Welcome to the 2020-2021 School Year
We have enjoyed the first day of the new school year, and what a start it has been. From welcoming the students off the bus in the morning, we have seen so many positive, happy faces around the campus. The Principal Mr. Tom Ferguson spent time in the Secondary assembly (observing social distancing inside), listening to plans for the new year, and he has visited all of the Primary and Early Years classrooms to see the children settling in and getting to know their new rooms, teachers and friends. The rain has even cleared up!
However, this was not the first day for the school staff. Last week saw a week filled with training, workshops and meetings, in order to fully prepare for our new school year. As a staff we spoke about how we measure ‘good’ teaching, and how we will develop our processes to ensure we can understand how to achieve that – and beyond. We discussed our House system, and how we can make that even better, especially in light of ongoing travel restrictions as a result of the COVID virus – watch out for more details! We also redefined our virus procedures, maintaining safety as our key, and were updated on the latest safeguarding policy, so important to ensure safe and happy children at school, the basis for successful learning.
Last Friday we welcomed new families to campus, to meet their teacher and find their way to classrooms, to purchase uniform and lunch cards, and to help with the process of starting a new school. It was a pleasure for us to meet so many new faces.
Even with the shorter summer holiday, we remain committed as ever to improving and updating the campus, and this year have successfully completed a range of projects designed to make the school a safer, more accessible environment. The renovations of the Primary playground, the redevelopment of the upper playing fields (in collaboration with our friends in the local authority), the refreshment of many of our halls and walkways with new, vibrant colours and a redesign our of main reception have kept our Facilities team busy, and we still have ongoing projects such as the development of both the library space and a STEAM makerspace.
We continue to collaborate closely with the local authorities to bring our teachers overseas back to China. We are very happy to announce that all our teachers overseas have successfully received the letter of invitation and are now working on their visas, flight and all other relevant government required steps to come back Chengdu. To date we have booked flights for 10 of our colleagues to arrive back in Chengdu between now and the first week of September, meaning that if all goes well and quarantine requirements are met, they can start teaching either before or straight after the October National holiday. We are confident that we can book the remaining teachers onto flights soon and are hopeful we will be at full staffing before too long.
We would like to thank the Léman Family Association (LFA) for their ongoing support as we start the new school year. The LFA play such an important role in the life of the school, and we greatly value the relationship we have with our LFA volunteers. We recently received a shipment of materials to help as we continue to follow pandemic procedures. Support like this is truly appreciated, and shows how wonderful our parents are.
Finally, we would like to congratulate Mr. Jarrett Brown, our MYP Coordinator, who has recently been appointed to the position of IB Consultant and Team Leader for Asia. This is fantastic for both Jarrett and our school, having a colleague in such a position will help us as we continue to develop and refine what we do. Jarrett’s knowledge and experience gained in this role will be invaluable.
