. Some parents actively contacted our medical team to give advice on vaccination program for children and review on vaccination status of any student 18+ years old. Some parents suggested that the school should conduct a seminar involving healthcare experts who would guide students how to adapt into post-Covid life. We are very grateful for all of these pieces of advice.

We are also finalizing the upgrade of some facilities during summer. Classrooms, offices, and learning equipment will be thoroughly cleaned.

Adaptability and flexibility are our objectives in these preparation steps. The social and healthcare backdrop will be ever-changing so we have developed two to three different scenarios: online, offline and hybrid (both online and offline). Even when most of the areas experience new normalcy, it is very likely that some students or teachers still get isolated and do online learning/teaching. It means Olympia must be very flexible in providing hybrid modal to some students and teachers.

We plan to get teachers to take part in online courses with Harvard university on online teaching methods, hybrid teaching methods, and teaching quality management. This shows how much effort we put into teaching and learning quality assurance.

We are certain that the hybrid model will be executed very flexibly and efficiently in this schoolyear. Accordingly, we have strongly invested in technology capabilities. Ms. Teams and Canvas are the software to enable undisrupted lessons under any circumstances. All learning materials are digitized on Canvas so that both teachers and students can access, learn, and assess on one common platform.

We wish our Olympians and teachers to stay safe and healthy and hopefully we will soon meet each other at the school. #learnsmart #beagile #empathize